Saint Mark’s Stewardship Committee is pleased to announce the launch of the 2023 Stewardship Campaign on Sunday, October 2. Packets of material about this year's campaign were sent to all parishioners this week, including a letter from Dean Steve Thomason. Beginning this Sunday and continuing through October 30, members of the community will offer reflections during the 9 and 11 a.m. Sunday services, on why they value Saint Mark’s and its ministries, and why they choose to share their time and treasure here.

The first speaker, on October 2, will be Chris Rigos, Junior Warden for Stewardship. He will announce the opening of the campaign, explain how you can be part of it, and share how important all our contributions are to Saint Mark’s, to the life of the parish, and to our own spiritual development. After the services, Chris and other members of the Stewardship Ministry will be available in the rear of the nave for questions and concerns.

Please visit the Stewardship page of the cathedral website to find the online pledge card and Frequently Asked Questions. Additional material will be added there in future weeks. Thank you for your participation, support, and prayers.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9, 10:10–10:50 A.M., Bloedel Hall

Gather between the services on Sunday morning, October 9, for an interactive, intergenerational forum with the leaders of Saint Mark's Taizé ministry. Learn a bit about what exactly Taizé is, its origins in France, and what got the Taizé ministry started here at Saint Mark's. Then we'll discuss the unique music of Taizé, and do some singing together. It will be informative and fun for all ages, and serve as preparation to more fully participate in the upcoming Taizé service on Tuesday, November 8. Any questions, contact Sacristan Michael Seewer: mseewer@saintmarks.org

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 10:10-10:50 A.M., Bloedel Hall

Rev. Canon Richard K. Toll, Canon Pastor of St. Mark’s Cathedral, 1976-84, returns to Seattle from his retirement life in Portland, OR to participate in a Symposium: The Holy Land – What’s Next? - a gathering of faith leaders working for peace and justice in Israel/Palestine (Bloedel Hall, Saturday, Sept. 24th, 1-4 p.m.).

On Sunday morning, join the Cathedral Parish in welcoming Dick and his wife, Elaine, both of whose ministries were a major part of parish life during their time here. Dick’s post-Saint Mark’s ministries—as Rector of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Milwaukie, Oregon and founding Executive Director of Friends of Sabeel North America—deeply affected many lives, at the local, national, and international level.

A REFLECTION FROM DEAN THOMASON

A Queen and the Project of Democracy

Dear friends,

In the days since Queen Elizabeth died, I have received several inquiries about what we at Saint Mark’s Cathedral planned to do. Some had an expressed need for formal ritual to honor this woman of remarkable grace and fidelity to her role; others found it troubling that a monarch who epitomized the colonialist structures of a fading empire would be regarded at all. I will admit being a bit amused by the machinations other cathedrals and churches undertook to have special services, watch parties, and the like.

For our part, we split the difference: we commended her in our prayers on Sunday morning September 11, while the Compline Choir devoted parts of the service of compline that evening to special intentions for the Queen. It felt like a Via Media approach worthy of our Anglican heritage.
I am no royalist, but I fervently believe we pray for those who have died, as we did for Elizabeth, using her full name, Elizabeth Mountbatten-Windsor, as we did for her husband Philip last year. Her name was read alongside others’ names—in our baptismal and resurrection theology, no one person is more important than others. We buried my sister-in-law on September 8, the same day Elizabeth died, and I was preparing for a parishioner’s funeral at Saint Mark’s two days later. These others were no less important to observe than a queen’s.

But the energy given this particular queen’s death amidst the pomp and circumstance of royal customs surrounding her funeral provides an opportunity to reflect on what is really involved for us as we gaze upon the ritual from a distance—from a country that fought a war to separate ourselves from this imperial throne. We can have it both ways (independent yet with bonds of affection), but we should give considerable thought to what it is in this moment that draws us into this queen’s orbit.

Rowan Williams offers a fine reflection on the ways her life and work as monarch were sacramental, grace-filled and faithfully exercised. The invitation is to see not just Queen Elizabeth’s life in that light, but how we might see ours alongside such an invocation of the Spirit to speak into our lives as faithful enterprise.

Serge Schmemann wrote an opinion piece in the September 11 issue of the New York Times: “To function in an otherwise normal democracy, a hereditary monarchy requires that the citizenry accept a bit of fiction — namely that one family, standing above politics, can represent the nation and its values.” What is it about royalty that captures our imagination, and why?

And Hari Kunzru wrote in the same issue: “the British elite have always understood that the monarchy is a screen onto which the people project their own fantasies.” What does that mean for us as Americans?

There are 56 countries in the British Commonwealth; 14 of those are constitutional monarchies (including Canada) who will now replace their queen’s image from their currency with their new king’s. There is already talk about which of those nations may choose this time of transition to reflect on what has been, and how they may orient to a different polity. I pray that work is guided primarily by principles of justice for all their citizens. To be sure, we have work to do in this regard as well.

None of us choose the family into which we are born. Elizabeth was born wealthy, and when called upon to serve as queen, she did so with courage and commitment to her people. She did not seek the throne. I believe history will account for her effort as one of faithful devotion in which she sacrificed her ego in the cause of service to her society. And perhaps that is the image worthy of emulation—servant to the larger project of democracy, just society, and the common good. May we have the grace and courage to be such servants here and now.

Blessings and peace,

The Very Reverend Steven L. Thomason
Dean and Rector

One of the first cathedral offerings to be suspended in March of 2020 was the treasured community supper, offered most Wednesdays for several years as part of the regular Wednesday night suite of offerings. Now at last we are able to gather for this shared meal once again, created by the team led by Chef Marc Aubertin.

Wednesday evening offerings begin with in-person Evening Prayer in Thomsen Chapel at 6 p.m. Dinner is served in Bloedel Hall from 6 to 6:30 p.m. (Health regulations require that food service ends promptly at 6:30.) A faith formation offering or other community activity usually follows at 6:45. For the first dinner, on Wednesday, September 14, there will be no Cathedral Commons offering—they begin one week later with Dean Thomason's presentation on embodied spirituality on September 21 (see bel0w). But the dinner will have all its usual energy provided by the kids of the Choir School, whose rehearsals are immediately before or after the meal. The cost of the meal, payable in cash at the door or electronically, is now: Child/$6, Adult/$8, Family max/$25.

Note: One beloved element of the Wednesday community meal that will sadly not be resuming are Jim Green's delicious salads. For several years he personally made the salad for the dinner each week. Jim died last May, and the UW Department of Anthropology recently published this moving remembrance.