Dean Thomason has prepared this brief (~2-minute) video message, announcing that the cathedral will resume offering the cup of wine to the entire congregation at the time of Holy Communion, on a strictly optional basis, beginning this Sunday, March 6, 2022.
TWO WEDNESDAYS, MARCH 9 & 16, 2022, 6:45–8:15 P.M. PACIFIC TIME, via Zoom only, registration required.
In the last few years, scientists have discovered what indigenous communities have known for countless generations: that the emotional and physical lives of our ancestors will fundamentally affect our emotional and physical lives as well. Yet, this concept of generational spirituality is underexplored in our faith communities. In this two part series, The Rev. Dr. Hillary Raining, Saint Mark’s 2022 Theologian-in-Residence, will explore the role of our ancestors in shaping our lives as well as how we might help heal ourselves and others. Join us for a combination of scholarship and experience in community!
Participants are invited to read Rev. Raining’s article on spiritual inheritance and gratitude here. Learn more about Rev. Raining here.
SPIRITUAL GENOGRAM
Rev. Raining has invited participants to construct their own "Spiritual Genogram" before the second session on March 16. Here some resources to guide you:
SATURDAY, MARCH 26, 2022, 9 A.M.–12:30 P.M., at Saint Mark’s Cathedral
This gathering is open to all and free. The morning is designed to help us move deeply into the sacred seasons with morning prayer, centering prayer, walking meditation, and unstructured time for reflection held in shared silence. Freewill donations gratefully accepted ($10–15 suggested). For more information, contact Canon Wendy Claire Barrie.
For Christians, the Season of Lent offers a certain wisdom—that death is understood not merely as an event that occurs at the end of life, but also as an ever-present character in the story of our lives. Death is a mystery to be contemplated while we live.
For the past few years, I’ve made an annual appeal at the beginning of Lent for each adult at Saint Mark’s to undertake the work of planning your own funeral. Scores of people have done so; many have expressed how deeply meaningful this work is. If you have done so already, take time this Lent to dust off your plan, review and update it if needed. If you’ve not yet taken this work on, I exhort you to include this work this year in your observance of a holy Lent. It is indeed holy work. The clergy are happy to assist you in any way you find helpful.
Here are the documents that will serve as resources for you:
These documents are also available at saintmarks.org/funeral. Ideally, you would complete this planning form (or as much as you’d like to complete) and provide a copy to the Dean’s office, where it will be kept on file, and held in confidence, until the time it is needed (hopefully a long time from now!) Of course, you can retrieve it, amend it, or replace it at any time (and many of us do).
This year, I want to broaden this invitation to include preparation (or review) of your will. My granddaughter was born earlier this year, and her birth has prompted my daughter and her wife to prepare their wills. They are in their 30s; Kathy and I did much the same when our first child was born. It is never too soon to give thought to that part of end-of-life planning, including provision for heirs and designating legacy gifts for charitable agencies to which you are committed. Again, Lent is a particularly poignant time to undertake this work, or to conduct an annual review of your estate documents. For some with complex estates, an attorney will be needed. For others, this can be a straightforward exercise, and the Cathedral Foundation and the Diocese of Olympia have partnered withFreewill, a free online resource designed to help guide your decisions around estate planning and will preparation.
Kathy and I rewrote our wills a few years ago—maybe the fifth time in our lives—and we will review them again this Lent as a spiritual practice that evokes gratitude—for the blessings in our lives, for our children, and for Saint Mark’s, our alma maters, and other organizations we want to support with planned gifts.
This is holy work, my friends, wherever you are on the spiritual journey of life, wherever you are in the course of life. I hope you will embrace it as part of your Lenten observance.
Blessings and peace,
The Very Reverend Steven L. Thomason
Dean and Rector
Since Lent 2018, the Stations of the Cross by artistVirginia Maksymowicz have been displayed in the nave of Saint Mark's Cathedral, Seattle. Although they were originally commissioned by St Thomas Episcopal Church in Lancaster, PA—a very different kind of church interior than Saint Mark's—their elemental quality and stark appearance resonate visually and spiritually with the nave of Saint Mark's. Many are surprised to learn that they were not created specifically for this space! In fact, they have only been on loan to the cathedral since their first appearance here in 2018.
Now, Saint Mark's Cathedral is happy to announce that these artworks are now a permanent part of the cathedral collection. They have been given as a gift by The Rt. Rev. Gregory Rickel, Bishop of Olympia, and Mrs Marti Rickel, to the glory of God and in loving memory of Bishop Rickel's father, Morris E. Rickel Jr. These Stations of the Cross will serve the cathedral community, the diocese, and wider community as a beautiful and prayerful aspect of our Lenten observances for years to come.
SUNDAY, MARCH 13, 10:10–10:50 A.M., Bloedel Hall or via Zoom
Rev. Linzi, the newest member of Saint Mark’s clergy team, is excited for the opportunity to gather with the people of the parish for this Sunday forum - her spouse, Troy, will be here too. Linzi will share some of her surprising story, which begins as an outspoken and committed atheist living and working in London, England, and she will also introduce the Cathedral Commons she’ll be leading later this month. Learn more about Linzi here. Bring your coffee and your questions!
FIRST MONDAY OF THE MONTH, 6–6:30 P.M., in the cathedral nave
On Monday, March 14, 2022, beginning at 6 p.m., Saint Mark's Associate Organist John Stuntebeck will offer 30 minutes of drone-based improvisations on the Mighty Flentrop, as an aid to reflection and meditation, and as a prelude to yoga practice. Cathedral Yoga will follow immediately at 6:30 p.m.
Arrive at any time between 6 and 6:30, but note that the nave will not be open until just before 6 p.m.
You are welcome to stay for the organ prelude without attending the yoga class.
A very brief taste of the event may be heard in the video below:
Audio and printed text of sermons can be found here.
Support the Mission and Ministry of Saint Mark's Cathedral
If you watch and enjoy our live-streamed or archived services, please consider making a donation in support of the mission and ministry of this cathedral.
You may also donate using the Venmo mobile app from your smartphone (search for @SaintMarksCathedralSeattle ) Thank you for your generosity.
SUNDAYS, MARCH 13, 20, & 27, 5:30–6:45 P.M., Leffler House (with the option to attend the 7 p.m. Contemplative Eucharist in Thomsen Chapel)
Are you drawn to contemplative reading and have a desire to reflect on content with others? Drawing from Listening for the Heartbeat of God by J. Philip Newell, we’ll weave in themes in the readings over the course of three Sundays for a time of spiritual reflection and connection. Participants are encouraged to read the book but it is not required. Co-facilitated by Victoria Szydlowski and Emily Meeks. If interested, please email Emily: (emcmeeks@gmail.com).
A birch leaf held fast
In limestone ten million years
Still quietly burns,
Though claimed by the darkness.
Let earth be this windfall
Swept to a handful of seeds—
One tree, one leaf,
Gives us plenty of light.
—John Haines, The Owl in the Mask of the Dreamer: Collected Poems
Lent. The word derives from the Old English lencten meaning spring season, perhaps derived from a related root meaning long, connected to the lengthening of days. Or, perhaps, to just how long it can take for spring to arrive in the north. Think of the melting of icicles off gutters, which I remember best from my childhood on the edge of Chicago when I used to delight in eating them like popsicles. Lent is no longer winter exactly, but in northern climates it’s also not that burst of energy that we associate with Spring, even though the spring equinox often occurs during Lent. Still, it’s during this liturgical season that somewhere below the surface of the earth things are beginning to quicken. Life returning—time itself is in motion again.
The church calendar follows this seasonal calendar, at least here in the northern hemisphere. We move from the celebration of Mary’s pregnancy on March 25, close to the spring equinox, to the birth nine months later on December 25—winter solstice, as light begins to overtake the darkness. Then we move quickly from birth and baptism to the 40 days of desert wilderness, also echoing the Israelites’ 40 years of wandering: Lent, with that underground sense of something still unknown coming—a wind, a belief in buried seeds. And just as Joshua crosses over the Jordan River into the Promised Land, so does Jesus—whose name echoes Joshua’s—arrive at last back in Jerusalem, David’s city, the spiritual center of the Promised Land.
And then suddenly it all seems to end. And then it doesn’t.
We’re in motion and yet also circling, since we do it every year, all praise to The Book of Common Prayer. Each of us is a year older, so that we’re moving forward through time even while the liturgy circles, so that simultaneously we feel ourselves caught within a linear process, time moving inexorably ahead, even while we stand outside of time. We are, in Christ, in time and freed from time.
There is no better expression of this, in my opinion, than the experience of celebrating Eucharist even as we are observing Lent—and yes, right up through Good Friday. So there we are, caught in this linear sequence that leads us inevitably to the cross and death, and yet in the very midst of that we are celebrating again this meal with Jesus, who is very much with us—not simply as a memory, but somehow here, now, even as He is with Mary Magdalene at the tomb and with those disciples on the road to Emmaus.
Very paradoxical. My non-logical literary mind loves it.
So too with the idea of the Kingdom: we affirm it as a future apocalyptic reality (and we finish the New Testament in linear fashion with a vision of the descent of the “New Jerusalem” among us), even as we accept Christ’s proclamation of a Kingdom already here, around us, among us, within us.
Clearly this is a Kingdom rather unlike Rome’s, or indeed unlike David’s.
Seasons come, seasons pass. We have a journey before us only to discover that there is nowhere we need to go.
Consider the story that Belden Lane (the cathedral’s guest this coming April) retells from Niko Kazantzakis. A pious monk saves up all his life to make the great pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where he will approach the Holy Sepulcher at last, circle it in ritual fashion three times, and only then be ready to return home and be ready to die, a transformed man. At last he has the money for the trip and he sets off, leaving his monastery for the first time in decades. But no sooner has he left than he comes upon a poor beggar who asks the monk where he’s off to. “Jerusalem,” proudly says the monk.
“And you have saved enough for this trip?” asks the beggar.
“Yes indeed—I have it right here in my satchel.”
The beggar then describes his plight: a wife and young child at home, no work, no food; indeed, they are on the very edge of starvation. After a moment’s silence the beggar looks at the monk: would you consider, he says, giving me your money and then walking around me three times before returning to your monastery?
The monk returns the gaze of the beggar and then slowly opens his satchel, hands over his life’s savings, circles three times around the man—and yes, returns to the monastery ready to die, a transformed man.
Lent. Yes, we have a long journey ahead of us. And yet—where is there to get to? Jerusalem? The Holy Sepulcher? Sometimes yes, absolutely, we need to go on pilgrimage. But, the story reminds us, ultimately there is nowhere else we need to go to follow this Way, recognizing that Christ himself is right here, directly in front of us in a world in need of all we’ve been saving up. And so we circle that holiness—in the liturgy and in the love we give away to family, friends, strangers, the broken earth itself. We return home and live out our days transformed, moving with the seasons even as we live, as Blake put it, in eternity’s sunrise.
Longtime Saint Mark's parishioner and former vestry member Doug Thorpe is Professor Emeritus of English at Seattle Pacific University.
Audio and printed text of sermons can be found here.
Support the Mission and Ministry of Saint Mark's Cathedral
If you watch and enjoy our live-streamed or archived services, please consider making a donation in support of the mission and ministry of this cathedral.
You may also donate using the Venmo mobile app from your smartphone (search for @SaintMarksCathedralSeattle ) Thank you for your generosity.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2 P.M., meet at the Tradition Lake trailhead
For the second intergenerational hike, intrepid hiker Betsy Bell has chosen a route that’s friendly to seniors and preschoolers. We’ll meet at the Tradition Lake trailhead at the end of the road at High Point exit off I-90. This includes the Swamp Trail which has a fun series of story boards about Zoe and the creatures in the area, the Ruth Kees Big Tree and Tradition Lake trails, about 2.5 to 3 miles with almost no elevation gain and a couple of good places to stop for prayer and song.
Audio and printed text of sermons can be found here.
Support the Mission and Ministry of Saint Mark's Cathedral
If you watch and enjoy our live-streamed or archived services, please consider making a donation in support of the mission and ministry of this cathedral.
You may also donate using the Venmo mobile app from your smartphone (search for @SaintMarksCathedralSeattle ) Thank you for your generosity.
Join Canon Daugherty over the course of two Wednesday evenings to explore the riches of creation-based spirituality in the Celtic tradition. She’ll share some of what she learned while on sabbatical in Ireland and Iona, and we’ll practice rhythms of embodied prayer and openness to daily encounters with the holy.
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 6–7:15 P.M., in the cathedral nave. Register here. Suggested donation: $5/person, $20/family.
Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper and Closing of the Doors
Please join us on Shrove Tuesday, March 1, in the cathedral nave, to end the season after Epiphany in the traditional way—by gathering in community, eating pancakes, and having fun! There will be live music, crafts, and games. Chef Marc Aubertin and the youth will be preparing our meal, and the members of the Seattle Service Corps will be decorating and assisting in the celebration.
The evening will conclude with a brief liturgy to bury the Alleluias and close the great doors until Easter. (This is a tradition to unique to Saint Mark's—see a glimpse of what the Closing of the Doors has looked like in previous years below!)
Please register in advance here. Children 5 and under are very much welcome! Everyone older than 5 must be vaccinated or provide a recent negative PCR test. When you register, you will be encouraged to provide your proof of vaccination in advance, simply by emailing an image to Canon Barrie at wbarrie@saintmarks.org
(Registration will also be available at the door, but advance registration will aid in planning, and providing proof of vaccination in advance will speed up check-in.)
Above: Santa Marta Center donation links. Click to enlarge.
UPDATED WITH VIDEO
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 10:10–10:50 A.M., Bloedel Hall or via Zoom.
The Santa Marta Anglican Center: Supporting LGBTIQ+ youth in El Salvador
The Santa Marta Anglican Center supports LGBTIQ+ youth in El Salvador who are facing homelessness. It is a ministry of the Diocese of El Salvador, part of the Anglican Church in Central America. Attend this Sunday morning form in person or online to learn more about Diocese of El Salvador's work to advance LGBTIQ+ rights, celebrate LGBTIQ+ stories, and support LGBTIQ+ youth and young adults who have been kicked out of their homes.
Check out an article about the work of the Center here.
Their fundraising official, Joseph Russ, is visiting from El Salvador to share the story of founding the Center, the faith that grounds this work, and how this faith becomes action by accompanying queer Salvadoran youth and young adults.
A complete video of the presentation may be seen here:
Audio and printed text of sermons can be found here.
Support the Mission and Ministry of Saint Mark's Cathedral
If you watch and enjoy our live-streamed or archived services, please consider making a donation in support of the mission and ministry of this cathedral.
You may also donate using the Venmo mobile app from your smartphone (search for @SaintMarksCathedralSeattle ) Thank you for your generosity.
We'll take a guided walk led by David Poortinga through grasslands, wooded hillsides, wetlands and shoreline to discover the many waterbirds and more at Magnuson. No birding experience required.
Meet at the parking lot near the Magnuson Park Boat Launch off of 65th/Lake Shore Drive.
The new Vestry members elected to three-year terms at this meeting were:
Scott Hulet
Wayne Duncan
Kristen Kelly
Justin Mills
In addition, Doug Thorpe was appointed to serve a one-year term filling a vacant position.
The Dean annonnced the appointment of Emily Meeks as Senior Warden for this year.
The Pro Christo Et Ecclesia Award was presented to:
Virginia Lenker
Molly Henderson
The video presented at the meeting introducing the members of the staff and clergy may be seen below:
This year, in the interest of time (and considering that there will be no food served), two reports that would normally be presented at the meeting have been pre-recorded. Please view them at your convenience.
Food is a profound portal into spiritual growth even as it often carries trappings of stress and shame for many. It doesn’t have to. Sharing a meal is a holy experience, if we avail ourselves of the opportunity to practice presence and to see the bounty before us as opportunity to practice gratitude. Brief reflections across the day will include history of the meal, reflecting on food as spiritual metaphor, and participants will engage in sensate tasting and will share a meal prepared by all present.
Register by submitting the form below, or at this link.
Audio and printed text of sermons can be found here.
Support the Mission and Ministry of Saint Mark's Cathedral
If you watch and enjoy our live-streamed or archived services, please consider making a donation in support of the mission and ministry of this cathedral.
You may also donate using the Venmo mobile app from your smartphone (search for @SaintMarksCathedralSeattle ) Thank you for your generosity.