News
Lenten Reflection from Bishop Harmon
April 09, 2025
Well Water Wisdom
Reflections from John T.W. Harmon
“Returning to God”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
2025 April 4th
Rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.
~ Joel 2:13
Beloved,
Lent is an obvious invitation to repent, renew, and amend our lives; but it is much more. Lent is also about conversion; embracing our need for transformation. Conversion, in this sense, is a kind of returning to where we have not been before. Since it is almost impossible for us to return to where we have never been, our returning as a Lenten discipline, is an invitation to surrender, or give back to God that which belongs to God — our very selves. Thus, our return is a journey forward on a path that takes us deeper and back into the heart of God, our true home.
If conversion is indeed a return to a place we have yet to experience, a place where we have no recollections, then we can echo William Wordsworth's words:
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;
The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting
And cometh from afar;
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
Our conversion as a returning to God is more than a mere memory of some distant or imagined past. It is about the grounding of our lives and souls in a commitment to holiness, fostering a kindness that transforms everything about our lives and habits. It is an ongoing invitation to return again to our authentic selves, where we are unrecognizable, even to ourselves, as our hearts burn with the fire of God’s love.
Conversion is hard work. It requires sacrifice and involves some suffering that invites us to get out of the way so that God might be visible in and through us. It is passionate love that involves surrendering our wills, allowing us to reflect Christ's love in a broken and hurting world. Ultimately, our conversion is a reunion with God and each other, creating bonds of peace that give rise to joy.
May the remaining days of Lent bless you with joy and strength as Holy Week approaches.
With Lenten blessing, I am,
Faithfully,
The Right Reverend John T. W. Harmon
Bishop of Arkansas
Upcoming Adult Formation Classes
March 30, 2025
Walking with Christ: An Introduction to Holy Week
Bible Study: Romans with Beverly Gaventa
Book Club: The Reason for God by Tim Keller
Insights Lecture Series
March 10, 2025
A Theology of City Planning
Trinity Cathedral's Insights Lecture Series presents a lecture and panel discussion with the Rev. Dr. Willie James Jennings.
What kind of city do we want to live in? What kind of city should we live in? And how might a Christian participate in making those decisions? As Little Rock undergoes a new city planning process, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral welcomes the Rev. Dr. Willie James Jennings, one of the world’s leading and most celebrated theologians, to speak about a “theology of city planning” as a part of the Insights Lecture Series. Immediately after his lecture, Professor Jennings will participate in a panel discussion with local change-makers, Kathy Webb and Jay Jennings. A reception will follow in Morrison Hall. On Sunday, April 6, Professor Jennings will lead Trinity’s Adult Formation offering at 9:15 am and will preach at the 10:30 am service. To learn more, contact the Rev. Thomas Alexander (thomas@trinitylittlerock.org).
The Rev. Dr. Willie James Jennings is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Systematic Theology and Africana Studies at the Yale Divinity School. A theologian who teaches in the areas of Christian thought, race theory, decolonial, and environmental studies, Professor Jennings is the author of the award-winning The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race, which is now widely recognized as a theological masterpiece. He is currently completing on a two-volume work on the doctrine of creation, including a reflection on how cities are planned and organized.
Tickets are $25 and can be purchased here.
The Message - Lent 2025
February 28, 2025
Read the latest issue of The Message. It is filled with useful information for the season of Lent.
Preaching Mission and Revival with Bishop Michael Curry
February 19, 2025
Thursday, March 13 @ 7 pm*
Lenten Preaching Revival, Trinity Cathedral
Friday, March 14 @ 7 pm*
Lenten Preaching Revival, Trinity Cathedral
Saturday, March 15 (limited seating)
Welcome Dinner, 5 - 6 pm
Speaker, Bishop Michael Curry, 6 - 6:30pm
Book signing, 6:30 - 7pm
Sunday, March 16, 9 - 10:30 am*
Holy Eucharist Service with The Right Rev. Michael Curry
*open to the public without reservation
New Vestry Members Elected
January 20, 2025
We are happy to announce the Vestry Class of '27. With in person and online votes counted, Susan Mehlburger, Elizabeth Smith, Katie Stephens, Clarke Tucker, and Eric Wippo have each been elected to a three year term. Their first meeting will be at the vestry retreat, February 7 and 8.
Thank you to all those who added their names to the list of candidates. Such a strong slate is a good indication of the health of our ministries.
If you want to hear a recap of 2024, and our expectations for 2025 be sure to come to the Annual Meeting, Sunday, January 26.
2025 Vestry Election and Annual Meeting
January 09, 2025
It's that time of year again. Each year we experience change in our vestry leadership at Trinity. We bid farewell to five outgoing vestry members and elect five new vestry members. Each person on vestry serves a 3-year term to help lead in the church by electing a Dean, setting and paying her compensations; executing all contracts for the Parish and executing its business.
We are grateful for the leadership of Senior Warden, Melonese Clarke, Treasurer, Grant Wallace, Clerk, Susan Allen, Member-at-Large, Lara Schock, and member Christoph Keller as they conclude their terms of service. We are also grateful for the the ongoing leadership of those continuing on vestry: Greg Albert, Sarah Bennings, Eliza Borné, Josie Felton, Jack Harvey, Josh Hill, Grady McCoy IV, Richard Moore, David Turner, and Kelly Wassell.
Our Annual Meeting opens at the 8 a.m. service on January 19, 2025. The nominees for vestry will be introduced at this and all subsequent services. Nominations will be taken from the floor at the 8 a.m. service only. Voting will be held after each service, concluding with the 4 p.m. Choral Evensong.
We will have an electronic voting option on January 19. Those eligible to vote will receive a link to the form through REALM.
The Annual Meeting will continue with business and reports and lunch Sunday, January 26 following the 10:30 a.m. service. If a run-off vote is needed, it will happen at this time.
Dean Transition
January 08, 2025
Celebration of Dean Meaux’s Ministry
Sunday, February 2, 2025
Choral Evensong at 4:00 pm
Festive Reception in Morrison Hall afterwards
Join us as we say farewell to the Very Rev. Amy Dafler Meaux and give thanks for her fruitful ministry as our 21st Dean and Rector. Amy will preside and preach at the 8:00 am and 10:30 am services, and she will officiate at Choral Evensong at 4:00 pm. Choral Evensong will be offered in her honor, and afterwards, we will gather for a festive reception in Morrison Hall. Everyone is especially encouraged to join us for Choral Evensong and the reception following.
Gift for Bishop-Elect Meaux
Trinity Cathedral is gifting Amy a set of vestments (chasuble, stole, and mitre) in thanksgiving for her ministry as our 21st Dean and Rector and in honor of her new ministry as 9th Bishop of West Missouri. If you would like to contribute, please donate online or write a check to Trinity Episcopal Cathedral with “Amy’s Gift” in the memo line.
Attending Bishop-Elect Meaux’s Ordination
Saturday, May 3, 2025 at 11 am
Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City, Missouri
Trinity Cathedral is planning to be present for Amy’s ordination as a bishop and her seating as the 9th Bishop of West Missouri. The service will take place on Saturday, May 3 at 11:00 am at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City, Missouri. We are making arrangements for travel and for a block of hotel rooms in Kansas City. The service requires tickets, so those interested in attending will need to make plans to do so. If you are interested in joining us, please fill out this interest form.
More transition information is available on our this page of our website.
Thanksgiving Day Service
November 14, 2024
Thanksgiving Mass with Brass
Thursday, November 28 at 10:30 am
This year’s annual Thanksgiving Eucharist at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral will feature a brass sextet and timpani playing festive arrangements of Boyle’s Thou O God art praised in Sion, the Gloria from Kodaly’s Missa Brevis, Karg-Elert’s Nun danket alle Gott, and popular Thanksgiving hymns. Music will also include Bach’s Nun danket alle Gott, BWV 657 and Maurice Greene’s Thou visitest the earth, featuring Trinity’s Taylor and Boody continuo organ.
Our preacher, Kevin Pranoto, is the Associate Pastor of Social Work at Second Baptist Church in Downtown Little Rock. As both a licensed social worker and ordained minister, he blends pastoral ministry and social work practice to help the church’s vulnerable neighbors. In 2024, Kevin led the planning and launch of Second Place Pantry, a new client-choice food pantry serving the Downtown community. Prior to moving to Arkansas in 2022, Kevin served as the Executive Director of Mission Oak Cliff in Dallas, TX, and has worked for the global denominational office of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
Kevin earned his Master of Divinity and Master of Social Work degrees from Baylor University where he concentrated his studies in “Church Social Work: Women and the Church” and is currently enrolled in the Doctor of Ministry program at Boston University where he is researching the intersection of Christian theology and social work practice. He is an adjunct lecturer for the Garland School of Social Work at Baylor University and also serves as the chair of their Board of Advocates. Other boards Kevin serves on include Baptist News Global, Central Seminary, and the Clergy Sexual Misconduct Task Force for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Kevin is married to his husband, Chris Carson, and they have three dogs together.