My Impressions of the Trinity Institute Conference – 2018

On February 2 and 3, 2018, I attended a conference at St. Paul’s, Newport News entitled Values in Action. St. Paul’s was a partner site for this conference which was held at Trinity Church and St. Paul’s Church in New York City.

Friday evening was made up of a worship service at Trinity with a sermon by the Most Reverend Michael Curry, our Presiding Bishop. The gospel reading was the Beatitudes and he called on us to dare to live the values which Jesus taught us. The part of his sermon which struck me most acutely was his father’s advice (direction!) to him as he was driving Michael to college. “Son, treat every young woman as you would want your sister to be treated and treat every young man as you would want your brother to be treated. In actuality, that young woman IS your sister and that young man IS your brother.” Bishop Curry said he has never forgotten those words.

Also that evening we heard from one of the 11.4 million undocumented Americans, a man by the name of Jose Antonio Vargas, who has founded an organization called Define American. You might want to look up the website. Mr. Vargas spoke to us about the gift of uncomfortable conversations and the power of story.

The following morning, Michelle Alexander, an author and teacher took values as her subject matter, saying that hers have evolved from the abstractions of freedom, equality, and justice to values which now more adequately reflect her fundamental belief structure: care, compassion, and concern. She spoke quite a bit about healthy conversations in which we’re not trying to educate the other, but wanting to dialogue about what prevents us from responding with care, compassion, and concern. She challenged me to ask myself: Do I have the courage to act on what I value? Can I muster the courage to speak my truth and to step out?

The next speaker was an Irish poet, Padraig O Tuama, who spoke to our willingness to tell our stories truthfully to one another. We broke into small groups and were asked the following: “If you were to tell the story of your life right now, what would the first sentence be?” Quite a fascinating and ongoing exercise!

The last session which I attended was a panel discussion with a Jewish woman, a Christian woman, and a Muslim man. They told us about their part in a national nonpartisan campaign that brings together scholars from a diverse range of religious traditions to articulate core American values. If you are interested, the website is 100 Days, 100 letters.

I am so grateful that I said “yes” to this stimulating and valuable (pun intended!) conference.

Ann Lee