Canon Lee
You should be proud of the Congregation's hospitality over the past several Sundays. You have helped make the beginning of this historic program year at the Cathedral a success.
One of Dean Malloy's stated priorities is to rebuild the relationship between the Cathedral and the community. The community includes the churches in the Diocese as well as our neighbors in Morningside Heights and Harlem. Thanks to your efforts, we are making significant progress in achieving this goal.
In the midst of our busy September, don't miss the new Chair Campaign launching this Sunday on St. Francis Day. After many years of delay, Dean Malloy and the Senior Leadership Team have pushed this initiative forward to completion.
The Cathedral has ordered 2,000 new chairs that will arrive in the spring. The new chairs will be stackable, which will save storage space. They will be lighter, which will reduce the burden on our facilities staff. Most importantly, they will be much more comfortable than the current chairs, which are decades old, and in many cases, falling apart.
The new chairs are another tangible symbol of the Cathedral's renewal in this season.
A generous donor has already made a major gift for 10% of the chairs. In speaking to many of the priests around the Diocese, I know that many of them, and their parishes, are excited to join in the campaign.
I hope that all of you, as members of the resident worshipping community who sit in the Cathedral chairs every week, will also be moved to participate in the campaign.
The Rev. Canon Steven Lee
Vicar
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FIND YOUR SEAT AT THE CATHEDRAL
At every event and service, there is a seat for everyone at the Cathedral.
This spring, we will receive 2,000 new chairs that we will use when we gather.
We invite our community to name these chairs in honor of family members, friends, beloved church leaders, or even pets. For each gift of $250, we will engrave a plaque with your chosen name(s) that will be placed on the back of each chair beneath a beautiful etching of our historic rose window! The Cathedral is a treasured gathering place for the City, and these beautiful new chairs will be a gift to our vibrant community.
NOTE: As chairs in the Cathedral are consistently rearranged, we can’t guarantee that you’ll be able to sit in or visit your chair but are happy to facilitate a picture of your engraving as possible!
Stay tuned for the donation form, which will go live on Sunday, October 1: St. Francis Day.
Interested in making a major gift to help underwrite the cost of these chairs, and honor a wider community? Contact Taylor M. Johnson at tjohnson@stjohndivine.org.
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UPCOMING EVENTS
Sunday, Oct 1, 10:30 AM - The Feast of St. Francis with the return of the Procession of Animals. All advance passes have now been distributed, so all are welcome for the fair following the service, or to take part via livestream.
Monday, Oct 9, 6:30 PM - Join the Community at the Crossing for a panel discussion with David Ford, author of The Gospel of John: A Theological Commentary.
David Frank Ford, OBE is an Anglican public theologian. He was the Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge beginning in 1991. He will be joined in conversation by Canon Sarah Snyder, founder and director of the Rose Castle Foundation, an inter-Faith peace-building organization, and Micheal O’Siadhail, distinguished Irish poet.
Dialogues on Divinity is a series presented by the Community at the Crossing, an ecumenical monastic order for young adults, in residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The Dialogues series seeks to address vital contemporary issues with a theological lens. Upcoming events will feature Prof. Amy-Jill Levine (Vanderbilt University, Nashville) and Prof. Sarah Coakley (University of Cambridge, University of Harvard), among others.
Thursday, Oct 12, 6:00 PM - Public Opening of Divine Pathways, a site-specific installation by artist Anne Patterson.
RSVP: Please click Here.
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DAILY PRAYER IN COMMUNITY
Morning Prayer
8:00 AM - Online Diocesan service. Link.
8:00 AM - In-person service with the Community at the Crossing. Enter through the 5-door by the security booth.
8:30 AM - Online Cathedral service. Link.
Evening Prayer
5:30 PM - Online Cathedral service. Link.
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CONGREGATION FALL RETREAT AT HOLY CROSS
October 27-29, 2023
“Fall Triduum” led by Brother Robert Sevensky
The Fall Triduum refers to the three days that come during the week following our retreat weekend: Halloween, All Saints and All Souls and mirrors in a way the Spring or Easter Triduum, though in a minor key. We will explore the rich religious and folk history as well as the music and art surrounding these days: What does the Fall Triduum represent to us and how does it impact us even--perhaps especially--today? There is a mystical spirituality latent in this period that has its own power and excitement.
Where: Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, N.Y.
When: Friday, October 27, 2023 - Sunday, October 29, 2023
Leader: Brother Robert Sevensky
Cost: $300, includes private room with shared bath, and six meals (Friday supper-Sunday lunch).
Available Slots: 15
How to Register: Please register and pay through this link in Realm (Deadline: Sept. 30) (Payment is due upon registration.)
Contact Person: Michael Nixon
This retreat will be a wonderful experience, discussing a topic that would be of interest to many, led by Brother Robert Leo, who has worked with the Congregation of St. Saviour in the past. It is also a wonderful way to connect with members of the congregation more deeply and share something special.
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THIS SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 29
In-Person Community
8:30 AM - Volunteer at the soup kitchen of Cathedral Community Cares
9:00 AM - Cathedral doors open
10:30 AM - St Francis Day Service
12:30 PM - Young Adults of Saint Saviour Bible Study
1:00 PM - St Francis Day Fair
4:00 PM - Evensong
Online Community
10:30 AM - Live-stream of Sunday service
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Congregation Column
Marsha Ra on Thoughts on Saint Francis Day and the Blessing of the Animals:
Each First Sunday in October for decades, the Cathedral has observed the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi with the performance of the Earth Mass-including recordings of animal voices, a dancing troop or two, combined choirs, and crowds of people. The highlight for many is the procession of animals large and small at the conclusion of the service. They process in silence and with great dignity up the center aisle of the nave and to the front where they are blessed by the Bishop of New York. People pour into the Cathedral for this service, their beloved pets in tow--mostly dogs but also cats, bunnies and snakes. Perhaps a gerbil will get lose and run around the nave until the embarrassed owner retrieves it. Sometimes the animals seem to actually participate in the mass. The Kyrie features the voice of a Siberian wolf. Dogs in the pews have been known to answer their canine cousin with their own howls. Some in the congregation receive Holy Communion with a bunny on their shoulder or perhaps a large snake draped around their neck. Later on the Close, people stream onto the Bishop’s green to have their beloved pets blessed. Some years Saint Francis seems to get lost in all this, but his love of the natural world does not, nor does the importance of our role as stewards of God’s green earth.
As we observe people with their companion animals during the service and after, we are tempted to become sentimental. This is a mistake. On Saint Francis Day we are not celebrating cute. We are celebrating and contemplating something that fills us with awe, that overwhelms us with joy, that is eternally mysterious to the core: it is the divine web of life and where we fit into it.
In recent years zoologists have been studying how various creatures perceive the world and how they communicate. When we consider our fellow creatures on planet earth, it is essential that we understand that their lives are very different but not less than our own. Animals can do things we cannot dream of doing, know things we cannot know and perceive things we cannot perceive. The slice of physical reality that they have access to is very different from what we have access to. Ed Yong in An Immense World writes about animal perception and it is quite amazing how much we cannot know about the very environment we inhabit. The world that the elephant, the bat, the bee and the bird know, for example, is in each case very different from the world we know, yet it is equally real and true. Zoologists observe animals communicating, but what they are saying to each other is part of a mystery not yet deciphered. A recent article in the New Yorker asks if AI will enable us to actually talk to animals some day. Will we finally achieve what the fictional Dr. Doolittle did? Maybe, but in the meantime we can marvel that humpback whales and elephants can communicate over many miles at a frequency far below what humans can hear. They do this without cables or satellite dishes. At the other end of the spectrum, when the very high frequency voices of mice are recorded and lowered to a frequency humans can hear, it is discovered that mice actually sing.
We dream of the “peaceable kingdom” when the lion shall lie down with the lamb. But do we not also dream of the day when it will be possible for us to understand what the sheep and the goats know, what the whale knows, what all the other sentient beings in God’s creation might tell us of the world God has given us? Maybe not, but in the meantime we can honor and love them in all their marvelous created beauty.
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