April, 2019
Preparing for the Resurrection
|
|
In this edition:
From the Dean: Observing Holy Week
Lenten Practices Survey
Book Study in May
Creation Care: Take the Pledge
A Great Cloud of Witnesses
Notes from Outreach
From the Senior Warden
St. John's Music Series
Upcoming Parish Events
|
|
Why Attend Holy Week
Worship?
by Dean Heather VanDeventer
What do you do when out of town family and friends come for a visit? Do you go about your week as if there is nothing different – or do you change your habits and schedule so that you can spend more time with them? Holy Week is one of those times. No, it isn’t that family or friends are visiting. You can always take time to pause and pray for God is always present to us. But Holy Week worship services are an opportunity to be more deeply intentional in stepping out of our regular routines and schedules and making time to walk with Jesus.
The clergy invite you to come to brief Eucharist services at 12:15 pm on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of Holy Week. The Gospel readings on these days are taken from John and bring us into the increasing conflict between Jesus and the religious authorities of his day.
There is also special worship, led in part by the Junior Choir and youth from the Cathedral and regional senior high youth group, on Wednesday evening. The Tenebrae service provides an extended meditation, in readings, music, and prayers, on the events between the Last Supper and the Resurrection.
Maundy Thursday is a dual celebration of the institution of the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist, and the ways of being in community as servant leaders, as demonstrated by washing of each others’ feet. This year’s service will begin at 6:00 pm with a meal and worship in the Great Hall and end at the High Altar with the stripping of the altar and the setting aside of the reserved sacrament until Good Friday morning.
On Good Friday, there are a variety of ways to worship with the community and keep watch at the foot of the Cross. At 7:00 am, we will gather to pray the ancient prayers of the Solemn Collects and consume the Reserved Sacrament; Good Friday is a day when the Eucharist is not celebrated. At noon, we join with our friends from St. Stephen’s for an Urban Stations of the Cross, starting at the Rotary Fountain. At 3:00 pm, we come together for the Good Friday Liturgy with Veneration of the Cross, an opportunity to come forward to pray at the Cross; our worship will be enriched with hymns, music, and anthems by the Cathedral choir.
On Holy Saturday, we gather in the undecorated church to pray as if we are waiting outside of Christ’s tomb. We pray and we wait for Christ’s Resurrection.
|
|
Lenten Practices Survey
As we journey through Holy Week, the adult formation committee would love to learn more about how you observed a Holy Lent, and what you might be interested in observing in the future. To this end, we hope as many parishioners as possible will participate in our Lenten practice survey, which will be open through April 30. You can find the survey at
this link, and thank you!
|
|
"On the Brink"
A Book Discussion for May
Parker Palmer has become a beloved author for many. An educator, mentor, and founder of the Center for Courage and Renewal, he is also a refreshing voice on spirituality. His latest work, as he turns 80, is
On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity & Getting Old.
Please consider joining in a discussion of this book on Wednesday mornings on May 9, 16, 23 and 30, facilitated by the Rev. Canon Kristi Philip. The group will meet from 10-11:30 a.m. in the Guild Rooms. The book should be available from your favorite bookseller and is in both print and e-book format. For more information, please contact Canon Kristi .
|
|
The Episcopal Church affirms a commitment to
creation care
. Creation care ministries seek to heal, defend, and work toward justice for all God's creation and to respect the kinship and connection of all that God created through education, advocacy, and action
. In support of these ministries we share resources each month.
Creation Care and the Episcopal Church
Take the Pledge!
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has challenged Episcopalians to Pledge to Care for Creation:
"The Pledge to Care for Creation is part of living as the Jesus Movement. It's a promise to protect and renew this good Earth and all who call it home. It's a promise to share our stories, stand with those who are most vulnerable, and live more gently on the Earth."
Everyone who submits a pledge online promises to take action for creation in the three key categories of the Jesus Movement: Loving, Liberating, and Life-Giving. The Episcopal Church has set a goal of gathering 1,000 pledges by Earth Day, April 22. Will you submit your pledge today?
Just visit this website to get ideas and add your name
!
|
|
A Great Cloud of Witnesses
Adult Formation in Easter
Join us in the Guild Rooms at 9:15 AM on Sundays beginning
May 12 for a five-week series exploring the Episcopal understanding of sainthood. Hear presentations from clergy and parishioners as we get a handle on what St Paul, in the letter to the Hebrews, described as “so great a cloud of witnesses.” All are welcome!
|
|
Notes from Outreach
An Earth Day Vigil, "For the Healing of the Earth," will be held from 5:15 to 7:30 p.m., Monday, April 22, at the Tribal Gathering Place next to Spokane City Hall.
"The Faith Leaders and Leaders of Conscience (FLLC) are planning a vigil then, followed by a vigil the first Sunday in October at the Cataldo Mission, Cataldo, Idaho. "We plan to repeat these events every year," said Gen Heywood, convenor for the FLLC. "We hope by meeting every six months, different groups working on separate aspects to heal our Earth can gather, report to each other what they are doing and encourage others to join with them."
Both the Cathedral and the Diocese are supporting this work, and you can read more about it in
The Fig Tree
.
|
|
"I Will, With God's Help"
by John Wallingford
Creation care and the baptismal covenant
The baptismal covenant asks the congregation to respond to each of five questions and commit to following the apostle’s teachings, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayers; seeking repentance after sin; proclaiming God in Christ; loving neighbor as self; and respecting the dignity of every human being. The answer to each of these five questions is “I will, with God’s help.” I hadn’t given much thought to this answer until lately.
A group at Gonzaga, Interfaith 350, started meeting last November. About 20 persons from various faith communities met and shared their thoughts about how their faith calls on them to care for creation. Each person had a chance to offer thoughts about their purpose in attending. I talked about the diocesan resolution to plant Paris Groves and my hope that a common understanding of reverence for God’s green Earth could help in discussion with climate change deniers, some of whom were conservative Christians. Some others who interacted regularly with fundamentalists said I shouldn’t bother, because Christian climate change deniers believed that climate change itself was God’s will. I’d never thought about that.
At a Creation Care meeting at Whitworth earlier this month, with my Gonzaga experience ringing in my ears, I said I’d come to understand there are three points of view on climate change: some think it’s a human problem needing human solutions and there is no room for God; some think it's not a problem, it’s God’s will and we need not be alarmed; and some think the problem is of human origin, and needs human intervention to reconcile humanity and Earth to God. This last way of thinking recalled to me the words of the baptismal covenant. We have an active part to play. It’s our commitment as individuals and as the corporate Body of Christ to act for what we understand to be God’s will. It is our will. With God’s help. This helps define us as Episcopalians. Since the first Book of Common Prayer, baptism has always had a question answered with “I will, with God’s help.”
On April 7th Kurt Carlson, Ed and Carolyn Holmes, Doug and Judy Beane, Karen Wallingford, and a dozen members of the Temple Beth Shalom congregation planted more than 200 birch, red osier dogwoods, grand fir, elderberry and aspen trees at 8
th
and Havana. Days of rain had loosened the soil and the sun broke through while we planted. The same day thousands of Ponderosa Pines were planted along the North-South Corridor, saplings that members of St John’s (among many others) will tend through the dry summer months. If you have a couple hours to give, we are looking to water one cluster of about 200 trees weekly, mid May through mid September.
Finally, as part of the annual Faith Climate Action Week we will show the 2019 feature film
Love Thy Nature
on Wednesday May 1 at 7 pm. It’s 76 minutes long with discussion to follow and beverages will be served. Let us care for creation, with God’s help.
|
|
St. John's Music Series:
little match girl passion
On Good Friday (this Friday!), the music program of the Cathedral will offer the little match girl passion, a
2008 Pulitzer Prize winner by David Lang.
Friday, April 19, 2019 at 7:30 PM
.
Tickets in advance
are $15 adult/ $5 student; at the door, $20 adult/$10 student.
|
|
Upcoming Parish Events
April 17: Tenebrae Service at 7 pm
April 18: Maundy Thursday meal and worship at 6 pm
April 19: Good Friday (7 am worship; 12 pm urban stations of the cross; 3 pm liturgy; 7:30 pm St John’s Music Series concert)
April 20: Holy Saturday (worship at 10 am)
April 20-21: Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday worship (7 pm; 8 am; 10:30 am)
April 28: Flowering of the Cross and Parish Easter Party, following the 10:30 service
April 28-May 4: Family Promise hosted at the Cathedral
May 1:
Love Thy Nature screening, 7pm
|
|
Do you have an item that you’d like to see included in the May edition?
Contact the interim editor, Katherine Karr-Cornejo, prior to May 10.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
