Christ Church Cathedral An Episcopal Community in the Heart of Houston, Texas
April 2013 christchurchcathedral.org
Who fills your gas tank? In high school, my friend Patrick drove an enormous 1983 Oldsmobile Delta 88. It was burgundy-red, and due to its size and color we called it “The Delta Demon.” Invariably, on the way home from causing some (minor) mischief, Patrick would glance at the Demon’s fuel gauge The Very Rev. and exclaim, “Uh oh. Barkley Out of gas. We have to Thompson stop.” We’d coast into the nearest gas station on fumes. The Demon’s gas tank was insatiable. Patrick would pump gas, pay the cashier with the rumpled five dollars from his pocket, and collapse into the driver’s seat exclaiming in an exasperated tone, “Just once I wish I could top off the tank.” It seemed as if it took the entire five dollars — all that Patrick had — just to get us home. In 1988, the year I turned sixteen, the average price of gasoline was 98 cents. Today the average price of gasoline is $3.52. In this era of economic stress, it is not unusual to pull up to the gas pump and see that the people in front of us have put only five or ten dollars in the tank, because that’s all the money they have. Indeed, on some days we may be such people. Some days we lack the resources to fill the tank. Some days there’s not enough gas to get us home. Some days we subsist on fumes. Our spiritual lives are not so different from our gas tanks. Too often, we rely on our demons to carry us through the world — those insatiable aspects of our lives that drain us of our strength and our joy but of which we cannot seem to let go. Too often we find that when we need to endure and carry on, our tanks are empty. We don’t have enough gas to get us home. Who can fill our spiritual gas tank? What can top us off and see us through the long and crooked miles of life? St. Paul counsels, “Be careful how you
tANK, inside
Cathedral 20s & 30s members Michael Gallevo, Kevin Vick, Audra Patterson and Doreen Gallevo (in the foreground) relax and play a strategy game at a recent young adult retreat weekend in East Bernard.
Visiting church, finding home Kevin Vick didn’t know exactly what he was looking for in a church, but as soon as he walked into the Cathedral, he knew he had found it. “This is so cheesy, but really from the moment I walked through the doors I had this sense that this was it,” Vick said.
After consulting a friend at General Seminary in New York, Vick, who was raised Baptist, decided to try the Episcopal Church in February of 2012. He thoroughly researched the Cathedral website and hoped to find a new, inviting church environment that was
NEWCOMER, back cover
Care through all life’s many seasons In John 13:34-35, Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” The mission of the Pastoral Care Council is to organize and provide compassionate and confidential emotional and spiritual support through the following means: • Visitation by clergy to those who are in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, hospitals or their own homes with limited mobility; • Placing you or a loved one on our weekly prayer list; • The Healing Eucharist with unction on Fridays at noon; • Visitation by a licensed lay visitor;
• Sending a card of celebration, remembrance or condolence; and • Delivering flowers from the Sunday worship service to brighten the day or celebrate a special occasion for our homebound members. At some season in our lives, we each can find ourselves experiencing the celebration of a marriage or the birth of a child; the death or illness of a loved one; issues surrounding aging parents or family members; or the simple day-to-day demands of life. If you or a loved one is experiencing a life-changing event, remember you are not alone. Our prayer is that you will find great comfort in knowing you are surrounded by those who will walk,
CARE, back cover