Since its founding 20 years ago the Community of the Holy Trinity has lived into varied expressions of its rule of life. Initially formed for and by artists, social activists,and social workers to offer mutual support, through the common life of prayer, hospitality, art, and justice under a rule of life. Our inspiration has been the monastic tradition of the Church, as well as specific communities like the monks of Taize in France, and the Reba Place community in Evanston. The community does not have a common purpose except prayer and hospitality. We live together to offer mutual support in our daily living and walk of faith.
In 2014 we became the founding House of the Order of Jesus Christ, Reconciler. The Order of Jesus Christ, Reconciler is an ecumenical religious order with the charism of reconciliation. The Order currently has members in Chicago, Milwaukee and Detroit, and a second House in Detroit. Two of our current members are professed of the order, one of whom is an Abba of the order.
We currently have five members; a couple and 3 singles ranging in ages from 40 to early 60’s. A majority of our membership is artists of some kind. Some of our members are LGBTQ. Having members who are artists and identify as LGBTQ has been a consistent part of our life together for most of our history.
The community has always had cats. We currently have several, most of whom are rescue cats adopted from Indiana during the pandemic.
The life of a community like ours is dynamic. If you are interested in participating in the life of the community there are several ways you may do so, only some of which require officially joining the community.
Currently we hold morning prayer and evening prayer, Monday through Friday. Morning prayer at 6:15 AM and Evening prayer before our community supper at 6:30 pm. We use a variety of prayer resources: Common Prayer for Ordinary Radicals, Benedictine Daily prayer, and prayer offices developed by Rev. Larry Kamphausen (Abba Basil Irenaeus, OJCR) drawing from the out of print prayer book from Taize.
We have common meals together. We attempt to have five to six community meals in a week, including Saturday breakfast when we also have our weekly community meeting.
We seek to have gatherings that include those outside of the community and to host parties on occasion. This includes the Twelfth Night/Epiphany Party that we hold on the Saturday closest to January 5th, and we have occasional summer BBQs.
Lastly, Larry Kamphausen as Abba of the Order of Jesus Christ, Reconciler and member of the community offers the service of Spiritual Direction to individuals, couples and groups. Spiritual direction is the current term for an ancient Christian practice of spiritual conversation, which has been known as soul friend, companion on the way, and spiritual fatherhood/motherhood. Essentially a spiritual director sits and companions a directee in her or his spiritual life and journey. The reasons for seeking out a spiritual director are many, but can include a crisis in life or faith, or simply a desire to explore or deepen one’s engagement with spiritual disciplines and prayer life. The role of the spiritual director in any and all of these situations is to help the directee listen to God, and through listening to the story of the directee to help her/him to find God in life. The spiritual director does not impose his or her individual spiritual life or practices upon the directee but is like a midwife to the directee’s spiritual life and growth in faith and journey with God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If interested in exploring spiritual direction e-mail us at communityholytrinity@gmail.com, or contact Larry Kamphausen directly at lekamphausen@gmail.com.
