News from the Congregation November 5, 2022

Nov 5

Written By Steven Lee; Marsha Ra & Joan Adams

‘‘‘God Comes to Us Disguised as Our Lives’ ; ‘Envy for Good?’ ” | Dates to Remember| Sunday Programs: 10:30am Worship Service In-Person and Online, 11:30am All Are Welcome Coffee Hour, 4:00pm Evensong 4:30pm Wine & Cheese| Weekday Programs: Wed Bible Study on Paul’s Letter to the Romans, M-S Morning and Evening Prayer (Zoom)

Canon Lee

Remarks from the Vicar for the All Souls Day event in the Chapel of St. Ansgar:

A wise clergy person once told me that "God comes to us disguised as our lives." I think this means that there is no separation between the secular and the divine. God isn't over there, while we are living our lives over here. Instead, God is intertwined in our lives, like a thread in a garment. Something as mundane as washing the dishes can be a moment of sacred encounter. We just need to pay attention.

There is more. When we say that God resurrected Jesus Christ from the dead, we mean that death is no longer the end of life. Death isn't over there, while our life is over here. The boundary between them has been erased. God can come to us disguised as death. Even in the death of a loved one, we can meet God. I remember a friend telling me about the death of her sibling. It was a time of tremendous pain, of course, but because she had been surrounded by so much love in that difficult time, she remembered that it was also a moment of great tenderness in her life. God was there with her.

When I see people in the Columbarium praying, lighting a candle, or tracing the names of their loved ones with their finger on the marble and limestone, when I see people lingering in this holy space, I know that they are not alone. God has come to them disguised in the death of their loved ones. In that encounter, God is reminding us that death is no barrier to love.

A Message from the Wardens

Marsha Ra writes on the The Seven Deadly Sins:

Tradition has it that there are seven deadly sins: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride. I thought I might consider each of them: if and how I am guilty of them. Starting in no particular order, I begin with envy and how I personally struggle with it. (If this is all too personal to you, please read no further! )

Envy

I am certainly guilty of the sin of envy. All my life I have indulged in it. When I was a little girl, I envied other children whose mothers put curtains in their rooms that matched the bed covers; girls who were allowed to wear patent leather Mary Jane’s to school when our mother insisted that we wear clunky brown Oxfords that laced up. I envied children who weren’t fat, who didn’t have to pretend that the nickname “marshmallow” was just fine and to laugh when I was called that. I envied girls who had straight blond hair. I envied children whose parents let them have a dog or a bicycle. I guess the underlying cause of the envy was the fact that my loving parents were neither sunny nor optimistic. Anything that might put the children at risk was avoided. Shoes that were pretty but didn’t provide “good support”; bicycles that might be ridden in the street where we could be killed by a car; pets that brought germs and dirt into the house: In retrospect it made sense, but awoke in me that sin of envy.

As an adult my envy has had many other targets unrelated to my parents. Often my envy has revealed a rather shallow side: I envied women who could wear the latest fashion, who were confident and who seemed to have a choice of mates. I envied people in art classes who were more talented than I am and were invited to enter competitions or shows. Looking back at the newspaper clippings saved by my loving parents in those days when I was a budding artist, I was actually in plenty of shows and won my share of competitions, so why the envy?

These days I am still filled with envy: primarily of people who can walk quickly or who seem to have boundless energy. I envy people who are smarter than I am; who understand mathematics; I envy those who can read a philosophical text or who understand 20th century theologians and can read their works without falling asleep. I envy people who haven’t yet read all of Agatha Christie or PD James, Josephine Tey, Ngaio Marsh. That’s another way of saying I envy people who are young with a future ahead to discover and hone their own gifts and who can look forward to the satisfaction of using these gifts well. While my story has played itself out, theirs is ahead of them.

I can attest that I am a person filled with gratitude for all that I have in this life and what I have experienced. But the envy is there and what is the point of it? It is rightly recognized as one of the seven deadly sins. But could it have a positive side? My childhood envy was always related to things I could easily change once I grew up. If I had children, I could make their bedrooms pretty, I could let the girls wear Mary Jane’s as much as they wanted. I could be sunny and say “rise and shine” every morning and buy them dogs and bicycles. That envy was related to behavior that I could decide I wouldn’t be guilty of. But my adult envies, what of them? Well, when I recognize that I am envious, I ask myself why. I consider how to handle that negative attitude. How do I put it aside? Or, how do I use the envy to recognize what my particular gifts are and what they are not. To paraphrase the AA prayer for serenity: how do I to accept those things I cannot change, change those things I can, and how can I find the wisdom to know the difference? Perhaps rather than weeping over our sins with loathing, maybe with God’s help we can use our awareness of them to overcome them. What do you think?

NEWS FROM THE CATHEDRAL - Cathedral of Saint John the Divine (stjohndivine.org

Dates to Remember
Nov 6 - Cathedral Trustee Sunday
Nov 11 to 12 - 246th Annual Diocesan Convention at Westchester Marriott, Tarrytown, New York
Nov 13 - American Poets Corner Evensong honoring 2022 Inductee Lorraine Hansberry
Nov 16 at 7:00 pm - Meet and Greet at St. Andrew's, Harlem for candidates for Bishop of New York
Dec 3 - Special Convention to Elect Bishop Coadjutor at the Cathedral
Dec 6 - Episcopal Charities 25th Anniversary Tribute Dinner at the Cathedral
Dec 9 & 10 at 7 pm - Cathedral Christmas Concerts
Dec 21 - Performance of El Nino, an opera-oratorio by John Adams, at the Cathedral

Columbarium Visits - Please Schedule in Advance
Due to cleaning and ongoing construction at the Cathedral, some areas may occasionally be inaccessible. Anyone wishing to visit a loved one in the Columbarium is strongly encouraged to schedule their visit in advance via this Columbarium Visit Registration form.

HUMANITARIAN RELIEF FOR UKRAINE

Episcopal Relief & Development is supporting Action by Churches Together (ACT Alliance) as it provides critical assistance to support people affected by violence in Ukraine. Working through ACT member Hungarian Interchurch Aid (HIA) and other local organizations, ACT Alliance is providing emergency assistance such as food, shelter, water and basic supplies to refugees and people displaced within Ukraine. Donations to Episcopal Relief & Development’s Ukraine Crisis Response Fund will help the organization and its partners continue to provide assistance to people displaced by the crisis in Ukraine.

NEWS FROM THE DIOCESE Home - Episcopal Diocese of New York (dioceseny.org)

NEWS FROM THE CONGREGATION

The Weekly Sunday Hospitality continues.

Research shows that the more you give the more you get. The more you help, the more invested you become in your church and the more it feeds you. Isn’t that amazing? Do you enjoy the coffee and the treats--the time together every week for conversation and welcoming of visitors? To keep this ministry going we need to expand the number of people involved. If you are on the list of helpers and providers of snacks, THANK YOU! If you haven’t volunteered yet— why not join the team? There is nothing exclusive about it. All are welcome to help out. If you can come once a month or every 6 -8 weeks to set up before the service and clean-up after the coffee hour, please contact Marsha Ra or Sue Sobolewski. Or talk to us on any Sunday. We will get you started on this ministry.

NEWS FROM THE VESTRY

NOMINATIONS FOR VESTRY

Have you ever considered serving on the vestry? What does the vestry do?

Since the Cathedral has a Board of Trustees responsible for many of the things that vestries of parish churches deal with--namely all matters related to the building, land, and staff--our vestry is in the enviable position to deal primarily with issues related to building community and encouraging spiritual growth. The vestry has a special charge to offer welcome to potential new members and visitors alike. The vestry also manages the congregation’s assets—primarily the money collected through our on-going stewardship program and special collections for outreach.

To serve on the vestry:

You must be a baptized Christian and a member in good standing of the Congregation for at least one year prior to the election.
To be a warden you must be a confirmed Episcopalian and you must have served as a member of the vestry in the past.
You must be able to regularly attend vestry meetings. Vestry meetings are held in the evening of the third Tuesday of every month.

To run for the vestry, you must fill out and submit this electronic nomination form. Deadline: December 15, 2022. In January, we will distribute information about the candidates. The election takes place at the annual meeting, which is after the 10:30 AM service on February 5, 2023.

CHANGES TO THE BYLAWS

The vestry has been discussing changing the bylaws so that petition candidates must be proposed prior to the Annual Meeting. If you have any comments about this change, please contact the wardens, Marsha Ra or Joan Adams, or come to the vestry meeting on November 15, 2022, which will take place on Zoom.

GIVE/SERVE

Questions about Realm, the Congregation’s Online Hub for Giving, Volunteering, and Reaching Out to One Another
The Admin team would love to hear from you. Whether you need help making the shift to online donations, setting up your account, or just want to know what Realm can do for you, please contact Laura and Bob at this email address: info@saintsaviour.org

THIS SUNDAY

In-Person Worship at the Cathedral

10:00 am - Doors to Cathedral open.
10:30 am - Eucharist Service
11:30 am - All Are Welcome Coffee Hour
4:00 pm - Evensong
4:45 pm - Wine and cheese social

The Cathedral requires those entering its buildings to wear a mask.

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