CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL An Episcopal Community in the Heart of Houston, Texas
AUGUST 2017 CHRISTCHURCHCATHEDRAL.ORG
AFTER-HOURS EMERGENCY CARE LINE | 713-826-5332
A light heart August is a heavy month. The hot and humid air is heavy. The responsibilities for beginning a new school or program year are heavy. It is easy during August to feel burdened and weighed down. It is also easy to cling to the summer freedom that is all but gone. August is a heavy month. The ancient Egyptian THE VERY REV. Book of the Dead deBARKLEY scribes a spiritual cerTHOMPSON emony for the recently deceased. In it, the deceased’s spirit enters the presence of Osiris, the god of the underworld. The deceased’s heart is placed on a scale before Osiris, and on the other side of the scale is placed the feather of truth and harmony. Only if the heart is as light as the feather does the spirit of the deceased enter into paradise. Otherwise, the heavy weight of the heart prevents the soul from entering eternal life. In our lives, there are certainly unavoidable things that can render the heart heavy: grief, pain, disappointment. And yet, often our hearts become heavy through our own choices and attachments. Sometimes we lay upon our hearts regret, grudges, or corrosive anger. Sometimes we cling desperately to things past that should be let go, or to people or things that we know are not good for us. In the Book of the Dead, as the heart was weighed against the feather of truth and harmony, the deceased recited his life’s virtues and vices. A hopeful soul would declare, “I have not told lies, I have done no evil …” and then name the good things to which he had dedicated his life. The soul would let go of life’s trivialities and honor things of true substance and importance. And in so doing, his heart
LIGHT HEART, page 8
Fifth grader missioners on their Houston Mission in June, through CUSE, preparing beds at the Third Ward Multi-Service Center, one of many organizations where they volunteered that week.
CUSE celebrates ten years of service to Houston's underserved From exposure comes awareness. From service come empathy and compassion. From experience comes action. These are among the still-rippling results of the Cathedral Urban Service Experience — known as CUSE — as it marks its first decade of supporting the basic needs of Houston’s poor and homeless populations. “CUSE changes how we see community,”
says the Rev. Eileen O’Brien, who served as curate and is now campus missioner at University of Houston. As youth minister at the Cathedral in 2007, she, with the CUSE Steering Committee led by Mike Bullington, designed and launched the CUSE program to equip groups to participate in the work of God's mission in the city.
CUSE, page 6
A new face at the bookstore Beginning August 1, Lucy Chambers will be the Cathedral Bookstore’s new manager. Recently retired as publisher from Houston’s Bright Sky Press, Chambers will carry on the work and vision of Kathy Jackson, who managed the bookstore from 1993 until her retirement this summer. The Very Rev. Barkley Thompson offers these words: "Lucy has been a book publisher and editor. She has worked in bookstores. And she is a teacher. No one knows books better than she does. I am confident Lucy will build upon the legacy of Kathy Jackson and our wonderful bookstore LUCY CHAMBERS
BOOKSTORE, page 2