In this edition:

Today at the Cathedral

Celebrate the Incarnation

Opportunity for Servant Leadership

New Resource for Children

Formation: The Book of Common Prayer

Reel Theology

Outreach Matters

The Good Book Club

Creation Care

From the Senior Warden

Upcoming Parish Events

Today at the Cathedral

Be sure to join us in worship and fellowship today! Come…

Please note that next week (December 22) neither Sunday Forum nor Sunday School will meet, but youth groups will.

Celebrate the Incarnation at the Cathedral – and invite a friend

The Feast of the Nativity is an excellent time to invite friends and family to join you in worship at the Cathedral.

 

Tuesday, December 24— Christmas Eve

Family Christmas Eucharist at 4pm (incense-free) Nursery care available

Carillon Christmas Music at 3pm and after the service

Christmas Prelude Music begins at 3:30pm

 

Festival Christmas Eucharist at 10:30pm

Carillon Christmas Music at 9:15pm and after the service

Christmas Prelude Music begins at 9:45pm

 

Wednesday, December 25— Christmas Day

Holy Eucharist at 10am

Opportunity for Servant Leadership:

Chapter Nominations

Nominations (and you can nominate yourself!) for service on Chapter, the lay governing board of the Cathedral, are still open. 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 on January 26, members in good standing will be electing four (4) 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.

New Resource for Children

From now through Epiphany, we’re introducing a new scripture lesson teaching resource for parents of children ages 3-12. “The Sunday Paper” (ages 3-10) and “The Sunday Paper Junior” (ages 9+) are coloring sheets which teach the scripture lessons for the day. They will be available each week at the welcome tables. Children can color them in church or take them home and work on them during the week. Included in “The Sunday Paper Junior” is a short editorial for parents' edification. The lessons were created by one of the leading children’s ministers in the Episcopal Church and we’re excited to try them out in these seasons. Let Arlen know your thoughts via email or in person.

Faith, Hope, and Love: the Book of Common Prayer

Sunday Forum resumes on January 5 at 9:15 in the Guild Rooms for coffee, conversation, and Christian formation. Through the end of Epiphany, we look forward to learning more about the history, shape, and future of the Book of Common Prayer as part of our year-long series exploring the beliefs, practices, and resources of our Episcopal and Anglican heritage as we walk in the Way of Love: Faith, Hope, and Love. In our study we will learn about how the Book of Common Prayer has shaped our tradition, hear the words of liturgy afresh in worship, and discuss the future of the prayer book. We would love for you to join us.

Reel Theology

Join us 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. We look forward to fellowship, film, and conversation about the following films:

*      January 22: Arrival

*      January 29: Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

*      February 5: Hotel Rwanda

*      February 12: The Big Sick

*      February 19: Toy Story

Outreach Matters!

 

OUR PLACE Community Outreach has supported the West Central Spokane community since 1987. This is its mission: " Our Place Community Outreach respectfully welcomes our West Central neighbors by providing basic needs and services, bringing hope for an improved future."

Our Place has a team of volunteers and donors ready to serve our local community by providing emergency resources such as food, clothing, hygiene, utility assistance, and bus passes.

The annual fundraiser for Our Place will be held on January 30, 2020 at Gonzaga’s new Myrtle Woldson’s Performing Arts Center. The evening includes a performance of STAGELIGHTS by the Gonzaga University Theatre Arts Department, plus appetizers, no host bar, live and silent auction. You can get tickets here .

 

St. John’s is one of many supporting churches. Peggy Johnson serves as a liaison on the Our Place board and the Outreach Committee has provided a financial gift at the end of the year.

Study Opportunity:

Read the Gospel of John in Epiphany

The Good Book Club is an invitation to all Episcopalians to join in reading the Gospel of John during Epiphany 2020. Join with tens of thousands of Episcopalians across the church to encounter the beautiful poetry of this compelling account of Jesus’ life and ministry. The Good Book Club offers an opportunity to dive deeply into scripture and create a daily practice of engagement with God’s Word. It’s easy to join the Good Book Club: Just open your Bible and start! Don’t have a Bible? Come by the church and we’ll help you get one. You can learn more about the Good Book Club, download readings and resources, and sign up for updates at the website for the Good Book Club.

Research shows us that people who read scripture with an open heart grow in faith through their encounter with the sacred stories of the Bible. If you have been looking for a way to deepen your engagement with Scripture, give the Good Book Club a try!

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

Steps to Create Effective Climate Communications

The Episcopal Church, in collaboration with ecoAmerica, has created a program called Talk Faith and Climate that offers ideas, tools, and language to address the impacts to our climate. If we can have effective climate communications with others, we can deepen our engagement on the environment as part of our moral imperative to care for creation.

One of the resources within the program offers specific steps to be able to speak effectively on climate change. They say, “For most people, climate change is an abstract subject tainted with divisive politics. We hear bits of guidance, such as getting the message and messenger right. To some, this means having scientists explain science. To others, it means having faith leaders talk about climate to the faithful. But there’s more to it than that. The truth is, we can all speak effectively on climate change.”

Here are the the first 5 steps to crafting emotionally resonant, personalized, and effective messages on climate change:

You can read about the rest of the steps, with more detail and examples, here (opens a PDF). You can learn more about the research supporting these strategies here.

From the Senior Warden

The Brotherhood

by John Wallingford

Some men have a hard time with church. I’m not sure why. Maybe they’ve resigned caring to women, maybe the demands of work life exhaust them, maybe their inclination to facts and rationality seems at odds with living in faith. All those things are true for me. My wife has a big heart and tracks the needs of others more closely than I do; I never seem to be able to clear my desk and I pride myself (I wrote on the types of pride recently) on my rational thinking. I need to consciously devote time to caring; I need to be sure my life is not consumed by work for pay, and I need to acknowledge that many of the most powerful forces in society: justice, love, beauty, honor, dignity, empathy, recognition, family, are only partly rational.

One small group that lets men explore their limits and learn from each other is the Brotherhood. I was heartened to learn there was such a group at St Johns, because I’d been in a group of church men in Bryn Mawr, and attending that group helped me keep balance between work and the rest of life. There we spoke in confidence and learned that our trust was secure. I heard remembrances of a son lost at sea decades before whose memory flooded back over holidays. I heard a history professor quip Richard Hooker quotes that explained Episcopalian traditions. I learned that when a former senior warden with the last name Williams spoke, it was worth listening to every wise word he said.

I only go to the 7 am Brotherhood gatherings on the 1 st and 3 rd Tuesday partly because of schedule and partly because I love the composition of the morning gatherings. Many go also at noon on the other Tuesdays, and some only go to those lunch meetings. At 7 am we have an Eucharist with a homily on the saint remembered that day, subject matter hard to fit into any other church venue. Last week Arlen taught us about St Francis Xavier, who after working with St Ignatius at the founding of the Jesuit order preached in the 1540s in India, Malaysia, and Japan. The prayers of the people are often read from the pews, and the brothers stay kneeling at the altar rail after communion to say the post communion prayer. After Eucharist, we have a light breakfast and chat across a range of topics from politics to upcoming church events and the health of those who no longer can attend. I’ve learned about the challenges other brothers face and have shared my own. During our dean search I was asked what part of church spoke most to me, and I answered the Brotherhood. They are knowledgeable and wise, committed in faith to St Johns and they have a sense of humor. It is to this group of men I go to talk about the most important things in life; they are like brothers to me.

Upcoming Parish Events

December 15 , 10:30 am, Christmas Pageant

December 22 , 3 pm, Yoga in the Cathedral

December 24 , 4 pm, Family Christmas Eucharist (Incense-free). Carillon Christmas music at 3 pm and following the service, prelude music begins at 3:30, nursery care available

December 24 , 10:30 pm, Festival Christmas Eucharist. Carillon Christmas music at 9:15 and following the service, prelude music begins at 9:45.

December 25 , 10 am, Christmas Day Eucharist

January 5-11 , Cathedral hosts Family Promise

January 12, 5 pm, Choral Evensong

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

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