News from the Congregation June 4, 2021

Jun 4

Written By Steven Lee; Marsha Ra & Bob Deming

‘Vicar’s Updates on Congregation Admin’;’ ‘The Modern Mind, Part III’ | July Book Discussion - Paul Daniels Discusses J Cohn’s Black Theology and Black Power, Auditions for Cathedral’s Schola Cantorum, Diocesan Lecture Series on Reparations, Volunteer at CCC’s Sunday Soup Kitchen, | Sunday Programs (11 am Worship Service, 12 pm Coffee Half-Hour - Open Conversation) |Weekday Programs (M-S Morning and Evening Prayer).

Canon Lee

Last Sunday morning, I spent several hours volunteering at the soup kitchen of Cathedral Community Cares. It was good to see others from the Congregation.

It was also good to meet the volunteers and coordinators from New York Cares, our hardworking Cathedral staff, and everyone who came to receive food.

I am excited to think with you about how the Congregation might minister to each of these groups. As a part of my discernment in answering this question, I will be volunteering each Sunday until I leave for vacation in mid-July.

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Some brief logistical items:

The Audit Committee has made significant progress on the 2020 audit. It should be complete by mid-June. The Committee will then work on the delayed 2019 audit, which should be complete a few weeks later.
After several years of dedicated effort by several Cathedral staff members, the files for the Columbarium have now been cleaned up and properly organized. In preparation for sales in the newly expanded Columbarium, the Cathedral has hired an archivist to digitize these files this summer. This archivist will report to Hope Chang.
Given the increased administrative needs of the Columbarium, which is managed out of my office in my role as Canon Pastor, the Congregation will start taking a more direct administrative role over its own affairs.
Part of this increased role will mean Room 118 in Cathedral House will function as the administrative hub for the Congregation. The Vestry will begin discussing improvements to Room 118 at its June meeting.
When Sunday in-person worship resumes on September 12, a new giving policy will be enacted. All giving in the offering baskets will go to the Cathedral. Giving to the Congregation will continue through the new online system Realm. This new process will simplify administration, reduce errors, and improve transparency.
As a consequence, we will no longer be ordering offering envelopes.
For real-time giving updates, please log into your account in Realm. If you need help, please contact Christopher Clowdus or Neil Reilly at stewardship@saintsaviour.org.

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Another gem from Henri Nouwen's The Genesee Diary:

Speaking about prayer, I asked John Eudes a question that seemed very basic and a little naïve: “When I pray, to whom do I pray?” “When I say ‘Lord,’ what do I mean?” John Eudes responded very differently than I expected. He said, “This is the real question, this is the most important question you can raise; at least this is the question that you can make your most important question..."

“It is far from easy,” John Eudes said, “to make that question the center of your meditation. You will discover that it involves every part of yourself because the question, Who is the Lord to whom I pray? leads directly to the question, Who am I who wants to pray to the Lord? And then you will soon wonder, Why is the Lord of justice also the Lord of love; the God of fear also the God of gentle compassion? This leads you to the center of meditation. Is there an answer? Yes and no. You will find out in your meditation. You might some day have a flash of understanding even while the question still remains and pulls you closer to God. But it is not a question that can be simply one of your questions. In a way, it needs to be your only question around which all that you do finds its place. It requires a certain decision to make that question the center of your meditation. If you do so, you will realize that you are embarking on a long road, a very long road.”

The Rev. Canon Steven Lee
Canon Pastor and Vicar

Marsha and Bob

Reflection Three of Four on the Modern Mind by Robert Deming, Junior Warden.

This third reflection stretches out toward the wider community. Just as the Gothic architecture of the Cathedral has lofty ceilings with much inner-outer space, this inquiry seeks to create much inner-outer space involving the modern person.

This quote, which appeared in the second reflection, comes from Merlin Donald’s A Mind So Rare: The Evolution of Human Consciousness (2001). Donald writes: “On a deeper level, any given culture is a gigantic cognitive web, defining and constraining the parameters of memory, knowledge, and thought in its members, both as individuals and as a group” (p. xiv).

Since my overarching topic is the modern mind, I look back toward the cultural traditions that have influenced my conception. I am thinking of The Thinker. It is a famous sculpture of Auguste Rodin, completed in two stages. The first was “The Gates of Hell,” which was presented to the public around 1882. It depicts a scene from the Inferno of Dante’s The Divine Comedy. The Thinker sits above, pondering the hellish fate of those below. Rodin later enlarged and recast The Thinker as an independent statue. This bronze and marble statue was completed in 1902, unveiled to the public in 1904, and became the property of Paris, appearing at the Pantheon in 1906. The sculpture grew in popularity and became a symbol of intellectual activity. A reproduction of the statue is in front of Philosophy Hall at Columbia University.

I did some research on Rodin, and this is what he says about how he thinks as an artist:

I am unfortunately a slow worker, being one of those artists in whose mind the conception of work slowly takes shape and slowly comes to maturity. I lay my work aside while it is yet unfinished, and for months I may appear to abandon it. Every now and then, however, I return to it and correct or add a detail here and there. I have not really abandoned it, you see, only I am hard to satisfy. (Catherine Lampert, Rodin: Sculpture and Drawings, 1986, p. 135)

Given that Rodin (1840-1917) worked in the late 19th century and early 20th century, that deliberation and preoccupation with getting something right can provide a source for comparison and contrast with thinking tendencies associated with the modern world.

In our information age, there is the option to think quickly. Consider how fast information arrives over the Internet. What about Rodin’s preoccupation with getting something right: is that part of the overall picture?

I gave myself the task of picturing the modern thinker. Since I had Rodin’s The Thinker fixed in my imagination, I decided to explore Amazon.com as a way to get a glimpse of what might be out there. In the search field for products, I entered: The Thinker. The first few results at the top were miniature replicas of Rodin’s statue. What caught my eye as I scrolled down was a singular statue and then as I scrolled further down a series of three statues that included the singular statue.

The contrasts to Rodin’s The Thinker were revealing. This was a female, occupying a few different poses. The most striking aspect of the statues was the open space in the middle, as though there was an inner-outer ambiguity.

I was intrigued. Who had created the sculptures? One of the listings was Ozzptuu, but that turned out to an online store. There were different distributors of the product. I could not identify the creator; these products seemed to fit into the anonymity of mass marketing.

The point at which I realized that I was interested in purchasing the series of sculptures was when I made the connection: they correspond to ARA, the acronym of the modern mind. The sculpture on the left can be a match for the Autonomous Mind, when something attracts one’s attention and perhaps lingers as intriguing or interesting. The sculpture in the middle can be a match for the Reflective Mind, when something seeks to come into focus, and one tries to figure out as much as possible. The sculpture on the right can be a match for the Algorithmic Mind, when someone works toward a solution that may indeed endure. To buy the sculptures, I had to choose a distributor. I went with Trycooling because I liked the name. My last determination that I had to make involved color: there were plenty of choices, gold, resin, silver, sandstone, and black. I opted for black.

The large Amazon box came to our apartment a few days later, and my wife wondered what it was. As we were opening the box, I played coy, indicating that it was something I had been working on. She checked out the statues and the way she reacted was unexpected. It certainly did not match my inner enthusiasm; yet, her response was not dismissive either. She said that the statues reminded her of the three monkeys, and the phrase, “see no evil.”

Her reference did not mean much to me, so later that day I went to the computer to clarify what she meant. I keyboarded into the Google search field: three monkey statues, see no evil. One of the results had a link to statues available at Amazon.com. I ignored that and clicked the result that had a link to the Wikipedia article, Three wise monkeys. The first sentence of the Wikipedia article states: “The three wise monkeys are a Japanese pictorial maxim, embodying the proverbial principle, ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.’” The article also has a photo of Mahatma Gandhi’s three monkey statues.

I made the determination not to display my new, black statues in our apartment at present but to put them in our rented CubeSmart storage space that is located in New Jersey, where we keep extras. Before I took away the statues, I figured that I better take a few photos of them. Using Adobe Photoshop software, I was able, like the photos at Amazon, eliminate the background. I isolated each sculpture and superimposed the three onto a photo which I had selected at Adobe Stock of an awards platform. The end result seemed satisfying.

The statues are placed in sequence: Autonomous Mind, Reflective Mind and Algorithmic Mind. What is new is that I have given them rankings: Autonomous Mind ranks second or the silver medal, Reflective Mind ranks first or the gold medal, and Algorithmic Mind ranks third or the bronze medal. The relative rankings have a certain logic in present day culture. Reflective Mind is in first place. Ancient teaching coming from Socrates states: “An unexamined life is not worth living.” Autonomous Mind takes second place, at least in the West, where individuality is greatly valued. Algorithmic Mind is in third place, as it is something relatively new and thereby uncertain. Algorithms represent a realm where much is still to be determined.

That completes my third reflection, and there is one more reflection to go.

(For engagement or for communication about something of note, my email address is available in the Realm Directory, under my name Robert Deming.)

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.

Medical Apartheid and Systemic Racism
Tuesday, June 8
Register in advance for this webinar:
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nFHMDwq8Tb-n1eP7l9VIrw

Reaching For a Better Tomorrow: The Work and Mission of Hudson Link Working For Higher Education in Prison
Tuesday, June 22
Register in advance for this webinar:
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_j5SokWcXRq-2Aj_VW1m-Ng

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

Join the Cathedral family as we read together James Cohn’s seminal work “Black Theology and Black Power” Facilitated by Rev. Paul Daniels II, this group will meet at 12:00 noon on Zoom (link to be provided) for four Sunday’s in July. All are welcome. The book may be purchased in hard copy or as an ebook.

Auditions for Cathedral Schola Cantorum

The Cathedral Music Team is excited to resume our Cathedral Schola Cantorum, inviting all youth currently in middle school and high school to audition for placement in the Schola. This ensemble will share in the great Cathedral tradition of choral singing that has been a hallmark at St. John the Divine for nearly 120 years. The Schola Cantorum will rehearse once a week on a date to be confirmed, and will sing at select liturgies and concerts throughout the year. The Schola Cantorum will frequently perform in collaboration with the Cathedral Choristers, an ensemble made up of students from the Cathedral School, and with the other ensembles in residence at the Cathedral. For more information and to schedule an audition, please contact Samuel Kuffuor-Afriyie, Organ Scholar, at Skuffuor@stjohndivine.org.

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 6, 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,

June 6: Open Discussion
June 13: Vestry Meeting
June 27: Conversation with the Rev. Gina Gore, Chaplain, The Cathedral School