In this edition:
Exciting News!
Formation: Short Stories by Jesus
Outreach Matters
Opportunity for Servant Leadership
Save the Dates for Reel Theology
Creation Care
From the Senior Warden
Upcoming Parish Events
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Exciting News!
NASA astronaut Anne McClain @ St.Stephen's this Sunday, 11/17, 7:00 pm
St. Stephen's (5720 South Perry) welcomes astronaut and Spokane native Anne McClain for a public forum this Sunday evening (November 17) from 7:00-8:00 pm. A pre-session is open to middle and high school youth and their families, including Thanksgiving-style dinner. To help with the dinner, please be in touch with the
Rev. Arlen Farley
or
Elaine Patrick
, youth minister.
Spread the word and invite your favorite space enthusiast of any age to come along!
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Short Stories by Jesus
It is never too late to join the Christian Formation group on Sundays in the Guild Rooms, 9:15-10:15! We are in the midst of a study based on the work of Amy-Jill Levine,
Short Stories by Jesus. Come explore some familiar parables to better understand how we might interpret them today. Here are the remaining sessions for 2019:
- November 17: Mark 4:30-32; Matthew 13:31-32; Luke 13:18-19 (The Mustard Seed)
- December 1: Matthew 20:1-16 (Laborers in the Vineyard)
- December 8: Luke 18: 1-8 (The Widow and the Judge)
- December 15: Conclusions
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. We will not meet the Sunday of our Parish Thanksgiving dinner, and forum will take a short break at the end of December, resuming January 5. All are welcome!
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Outreach Matters!
The Outreach Committee has discussed situations along the southern border of the United States. With the help of a message to our diocese from Bishop Gretchen Rehberg about Episcopal initiatives at the border, the committee investigated needs and sent a $1000 contribution to the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande for their work with migrants on both sides of the Rio Grande. The donation was made with the private support of a Cathedral parishioner. In addition to helping individuals, the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande
is sponsoring the
Second Annual Borderlands Summit
later this month.
After a lively conversation during a coffee hour with Craig Howard of SNAP on October 6th, the committee shared a $1000 donation to
SNAP
for their local efforts to support those who need energy assistance, housing and food stamp support. Craig was clear that volunteer opportunities exist locally to assist SNAP with their work. If anyone needs more information, please contact the Outreach Committee co-chairs, Carolyn Holmes and Debra Park, or contact SNAP directly.
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Opportunity for Servant Leadership
Have you heard a still, small voice? A big, loud one? What is it calling you to do?
As you consider your life and ministry, consider whether or not God might be inviting you into a leadership role at the Cathedral. At the annual meeting at the end of January, members in good standing will be electing four new members of Chapter to a three-year term.
Not sure what exactly it is Chapter does? That’s OK! You can read about it
here, or be in touch with the members of Chapter whose terms end in January: Karen Byrne, Katherine Karr-Cornejo, Gretchen Ramey, and Elizabeth Rosenzweig.
At the annual meeting we will also be electing delegates to the 2020 diocesan convention, which will be held October 16-18 in Spokane. We hope that absolutely everyone and all of their family and friends will be able to participate in the programming of Convention, as we have a very special guest, announced in
this video! (Hint: this person really loves Jesus!)
However, there is also some business of the diocese that must be conducted, so please prayerfully consider if God might be calling you to stand to be one of the Cathedral’s delegates next October. If you'd like to say yes to either of these opportunities, contact the office.
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Save the Dates: Reel Theology
As you start to turn the page to your 2020 calendar, be sure to make time to come to the Cathedral Wednesday nights for Reel Theology in Epiphany! We will enjoy five films together on the topic of
WELCOMING THE STRANGER, with pizza and salad at 5:30 PM and film screening beginning at 6 PM. Save the dates, Wednesdays from January 22 through February 19.
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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
Faith Traditions and Care of Creation
Via
Episcopal Climate News: Students and faculty at Elon University (North Carolina) share how their religious traditions influence and inform their decisions to care for the environment. From Christian to Muslim, Jain to Jewish, these comments help highlight how faith and care of creation are linked through many traditions.
Read about it here!
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From the Senior Warden
by John Wallingford
I have had a love-hate relationship with the bazaar. My hate part is that the bazaar is a huge effort for a wee bit of money. The bazaar raises maybe 10K, which is about 3% of the 380K in pledges last year. In my cynical moments I hear myself saying we could do as well by asking folks to increase their pledges a couple percent for outreach and save everybody a lot of grief.
But I love the event itself, involving so many members of the congregation at once, with purpose and having fun. It's possibly our best engagement with our 'neighbors' that we have all year. It invites people in. It builds church community in common purpose through hard work and sore feet. One person asked me about renting the space for a fundraiser. Another reluctantly edged herself away after paying, saying again and again, "There is so much going on here!" We sent folks down the hall to peer into the nursery. We invited more than a dozen visitors to step into the Cathedral and take a moment to pray.
My thanks to Linda Finney for her work in organizing and publicizing the bazaar. People told me at the check-out line they'd seen Linda's facebook postings. And to Karen Martin for her brilliant addition to the check-out sheets. We asked folks if they would like to contribute to the ministries of the Cathedral in the greater community by upping their payment. Asking that question gave us checkers a reason to testify to the work the Cathedral is doing, something we don't do easily or often; we practiced evangelism in a way comfortable to us. That simple invitation resulted in an outpouring of goodwill. Well over half the folks I squared out responded by increasing their payment. People know we are doing good work! I'm also thankful that Karen pressed us to have charge card capabilities with square. I had the benefit of reading names on charge cards, and very selectively engaged in conversations with persons whose names I've seen in the directory but hadn't met. Hoping a nudge gets them back on Sundays.
The guilds did a marvelous job of hosting. The smiles in the room showed the Episcopalian way of loving God is a good and joyful thing, a duty, a commitment, a comfort, and fun, too!
Our Thanksgiving dinner is another chance for the congregation to spend time together in fellowship, and to give thanks for our shared blessings. During coffee hour there are more children skipping over the labyrinth in the Great Hall than we’ve had in years. That’s one of my Thanksgiving prayers answered already. I’m waiting to listen for the music of their play after dinner. I hope we have so many show up that we have to set up extra tables. I hope folks take the time to sit with someone they haven’t known very well and start a friendship. That neighbor was right, there is a lot going on here.
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Upcoming Parish Events
November 17, 7 pm, Astronaut Anne McClain at St Stephen's (5720 S Perry)
November 24, 3 pm, Yoga in the Cathedral
November 27
, 7 pm,
Thanksgiving Eve Eucharist
December 8
, 4 pm, Lessons and Carols
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Do you have an item that you’d like to see included in the December edition?
Contact the interim editor, Katherine Karr-Cornejo, prior to December 12.
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