CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL An Episcopal Community in the Heart of Houston, Texas
FEBRUARY 2021 CHRISTCHURCHCATHEDRAL.ORG
AFTER-HOURS EMERGENCY CARE LINE | 713-826-5332
Two-dimensional living in a threedimensional world I watch a lot of college football, and I’ve done so during this weird COVID football season no less than any other. The play on the field is no different than in prior years. What is very different is the crowd. Due to the pandemic, where just a year ago stadiums were packed with fifty, sixty, one hundred thousand fans, this year’s playoff semi-final THE VERY REV. BARKLEY between Ohio State and THOMPSON Clemson in New Orleans included only three thousand fans in a Superdome that seats seventy-four thousand. Going to a football game these days is necessarily similar to the socially– distanced experience of going to church. Some sports franchises have compensated by piping in crowd noises through the loudspeakers and simulating attendance by filling the stands with two-dimensional cardboard cutouts of people. As a substitute for a crowded sporting event, this is, perhaps, an ingenious solution. As a metaphor for human interaction in our present day, it is an uncannily apt metaphor. In that regard, I’m not talking about coronavirus-required social distancing. Rather, I’m talking about the ways in which, long before the emergence of COVID-19, we had ceased to regard our fellows as fully-fleshed, three-dimensional, psychically and emotionally cavernous human beings and instead cast them as two-dimensional cardboard cutouts. This is, at the end of the day, the root of our social disease and the key to its cure. Whether politically right or left, theologically progressive or conservative; regardless of race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation; when we consider those who differ
THREE-DIMENSIONAL WORLD, page 8
Cathedral website and app to enrich community Minister for Communications Brant Mills said that when he started at Christ Church Cathedral, one of his first directives was to redesign and upgrade the Cathedral’s website which launched in early February. As someone who has been through the process of creating a new site with other organizations, Mills said that the experience has come in handy as he engaged with the various Cathedral stakeholders and evaluated other church and community websites. “The main thing people said they wanted
was consistency and a design that was more updated. We’ve tried to find ways to ensure information is more efficiently organized and better representative of the visual style and personality of the Cathedral,” he said. “We wanted to design it intentionally to focus on and to promote relevant, timely content.” The goal for the new site was that it be intuitive, so people would be able to find the information they needed easily. This includes events, which are front and
Pancake Supper Virtual Extravaganza You know what sounds good? Pancakes! It’s almost that time again and we’ve been doing the online thing long enough that a virtual pancake supper doesn’t sound all that crazy. Join us on Tuesday, Feb- PANCAKE SUPPER ruary 16, at 6:30 p.m. for the Pancake VIRTUAL EXTRAVAGANZA Supper Virtual Extravaganza. There February 16, 6:30 p.m. will be food, games, music, and more! Visit the “Cathedral Events” page for the link to register for the event and to sign up to claim your Pancake Supper party
PANCAKE, page 2
CATHEDRAL WEBSITE, page 6
Our Cathedral Family We celebrate with
E new members Trenton and Ashton Hawk, Chris and Cathi Hofstad, Mr. Ralph Leal and Mr. Chris Gibson, and Tony Griffin and Stephanie Suarez E Lindsey Overstreet who was baptized Saturday, December 12, 2020.
We extend heartfelt sympathy to
E the family of Tommy Wayne Frost Devine, who passed away on December 9, 2020. Tommie is father to member Bon Crowder and husband Judson Crowder and grandfather to Kate and John Hunter Crowder. E the family of member Sarah Leney, who passed away on December 12, 2020. E the family of Elvie DeLois Bischoff, who passed away on December 14, 2020. Elvie is mother to member Richard Bischoff and wife Linda Bischoff and grandmother to Lee Bischoff. E the family of Emily Lin, who passed away on December 19, 2020. Emily is mother to member Jennifer Sickman. E the family of Louis Strom, who passed away on December 27, 2020. Louis is father to member Eric Strom. E the family of Earle Martin III, who passed away on December 31, 2020. Earle is son to member Earle Martin Jr., and wife Nancy Martin.
Easter Lily Sales
E Easter lilies are considered the symbols of purity, innocence, new life, and resurrection. and have been used to adorn Christ Church Cathedral for many years. This year, online sales for Easter lilies will be available from Thursday, February 18, to Sunday, March 7. A dedication can be made in loving memory, honor, or in thanksgiving. All dedications received by March 7 will be printed in the Easter leaflets. Dedications received after March 15 will be included in May publications. Contact Lisa Viktorin at lviktorin@ christchurchcathedral.org for details.
PANCAKE, from cover
bag. It includes pancake mix, a batter bottle, Mardi Gras beads and mask, and some other festive surprises. Each bag costs $12 and contains enough pancake batter to make roughly 50 pancakes. Register before Wednesday, February 10, to make sure you get a Pancake Supper party bag! To pick up your party bag, please come to the Cathedral parking garage on Sunday, February 14 anytime between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. You must register to ensure there will be a bag for you. After you register for the event, you will receive the Zoom link in a separate email from Bethany Podgorny, minister for community life. If you have any questions email Bethany Podgorny at bpodgorny@ christchurchcathedral.org.
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The flowers on the Cathedral Altar
E on Sunday, January 17, were given to the glory of God in honor of Amy Lamar Ballanfant on her 30th birthday by her mother, Sarah. E on Sunday, January 24, were given to the glory of God in loving memory of her parents, Mary John and Ralph Spence, by Judy Tate. E on Sunday, January 31, were given to the glory of God in thanksgiving for the service and dedication of the Cathedral’s ushers. E on Sunday, February 14, are given in thanksgiving for the support and constancy of Jill Thompson, Amarillis Bautista Vargas, Phillip Pfister, and Joshua Easterson.
The flowers in the floor vases
E on Sunday, February 7, are given to the glory of God in loving memory of Scott Cawley by his family.
The flowers in the bell porch
E on Sunday, December 27, were given to the glory of God in joyful thanksgiving for 50 years of marriage by David and Ann Fairbanks.
The wreath above the Cleveland window
E on Sunday, December 27, were given to the glory of God in loving memory of Estelle and William M. Cassin, Olla Faye and Jesse Sharman, Thomas Michael Cassin and granddaughter Joanne Cristiana Sowell, Kristi Shipnes Martin, and William B. Cassin by Joanne Cassin and the Thomas Michael Cassin family.
Alzheimer’s and dementia help and support
Have you noticed that people you care for do is for them. Then to add the collective stress and not seem as sharp as they used to be? Have you disorientation we are experiencing as a whole, it suspected that someone you love might have had just keeps adding on layers of unknowing and some memory issues before COVID but have can feel like too much! You do not have to be alone in this and there seen rapid decline since physical and social disis support available depending on what tancing have been in place? you’re looking for. Here are a few options: The effects of physical and social distancing these past 10 months have brought Alzheimer’s Association about unexpected changes in loved ones. support group Many have declined rapidly due to the lack This group is open to all. We meet of interaction with those outside of the monthly via Zoom and have had people home. This includes my father. attend from Washington state and have JODY GILLIT My parents would eat out almost evactive members from multiple churches. MINISTER FOR ery day. They would go to stores and be PASTORAL CARE If you have siblings that don’t live in town around people with whom they had to this might be a great way for you to get supinteract. That hasn’t happened since March. Now port together. If you have a parent that is hesitant their interaction is limited to the mailman and to attend a meeting maybe you could attend it with me. (So thankful for Simon the mailman!) Neigh- them. You can register for this on the “Cathedral bors wave and holler from across the street, but Events” page. that’s it. Right now if you asked me what day is it I Savvy Caregiver class Are you looking to learn how to be a better would respond “blurs-day.” I can’t imagine for a caregiver for yourself and your loved one? Savvy person with dementia, Alzheimer’s, or a cogniHELP AND SUPPORT, page 6 tive impairment how blurry even the clearest day
“Racial Reconciliation and the Baptismal Covenant” In the Book of Common Prayer, our baptismal covenant includes the promise of all Christians to “strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being.” Though in the United States we have made remarkable progress toward this promise in the past 50 years, events of the past several years have demonstrated that we have much work yet to do. Toward that end, on February 19–21 the Cathedral’s Justice & Peace Council will host the conference “Racial Reconciliation and the Baptismal Covenant: Striving for Justice and Peace Among All People.” RACIAL RECONCILIATION About the genesis of the CONFERENCE conference, conference cocoordinator Christopher February 19–21 Matthews said, “This year’s nationwide outcry over enduring inequalities in our justice system drove home that our collective work on healing the nation’s racial wounds is unfinished. We hope this conference will help fellow parishioners and our broader Houston community to understand the legacy of slavery and how successive institutions of injustice continue to this day.” The Justice & Peace Council launched an emphasis
Ash Wednesday
BY THE REV. BECKY ZARTMAN Dwelling on mortality is a good thing. “Remember that you are dust, and to Ash Wednesday is a good day to dwell on dust you shall return.” These words, spo- our mortality, and offer our painfully limken while smudging the sign of the cross ited time to God. At the same time, like on a forehead, are the words most associ- all things in this COVID world we live in, ated with Ash Wednesday, and rightly so. this year will be different. We will be havAsh Wednesday is the day on the church ing services in the Cathedral, at 12:05 and calendar we cut through all the normal 6 p.m. in English, and 7:30 p.m. in Spanbusyness and hubbub of life and focus on ish, with limited attendance. The Cathethe fact that we are mortals, fragile bod- dral will also be open by appointment for RACIAL RECONCILIATION, page 5 ies made of earth, walking through the private prayer throughout the day. Registration is required for all in-perworld, and that one day, we ASH WEDNESDAY son attendance at the Cathedral will return to the dust of the on Ash Wednesday. For those February 17 earth, whence we came. who cannot attend in person, we This year, however, the words hit differently, don’t they? What will be livestreaming all of the Cathedral other year have we been so painfully re- services, and making an at-home liturgy minded, day in, and day out, that we are available as well. But Ash Wednesday isn’t all about mordust, and to dust we shall return? What other year has it been felt so keenly that tality. Ash Wednesday is really beginning we have been stuck in a seemingly per- an observance of a holy Lent. The Book of petual Lent, a painful and penitential, Common Prayer cites self-examination expectant waiting for Easter, for our res- and repentance, prayer fasting and selfurrection? The signs of our mortality this denial, and reading and meditating on year are more than ashes, and they have God’s holy Word as ways to mark a holy been with us all the year long: our collec- Lent. But more than any of those things, tion of masks; our ability to read a chart which are all good and important, we ask and discuss epidemiology; the incessant God, on Ash Wednesday, to “Create and make in us new and contrite hearts.” stories of illness and death. This petition is unmitigatedly hopeful. It’s been a year of pestilence and Buscando la Luz offers community and connection strife, and yet, we can trust that God will Buscando la Luz/Seeking the Light is a program offered by the Latino Ministry of the make in us new hearts, hearts that aren’t Cathedral to our Spanish-speaking congregation. The program has been around for a hardened, hearts that know how to love while and focuses mostly on spirituality and prayer. The group discusses themes related and be close to God. Hearts that know to the church such as governance, history, and content from the Book of Common how to say we’re sorry, hearts that know Prayer. Some weeks the group chooses to have a series of conversations on what is how to forgive, but even more than that, currently happening in their lives. Other times the group studies holy scriptures. And there are occasions the group meets just to celebrate something special. Whatever hearts who know how to be re-made by the people attending Buscando la Luz decide they want to do is what the meeting turns God. On Ash Wednesday, we pray to be out to be, and each meeting becomes a community gathering that strengthens the brought close to God again. And whether relationships people have. All are welcome to attend. Currently, due to the pandemic, we are in church together, or together at this program is offered via Zoom from 7–8 p.m. Buscando la Luz happens on the first home, this is a prayer that God so desperthree Wednesdays of each month throughout the program year of the Cathedral. ately wants to answer.
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THE BULLETIN
Dean’s Cross, Annual Parish Meeting, and more
IN PICTURES
Right: Flo Ray awarded the Dean’s Cross for her dedicated service and involvement in supporting and leading a wide array of Cathedral ministries over the years.
Above:Lucy Chambers holds a Cathedral Bookstore grab bag, available at the pop-up shop outside on Sunday mornings.
Above, right: Making Our Home for Faith Podcast feature Ja’Nee Barton, Gabriel & Lila Perez, and the Forshey family. THE BULLETIN
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RACIAL RECONCILIATION, from page 3
The Dean’s Cross In 2015, Dean Thompson and the Wardens commissioned the “Dean’s Cross,” designed uniquely for Christ Church Cathedral by silversmith Nancy Denmark. Nancy describes the cross’s theme as “Go forth to love and serve the Lord.” The design includes hands in the shape of doves, symbolizing the manner in which we, as faithful Christians, are the instruments of God’s Holy Spirit. The Dean’s Cross is awarded each year to a living Cathedral member in recognition of a lifetime of extraordinary service to the Gospel through Christ Church. RECIPIENTS • 2015 Harry Webb • 2016 Dieter Ufer • 2017 Kay Pieringer
• 2018 John and Margot Cater • 2019 Will Hamilton • 2020 Jack Hurt • 2021 Flo Ray
Below: Risher Randall provides the 2021 EMC report at the annual parish meeting.
Above: Rob Reedy delivers the Senior Warden’s report during the annual parish meeting.
on racial reconciliation in 2018, with a Cathedral pilgrimage of 42 parishioners to the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. In early 2020, the Council hosted a Civil Rights bus tour of Houston. As part of the Cathedral’s vision plan, “Rooted in Christ/Built on Christ,” the Justice & Peace Council has redoubled its commitment to exploring and redeeming issues of race. As preparation for this February’s conference, last November the Dean’s Book Club read Living Into God’s Dream: Dismantling Racism in America, edited by conference keynote speaker Dr. Catherine Meeks. Last month the Council hosted a Zoom discussion group on the film “Just Mercy,” which chronicles the work of Civil Rights attorney Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative. This month’s conference will begin on Friday evening at 7 p.m. with a keynote talk and discussion by Rice University professor and Pulitzer prize-winning author Dr. Caleb McDaniel. Dr. McDaniel’s book Sweet Taste of Liberty is the epic tale DR. CALEB MCDANIEL of Henrietta Wood, a black woman who survived slavery twice and who achieved a moral and legal victory over one of her oppressors. Saturday’s session will be from 9 a.m. until noon. Panelists include Sam Collins III, Kathy Culmer, and Sandra Guerra Thompson on issues of racial inequity in incarceration and sentencing, as well as the history of race in the Episcopal Church. On Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m., the conference will culminate in a lecture by and conversation with Dr. Catherine Meeks, the executive director of the Absalom Jones Center for Racial Healing in the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta. Dr. Meeks is sought-after teacher and workshop leader with four decades of experience dismantling racism in Atlanta. The core of Dr. Meeks’ work has been with people who have been marginalized because of economic DR. CATHERINE MEEKS status, race, gender, or physical ability as they pursue liberation, justice, and access to resources that can help lead them to health, wellness, and a more abundant life. Dr. Meeks will offer words of both challenge and hope, and she points us toward a greater embodiment of God’s Beloved Community. Conference co-coordinator Madeleine Hussey said of the conference, “Our hope is that we will all feel a sense of relief from hearing stories we need to hear, and histories we need to learn.” Dean Barkley Thompson added, “The Book of Common Prayer thanks God for ‘the wonderful diversity of races and cultures in this world.’ With God’s help, Christ Church will ever more fully celebrate our diversity and strive for justice and peace for all God’s people.” The conference will be a Zoom webinar and will also premiere on Facebook. Learn more and register at christchurchcathedral.org/reconciliation. PAGE 5
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CATHEDRAL WEBSITE, from cover
Spring 2021
Adult Educational Lenten & Easter Offerings
Sundays The Dean’s Hour Matinee
Online at 2 p.m. each Sunday through May 25 Dean Barkley Thompson hosts the “Dean’s Hour,” a time for the Dean, other parish leaders, and guest speakers to address matters of faith, church life, and community.
The Robert C. Stuart Lenten Series New Creation! The Ministry of Reconciliation
Feb. 21, 28, March 7, 14, 21 As we are reconciled to God through Christ, we too are called to the ministry of reconciliation, creating our relationships and society anew. Our Lenten program features a series of Dean’s Hour Presentations and Guest Speakers and optional companion discussion groups. Dr. Catherine Meeks, Executive Director of the Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Reconciliation and Healing, begins this lecture series about the hard work of reconciliation in all areas of human life together.
Easter Series • Therefore let us Keep the Feast: Hospitality, with Canon Vicar Pfister, April 11 • Therefore let us Keep the Feast: Hope, with Canon Vicar Pfister, April 18 • Therefore let us Keep the Feast: Joy, with Canon Vicar Pfister, April 25 • C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves I, with Dean Thompson, May 2 • C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves II, with Dean Thompson, May 9 • C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves III, with Dean Thompson, May 16 • C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves IV, with Dean Thompson, May 23
HELP AND SUPPORT, from page 2
Caregiver class might provide understanding and learning tools to help.
Connect Online Want to learn more about Zoom classes that are designed specifically for those with dementia? This is a great way for those who are stuck at home to experience community and for caregivers to have a slight respite during their day. Contact Jody Gillit, minister for pastoral care, at jgillit@christchurchcathedral. org to learn more about these and other ways to support you and your loved ones. THE BULLETIN
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center in the new look. Links to each service are listed on the home page. Both in-person worship and virtual service offerings, as well as events and educational offerings, are more accessible and easier to find information for. Upcoming events can be now be filtered by type and are sorted by date, and can be viewed as a chronological list or in a calendar layout. Options now exist to share events through social media and add them to your calendar as well. “We want to help audiences find ways to engage and interact,” Mills said. “In times of COVID-19, people are looking for new ways to connect wherever they can.” The company hired to implement the design, Membership Vision, has worked with several other Episcopal churches in the Diocese of Texas and elsewhere. “I think of the Cathedral website as the front door to the Cathedral,” Mills said. “It’s some people’s first impression. We want new people to find information but also serve existing members of the parish.” Ministry staff will be able to update changing content in their areas. “It’s not a one and done kind of thing,” Mills said. “The new system will be much more flexible and easier to modify.” As a companion piece to the website, Christ Church will for the first time have a mobile app too. It will be available on Apple and Google Play app stores and will roll out shortly after the website. Chief Administrative Officer Karen Kraycirik said that they had discussed having an app before but that the timing never seemed right. “With COVID, and the way in which our virtual connections have grown, needs have changed dramatically,” she said. Designed by Pushpay, a company focused on helping churches with giving and engagement, the app will be specific to the Cathedral. And like the website, it will also be intuitive. “The app will pull from the website but will be a direct connection,” Kraycirik said. “People can stay in touch with things they care most about.” This might include the start times for service, or a livestream of a service through the app. Podcasts, collaborative ways to plug into Making Our Home for Faith, and opportunities to simplify giving will be available in the palm of a hand. “The app will provide some things that the website won’t,” Kraycirik said. “Like ways to message small groups and receive push notifications about special events.” Kraycirik said that the app may not have all the features to start, but over time new ones will be added. One added benefit of the Cathedral app is that it will serve both the English and Spanish communities. “The user will be able to pick the preferred language once inside the app, allowing both the English and Spanish congregation members to utilize the same product,” she said. The new website, as well as the app, are an added form of outreach that have wonderful potential to spread God’s word and do God’s work. “It is giving all of us access to new audiences,” Mills said. “And allowing us to draw our existing ones even closer.”
CALENDAR OF EVENTS Visit christchurchcathedral.org/events or call 713-222-2593 to learn more about these and other events at the Cathedral. Registration recommended
Registration required
FEBRUARY FEBRUARY 2
TUE
Tuesday Early Morning Men & Women’s Bible Study 7–8 a.m., Zoom Women’s Evening Bible Study 6:30–7 p.m., Zoom FEBRUARY 3
WED
Men’s Morning Bible Study 7–8 a.m., Zoom
Women’s Evening Bible Study 6:30–7 p.m., Zoom
Women’s Evening Bible Study 6:30–7 p.m., Zoom
FEBRUARY 17
FEBRUARY 10
The Dean’s Book Club 6:30–8 p.m., Zoom. A Woman of No Importance, by Sonia Purnell Buscando La Luz 7 p.m., Zoom THU
Thursday Lunchtime Men & Women’s Bible Study 12–1 p.m., Zoom
WED
Ash Wednesday Services 12:05, 6, and 7:30 p.m. (Spanish), inperson and virtual.
Seed Group 6:30–8 p.m., Zoom WED
Women’s Morning Bible Study 9:30–11 a.m., Zoom
Men’s Morning Bible Study 7–8 a.m., Zoom
FEBRUARY 19
Alzheimer’s Association/Dementia Support Group 11:30 a.m., Zoom Thursday Lunchtime Men & Women’s Bible Study 12–1 p.m., Zoom Facilitating Firm Foundations 7–8 p.m., Zoom
FRI
Conference: Racial Reconciliation and the Baptismal Covenant 7 p.m., Zoom FEBRUARY 20
SAT
Conference: Racial Reconciliation and the Baptismal Covenant 9 a.m. to noon, Zoom MOC Blood Drive 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Reynolds Hall
Amazing Women of Faith
FEBRUARY 21
Facilitating Firm Foundations 7–8 p.m., Zoom
Conference: Racial Reconciliation and the Baptismal Covenant during the Dean’s Hour Matinee 2 p.m., Zoom
FEBRUARY 5
FRI
20s & 30s First Friday Fellowship 7:30–8:30 p.m., Zoom
FEBRUARY 11 THU A conversation with Dr. Amy-Jill Levine author of Sermon on the Mount 6 p.m., Zoom FEBRUARY 14
FEBRUARY 5 Bridge Night 6:30 p.m., Zoom FEBRUARY 7
FRI
SUN
Dean’s Hour Matinee 2 p.m., Zoom. How Do You Solve a Problem Like Corinth?: St. Paul and the Corinthians with Dean Thompson FEBRUARY 9
TUE
Tuesday Early Morning Men & Women’s Bible Study 7–8 a.m., Zoom Community of Hope — Circle of Care 6–8 p.m., Zoom
SUN
Pancake Supper Pick-up 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Cathedral Parking Garage Virtual Coffee Hour 10 a.m., Zoom Dean’s Hour Matinee 2 p.m., Zoom. How Do You Solve a Problem Like Corinth?: St. Paul and the Corinthians with Dean Thompson FEBRUARY 16
TUE
Tuesday Early Morning Men & Women’s Bible Study 7–8 a.m., Zoom Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper Virtual Extravaganza 6:30 p.m., Zoom
SUN
Theology Roundtable 6:30–8 p.m., Zoom FEBRUARY 23
TUE
Tuesday Early Morning Men & Women’s Bible Study 7–8 a.m., Zoom Women’s Evening Bible Study 6:30–7 p.m., Zoom
WED
THU
Thursday Lunchtime Men & Women’s Bible Study 12–1 p.m., Zoom Virtual Coffee Hour 10 a.m., Zoom
MARCH 3
WED
The Dean’s Book Club 6:30–8 p.m., Zoom. With Head and Heart: The Autobiography of Howard Thurman Men’s Morning Bible Study 7–8 a.m., Zoom Buscando La Luz 7 p.m., Zoom
20s & 30s Wednesday Night 6:30–7:30 p.m., Zoom MARCH 4
THU
Amazing Women of Faith 6:30–7:30 p.m., Zoom Thursday Lunchtime Men & Women’s Bible Study 12–1 p.m., Zoom MARCH 5
FRI
20s & 30s First Friday Fellowship 7:30–8:30 p.m., Zoom Bridge Night 6:30 p.m., Zoom SUN
Dean’s Hour Matinee 2 p.m., Zoom TUE
Tuesday Early Morning Men & Women’s Bible Study 7–8 a.m., Zoom
Women’s Morning Bible Study 9:30–11 a.m., Zoom
FEBRUARY 28
Women’s Evening Bible Study 6:30–7 p.m., Zoom
MARCH 9
Men’s Morning Bible Study 7–8 a.m., Zoom
FEBRUARY 25
TUE
MARCH 7
Seed Group 6:30–8 p.m., Zoom FEBRUARY 24
MARCH
Women’s Morning Bible Study 9:30–11 a.m., Zoom
Threads of Comfort and Joy 10 – 11 a.m., Zoom
6:30–7:30 p.m., Zoom
Dean’s Hour Matinee 2 p.m., Zoom. The Robert C. Stuart Lenten Series: New Creation! The Ministry of Reconciliation
Tuesday Early Morning Men & Women’s Bible Study 7–8 a.m., Zoom
Buscando La Luz 7 p.m., Zoom THU
Bring a friend!
MARCH 2
Women’s Morning Bible Study 9:30–11 a.m., Zoom
20s & 30s Wednesday Nights 6:30–7:30 p.m., Zoom
FEBRUARY 11
20s & 30s Wednesday Night 6:30–7:30 p.m., Zoom
Childcare available (3 mo. to 12 yrs.)
Men’s Morning Bible Study 7–8 a.m., Zoom
Buscando La Luz 7 p.m., Zoom
Women’s Morning Bible Study 9:30–11 a.m., Zoom
FEBRUARY 4
Registration closed
SUN
Women’s Evening Bible Study 6:30–7 p.m., Zoom Seed Group 6:30–8 p.m., Zoom MARCH 10
WED
20s &30s Wednesday Night 6:30–7:30 p.m., Zoom PAGE 7
THE BULLETIN
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1117 Texas Avenue Houston, Texas 77002-3183
PERMIT No. 6404
Did you know you can read The Bulletin on our website? If you’d like to go “online-only,” contact Ramona Sikes at rsikes@christchurchcathedral.org or call her at 713-590-3301.
Give to Save: MOC to host blood drive All it takes is one blood donation to help save up to 3 lives. During this ongoing pandemic, the need for blood donations continues and these donations are now much harder to obtain. Perhaps you know someone who has received a donation. Or perhaps you have heard of the many young children undergoing bone marrow transplants for cancer who require multiple lifesaving transfusions, or of the child with severe sepsis requiring prolonged hospitalization and many transfusions to save her life. There are many BLOOD DRIVE more stories and there will always be a Saturday, February 20 need for blood donations. In response to this need, the Cathedral’s Mission and Outreach Council will sponsor a blood drive on Saturday, February 20, from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. We had a wonderful response from the Parish in May and hope to be able to help again with your generous donations. Visit the “Events” page on the Cathedral website to learn how to sign up. As a reminder, there will be safety precautions that follow CDC protocols, and a mask is required on campus. For your benefit, all blood donations are tested for antibodies and the results will be provided. THE BULLETIN
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THREE-DIMENSIONAL WORLD, from cover
from us two-dimensionally — when we define them by a label, an opinion, or even by a single action — they are as easy to knock down and disregard as a cardboard cutout blown over by the wind. We begin to consider them as unreal, and the things they say strike us as artificial and ungenuine, like the fabricated sounds pumped through a stadium loudspeaker. How might our lived experience of those around us change if, instead, we granted one another the fullness of our humanity? What if, beyond even that, we granted one another what Genesis 1 claims, that each of us is created in the very image of God, or more faithfully interpreted, that only all together are any of us created in God’s image? If each time we find ourselves, in a knee-jerk manner, about to dismiss someone else with a sneer, shrug, or head shake, we instead imagine the depth of pain or yearning hope that motivates her, the flatness of the cardboard cutout will begin to round and fill. The encounter will then become infinitely more challenging, but it will also begin, if we are faithful to it, to include fathomless grace. Let me end this first meditation of 2021 with a bit of practical advice on where to begin: Read. Author and Episcopal priest Reagan Satterfield points out that “people who read literary fiction are more empathetic than those who don’t.” Good fiction invites us into the interior lives of a story’s characters. It grants us a privileged window into the psychic and emotional fullness of other people. And once we’ve ventured into that interior world in fiction, we can better, and more empathically, imagine the struggles, wounds, and victories that characterize the people we meet in the real world. If you are looking for a place to start in this new year, I recommend Abraham Vergehese’s Cutting For Stone, Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife, Ernest Gaines’ A Lesson Before Dying, or anything by Wendell Berry. I look forward to being with you in all three dimensions in 2021. As soon as you are able, get vaccinated! Happy Epiphany.