CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL An Episcopal Community in the Heart of Houston, Texas
JANUARY 2016 CHRISTCHURCHCATHEDRAL.ORG
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In the beginning … “In the beginning, God created …” These opening words of Holy Scripture tell us that, before anything else, there is God alone. And everything that happens subsequently is by God’s initiative. This is the greatest mystery, the fact that there is something VERY REV. rather than nothing. THEBARKLEY We can hypothesize, in THOMPSON these heady scientific days, how the world is here, how the first cosmic explosion expanded matter until physical forces caused it to lump together into planets, stars, and galaxies. We can explain the chemical soup that brewed the first biology on our planet, which evolved, ultimately, into you and me. But explanations of “how” answer questions of mechanics, not meaning. They do not solve, or even approach, the mystery of why there is a world. They do not tell us why the God who is, creates. These are, ultimately, questions not of history or science, but of religion. Faith is and has always been about why: Why is there a world? Why did God choose to create? People across the globe from ancient days to now have consulted their priests and plumbed their souls seeking to unravel the heart of this mystery, and different religious traditions arrive at different answers. Our tradition, and the whole sweeping narrative of our holy book, takes the “why” of those first words — “In the beginning, God created” — and answers them with the person of Jesus, who is the embodiment of love. It is an answer as profound as it is simple. It is the response that would change the world, if we fully grasped it. Read it as if for the first time. Here is the answer: God creates so that love may be known.
BEGINNING, page 8
Introducing the Hines Center
New Cathedral ministry provides a home for your spiritual journey
Cathedral youth members strike a pose following the Family Yoga class on December 13, which was held in the just-completed Hines Center space at 500 Fannin St. at Prairie, located directly across from the Cathedral campus.
No matter where on the path of spirituality you find yourself, resources at the new Bishop John E. Hines Center for Spirituality and Prayer are available to augment, deepen, and open new experiences that further your connections to God, to others, and to self. The center’s opportunities — its classes,
lectures, workshops, studios, and meditative labyrinth — are meant to complement the services and programs already offered at the Cathedral, says the Hines Center’s executive director, Brooke Summers-Perry. Its creation was a shared response to a longing for rich
HINES, page 4
Choir to sing pop favorites at cabaret dinner On the evening of Friday, February 5, the Cathedral Choir will present “Cabaret 2016: Happy Days,” a fun-filled evening of music, good food, CABARET 2016: and a fabulous HAPPY DAYS silent auction. Friday, February 5 “Happy Days” will feature the music of Motown, plus popular songs from the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s performed by the members of the Cathedral Choir. Proceeds from
CABARET, page 2