News from the Congregation June 18, 2021

Jun 18

Written By Steven Lee; Marsha Ra & Bob Deming

* Weekly Newsletter Goes on Summer Break * ‘Extraordinary Normalcy’; The Communion of Cabs’ | July Book Discussion - Paul Daniels Discusses J Cone’s Black Theology and Black Power, Diocesan Lecture Series on Reparations, Volunteer at CCC’s Sunday Soup Kitchen, | Sunday Programs (11 am Worship Service, 12:00 pm Coffee Half-Hour - Open Conversation) |Weekday Programs (M-S Morning and Evening Prayer).

Canon Lee

he pace of in-person life at the Cathedral has started to pick up. We are now averaging two-to-three committals a week, as we work through the lengthy wait list of those whose services were delayed due to the pandemic. Sometimes up to five different couples inquire each day about weddings. Weekends in the fall are filling up on the Cathedral calendar. Normalcy is returning -- Cathedral-style.

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The 40th anniversary of Paul Winter's Winter Solstice concert was in December 2019. The Dean assigned a Cathedral cleric to do the welcome at each performance. In my remarks, I told the audience that the Winter Solstice embodied what people have come to expect at the Cathedral: a place where the extraordinary is normal.

This week, I was reminded of this "extraordinary normalcy." On Monday, I conducted a funeral for a world-renowned Harlem choreographer and dancer. In planning the service with one of his closest friends, herself a celebrated dancer, I became trepidatious. She wanted several preeminent singers and musicians to perform, but there was a limited amount of time for the service, due to scheduled construction work on the Dome.

I had no reason to worry. The singers, drummers, pianist, and technicians worked closely with me and our Cathedral staff to produce a tightly structured liturgy that was profoundly moving. It was an honor to work with such talented and gracious people.

Also this week, the clergy, musicians, liturgy, and productions staff met in-person for five hours to plan details of the first in-person Sunday service on September 12. As I was sitting in the meeting listening to my highly accomplished colleagues work through the various issues, I was reminded what a privilege it is to be part of this extraordinary team.

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This same "extraordinary normalcy" is found in the Congregation. For example, working with the Audit committee these past few weeks has been a joyous and satisfying experience. (I took one accounting class in college and did not enjoy it, so I say this with surprise.) Joyous because we often laugh together as we find humor in these sometimes mundane tasks, and satisfying because each week, we make so much progress improving our financial processes.

Another example of "extraordinary normalcy" is our new Stewardship and Communications committee. As I mentioned at the Vestry meeting last Sunday, we have expanded the remit of the Stewardship committee to include communications. These accomplished leaders have started reviewing our communications content with the goal of making discipleship a central part of the Congregation's future stewardship campaigns.

I am also excited that the Congregation's Episcopal Futures team has begun taking shape. We have chosen the first member of the team who will serve as its leader. In consultation with the Wardens and others, she and I will spend the summer discerning candidates for the rest of the team. The Letter of Intent for this exciting project is due at the end of the summer.

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This will be the final newsletter of this program year. It will return in late August, as the new program year begins. I hope you have a wonderful summer.

Marsha and Bob

The Senior Warden on “Riding in Cars With Strangers”

When I was in my final position at CUNY I had to travel between campuses at least once a week. My office was in Manhattan but the CUNY campuses are spread over the five boroughs, from the southern end of Brooklyn (the community college affectionately called “Kingsborough by the Sea”) to the northern parts of the Bronx -- Lehman College or Bronx Community College with its amazing Hall of Fame. Public transportation was fine to reach the campuses close by in Manhattan, but for the others I usually used a car service. The drivers were strangers and there was little interaction. As the car moved through the canyons of the city and out onto highways shared with enormous trucks, I would have a sharp sense of my own vulnerability--five feet of soft flesh and brittle bone moving through an overpowering landscape of steel and stone. And yet I also felt so much a part of the soaring city and belching trucks. Beyond the City and through the City, there was always a sure sense of the presence of God. I can’t say why. I can only say that’s how it was. My habit on those rides was to stay focused on the now and to say the Jesus prayer over and over again, not out of fear, but out of a feeling of connection. I very rarely spoke to the driver.

Six months into the pandemic I found that I had to ride in cars with strangers frequently. Staying home wasn’t an option when cancer treatment called. In contrast to those quiet rides saying the Jesus prayer, I found these rides very different. Perhaps because of the isolation, perhaps because I am just a lot older, rides in cabs, in Uber and Lyft cars were treats because I could talk with the drivers and learn about their lives and their thoughts. Of course we both wore masks and there was frequently a plastic sheet between the front and back of the car. Most of the drivers were immigrants. They came from everywhere on the globe. I met a Korean lady who treated me like a queen, a Chinese fellow who had a lot of opinions on the development of a vaccine in his native country. There was the Tibetan with whom I shared memories of the Dalai Lama. An Indian with many relatives back in the old country talked about the pandemic there and his frustration with the corruption of the Indian government. There was the middle aged Ghanaian--a registered Democrat-- who shared his thoughts on the upcoming mayoral primary. Last week there was the man from Mauritania who is just 20 and is enrolled in a CUNY community college. He wants to be a movie director and win an Oscar, but he thinks his parents back home won’t approve so he’s getting a degree in business administration. With these and so many others the conversations were the highlight of my day. The Jesus prayer waited until I was undergoing treatment.

When these rides began in September, the streets were almost empty. There were a lot of moving vans and closed stores. On the “life goes on” front, I saw many people sitting and having a meal in those odd outside dining areas. Everyone was masked on the street. Today I find New York City traffic as bad as it ever was and celebrate what this means: the City is coming back, day by day. More stores are open and about half the people on the street no longer wear masks. When I relax at home I find myself thinking about those drivers and wonder how their lives are going. I pray for them in thanksgiving but also for their safety and that they may find joy in life. I am especially thankful for the City. Here is a microcosm of the whole world-- a mish-mash of men and women born in Queens or Russia, Africa or Asia, who make their lives here with us. We are given the privilege, us urban dwellers, to interact with our fellow human beings in all their diversity. We can learn through this beautiful tapestry of souls that there is no such thing as “the other,” as them and us. We are all God’s creatures and we are all loved by God.

Beginning on July 6 we will be invited to worship God in the Cathedral in our special Christian way, through giving thanks in the Eucharist, sharing the Bread and experiencing the presence of Christ. The long Eucharistic fast will have ended. It is my personal hope that as I am able to stand at the altar and receive the Body of Christ, I will remember the many strangers I met during this pandemic and that I will continue to celebrate in my heart the beauty God exposed me to in those difficult days.

May you have a beautiful, grace-filled summer!

NEWS FROM THE DIOCESE

Voices Heard: A Diocese Explores Pathways Toward Reparations

A webinar series sponsored by the Reparations Committee of the Diocese of New York

The legacy of the transatlantic slave trade is deeply entrenched in the structural systems and legislative actions that govern communities today. This series of panel discussions organized by the Reparations Committee for the Diocese intends to broaden awareness and deepen our understanding of the pressing topics of an intractable nature of systemic racism on education, health, economics, gender, policing and the criminal justice system, the church and more that negatively impact people of African heritage.

Bringing experts, community organizers, civic leaders, clergy and laity into dialogue will help to inform us and make commitments for engagement in our own communities as we prepare our cause for action in making recommendations for the task brought forth through Resolution regarding the Reparations Fund.

All webinars are on Tuesdays, 7:00-8:30 p.m.

The Awakening of Unwoke People: Church, Religion and State
Tuesday, July 6
Register in advance for this webinar:
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_O7p4u1B2RT6JOI8VH4F7lQ

Rectors of Color: Examining the Missed Opportunities of Deployment
Tuesday, July 20
Register in advance for this webinar:
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_We8dfFOxSrmEbPHnK1WZmA

NEWS FROM THE CATHEDRAL

July Book Group Discussion - Black Theology and Black Power
Facilitator. Fr. Paul Daniels II

James Hal Cone published Black Theology & Black Power in 1969 - a work of protest born through Cone's anger at the assassination of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The book imagines, and performs, how the ethos of the Black Power Movement might work in a Christian tenor. And, as a result, Cone began laying the ground for a Black liberation theology wherein God is on the side of the oppressed, standing in total and unremitting judgment of white, settler colonial Christianity.

This is a good old fashion reading group - not a class. We will read together and discuss the entirety of Cone's text over the course of four weeks in July. We'd so love to have you! Below is the schedule:

July 4th: Introduction and Chapter One

July 11th: Chapter Two and Chapter Three

July 18th: Chapter Four and Chapter Five

July 25th: Chapter Six

CLICK HERE for Zoom access

Or call: (646) 558-8656

Meeting ID: 988 6945 6722

GIVE/SERVE

Questions about Realm
Christopher Clowdus and Neil Reilly invite your questions about Realm, the Congregation's giving database, at this email address: stewardship@saintsaviour.org.

CCC - Volunteer Opportunity at Sunday Soup Kitchen
Join us at CCC's Sunday Soup Kitchen (8:30 am - 11:00 am) to help prepare and distribute food and to staff Saint Saviour's Table. Please CLICK HERE to sign up! Shifts are open through the third week in July. Thank you so much for volunteering!

THIS SUNDAY, June 20, 2021

11:00 AM - Watch the Cathedral worship service on Zoom with other members of the Congregation. As a way to maintain a prayerful atmosphere, we will be turning off Zoom chat for the duration of the service.

You can also watch the Cathedral Worship Service
On Facebook: http://facebook.com/StJohnDivineNYC
On the Cathedral website: http://www.stjohndivine.org

12:00 PM - Digital Coffee Half-Hour
Join us at this week’s Digital Coffee Hour to meet members of the congregation or hear guest speakers, This Week: Open Discussion

June 27: Conversation with the Rev. Gina Gore, Chaplain, The Cathedral School