In this edition:

Today!

Adult Formation: Faith, Hope, and Love

Outreach Matters

How to Request a Nametag

Donations Needed: Family Promise

Empty Bowls Fundraiser for WCEM

Creation Care

Upcoming Concert

From the Senior Warden

Upcoming Parish Events

Today!

After last week’s Welcome Bash and celebration of the 50 ^th anniversary of the carillon (if you’re interested, check out this neat video about the Rockefeller Carillon at the University of Chicago), today we begin our regular activities for the program year. They include:

Adult Formation Series

Finding "Us" in God's Stories

Adult Formation returns to the Guild Rooms on Sundays from 9:15-10:15 beginning September 15 (today!). Over the course of this program year, we will continue our exploration of the theme “Faith, Hope, and Love,” an exploration of the beliefs, practices, and resources of our Episcopal and Anglican heritage as we walk in the Way of Love. We began this summer in taking a look at some of the details of our worship space, and how they create meaning for us. This Fall, we will be working with Scripture, with a goal of equipping participants with tools to approach our sacred texts with curiosity and confidence.

 

In September and part of October we will be working with texts from the Old Testament, with presentations and conversations thinking about God’s interaction with creation and the way we interact with God. Where can we find ourselves in God’s stories? Beginning mid-October and running through December, we will be participating in the diocesan-wide formation program following the work of Amy-Jill Levine in Short Stories by Jesus , exploring some of Jesus’ most well-known parables in the light of their original audience to better understand how we might interpret them today.

 

Join us most Sundays at 9:15 in the Guild Rooms for coffee and Christian formation and we explore Scripture and our relationship to it! All are welcome!

Outreach Matters

A new adult information opportunity will begin on October 6th. On the first Sunday of most months, the Outreach Committee will introduce a local non-profit during the coffee hour in the Great Hall which follows the 10:30 service.

 

On October 6th, Craig Howard of SNAP will share information about the range of services SNAP offers our community and answer questions about volunteer opportunities.  Included are home repairs, financial assistance, rental housing assistance, senior ombudsman assistance and more. You can learn more at their website: https://www.snapwa.org/

 

Please bring your beverage and snack over to hear the conversation.

Nametags: a sign of hospitality

Have you seen the nametags hanging out at the entrance by the north ambulatory? Did you once have a nametag, but an unnamed family member or pet has treated it like a toy and you can’t wrest it from their grasp? Have you wondered why a nametag for you hasn’t just appeared?

Requesting a nametag – whether or not you’ve had one in the past! – is easy! Just contact Joan in the office (or by phone 509-838-4277) and let her know you’d like one. You have the option of a magnet backing or a pin backing. You can keep it in the north ambulatory when you’re not wearing it, or you can take it home with you. Some, like the interim editor of this newsletter, keep theirs in their purse. Wearing a nametag is a good way to intentionally welcome the people around us, whether we’ve known them for 20+ years or 2 minutes. Please join your siblings in Christ in this gesture of hospitality!

Donations Needed:

Family Promise

by Karen Martin

Thanks everyone for your generous donations provided thus far.

 

The Cathedral’s Family Promise Ministry is restocking our supplies and hospitality items.

Please consider donating the items listed below. Karen Martin will be collecting items up to September 30, so we are prepared for our next rotation in October. Our “Wish List” has been updated. If you would like to participate by donating a little cash, please see Karen, as she is happy to combine cash donations to purchase items.

 

Our guest families are in transition, so they sometimes arrive with just the minimum.

 

Our aim is to make them as comfortable as possible while they stay with us. The families appreciate the Family Room space, as it is a welcome refuge while they are at the Cathedral. Sometimes it is difficult to give your time to a ministry such as this, and providing simple items such as these is a valued part of our ministry!

 

Personal care:

 

For the family room:

 

Just in case items (new in the package):

 

There will be a basket/box in the Jewett House hallway for your items. Karen will pick up on Sundays after church (Septembers 16, 22 and 29). You can also let her know that you have dropped off items. Please call Karen at 458-4052. Thank you for your support!

Empty Bowls Fundraiser for West Central Episcopal Mission

Please join us for West Central Episcopal Mission’s annual fundraiser Empty Bowls, which will be hosted at the Cathedral on Friday, September 27, 2019.

 

We will share a variety of soups, green salad and a no-host wine bar. Doors open at 5:30. Table sponsorships are available for $400 and individual tickets are $35. We will have a silent auction of desserts and an opportunity to bid on a dinner with Bishop Gretchen.

 

If you have questions, please contact Ann Harder 509-994-8938 or by e-mail at annhharder@gmail.com

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

Season of Creation

 

You may be familiar with the seasons of the church year, like Lent or Advent. A group of Christians have come together to designate September 1 through October 4 as the “Season of Creation.” You can learn more about Anglican Communion (of which the Episcopal Church is a part) resources related to this observance here.

St John's Concert Series

St. John’s Concert series continues this September with a concert to be given by David Brewster. The program includes piano music by JS Bach, Franz Liszt, Mozart, Claude Debussy, and Aaron Copland. Please join us at 3 pm on Sunday, September 29, in the Cathedral. A free will offering will be collected, and a reception will follow the concert.

From the Senior Warden

by John Wallingford

Between Easter and Earth Day next spring, April 17 and 18, the Cathedral will host a 1.5 day workshop on the Care of Creation. Why would we do this? There are many reasons. One reason is that we would like to be a Cathedral for the City. Spokane hosted the first world’s fair dedicated to the environment, Expo ’74. The Cathedral contributed special concerts and guest preachers and helped organize Expo ’74 behind the scenes. Already we have commitments from Breean Beggs and Lori Kinnear to help with our workshop and EWU’s professor Bill Youngs, author of The Fair and the Falls, Spokane’s Expo ’74, to speak. Secondly, the Cathedral aspires to be more visible in diocesan matters, sponsoring the Paris Groves resolution at last year’s convention. The Creation Care workshop broadens our engagement on climate change, encouraging discussion within our parish and diocese on reconciling all creation to God. Our invitation list includes River Keepers, Sierra Club, 350 Spokane, CANS, Lands Council, Spokane Conservation District, Johnny’s Community Gardens, Spokane Ponderosa, Food for Vets, Master Gardeners; and businesses, universities and Tribes to display how they are acting to preserve the environment. So many groups to meet and learn about! A third reason is particularly important to me. The Episcopal church, with our history of via media, is one of the few places for safe dialog among persons with differing political and religious beliefs. Some Christian groups are actively engaged in grassroots environmental issues and some Christian groups turn environmental issues over to God alone, there is nary a place for these groups to talk with each other in civil manner.  The Cathedral will offer evensong the first day and morning prayer to start the second day to emphasize we worship One God; and plenary session is dedicated to the role of faith communities in Creation Care (Pat McCormick, Gonzaga; Jonathan Moo, Whitworth to speak). Hosting the workshop gives us practice in upholding the dignity of the persons espousing points of view that don’t match our own. The workshop gives us a reason to invite a lot of people into our beloved space. Call it environmental evangelism.

There will be many things to do leading up to the workshop and at the workshop itself, from putting together the invitation list and corresponding with presenters and participants, organizing credentials and meals, welcoming, communicating to the public (promotions, photos, videos, webcasts?) setting up kiosks for community action groups, working the logistics of parking, room use. Already the Outreach Committee is engaged. Jess Jordan, Evita Krislock, Tom Soeldner, and Jennifer Ogden have shaped the list of groups to include. Cheryl-Anne Millsap raised the possibility of inviting the arts community to join us. Maybe we debut an exhibition of local art with a Creation Care theme? Maybe you have an idea you’d like to put on the table? Someone to invite? Some part you’d like to play? Let me know.

I’m delighted that the event is between Easter and Earth Day. Drawing our faith and care for the environment together, via media.

Upcoming Parish Events

September 15: Blessing of the Backpacks, at the 10:30 service

Ministry Fair in the Great Hall at 11:45 AM

Sunday School resumes (9:15 AM, in the room next to the Nursery)

Adult Forum resumes (9:15 AM, in the Guild Rooms)

Youth Group resumes (Middle school @ noon, St. Stephen's; High school @ 6 pm, Cathedral)

September 22: Help us express our appreciation to Kristi Philip for her years of service to the Cathedral. Come to the 10:30am service and the coffee hour following the service. You're encouraged to bring a note or card for Kristi, wishing her well as she enters retirement (again!)

September 22 : Yoga in the Cathedral. Join instructor Lisa Silvestri Wehr for a one-hour class in the Cathedral; for all experience levels; bring a mat if you have one.

September 27: Empty Bowls Fundraiser for WCEM, 5:30 PM (tickets required)

September 29 : St John's Music Series presents piano music with David Brewster (free will offering)

October 13-19: St John's hosts Family Promise

Do you have an item that you’d like to see included in the October edition?

Contact the interim editor, Katherine Karr-Cornejo, prior to October 12.