Rubric Fall-Winter 2015

THE RUBRIC

STO R I E S O F M I N I ST RY

SAINT MARK’S EPISCOPAL CATHEDRAL, SEATTLE, WA FALL-WINTER 2015-2016, VOL. 72, NO. 3

GREETINGS from the DEAN

WELCOME INSPIRE TRANSFORM SERVE Wherever you are on your journey of faith, you are welcome here.

THE VERY REV. STEVEN L. THOMASON, DEAN & RECTOR; LIZ BARTENSTEIN, EDITOR PHOTOS BY KEVIN C. JOHNSON AND LIZ BARTENSTEIN (UNLESS NOTED)

The Rubric is a publication of Saint Mark’s Cathedral that looks at who we are as a community: as a parish, as a cathedral for the Diocese of Olympia, as Episcopalians, and as Christians.

We take time to look at and celebrate all aspects of who we are.

Please send an email to info@ saintmarks.org or call 206.323. 0300 if you have an idea for an article or are interested in volunteering.

Subscribe by email at www. saintmarks.org- click on the link “Join Our Email Lists”. To subscribe by mail: send your address by email to info@saintmarks.org.

As I write this I am still basking in the glow of the Feast of All Saints’.

It is one of my favorite celebrations of the year when we baptize babies and remember the dead all in the orbit of a clock’s hour. This year we baptized nine babies and said the names of more than 1,000 whom we love but see no longer.

Perhaps my greatest memory arising from this year is the anthem sung at Evensong on All Saints’.

Written by Geraint Lewis for the requiem mass of 20th Century church musician William Matthias held at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, it draws on the simple refrain from the book of Wisdom: “The souls of the dead are in the hands of God…and they are in peace (3:1,3).” The piece pairs organ and choir in a sublime caress of spirit so appropriate for the day. I was grateful to have been present in that profound worship experience, and I had a keen sense that we were, in the moment, held in the embrace of a heavenly host.

At its core, All Saints’ Day is about honoring the legacy of those who have gone before while standing on the cusp of what will be, and trusting that God is up to something in all this. The feast transcends time and space in that way, and we are invited to journey as members of the communion of saints in our own right, and to consider our legacy, our place in the grand scheme of God’s design for the world.

The Saint Mark’s Cathedral community is engaging that purposeful work with intention, and several elements of that work are outlined in the issue. I commend the ministries, and I am deeply grateful for all who engage this good work.

It is a true privilege to serve among

the people in this place, in this time.

Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral strives to be: • A house of prayer for all people, where we worship God and proclaim the reconciling Gospel of Jesus Christ • A loving, welcoming, inclusive community that nurtures faith, encourages service, and integrates social and environmental justice into our lives • A sacred gathering place for the Diocese of Olympia and the broader community in times of crisis, sorrow, and celebration We do that, with intention, by: • Gathering in prayer to experience God and to seek spiritual renewal and direction • Offering diverse worship services that engage people through liturgy, spoken word, and music • Creating faith formation opportunities that invite people to grow spiritually, wherever they are on their journey of faith • Building a vibrant community life by sharing our stories and nurturing our relationships • Practicing Christ’s message of justice in all of our ministries through service to others Read on to see this embodied in so many remarkable ways. This is holy work, good work, richly rewarding work, and these are exciting times at St. Mark’s Cathedral. I bid you welcome, whether for a visit or to become a part of this wonderful community.

Blessings and peace,

The Very Rev. Steven L. Thomason Dean and Rector

SUNDAY SERVICE TIMES 8 am Eucharist in Thomsen Chapel 9 am Eucharist in the Nave 11 am Eucharist in the Nave 4:30 pm Choral Evensong in the Nave (First Sundays, October-May) 7 pm Contemplative Eucharist in Thomsen Chapel 9:30 pm Compline in the Cathedral Nave,

chanted by the Compline Choir and broadcast live on King 98.1 fm

The water in the baptismal font is blessed on All Saints’ Day, November 1, 2015, at Saint Mark’s.

More photos from All Saints’ Day on page 9.

WEEKDAY SERVICE TIMES Monday through Friday 6:30pm Evening Prayer in McCaw or Thomsen Chapel

CONTENTS

Mondays, 7:15pm Centering Prayer in Thomsen Chapel

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CAPITAL CAMPAIGN UPDATE

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Wednesdays, 12 noon Holy Eucharist in Thomsen Chapel

THE GREAT “O ANTIPHONS” LITURGY

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ADVENT & CHRISTMAS AT SAINT MARK’S

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CALLED TO SERVE Episcopal Service Corps at Saint Mark’s

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CENTERPIECE A Feast of the Imagination

Thursdays, 7am Holy Eucharist in Thomsen Chapel For more information about Worship and Prayer at Saint Mark’s visit saintmarks.org.

12 JUSTICE MINISTRY FOCUS About Saint Mark’s Justice Ministry; Habitat for Humanity 14 MINISTRY UPDATES Becca Stevens and Thistle Farms, Holy Land Pilgrimage, MidEast Focus Film Series, Sewing with Love: Saint Mark’s Quilt Ministry, Partnership with St. James’ Cathlamet

10 PHOTO ROUND UP Bishop’s Visitation, The Feast of Saint Francis, Cathedral Evensong

ON THE COVER: All Saint’s Day at Saint Mark’s Cathedral.

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OLSON KUNDIG

SAINT MARK’S

CAPITAL CAMPAIGN UPDATE

BY MARIA COLDWELL, CANON FOR OPERATIONS MCOLDWELL@SAINTMARKS.ORG

After consultations over the past several months with our project managers, Spectrum Development Solutions, the Saint Mark’s Capital Campaign Steering Committee has agreed to re-order our construction priorities somewhat.

This is due primarily to the cost savings that may be achieved by doing all of the exterior construction work on the cathedral first, followed by a second phase focused on the interior projects (plus work on the grounds). Also, in an effort to save money, we have eliminated the “building annex” originally proposed for the southeast corner, and reduced the size of the proposed narthex. Our new list of project priorities may be broken down as follows: PRIORITY 1 Securing the cathedral’s structural integrity and improving its accessibility by: • Sealing and cladding the exterior of the building on the North and South walls; • Replacing windows in the nave with new insulated glass; • Repairing the cathedral roofing and soffits; and • Installing an elevator to connect various levels of the cathedral.

Estimated Cost: $8 million PRIORITY 1A Making the cathedral more welcoming and inviting by: • Creating a more inviting front entrance and East façade and cladding Thomsen Chapel; • Redesigning and expanding the narthex entry to provide a more spacious gathering area; • Adding a meditation garden and arcaded walkway to the southeast corner of the cathedral.

Estimated Cost: $6 million

PRIORITY 2 Improving the cathedral’s sustainability and functionality by: • Replacing the existing boiler system with a fuel-efficient one; • Installing a radiant in-floor heating system and new flooring in the nave and narthex; • Improving the cathedral interior, grounds and parking.

Estimated Cost: $4 million We continue to work on planning and design with Olson Kundig Architects (see their new rendering of the East facade above), and we are receiving concept cost estimates from Sellen Construction. The plan is still for construction to begin in the late spring or summer of 2016.

As previously reported, the parish phase of the capital campaign raised in excess of $5 million. With the support of Bishop Rickel, consultant Marc Rieke of the Enrichment Group has conducted another Feasibility Study, in preparation for the diocesan and community phases of the capital campaign, with encouraging results. Based on Marc’s study and advice, we are currently in a “quiet phase” of the campaign, during which we will be seeking some larger gifts. Starting in January 2016, we will begin the more public diocesan phase of the campaign, reaching out to parishes and individuals throughout the Diocese of Olympia for additional support, under the Bishop’s leadership.

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The Great “O” Antiphons Liturgy

BY MARIA COLDWELL, CANON FOR OPERATIONS MCOLDWELL@SAINTMARKS.ORG

The Great O Antiphons Liturgy at Saint Mark’s Cathedral takes place on the first Sunday in Advent: this year it’s Sunday, November 29, at 7 p.m. in the Nave. The Cathedral Choir and Compline Choir will sing the setting of the O Antiphons that Peter Hallock composed for unaccompanied choirs.

The Senior Choristers of the Choir School will participate in the service, offering a lively movement from a Bach Cantata. The Compline Choir and Cathedral Choir will offer together “Behold a mighty prophet,” one of Hallock’s Advent Processions heard less frequently at Saint Mark’s, along with several other anthems.

At many Episcopal churches and cathedrals, special evening liturgies are celebrated on the first Sunday in Advent. The format of these services, frequently referred to as “Advent Procession,” is essentially a “Lessons and Carols” service—a sequence of scripture readings followed by musical responses. In 1986, after many years of participating in and working on these services, then organist-choirmaster Peter Hallock sought to do something a little different for Advent Procession at Saint Mark’s. After conversations with Dr. William Bertolas, a member of the Compline Choir, Peter decided to investigate the seven Gregorian chant antiphons know as “The Great O Antiphons” as a potential source of music and unifying structure for the service.

The Great O Antiphons are a series of seven Gregorian chant antiphons sung at the service of Vespers (the late afternoon service—Evensong in the Anglican tradition) on the seven days preceding Christmas Eve (December 17-23). The texts all begin with the word “O” and all are sung to the same tune. And all the antiphons are used to frame the Magnificat, the “Song of Mary” which is sung at the end of the Vespers service. The antiphons date back at least to the reign of Charlemagne (771-814 A.D.), and there is an English poem based on the Latin texts written by the poet Cynewulf circa 800. In the later Middle Ages, more verses were added to the original seven, but there is no doubt that the seven “Great O Antiphons” were designed as a group, since their initial letters (ignoring the “O”) form a reverse acrostic “SARCORE” or “Ero cras” which means “I shall be with you tomorrow,” an appropriate sentiment for the Advent season.

The way in which most of us English-speaking Protestants have been exposed to the “O Antiphons” is through the popular Advent hymn “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” The hymn has 8 verses, but the first and last are identical. If you

start with Verse 2 and go all the way through Verse 8, you have English paraphrases of the seven Latin “O Antiphons” texts. Each verse of this hymn (or each “O Antiphon”) focuses on a different name or image of Christ drawn from the Old Testament: Wisdom; Adonai (“Lord of Might”); Root of Jesse; Key of David; Rising Dawn; King of Nations; and Emmanuel (“God With Us”).

In the liturgy created by Peter Hallock and his colleagues, a banner was created to go with each of the O Antiphons, displaying a large visual symbol of each of the seven names for Christ. Wisdom is represented by a 7-pronged minora or candelabra; Adonai is represented by the fire of the burning bush; Root of Jesse by a plant with roots and flower; Key of David by a large key; Rising Dawn by the sun; King of Nations by a crown; and Emmanuel by a star—the holy star which heralded Christ’s birth.

The shape of the liturgy is simple. A banner displaying the symbol of each antiphon is brought from the rear of the church to the front, one at a time, as each antiphon is sung.

After each antiphon, there is a reading of scripture relating to the text of the antiphon, then a related musical response (a hymn, carol, or motet), and a concluding Collect or prayer.

This is repeated seven times. The liturgy is framed by a processional song at the beginning and by a congregational performance of the hymn “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” at the end. Thus, the basic “Lessons and Carols” format is elevated and unified by the use of the seven Great O Antiphons and their associated banners.

This will be Michael Kleinschmidt’s first O Antiphon service as Canon Musician. He says, “I participated as a guest in 2010, singing as a visitor in the congregation. The service made a huge impression on me; I thought ‘Wow! What a wonderfully fresh way to launch Advent. ‘I love the traditional format of Lessons and Carols, but it’s rather linear and cerebral. In contrast, the O Antiphon service has movement, pageantry, and evokes the meaning of the Incarnation in overlapping circles of imagery and metaphor. It’s a great gift to the world of liturgy and music. I’m thrilled to become a steward of that gift, along with all the folks at Saint Mark’s.”

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CHRISTMAS DAY Friday, December 25 10:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist with Carols With music by the Saint Mark’s Singers THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS Saturday, December 26 5 p.m. Feast of St. Stephen, Holy Eucharist, Thomsen Chapel Sunday, December 27 8 a.m., 9 a.m., 11 a.m. Service of Lessons and Carols with Holy Eucharist 7 p.m. Holy Eucharist Monday, December 28 7 p.m. Feast of St. John the Evangelist, Holy Eucharist, Thomsen Chapel

Advent & Christmas AT SAINT MARK’S

FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT Sunday, November 29 8 a.m., 9 a.m., 11 a.m. Holy Eucharist 7 p.m. “O” Antiphons Service Procession with music, banners, candles and incense SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT Sunday, December 6 8 a.m., 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 7 p.m. Holy Eucharist Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, will visit after the 9 a.m. service 4:30 p.m. Choral Evensong Saturday, December 12 9 a.m. An Advent Quiet Morning at St. Andrew’s, Greenlake a morning of silence, prayer and reflection, co-sponsored by Saint Mark’s THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT Sunday, December 13 8 a.m., 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 7 p.m. Holy Eucharist Wednesday, December 16 3:30 p.m. Greening of the Cathedral A festive community gathering with music and food, as we decorate our sacred space together Thursday, December 17 7 p.m. Blue Christmas Service A special Eucharist in Thomsen Chapel for those who find the holiday season a difficult or painful time FOURTH WEEK OF ADVENT Sunday, December 20 8 a.m., 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 7 p.m Holy Eucharist December 22, 7 p.m.

Christmas Pageant A medieval telling of the Christmas story told by the children and youth of Saint Mark’s Cathedral CHRISTMAS EVE Thursday, December 24 4 p.m. Holy Eucharist With music by the Senior Choristers Families with children especially welcome 7 p.m. Festive gathering with Music and Carols 7:30 p.m. Holy Eucharist* with music by the Evensong Choir 10:15 p.m. Festive Gathering with Music and Carols 11 p.m. Holy Eucharist* With music by the Cathedral Choir *Incense will be used at 7:30 & 11 p.m.

Tuesday, December 29 7 p.m. Feast of the Holy Innocents, Holy Eucharist, Thomsen Chapel Thursday, December 31 6 p.m. -12:30 p.m. New Year’s Eve Labyrinth Walk with Midnight Eucharist As the Labyrinth Walk concludes, and as the new year begins, we will ring bells and celebrate Eucharist commemorating the Feast of the Holy Name.

Sunday, January 3 Holy Eucharist, 8 a.m., 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 7 p.m.

4:30 p.m. Evensong Wednesday, January 6 Feast of the Epiphany 6 p.m. Intergenerational fun and activities 7 p.m. Worship in the Cathedral Nave

An Advent Writing Journey: “Making Manifest” WEDNESDAY FORMATION THIS ADVENT Embark on a 28-day devotional writing journey using the book Making Manifest by Dave Harrity. The program is grounded in the acts of writing, creativity, imagination, solitude, and community-building. Participants will gather with others in the program during the four Wednesdays of Advent to reflect on the experience and discuss their journey together.

Each day of the writing journey contains one meditation and one writing exercise—activities totaling about a half hour. The meditations are short, thought-provoking points of contemplation— sometimes accessible, sometimes obscure. These meditations are meant to incline your heart and mind toward mystery, wandering, seeking, exploring, and contemplating. Each meditation ends with a writing exercise of some kind—a call to journal, describe, reflect.

During the Wednesday gatherings, participants will come together to engage in group discussion on each of the book’s four sections and the poems around which each section is anchored.

Participants can also share their writing from over the course of the week if they would like. In the end, the ultimate aims of the book and program are to demystify writing practice, and to explore the mysteries of your faith through acts of writing.

Interested in signing up for this Advent Writing Journey? Contact Michael Seewer, m.w.seewer@gmail.com.

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Called to serve

EPISCOPAL SERVICE CORPS AT SAINT MARK’S

BY MALCOLM MCLAURIN, CANON FOR YOUTH AND YOUNG ADULT MINISTRIES MMCLAURIN@SAINTMARKS.ORG

One of the greatest joys in the life of a church is witnessing new ministries emerge. Not just out of a need, but out of a call and passion. In August of 2016, Saint Mark’s will welcome our first class of Episcopal Service Corps members. The simplified vision of the Episcopal Service Corps is “following Jesus as intentional communities of service, justice, and prayer.” We will welcome six to eight young adults to live on the Saint Mark’s campus, pair them with local nonprofits and invite them to live and lead in the Saint Mark’s community. They will spend 32 hours a week working with a local nonprofit chosen out of their skill set, passion and calling in hopes of developing more leadership skills, glimpsing a vocation and injecting new energy into the nonprofit. In addition to the 32 hour work week, at least eight hours a week are dedicated to spiritual direction and awareness, through study, retreats and meeting with a spiritual advisor.

As Canon for Youth and Young Adult Ministries, I have the honor to serve as the Program Director of this fresh new ministry. My excitement for this program comes from the fact that with Saint Mark’s history of engagement in social justice and its role as a beacon and a voice in Seattle, this is an opportunity to inspire and learn from these young adults we will welcome. What an opportunity to give these voices the backing of history and knowledge that comes from the Saint Mark’s community! Included in this community is the staff as well as the ministers in the pews on Sunday mornings.

The other side is the excitement and anticipation around seeing what the corps members, selected from all over the country or even the world can bring and share with us. What rich traditions will they bring? What kind of energy and creativity will they share? How will we be challenged to listen in new and inspiring ways? How will we be changed by their presence?

OVERVIEW Saint Mark’s Service Corps internship program is a chance for young adults to explore their faith and discernment in the context of justice and community. A year spent here is a commitment to: • Living in intentional Christian community • Serving 32 hours per week at a local church or nonprofit • Becoming integrated into the life of a local Episcopal congregation • Participating in the worshiping and communal life of Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral • Discerning questions of personal growth, spiritual transformation, and vocational call • Learning a new way to live out the revolutionary faith we are called to in Jesus Christ

In a time, in a city, that can cause us to stress the importance of title and salary, why not allow the church, our church to be a beacon of light to remind the city about vocation? The work of the Episcopal Service Corps can and should be not only an encouragement to these recent grads to follow a calling that is rooted in the work of Christ and a deep internal longing to be in community, it can and will be a reminder to us of these same things, thus asking us to reevaluate the tether that binds us to our work or reclaim the sense of vocation, of a call.

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CENTERPIECE

A FEAST OF THE IMAGINATION SERMON PREACHED BY THE VERY REV. STEVEN L. THOMASON, DEAN AND RECTOR SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2015, ALL SAINTS’ DAY STHOMASON@SAINTMARKS.ORG All Saints’ Day is a Feast of the Imagination. Along with its dark-side partner of All Hallows’ Eve, this is a festival drenched in imaginative wonderings across time and space and into the mysterious depths of the universe that are conjured in our minds.

Fred Buechner said: “Imagining is perhaps as close as humans get to creating something out of nothing the way God is said to.” It is our work, our play—it is what is revealed at the nexus between work and play, between good and evil, between life and death, between our three-pound brain and the weight of the entire universe of possibility. And this day invites us into that cosmic connection like no other across the year.

Someone once told me the best costume for Halloween is the one that represents what frightens you the most. And it is by naming the fear that we call it out. One of our daughters had that phase when she was five or six, when bedtime

meant dark things awoke in her room and began stirring.

Her priest told her to name what she feared, call it out, then tell it to go away. He taught her to say it demonstratively, with gusto, so that we in the next room would hear her little voice say with confidence: “Get on out of here! (Git on outta heya!)” It worked for her, even as we were giggling at the prospect of it all.

And what child cannot play for hours imagining happy dolls enacting their best hopes and joys for life? Children know how to dream, their imaginations are intact, bright, keen to the possibilities, until we teach them to tamp it down. We teach them that dreaming is kid’s play, and in time they leave it behind and forget how to name their greatest joys and greatest fears.

Barbara Brown Taylor says that “dreamers have fallen upon hard times…we belong to a people whose sense of reality is much more limited…Only saints and children still believe 8

their dreams will come true. The rest of us are adults…giving ourselves over to work, many of us finding real satisfaction in it. We put in long hours. We keep good records and produce measurable results: fifteen telephone calls returned, twelve more initiated, eighteen letters written for two new accounts this week; four car pools executed, six loads of laundry done, eight bags of groceries brought in under the food budget. These are facts, not fantasy. You can add them up and write them down and put them under your pillow at night when you limp home…and fall exhausted into your bed, a refugee of your own wrecked economy.”

But this Feast of All Saints’ says there is another way. Which is why we baptize babies and remember the dead all in the same orbit of a clock’s hour today.

We dream with God today of a world in which it all comes together, in which the scent of your late grandmother’s kitchen and the coo of a baby held against your beating heart both unleash the mystery of God’s love in your life, and you know them both to be true.

We dream with God today of a world that lashes heaven and earth together and pulls them a bit closer so we can touch and be touched by the goodness and know it to be true.

Can you hear the saints singing in heaven for you? Can you feel the pulse of air touch your face and know it has been moving toward you, toward this moment with you since the beginning of time? Can you conceive of a universe so intimate that the light that strikes the back of your eye right now left its starry origin a billion years ago? Can you conjure a dream that binds you to Lazarus, who was bound in the tomb, dead and decomposing, and then breathed again, and his exhale of fleshy new breath has passed down to you, here and now, with Jesus weeping for you in love, and says to your truest self, “Lazarus, Sally, Sam, [your name], come out!” And seeing you alive again, a dreamer holding God’s dream for you, says “unbind him, unbind her, and let them go.”

All Saints’ Day unbinds us from the swaddled existence of tamped down fear, it unbinds us from the shackles of certainty, it unleashes our imaginations from the cold dark tomb, and says, come out, come out, dream, dream with me that we are in this together. Be named by God as one of the saints, the dreamers of this world, and know that you are not alone. We sing our song of the saints of God, and we want to be one, too.

It is no coincidence that the prayer we say over the newly baptized speaks of our yearning for them to be given “inquiring and discerning hearts, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works.”

Dream with us, in other words, and let us dream with you. For this day we declare that we stand with the saints in heaven and on earth, across time and space, and sing our praises, and dream God’s dream for you and me, and for the whole world, and know it is not a fantasy, but a right, good and joyful thing unfolding this very moment into God’s consummate design for the universe of which you and I are a part.

And for that may God’s holy name be praised. Amen.

SERMON recordings & transcripts are available on Saint Mark’s website at www.saintmarks.org/sermons.

AT RIGHT: photos from All Saints’ Day at Saint Mark’s Cathedral, November 1, 2015.

FALL 2015 AT SAINT MARK’S CATHEDRAL PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS The Rt. Rev. Greg Rickel, Bishop of the Diocese of Olympia, made his regular visitation at Saint Mark’s on October 11, 2015. He preached and presided at the morning services and confirmed and received members into our community.

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The Feast of Saint Francis - Each year Saint Mark’s honors Francis of Assisi, the 13th-century saint known for his love of God’s creation and animals. Pets are welcomed to come with their owners for a Blessing of the Animals.

Evensong Saint Mark’s music and liturgy staff and choirmembers have worked hard at creating a much richer incarnation of this tradition than has been previously offered at the cathedral. This service is sung in the English Cathedral tradition by the new Evensong Choir, including advanced choristers from the Senior Choristers and Cathedral Schola as well as auditioned adult singers. The first Evensong of the new season was held on October 4, 2015; services are held on the first Sunday of the month, October through May at 4:30 p.m.

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Justice Ministry AT SAINT MARK’S

“Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?” These words we pronounce in the baptismal covenant drive us to think and act beyond ourselves and our own situation. Saint Mark’s Justice Ministries express our desire and action to take this world and create a better one.

The community at Saint Mark’s has embraced Justice and Peace since its founding in Seattle. The creation of programs and services to assist the needy, homeless and proclaim social justice throughout the Puget Sound is core to the fabric of the people of Saint Mark’s. Some of the earliest justice programs involved care for those in the greater community, as an expression of social activism through work and care. Activism, literally using discussion and involvement to bring about social change, was a central focus for The Very Reverend John C. Leffler (1900-1987), Dean of Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral from 1951 to 1971. From the ordination of women, reproductive rights, civil rights, and the anti-Vietnam war movement, Saint Mark’s became a “center of whirlwinds of change” as described by the Seattle Times during this period.

When African-American civil rights leader and Seattle resident Edwin Pratt (1930-1969) was murdered in January 1969, the memorial service held at Saint Mark’s was filled to capacity. The passion for Justice continued at Saint Mark’s with issues such as the Anti-apartheid movement, Anti-nuclear weapon buildup, LGBTQ rights and marriage equality, and most recently gun violence, Mideast focus and income inequality.

The Saint Mark’s community continues this passion for education and action in the Justice Ministries today. In 15 different organized ministries and even more additional focus projects, Saint Mark’s Justice Ministry expresses the passions of justice and involvement of the people and community that gathers here.

The Justice Ministry Coordinating Committee, under the leadership of Marjorie Ringness, is currently examining the Justice programs at Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral to ensure that the connection with the community is maintained and expanded. A recent survey of the community highlighted expansion areas in helping those who are hungry and homeless within our community. A recent state report stated that over 35,000 individuals become homeless at some point in one year in King County. The Saint Mark’s community has always been involved in these programs, but the committee is working through a prayerful examination of growing these essential connections to our community.

As Betsy Bell, the vestry representative to the Justice Ministry coordinating committee explains, “Justice is educating to act, forming the belief through God, then nurturing that action and belief with commitment.” Here at Saint Mark’s, the Justice community works toward education, belief and action by providing programs that work in a multi-faceted way allowing all of us to initially find out more about an issue, then nurture the belief through work or knowledge. Your contributions to Saint Mark’s flow to support in a much broader way, social justice efforts at Saint Mark’s, much like an amplifier of

BY PETER MCLUNG VESTRY MEMBER our individual efforts. Marjorie describes this amplification effect as, “When you serve you are also nourished and you are fulfilling your mission in the world. We can’t just come on Sunday, but we need to be involved in outside things.”

What is your passion for Justice and to creating a better world?

Working towards peace and equality at Saint Mark’s amplifies your individual efforts, much like the grain of mustard that grew into a huge tree referenced in the gospels. Saint Mark’s and Justice – a symbiotic match that allows for you to serve others through your passion to make the world a better place.

Habitat for Humanity SAINT MARK’S TEAM IN NEW ORLEANS

BY MARY MULLEN LONGTIME HABITAT FOR HUMANITY VOLUNTEER In early October, a group of Saint Mark’s parishioners volunteering for Habitat for Humanity worked on a “blitz build” of a home in the Hollygrove neighborhood of New Orleans. This was the tenth trip for Saint Mark’s volunteers to the Gulf Coast since Hurricane Katrina. Longtime Habitat volunteer Mary Mullen recounts her experience this fall, while remembering other Habitat volunteers Sandy McCloud (died Oct. 25, 2014) and Duncan Bayne (died Sept.

28, 2015).

OCTOBER 19, 2015 It was wonderful to be back at Saint Mark’s this morning and hard to believe I’ve only been gone a week. What a week it was. So filled with so much. And Sandy was always present.

We shared many Sandy stories. This was my first week down there after Hurricane Katrina without Sandy–she and I had volunteered six times there between 2007 and 2012 with either Habitat for Humanity or the Episcopal Office of Disaster Relief. It was harder for me than I expected, Sandy was so much a part of my time in New Orleans, and much of it came rushing back.

We also thought about Duncan and the Habitat for Humanity experiences we’ve had with him in Seattle. We intentionally prayed for him shortly before his memorial service was to start here in Seattle.

The Habitat for Humanity House we worked on was a “blitz build,” the whole house is being built in ten days. Trinity

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SAINT MARK’S HABITAT FOR HUMANITY TEAM MEMBERS IN NEW ORLEANS Back row, from left: Tom Kmitta, Dewey Walker, Sallie Bodie, John Selberg, Gordon Miller, Melinda Kmitta. Front row from left: Mary Mullen, Jacquelyn Miller. Not pictured: Hisako Beasley.

Episcopal Church and Household of Faith, two churches just down the street from each other in the Garden District, are building it together. It was quite an experience to be part of the fellowship of these two very diverse but warm and inviting congregations. Also involved were the Habitat for Humanity New Orleans staff including their Americorps volunteers.

One of them is originally from the Seattle area and has promised to come to Saint Mark’s when she is back in this area in November.

We helped build a three bedroom, one bath, house for a single mom and her young son. The young woman, 29, was able to only get one day off from her bank job as a savings officer to help build during the week we were there. She is a delightful, hard working young woman. She has to put in 350 hours of “sweat equity” to be able to buy the house. Her friends and family members were volunteering, too, to help her pay off her sweat-equity hours.

The nine of us from Saint Mark’s not only sawed and hammered but painted exterior and interior walls and trim, laid manufacturer wood floors, caulked, puttied, hung fascia board, swept, collected trash, cleaned out the storage area, etc. in 80 to 93 degree weather! Our work also included preparing meals back at Trinity’s “Molly’s House” where we ate and slept.

I almost forgot one of my favorite events. We went back to Saint Paul’s Church in Lakeview for the Sunday morning service. They didn’t know we were coming but we filled one whole pew so they soon figured it out—even mentioning the visitors from Saint Mark’s, Diocese of Olympia, at the end of the service. One of the parishioners (who I think was on their vestry during the early days after the storm) came up and greeted us with tears in his eyes. He said he had to go to an important meeting right then, but then the priest (new to us) came over and told him he could be as late as he needed to be, to spend time with us. Once again we got the tour, new to some of us, showing the eight foot water line that engulfed the church. They will never forget how our Diocese of Olympia raised $500,000 for them in the years after the storm.

NEW ORLEANS AND OTHER GULF COAST BUILDING TRIPS, 2007-2015 Episcopal office of Disaster Relief, Diocese of Louisiana trips: OCTOBER 2007: Diocesan trip; lodged at Lakeview Homecoming Center (near St. Paul’s). Participants included Sandy McCloud, Mary Mullen, Hisako Beasley, and Carl & Susan Knirk. Sandy and Mary worked on a house together.

MARCH 2009: Organized by Diana Kline between Tonti and Rocheblave in the Upper Ninth Ward.

APRIL 2010: Sandy McCloud organized the trip. Participants stayed at the Urban Ministry Center (UMC) next to Christ Church Cathedral at 1631 7th Street.

All worked on Mrs. Bates’ House at 9780 W. Wheaton Circle on the corner of Weaver Rd in East New Orleans.

MARCH 2011: Sandy McCloud organized the trip. Participants stayed at the Urban Ministry Center (UMC) near to Christ Church Cathedral. All worked on a house near the Garden District.

APRIL 2013: Jacquelyn and Gordon Miller were the trip organizers. Participants stayed at the Chalstrom Parish House, St. Andrews Episcopal Church. Worked on a house in Gentilly Terrace.

Habitat for Humanity trips: SEPTEMBER 2006: Sandy McCloud and Mary Mullen worked in Meridian, Mississippi.

MAY 2008: Jimmy Carter Habitat Build along the Gulf Coast. Sandy McCloud worked on a house in Biloxi, Alabama. Melinda and Tom Kmitta also stayed in Biloxi but worked in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Sandy joined them there for the closing ceremony.

MARCH 2009: Brian Fairbanks organized a trip for the St. Mark’s Youth Ensemble and was joined by Bishop Netti and Melinda Kmitta. The choir sang at Christ Cathedral and St. Paul’s. The group stayed at St. Augustine’s in Metarie worked on a house in Gentilly.

OCTOBER 2015: Jacquelyn Miller organized the trip with the assistance of Gordon Miller. Participants stayed at Molly’s House, owned by Trinity Episcopal Church. Worked on a blitz build of a home in the Hollygrove neighborhood for a mother and son.

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Holy Land Pilgrimage

Becca Stevens

BY GREG BLOCH On Wednesday evening, October 28, Saint Mark’s welcomed the Rev. Becca Stevens to the Cathedral to speak about addiction, human trafficking, social enterprise, global fair trade, and the transformative power of love. Rev. Stevens is an Episcopal priest and founder of Thistle Farms, a residential community of woman escaping violence, exploitation, and drug dependency in Nashville, Tennessee. The community supports itself through multiple commercial ventures including the manufacturing and selling of bath and personal care products, a restaurant and café, and a marketplace of ethically-produced products from partners around the world.

Rev. Stevens is also the author of multiple books, and has been called one of the most moving and inspiring preachers in the Episcopal Church today. In the two weeks leading up to her visit, the cathedral’s Faith Formation team offered two classes in which her writings and videos of her sermons were presented and discussed.

Her books and videos, however, captured only a fraction of the personal presence and charisma that the audience of about eighty people felt in the nave during her presentation, which combined profoundly moving personal stories of sexual exploitation and drug addiction with a powerful universal vision of the healing power of love. Rev. Stevens was accompanied on her visit by current residents and graduates of the Thistle Farms community, and during the question and answer period following her lecture, she frequently deferred to them, allowing them to answer questions about their own experiences rather than speaking for them.

The Thistle Farms team also brought along a wide selection of the products made and sold by the community, including soaps, lotions, scented oils, and candles, as well as handcrafted items from partners in Africa and Central America, all of which sold briskly after the program. Attendees of the event were also given a printed list of nonprofits and institutions in Western Washington which are addressing the issue of sex trafficking in our local area with specific ways to get involved.

You can view the list at saintmarks.org/loveheals.

Becca Stevens’s visit to Saint Mark’s was co-sponsored by the Faith Formation and Justice Ministries committees, with support from The Cathedral Shop, where a wide selection of Thistle Farms products will continue to be available for purchase.

From January 6-18, 2016, Dean Steve Thomason of Saint Mark’s Cathedral and the Reverend Hunt Priest, Rector of Emmanuel, Mercer Island, will jointly lead a group of about 35 members from both congregations on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. A pilgrimage is different from a tour or vacation, in that it offers a very particular opportunity to engage the sacred Scriptures contextually, and to learn more about the foundation stories of our faith. The pilgrims will also engage people who call this special place home, while exploring the realities of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. The group will worship in Nazareth and Jerusalem at Episcopal churches and celebrate the Eucharist at holy sites that bear witness to Jesus’ ministry in those places.

Mideast Focus Ministry 2016 Film Series Mark your calendar for the third an-

nual Mideast Focus Ministry’s Film Series! We are happy to share some of the finest feature films and documentaries that give insight into life, love, and struggle in Palestine/Israel. Our goal is to demystify the conflict by presenting films that provide critical context along with stories of ordinary people who live in extraordinary circumstances.

Keep an eye out for the unveiling of the 2016 titles and film series concept. Until then, please mark your calendars with the following dates and times.

Film series premiere: January 27 at 10:10 a.m. in Bloedel Hall Wednesday evening feature length screenings: February 3, 17, 23 and March 2, 7 pm in Skinner Hall (gymnasium of Brightwater School & Gage Academy).

Admission is free. Donations welcomed to help defray costs.

The Gathering: A Conference of the Recovery Ministries of the Episcopal Church,

was held at Saint Mark’s in October. Two renowned speakers, author Anne Lamott and The Rev. Becca Stevens, lent their voices to this special event. Becca Stevens and Anne Lamott are pictured here in the Cathedral Nave, along with members of the Thistle Farms community which Stevens founded.

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Sewing with love

Saint Mark’s Quilt Ministry

BY JO ANN BAILEY The Saint Mark’s Quilt Ministry, originally established to provide quilts for Canaday House residents in 2010, is dedicated to providing comfort quilts to Saint Mark’s members during times of illness, stress or transition. The ministry also encourages donations to the Saint Mark’s Hunger Offering by awarding a quilt to a lucky donor on occasional Hunger Offering Sundays, and with direct sales of reusable Christmas gift bags in December. The members have also provided baby quilts to the burn unit at Harborview, created new music bags for the Cathedral Choir, and offered gift quilts to a number of departing staff members.

The ministry currently is served by a rotating roster of about 12 quilters. Work days are scheduled on the third Saturday of each month from 9:30 a.m.–12 noon. Many members are sewers who work on quilt construction at home and during work days. Several members who do not sew provide support by tying the finished quilts – the final step in the process of getting a quilt ready for presentation. New members are always welcome! Instruction on quilt construction is available for those who have a desire to learn.

Work days are wonderful times together and end with a feeling of friendship and accomplishment. To learn more please contact Carol Green, ccgreen@u.washington.edu or Jo Ann Bailey, joannb415@gmail.com.

Partnership across the Diocese Saint James’ Cathlamet

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2015—Kathy and I traveled to St. James’ Cathlamet with Bishop Rickel and his wife Marti, where we took part in the 25th anniversary of the St. James Family Resource Center—a multi-service agency that provides many of the critical services in impoverished Wahkiakum County in Southwest Washington. Saint Mark’s has a connection in that it shared Century II outreach money with St. James to build the center in the 1990s—in fact, we sent $100,000 to them! They are still so appreciative of that connection, and I am glad to know of it, too. We also gave some funding from the Dean’s Discretionary Fund in gratitude for the Family Center’s work.

Here’s a photo of their church.

- Dean Steve Thomason

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NON-PROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID SEATTLE, WA PERMIT NO. 871

1245 10th Ave East Seattle, WA 98102

THE CATHEDRAL SHOP Christmas Boutique The Christmas Boutique is coming! On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, November 29, Leffler House and the Cathedral Shop will be transformed into a Christmas gift wonderland. Lots of your Christmas Boutique favorites as well as new and exciting items are in store. Stocking stuffers and gifts for all ages, holiday cards and gift wrap, Advent calendars and wreaths, books galore, classical, sacred and seasonal CDs, chocolates and other goodies, ornaments and nativities, crosses and elegant jewelry, and much more! There will be extended hours for the length of the boutique.

More at saintmarks.org/shop.