Dear Cathedral Family,
This Sunday is a very special day in the yearly life of the Church, as we celebrate All Saints’ Sunday. It is one of the seven principal feasts of the Church—and the only one that is moveable, to the first Sunday after All Saints’ Day on November 1. It is especially appropriate for baptism, and this Sunday we will welcome Virginia Collier Lucas into the household of God.
Collier takes her place among the communion of saints, that great cloud of witnesses who carry forward the faith of Christ’s Church, as she joins generations of her family who have worshiped and served in this place. She also joins the growing group of peers in her generation whose lives open before them into a future we cannot see. They will carry into that new world the foundational faith in which it is our job to form them.
These youngest ones depend on us to provide the support they need for growing into mature followers of Jesus Christ, and we make that promise for each of them at the time of baptism. This means that the health and strength of our own discipleship is vital for their lives and for the future life of the Church.
This Sunday will begin our season of commitment to giving, as a response to God’s love and a concrete expression of our faith in and commitment to Jesus Christ and his Church. This year’s theme, “Growing in Discipleship,” focuses on giving as an act of devotion to God and an act of Christian discipline in your own life. Each household will be asked to take “one step up” for Christ and his Church.
I hope as many of you as are able will be present for this Sunday’s celebrations, as we give thanks for the ministry entrusted to us in this place.
Faithfully,
Beverly+