CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL An Episcopal Community in the Heart of Houston, Texas
NOVEMBER 2016 CHRISTCHURCHCATHEDRAL.ORG
AFTER-HOURS EMERGENCY CARE LINE | 713-826-5332
We are here for you
Hines Center Executive Director Brooke Summers-Perry, head of Healing Circles, and Canon Pastor Glenice Robinson-Como, head of the Shepherds of Christ Church Cathedral.
In difficult times, you are not alone A pair of relationship-building initiatives offers parishioners new avenues for confidential support, personal attention, and nurturing opportunities, as needed. The Shepherds of Christ Church Cathedral program and the Healing Circles at the Hines Center each take a different approach to connecting with parishioners during times of transition.
Individual support with the Cathedral Shepherds Trained as lay leaders within the Pastoral Care Council, the Cathedral’s Shepherds have a compassionate role in tending to the congregation’s needs on an individual level. Since the program’s start in late 2014, every parishioner has been assigned to a shepherd
SHEPHERDS, page 6
Volunteers needed for Christmas at the Cathedral Christmas at the Cathedral has been a beloved tradition for many years, and its success depends on the nearly 200 volunteers who give their time, talent, and treasure to make it special for the students and their families from the Rusk School. On Saturday, December VOLUNTEER SIGN UP 11, volunteers can sign up Saturday, for 2-hour slots anytime beDecember 11 tween 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. to help with simple tasks such as checking in volunteers to picking up catering items to running Christmas games and crafts. Volunteers, youth included, can also hand out hot cocoa, decorate Reynolds Hall, supervise the snow, run a photo booth, or be Frosty the Snowman, or even an elf.
VOLUNTEERS, page 2
To will and to work for God’s good pleasure The theme verse for this year’s Every Member Canvass, which culminates on Loyalty Sunday, November 13, is Philippians 2:13, “For it is God who is at work in you, enabling you to will and to work for God’s good pleasure.” St. Paul’s claim always reminds me of the fantastic 1981 film “Chariots of Fire,” and espeTHE VERY REV. cially about the real-life BARKLEY THOMPSON Olympic runner whose life the movie portrays: Eric Liddell, known in his day as “The Flying Scotsman.” Liddell was the son of Scottish missionaries in the early twentieth century. He was made famous at the 1924 Olympics, when he refused to race in the 100 meter prelims because they were scheduled on Sunday, and he would not break the Sabbath. Liddell’s entire life was formed by his relationship with God. And he experienced a connection between his running and the faith in God in which he had been formed. At one point in the movie, Eric Liddell’s sister asks him why, after winning so many medals, he still runs. Liddell’s response is an epiphany. He says, “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure.” That sentiment sets Eric Liddell apart from all the other runners in “Chariots of Fire.” They run for the medal, for the trophy, for what they get in the end. But for Eric, the purpose, the meaning, the victory is in the running itself. Eric runs not to win; running is winning. In the movie, the difference can be seen in Eric’s final Olympic race by the rapture on his face as he makes the last turn. Others have looks of pained desperation, of darkness across their brows. If they fail
GOD’S GOOD PLEASURE, page 8