Dear Cathedral Friends and Family,
This Sunday will be the last Sunday of the season after Pentecost, bringing to a close the long period of “ordinary time.” In our gospel reading this Sunday, Jesus will tell us that whatever we do for (or don’t do for) “the least of these” is how we treat him. This is a reminder in this time of challenge and change that all of our encounters, even the smallest and most passing ones, are encounters with Jesus. The Kingdom of God comes more fully into reality with every expression of compassion and kindness. It grows further away by every expression of separateness and exclusion.
Be on the lookout for mail and email concerning our stewardship for 2021. Our chairs this year are Liz and John Ferguson, who have chosen the theme “We Walk By Faith, Not By Sight.” This statement captures your faithfulness in giving through the extraordinary time of God that has been 2020, even as it looks forward with hope to the growth of our ministries in 2021. All of our materials will be available on our website—check it out!
If you are ready for a new year (and I think we all are), you can get a jump on that through church. The New Year comes early in the life of the Church with the Advent season, which begins on Sunday, November 29. If you are following the Daily Office cycle, we will move to Year One. Our Sunday lectionary will be Year B.
The Cathedral offices will be closed for the week of Thanksgiving so that our staff can have a period of rest and renewal with their families. I hope that your Thanksgiving week, no matter how you keep it this year, will be a time of gratitude for the many blessings of this life and prayerful hope for what is yet to come.
May you know the peace of God,
Beverly+