Epiphany Sunday

Psalm 46

Isaiah 52:7-10

Revelation 21:22-27

Matthew 12:14-21

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Officiants: Reverend Angela Lerena and Cathedral/Diocese Staff Clergy

Preacher: The Very Reverend Samuel Colley-Toothaker, Acting Dean

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I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life and he will give you many years in the land.    Deuteronomy 30:19-20

New Year day has come and gone already, and my guess is many of us have spent at least some time thinking about a resolution for some life changing discipline or practice that we have ignored or put off in days past. Many have committed, with renewed vigor, to exercise on a regular basis. For some, the new habit will be to eat more healthy food and less junk. For still others, the goal will be to spend less, save more and put their fiscal house in order.

As I continue reflecting on the year that is unfolding before us, and on our common life together as a Christian community, I pray that the resolutions we make will reach far past this year of our Lord, 2021. While I challenge all of us to be fit and healthy and to do what is necessary to achieve that goal, there are far more important commitments to make.

I encourage each of us to summon the resolve and “choose life”. It’s a matter of priorities, really. The truth is, we are never really healthy or fit unless God is first in our life.

I say again, choose life! Put God first. Make an unbreakable commitment to be in church every Sunday…virtually now and then in person, as soon as possible. Get involved at St. James Cathedral. Invite a loved one to join you. Forgive those who have wronged you. Ask for forgiveness from those whom you have wronged. Be more aware than ever of the hard times we face and look for ways to give to others who are in need. Practice random acts of kindness each and every day. And finally, always, always pray. Pray unceasingly, for God hears and answers all prayers in His own time.

In contemplating these things, I recalled an idea that Oliver Wendell Holmes once expressed regarding the reaches of human life in new ways. Holmes wrote, "Man's life, once stretched by new ways of living, never regains its original dimension."

Ponder these things in your heart. Try this new way of living. Choose life!

A Fellow Seeker,

Dean Sam+

You are invited to come by the Cathedral after service on January 10th from 11 am – 12:30 pm, or Wednesday, January 13th from 11 am – 4 pm. You may take home a piece of chalk for the writing on your lintel or doorway a house blessing for 2021. For the blessing, tune in for the Sunday, January 10th service. For the history of the blessing of chalk, click the link below.

Contact Dean Sam if you are interested in working with him on the Buildings and Grounds Team. There is much to be done, and you can make a difference. You can reach him at 415-758-1904.

To prevent waste when the water is turned on and your hose is not being used, fit your garden hose with a shut-off nozzle. Water savings: up to 6.5 gallons per minute.

To participate, log into the Cathedral Coffee Hour on Zoom. The meeting password is "james4147". You can also join the conversation by phone. Call (669) 900-6833 and enter the meeting ID 821-8772-3828. You will be prompted to enter the phone password "492292".

Meets the first Saturday of each monthly at 9:30AM on Zoom. These gatherings are open to all. To join via Zoom, click here. There is also a call-in option: (669) 900-6833 - Meeting ID: 894 7483 4226 - Passcode: 230840797.

The clergy of St. James remain deeply committed to offering pastoral care and support to members of the Cathedral Congregation especially during this difficult time. If a pastoral need arises for you or someone you know in the congregation, and you want to contact the clergy, please either email us at clergy@stjamesfresno.org or call the Cathedral office at (559) 439-5011 and select option 5 to leave a message for the clergy.

The Rev. Diane Kruger, an emergency department nurse in Wichita, Kansas, and deacon at Trinity Episcopal Church in nearby El Dorado, was among the first 100 people in the state on Dec. 14 to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19.

Washington National Cathedral on Dec. 15 tolled its bell 300 times, once for every 1,000 people who have died from COVID-19 in the United States, as another grim milestone in the pandemic coincided this week with the promise of hope offered by a vaccine.

Some Episcopal congregations that had spent most of the year fasting from Communion because of the pandemic have gotten creative in the fall and during Advent so they could resume this bedrock Episcopal liturgical and sacramental practice.

Hundreds of Episcopalians this Advent have embarked on a walking pilgrimage around the Holy Land without ever having to set foot outside their neighborhoods. There’s an app for that, built by St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church in Columbia, South Carolina.

If you have any feedback, comments, or questions for the Midweek Missive Editors, please email us. Submissions to the Midweek Missive are welcomed and must be submitted to midweek@stjamesfresno.org by Tuesday at noon.