News from the Congregation March 29, 2019
From Fr. Steven
Recently, I've been telling anyone who will listen to me that the "Cathedral is not a restaurant." What I mean is that while restaurants exist to satisfy their customers with good food, excellent wine lists, and attentive service, the Cathedral's purpose is not to meet a market demand.
The Cathedral (or any church) does not exist to satisfy its "customers." This often confuses new (and long-time) members of a church community because choosing a church has all the marks of consumer choice. We look for a church that is a good fit for us, with the right kind of worship service, or sermons, or people, or clergy leadership, or building, or whatever else is on our list.
But the profound irony of any church, including the Cathedral, is that it can only meet our needs when we put the needs of others first.
It is only when we cease to become consumers who expect to be served (or who complain about the menu, or who demand to speak to the manager), and when we start to wash the dirty dishes in the back, or pay for the meals of our less fortunate neighbors around us, or take out the garbage, or peel the potatoes, that we become, as the earliest Christians were known, the followers of the Way.
It is this Way, Jesus taught, which leads to the deepest fulfillment of all of our needs.
The Rev. Steven Lee
Vicar
From Marsha and Tim
Dear Friends,
The Congregation of Saint Saviour offers many opportunities to deepen your spiritual journey during these weeks of Lent.
Unburdening--Saturday morning meditations 9:30 – 10:30 a.m.
We sit quietly in a circle in Saint Saviour chapel with several other people meditating. We are in the sanctuary of the nearly empty Cathedral. An ambulance goes by. A young people’s choir rehearses in the nave. Morning light pours in through the stained glass window depicting the Transfiguration. Most of us close our eyes. This is Unburdening—a series of meditations on Saturday mornings in Lent led by congregation member Mark Dilcom. Mark picks a theme for each Saturday morning and reads some poetry before we enter the silence. When the meditation ends someone points out the energy that seems to flow from the center of the space we have encircled. You are invited to join in this quiet start to the weekend.
Astonished by Grace Sundays, 10:00 a.m. Cathedral Nave led by the Vicar
How do the Beatitudes relate to the Ten Commandments? How and why are the poor blessed? How do we know when Jesus is being metaphorical and when is he being literal? These and other questions are wrestled with at the Vicar’s Lenten Bible study, Astonished by Grace continuing this Sunday at 10:00 a.m. in the nave. Join Father Lee to consider these and other questions as we look for the Good News in the Gospel of Matthew.
Tuesday, April 2, 6:30 PM - 8 PM Incarceration: From the inside looking out and from the outside looking in
Chapel of St. James
How does it feel to be incarcerated in an American prison? How difficult is the transition into society?
Elizabeth Howard is joined in conversation with Robert Pollock, editor of The Named and The Nameless, 2018 PEN Prison Writing Awards Anthology; Samuel Cabassa, Certified Recovery Peer Advocate; and Lanetta Hill, a supervisor for Services for the Underserved. Robert Pollock, Samuel Cabassa and Lanetta Hill have all been incarcerated in New York State prisons. Bruce MacLeod, President of the Board of Truestees of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and member of the Board of Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison, will introduce the event.
Remembering Cathedral Community Cares during Lent
The Congregation is collecting hygiene products for CCC. A box is set up at the Welcome table and you may leave your donations in the box. Bring soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorants, hand lotion and shampoos. Another option is to order such supplies and have them delivered (I have done that with soap and detergent). The delivery should be to
Thomas Perry
Cathedral Community Cares
1047 Amsterdam Avenue
New York, NY 10025
Thomas and the people he and his staff serves are grateful for your continued support!
Many blessings,
Tim and Marsha
Children, Youth, and Families
No Collusion! Absolutely No Collusion!
There is one winner already in our current contest. However, rest assured that there is absolutely NO collusion involved with the naming of that winner. AND there’s plenty of room for lots more winners. Our current contest for the students in the two classes at St. John the Divine is very simple.
Here’s all that needs to be done to be a winner --
name 3 Easter symbols
OR
name 3 Bible stories
OR
name 3 miracles of Jesus
OR
name 3 parables of Jesus
Our current winner may also go on to win again and again and again by correctly identifying other categories.
This contest ends during class time on Palm Sunday, April 14.
Symbols talked about so far are eggs, butterflies, crosses, and hearts. This Sunday we’ll meet a snail which is a not really well known Easter symbol.
The youngest class has heard the story of Noah’s Ark and saw and touched several different depictions of the Ark.
This Sunday they’ll be hear a Whale of a Tail!
Donna Devlin
Director of Christian Education
MARCH 29, 2019