Dear Cathedral Family,
Although the summer weather will be with us for quite some time here in Mobile, the summer season for our students and teachers has come to an end. Public schools returned this week, and private schools are returning in the week ahead. College students are returning to their campuses. And educators have been hard at work preparing for the academic year ahead.
Our program year here at Christ Church Cathedral is still in its final planning stages and will not officially begin until Rally Day on the Sunday after Labor Day. In the meantime, however, our families with school and college aged children are adjusting to the rhythms of their workaday lives.
We will offer them our prayers and support this Sunday with the Blessing of the Backpacks at the time of the Peace. Students are welcome to bring their backpacks if they wish (but not if they don’t), and they will be invited forward to the chancel steps during a special hymn for us to offer a prayer together for their endeavors in the year ahead. Those of you who are educators will also be invited to come forward as we give thanks for your vital work. We will pray for God’s blessing on all of you and offer you our support in the months ahead.
Thank you all for your enthusiastic support once again this year for Operation Backpack, our partnering effort to assist families in our community with their needs as the school year begins. This year we worked not only with the Family Intervention Team of the Mobile Police Department but also with the Child Advocacy Center of Mobile.
Your giving to support these children and their families is a direct and tangible fulfillment of our baptismal promises to seek and serve Christ in all persons, love our neighbors as ourselves, and to strive for justice and respect the dignity of every human being. These acts are not just helping others but contributing to our own deepening as followers of Christ.
In our gospel reading this Sunday, Jesus tells us, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” The abundant love of God has been poured out on us, and our calling is to share the good news of that love with the world.
Faithfully,
Beverly+