Rejoice!

Dear Cathedral Family,

I am thankful for the enthusiasm and good energy you have brought to our temporary worship space in the Chapter House over the past month. Your flexibility and adaptability have made this transition unexpectedly joyful, and like many of you I’ve heard from, I also enjoy the closeness that we experience while worshiping together there. This is among the greatest of gifts in this time of displacement.

The response to our Back to School and Sunday School Sunday on August 16 was strong, and this growing ministry, led by Sabrina Evans, continues as we plan the beginning of our other ministries of service and formation after Labor Day. Ministry sign-up and information will take place on Rally Day, September 13, in the Sunday School area upstairs above the Chapter House. There will be another open house that day for the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Atrium, so that you can learn more about this wonderful formation program while signing up for ministries.

You will find in this newsletter an updated timeline for the completion of termite damage repairs and moisture incursion remediation, and moving forward there will be a regular brief update of progress on this project. The erection of a complex scaffolding system in the nave has taken longer than originally anticipated, and for that reason our return to worship in the church will be later than we had hoped. While this is inconvenient, I believe we can also find in this time opportunities for new things to emerge.

Our Loaves and Fish ministry, led by Deacon Pratt Paterson, resumes this Sunday, and we are forging a new relationship in providing lunches for students at Bishop State University who may be experiencing some food insecurity while pursuing their educational and training programs. I am hopeful that we will be led to other new ways to reach out into our local community to share the love of Christ in the months ahead.

Our reading this Sunday from Romans 12 reminds us of the importance of enthusiastic spirit, service, patience and rejoicing in the followers of Jesus. This season of repair and construction is giving us the opportunity to look up from old ways of living and seek the new things that God is doing among us. I am thankful to be serving with you in such a time.

Faithfully,

Beverly+