“Would you please read that again?”

“And I saw the river over which every soul must pass to reach the Kingdom of Heaven. And the name of that river was Suffering. And I saw the boat that carries souls across the river, and the name of that boat was Love.”

— attrib. St. John of the Cross (1542–1591)

The author Gary Zukav tells about a custom at his local high school, in which ninth graders used to be invited every year to join in a weeklong retreat to get to know each other better as they embarked on this important time of life together. It’s a vulnerable time of life, when the still, small voice of truth and holiness in us can be drowned out by the more insistent voices of others telling us who we are and how we should live.

Zukav explains that during this retreat, ninth graders get to know each other over the course of an entire week through a variety of activities. Then, they are divided into groups of 10–12, where they are asked to write down on small pieces of paper something they have grown to especially value about each person in their group.

They aren’t writing about an ability, such as, “You are a great athlete.” And not a characteristic like, “You are so charming.” Instead, everyone focuses on one person in the group at a time, and each person writes something meaningful, something of fundamental value about that person, such as, “I appreciate how

Summer Sunday altar flowers

Fresh altar flower arrangements for Sunday services may be donated to honor a friend or family member, a loved one, to celebrate a birthday or anniversary. There are a few vacancies in June, July, and August for Sunday altar flower donors.

Please contact Lisa Viktorin at lviktorin@christchurchcathedral.org for more information.

you take strong stands, without making other people feel wrong.” Or, “I feel safe around you, because I know you are listening.”

Then, each person listens as every member of the group speaks these affirmations that they have written on the small pieces of paper. And the person who is receiving these affirmations is allowed to respond in one of three ways. She can say, “Thank you,” or she can say, “Thank you very much,” or she can say, “Would you please read that again?”

Some years ago, an older person who had long since graduated from that local high school was killed in an automobile accident. And in his wallet were small pieces of paper from the beginning of his freshman year in high school, with words of appreciation written by new friends in his circle of peers. It’s enough to make a person pause and ponder:

• What can you say to someone that is so meaningful that he will carry it with him until the day he dies?

• What causes you to speak such deep, heartfelt, and healing messages to another person?

• And what makes someone take little scraps of paper with such life-affirming words and put them in his wallet, so that later, he can take them out now and then, look at them again, and remember that at a difficult time in his life, someone once saw him.

SEARCH, from cover available for an extended period of time. Juggling all that is very time consuming and our chair, Linnet Deily, has done a fantastic job with process and with leading our committee. I encourage you to tell her thanks the next time you see her.

Please keep us in your prayers, and pray for us to truly listen to each other and to open ourselves to the Holy Spirit.

The Cathedral’s May Fete legacy lives on among our angels

JENIFER JACKSON SCHLAICH

A long time ago at a cathedral very close by, my grandmother, Juanita Marie, was crowned Queen of May Fete. This family history is often recalled and my grandmother’s picture as queen has been duplicated numerous time. She was a vivid, kind and active woman standing almost six feet tall in her heels. Some of my fondest memories are going to church with her on Sunday mornings and attending dinners to raise funds for the church she attended. She was also a member of the Altar Guild and I was happy when I went with her to pick out flowers for the alter and watch as she prepared the alter for service on Sunday. With her passing, I envision her as an Angel among the splendor of heaven; but I, being human, also like to envision her angel visiting amongst us, especially at the celebration of May Fete.

More recently, my daughter, Celeste Marie Jackson, was crowned Queen of May Fete. While she was more excited about being crowned queen than repeating our historic family moment, the moment was not lost on me. According to family tradition, Celeste was given my grandmother’s middle name in her honor. My husband and I christened our daughter Celeste in Golding Chapel because we believed her to be our gift from heaven, our celestial angel. Much to our family fortune, Celeste even resembles my grandmother with her heart shaped face and curly hair. Along with being crowned queen, Celeste has also had the pleasure of participating in the May Pole dance, again family history repeating itself.

10 AM | WORSHIP

A special bilingual service of Holy Communion in the Cathedral with music of English-and Spanishlanguage congregations.

11:15 AM | THE MAY POLE DANCE & THE CROWNING OF THE KING & QUEEN

Following worship, gather in the Bishop’s courtyard for the May Pole dance and the crowning of this year’s royals!

11:45 AM | MAY FETE REVELRY & LUNCHEON

With the ceremony over, head into Huffington Playground and Reynolds Hall for food, games, and live music!

Summer Shade for Youth

Summer Shade returns on June 16 with a spectacular lineup! Every Thursday night we will gather at 6:30 p.m. for a movie night, activity night, or game night. This year our lineup will even include a trip to watch the Astros and the Downtown Aquarium! You can’t miss it! Summer Shade is for rising sixth graders through seniors who just graduated. Friends are welcome. This is a great opportunity to gather as a community for fellowship and fun!

Ushers: A ministry of connection

Both these angels have brought great joy to my life. If I close my eyes during May Fete, I can envision my grandmother in the Great Hall serving food or in the Courtyard supervising our current little angels on earth playing games on the playground. With my eyes open, I will see my daughter competing in the ring toss in order to win a soda as many times as she can get away with it. She will then “volunteer” to participate in the cake walk and to help with facilitating the activities.

New to our family’s role in May Fete, I will serve as the Chair for 2023. I invite you to the 10 a.m. bilingual service for which I am excited. I invite you to the courtyard to watch the May Pole dance and see who is crowned May Fete King and Queen this year. I invite you to enjoy all the festivities until 1:30 p.m. I invite you to enjoy the company of all the angels among us and to honor the Lord with our joy and laughter. I pray we can enjoy this time together and come into the presence of our Lord’s love for all.

Lead usher Brian Matusek said whenever he has found himself in a new place he has tried to get involved where he can. This led him to serving as an usher at five Episcopal churches. “I looked for ways to participate and got involved almost immediately when we came here,” he said. Why an usher? Matusek said there are a multitude of reasons and that everyone is motivated and encouraged by different things. But he describes being an usher as mostly a welcoming ministry. “For me this is a fellowship of people and in order to make this ministry work it takes more than just the clergy. In participating with other parishioners, I get to know people. It gets you attached to the church.”

He describes the role as the easiest ministry to get involved in. “All it requires is coming in a little earlier before a service that you would be going to anyway.” He added that there’s also some participation with the offering plates

USHERS, page 5