Conversations

“We live in the light of eternity. We anticipate it. It is almost but not yet. And we need to acknowledge the discomfort of ‘almost.’ ” —Miriam Moser, Current Academy Fellow

Dear Friends,

In this Fall issue of Conversations, we consider how to better understand the richness and complexity of our lives. Mike Metzger, who recently led a retreat for the Academy Fellows, discusses the meaning of the Hebrew word avodah in relation to work, service and worship. Fellow Miriam Moser considers how the joy in our lives is impacted by our concept of time. And alumna Anna Caruso Hayden reflects on her and her husband’s efforts to bring reconciliation to war-torn regions.

One of the most important activities of the Fall season at the Academy is the opportunity Fellows and staff have to share their life stories with each other. It’s important because it reminds everyone that a life is made up of complex experiences, relationships, failures and successes, moments of faith and visions of the future. As we listen to each other we realize that our own lives—our work, faith, family and worship—are also woven together through the immediate time of daily events and God’s eternal time.

We hope you find this newsletter encouraging and we look forward to further conversations together.

Grady Powell
Trinity Forum Academy

Academy Update

• Tuesday is the last chance registration for Assessing and Engaging Global Culture with Os Guinness and Doug Holladay! 11/30–12/2. Click here for details and registration form.
• Trinity Forum Academy will be part of a conference hosted by Peter Berger at Boston University Law School entitled the Emerging Evangelical Intelligentsia Project (EEIP). Learn more here.
• On November 3, we hosted a great evening at the home of Fred and Susie Harburg in Boston to share more about the Academy with local students, ministers and friends.
• Check out alumna Lindsay Branham’s article in the newsletter she designed and edited for her work with Food For the Hungry in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Click here for a PDF download, 3.8MB.

Reflections

Seamless Faith

Mike Metzger

Mike Metzger, president of The Clapham Institute, works to help people and organizations advance faith-centered cultural reform. In this essay, he discusses the need to view worship, art, work, service, and ministry as part of the same “fabric.” “Albert Einstein reminded us that we cannot solve a problem in the framework that created it.  This is why efforts to ‘integrate faith and work’ generally fail.”

Working Through Time

Miriam Moser

Each week, Academy fellows write journal entries about themes encountered in class and in their personal reflections. Fellow Miriam Moser shares her thoughts on the discomfort of “almost” as we live our lives on earth. “In the Greek language, two sorts of time are specified. Kairos is God’s time—the eternal, divine moment. Kronos is the time that we humans struggle through.”

Another Kind of Vacation: Our Experience in Kosova

Anna and Josh Hayden

Anna Caruso Hayden, Class of 2004, and her husband Josh spent their summer vacation helping to train leaders in a region of Europe ravaged by centuries of conflict. “Other students remarked that they were eager to value everyone—except Serbs. At those moments we were reminded that without the transforming power of Jesus Christ, true change was impossible.”