CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL An Episcopal Community in the Heart of Houston, Texas
APRIL 2021 CHRISTCHURCHCATHEDRAL.ORG
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The chrysalis For millennia, the chrysalis has been a symbol of the tomb of Jesus between Good Friday and Easter. I’ve always had an idea in my mind’s eye what happens in a chrysalis, when the caterpillar cocoons himself away from the light of the world, when he rolls the stone in front of his tiny tomb. It is, I have imagined, the closeddoor version of what happens to a tadpole. First, little legs sprout from the caterpillar’s body. Then his soft, inch-worm skin gains its rigidity. Finally, gossamer wings emerge THE VERY REV. from his caterpillar back. BARKLEY And when the chrysalis THOMPSON cracks open to the light, the beautiful butterfly flies to the heavens. The action in the chrysalis is, I have always and hopefully assumed, a gentle metamorphosis from one thing into another. It isn’t so. In a Radiolab podcast entitled “Black Box,” biologist Andrei Sourakov takes a day-old chrysalis and slices it open. Inside, there is no caterpillar. There is no butterfly. There is no halfway thing, like a tadpole. There is nothing resembling an animal at all, no head, legs, or spine. The content of the chrysalis is a white and oozy goo. It turns out, when the caterpillar enters its tomb, cells rupture. Muscle dissolves. All that is left is an amino acid and protein soup. The biologist calls what happens to the caterpillar “cataclysmic and catastrophic.” It is a violent change, an utterly disruptive change. After hearing Radiolab’s podcast, the symbol resonates anew for me this Easter. In order to emerge from the chrysalis, in order to enable a new birth of beauty and wonder, the caterpillar must first be entirely broken, even destroyed. The caterpillar experiences its own Good Friday. But there’s more. Biologists at Georgetown have conducted experiments in
CHRYSALIS, page 3
Caring for God's Good Earth Caring for creation will be an emphasis of the Cathedral's ministry in the coming years, as a component of the Cathedral vision action plan, “Rooted in Christ/Built on Christ.” Dean Barkley Thompson said that as the vision task force and the Cathedral councils did their work in 2019 and early 2020, he was gratified that they included an emphasis on
God's creation. The vestry recently commissioned the “Caring for God's Good Earth Task Force,” which will be investigating possible initiatives for Christ Church. “Genesis names us the stewards of God's world, and tending the creation with care is a sacred responsibility,” Dean
GOD'S GOOD EARTH, page 6
Easter at the Cathedral REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED FOR IN-PERSON SERVICES
Maundy Thursday, April 1
Holy Saturday, April 3
12:05 pm First Eucharist of Maundy Thursday (in-person, virtual) 7 pm Holy Eucharist Rite II, bi-lingual, Stripping of the Altar, (in-person, virtual)
8 pm Easter Vigil, Rite I (in-person, virtual)
Good Friday, April 2 12:05 pm Rite II (in-person, virtual)
Easter Sunday, April 4
7 am Rite I (in-person) 9 am Rite II (in-person) 11 am Rite I (in-person, virtual) 1 pm Rite II in Spanish (in-person, virtual) 5 pm The Well (in-person, virtual)