CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL An Episcopal Community in the Heart of Houston, Texas
MARCH 2016 CHRISTCHURCHCATHEDRAL.ORG
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Follow the leader, follow the Lord Whether in the ocean or in an aquarium, we’ve all likely witnessed the movement of shoals of fish. Without ever taking a wrong turn from the group, and without ever bumping headlong into one another, each fish in the shoal pivots, dives, and races forward in perfect synchronicity THE VERY REV. with all the others. The BARKLEY movement of the shoal THOMPSON does not strike one as the brute locomotion of evolutionarily primitive animals. Rather, the shoal is graceful. Two things drive the shoal: the need for food and protection from outside threats. In response, the shoal lives and moves as almost a single organism. But how do the fish know how to act in concert? The answer is that the fish play an elegant game of “Follow the Leader.” Regardless of how large the shoal may be, and despite how difficult identification is by an outside observer, there is always a leader fish. The leader fish has a heightened awareness of where sustenance is to be found and how threats are to be avoided. The survival of the shoal relies upon all the other fish giving up individual will or desire in deference to the greater awareness and wisdom of the leader. Even if a fish senses tantalizing food nearby, he will stick behind the leader. Even if one path seems to him to be clear of danger, he will not venture down it apart from his leader. And the result is not only survival, but it is also (as we’ve seen at the aquarium) beauty. How differently would our lives look if we understood ourselves to be the shoal of fish and followed Jesus as our leader? How much more nourishment would we
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Reimagining the education hour Latino Ministry develops new schedule of afternoon classes for children, youth Revisions to Sunday School programs serving the Cathedral’s Latino congregation are offering more opportunities for spiritual participation in the life of church, both during and after the 1 o’clock Spanish-language service. Canon Simon Bautista, who leads the Latino ministry, says the Cathedral seeks new ways to serve a congregation that tends to have long work hours and work weeks. The recent revisions simplify how families might share worship and related programs more conveniently. Now, all children ages 3–12 assemble for Sunday School during the 1 o’clock service, follow- Youth participate in the afternoon Sunday School class offered at 3 p.m. to be ing the first lesson. They more convenient to those who attend the 1 o’clock service. leave together for class and return to the ser- arrangement, she says. Participation has invice at the Peace, before communion begins. creased to nearly 20 children, compared to a Offering children’s Sunday School within maximum of five when it was previously ofworship allows families to arrive at and leave fered at noon. The children’s classes, which are conducted church at the same time, explained class coorin Spanish, address three separate groups: dinator Irene Hernandez. CLASSES, page 5 Families appear to be pleased with the new
Yale Glee Club to give March 15 performance On Tuesday March 15, Christ Church Cathedral is pleased to host a concert by the acclaimed Yale Glee Club, the university’s oldest musical organization. In recent seasons, this 65-member ensemble of men and women has won rave reviews in the national press. The New York Times called them “one of the best collegiate
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