Christ Church Cathedral An Episcopal Community in the Heart of Houston, Texas
June 2014 christchurchcathedral.org
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Of geese
Heath Hutto attends Compline, part of the Daily Office, in the Golding Chapel. This past fall and spring, the 20s & 30s and Buscando la Luz groups held the service following their Wednesday night programs.
Daily Office allows pause, prayer Though many Episcopal churches do not provide services for the Daily Office, the Cathedral offers Morning and Evening Prayer on weekdays at 7:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. in addition to a noon Eucharist. All of these services take place in the Golding Chapel. “This has been the daily worship life of the church that came out of the early church’s prayer life and evolved through the monasteries,” said retired Canon Precentor Ed Stein.
“It became the work of the Cathedral churches, too, especially the English ones.” The Book of Common Prayer provides a liturgy for each occasion, which does not necessarily need to be performed in the church, but the Cathedral has offered these services for decades, often led by lay people. According to Stein, the word “office” comes for the Latin officia and stands for the work
Daily, page 8
Transition on the organ bench After serving as Cathedral organist for a total of 23 years, Bruce Power has announced that he will resign the organ bench this summer to pursue new avenues of creativity. “I did somersaults attempting to convince Bruce to change his mind,” Dean Thompson said. “He is a marvelous musician, both to hear and with whom to work. He is a joy, and I will miss him incredibly. Even so, Bruce feels led by the Holy Spirit, and I honor that.” Canon Robert Simpson added, “What a wonderful colleague Bruce Power
Organist, page 6
Ancient Christians sometimes talked of the two books of God’s revelation. The first, of course, is the Bible, in which God’s purposes and plan for the world are laid out. Through the Bible we learn how holy — and some decidedly unholy — people relate to God through the trials and joys of the Israelites and early Christians. The second book of God’s revelation is the Book of Creation, or The Very Rev. the world of wonder in Barkley which we are blessed Thompson to live. For Christians, the created world is not a dead and inert thing. It is not mere rock hurtling through space. Rather, it is a holy thing teeming with both life and wisdom. And so, if we go on vacation and forget to pack the Bible, we can still learn of God by watching carefully God’s good earth. Several years ago a fellow priest offered me his few reflections (which he himself had borrowed from a friend years before) about what Christians can learn from geese … yes, you read that correctly, geese. Consider these truths: 1) When flying in formation, as each goose flaps its wings it creates uplift for the birds that follow. By flying in a “V,” the whole flock adds 70% greater flying range than if each bird flew alone. 2) When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of flying alone. It quickly moves back in to formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front of it. 3) When the lead goose tires, it rotates back into formation and another goose flies to the point position. 4) The geese flying in formation honk to encourage those in front to keep up their speed.
Geese, page 2