Blog - Saint Mark's Episcopal Cathedral

Good Friday 12-noon Liturgy

by Christopher Brown on April 10, 2020 with No Comments

Friday April 10, 12:00 noon • Good Friday Liturgy • Service Bulletin 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 make a contribution online at saintmarks.org/give (link opens in new tab). You may also donate using the Venmo mobile app from your smartphone (search for @SaintMarksCathedralSeattle ) Thank you for your generosity. … Read More

Kathy Albert: Good Friday and the Truth

by Saint Mark's Cathedral on April 10, 2020 with No Comments

It’s Good Friday. Today is the day that Jesus was turned over to The State. The State, that behemoth that has always been, sans compassion, sans conscience, sans consciousness, a veritable greed machine. In the Palestine of Jesus’s day, that would have been a Roman Empire. In our time, it’s an American one. Neither one of them has had a great track record when it comes to truth. Today, we can see a powerful Jesus. Though he is given up … Read More

Maundy Thursday Liturgy

by Christopher Brown on April 9, 2020 with No Comments

Thursday April 9, 7:00 p.m. • Maundy Thursday Liturgy • Service Bulletin 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 make a contribution online at saintmarks.org/give (link opens in new tab). You may also donate using the Venmo mobile app from your smartphone (search for @SaintMarksCathedralSeattle ) Thank you for your generosity. … Read More

Walter Brueggemann’s Sabbath as Resistance

by Saint Mark's Cathedral on April 8, 2020 with No Comments

During this “wilderness time” for the cathedral, Dean Thomason is encouraging everyone to read The Sabbath as Resistance: Saying NO to the Culture of Now. In this book, the great modern prophet and theologian Walter Brueggemann offers a delightfully provocative critique on the ways modern culture seduces us into anxiety, exclusivism, and multitasking as ways to subvert the life-giving ways we were created to enjoy. Drawing on ancient wisdom of keeping sabbath, but making it relevant to us in modernity, … Read More

Compline on Palm Sunday – The Sunday of the Passion

by Christopher Brown on April 5, 2020 with No Comments

Sunday April 5, 9:30 p.m. • Compline on Palm Sunday 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 make a contribution online at saintmarks.org/give (link opens in new tab). You may also donate using the Venmo mobile app from your smartphone (search for @SaintMarksCathedralSeattle ) Thank you for your generosity. (Permission to … Read More

Choral Evensong on Palm Sunday – The Sunday of the Passion

by Christopher Brown on April 5, 2020 with No Comments

Sunday April 5, 4:30 p.m. • Choral Evensong on Palm Sunday • Service Bulletin 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 make a contribution online at saintmarks.org/give (link opens in new tab). You may also donate using the Venmo mobile app from your smartphone (search for @SaintMarksCathedralSeattle ) Thank you for … Read More

Palm Sunday – The Sunday of the Passion

by Christopher Brown on April 5, 2020 with 1 Comment

Sunday April 5, 11:00 a.m. • Palm Sunday – The Sunday of the Passion • Service Bulletin 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 make a contribution online at saintmarks.org/give (link opens in new tab). You may also donate using the Venmo mobile app from your smartphone (search for @SaintMarksCathedralSeattle ) … Read More

An Introduction to Palm Sunday Hymns: April 5, 2020

by Saint Mark's Cathedral on April 2, 2020 with No Comments

On Thursday, April 2, Canon Kleinschmidt introduced the hymns to be sung during this coming Sunday’s live-streamed service for Palm Sunday, on April 5 at 11 a.m., live using Facebook. Join us on Facebook in two weeks Thursday, April 16 2, 2020, at 4 p.m. for another live hymn chat introducing the hymns for The Second Sunday of Easter.

Partner Organizations

by Christopher Brown on April 1, 2020 with No Comments

Earth Day Northwest 2020 is a coalition of businesses, non-profits, faith communities, indigenous tribal leaders, and community groups from the Pacific Northwest who have come together to create meaningful change towards the goal of a more livable, equitable, and sustainable city, region, and planet. These effort are focused around the 50th anniversary of Earth Day (April 22, 2020). On the EDNW2020 website, you can learn about local and regional initiatives, take the pledge to take action and empower change, and … Read More

The Home Altars of Saint Mark’s

by Saint Mark's Cathedral on April 1, 2020 with No Comments

Earlier this week, the people of Saint Mark’s were invited to create home altars to serve as a focal point for their Holy Week observances. Visit this post for details. Below are some of the photographs that members of the community have sent in to the cathedral or shared in the Facebook Group. Click to enlarge!

Preparing for Holy Week from Home

by Saint Mark's Cathedral on April 1, 2020 with 4 Comments

In the video below, Dean Thomason shows you some of the ritual objects that he will be using to observe Holy Week from his own home. Read on for more detailed instructions! (You may wish to print out this page for convenience—just hit ctrl-p!) Holy Week is upon us.

Making your Home Altar

by Saint Mark's Cathedral on March 30, 2020 with No Comments

We are about to enter a Holy Week like none other any of us have ever experienced. We are all anxious to feel the joy of the Feast of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday, but it is a core part of our tradition that we must, with intention, walk through the Holy Week observances of Passion and death in order to reach our Easter celebration. As has been announced, Saint Mark’s Cathedral will be livestreaming services from the cathedral nave … Read More

Compline on The Fifth Sunday in Lent

by Christopher Brown on March 29, 2020 with No Comments

Sunday March 29, 9:30 p.m. • Compline on The Fifth Sunday in Lent 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 make a contribution online at saintmarks.org/give (link opens in new tab). You may also donate using the Venmo mobile app from your smartphone (search for @SaintMarksCathedralSeattle ) Thank you for your … Read More

The Fifth Sunday in Lent

by Christopher Brown on March 29, 2020 with No Comments

Sunday March 29, 11:00 a.m. • The Fifth Sunday in Lent • Service Bulletin 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 make a contribution online at saintmarks.org/give (link opens in new tab). You may also donate using the Venmo mobile app from your smartphone (search for @SaintMarksCathedralSeattle ) Thank you for … Read More

Carrie Kahler: Three Poems

by Saint Mark's Cathedral on March 28, 2020 with 2 Comments

Parishioner Carrie Kahler taught a class at Saint Mark’s a few years ago on ekphrastic poetry, focusing especially on Saint Mark’s own collection of icons. Three poems she wrote as a result of that class were subsequently published in the literary journal Image, issue No. 99. (You can view them on Image’s website here, here, and here.) She has graciously offered to share them here. After Rublev’s Trinity Each face turned toward a face at table leaving always a space … Read More

An Introduction to Sunday’s Hymns: March 29, 2020

by Saint Mark's Cathedral on March 26, 2020 with 2 Comments

A Special Video for Choir Members

by Saint Mark's Cathedral on March 26, 2020 with 2 Comments

The music program at Saint Mark’s Seattle, somewhat famously, involves seven different choirs (Saint Mark’s Singers, Cathedral Choir, Evensong Choir, Compline Choir, Junior Choristers, Senior Choristers, and Schola). During this time when choirs are neither singing for liturgies nor meeting weekly to rehearse, choir members are feeling separation and absence acutely. Canon Kleinschmidt and Choir School Director Rebekah Gilmore made the following video to recreate the warm-ups which begin all choir rehearsals, when singers prepare our voices and our bodies … Read More

Kathy Albert: Prayers for Life

by Saint Mark's Cathedral on March 26, 2020 with 2 Comments

Parishioner Kathy Albert wrote this reflection on two meaningful prayers. Thank you for sharing, Kathy! When life gets rugged, I turn to a wealth of spiritual wisdom that has sustained me over the years. Here’s a prayer that I am saying out loud now after meals. It comes from Gates of the House: The New Union Home Prayer Book, published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis: “Let us praise God. Praised be the name of God, now and forever! … Read More

Share your Dinner Wednesday night!

by Saint Mark's Cathedral on March 24, 2020 with No Comments

Let’s gather virtually and have fun staying connected! This Wednesday, March 25, on our usual Cathedral Commons night, visit the Saint Mark’s Seattle Community Life during the Closure group and post a photo of your dinner table or what you’re eating. Some members of the group tried this last Wednesday, and it was so lovely to see everyone! (A few examples are pictured at below.) This Facebook group is “private”—to join in, just follow the link above, or visit our our regular Facebook … Read More

Jo Ann Bailey: Help Medical Workers by Making Fabric Masks

by Saint Mark's Cathedral on March 24, 2020 with No Comments

Community member Jo Ann Bailey, a professional seamstress and teacher of sewing, submitted this report below about making fabric masks for healthcare workers. (Last week on the cathedral’s Facebook Group, there was a call from Providence Hospitals for help sewing masks, but they have subsequently engaged manufacturers, including a Mukilteo furniture factory, to produce masks in quantity and are no longer soliciting volunteers. The opportunity described below is a better option!) A shortage of protective clothing for medical professionals is … Read More

Dean’s Letter: One Body, Many Parts

by Saint Mark's Cathedral on March 24, 2020 with 1 Comment

As we approach two weeks since the first public health directives upended our normal routines, with many in the interim faced with job loss, school closures, and the threat of illness coming too close, I am keenly aware that the stress of this disruption and the weight of the burgeoning health care crisis are bearing down on us, collectively and individually. It is difficult in the moment to find an unimpeded path to resolution and a return to normalcy (whatever … Read More

Compline on the Fourth Sunday in Lent

by Christopher Brown on March 23, 2020 with No Comments

Sunday, March 22, 9:30 p.m. • Compline on the Third Sunday in Lent The office of Compline will not be open to the public during the cathedral closure. It will be broadcast as usual on KING-FM 98.1 and king.org, and livestreamed from the Cathedral Nave, at 9:30 P.M. A beloved Seattle institution since 1956, the all-male Compline Choir sings the last monastic office of the day every Sunday at 9:30 p.m. Hundreds pack the nave each week for this meditative … Read More

The Fourth Sunday in Lent

by Christopher Brown on March 22, 2020 with No Comments

Sunday March 22, 11:00 a.m. • The Fourth Sunday in Lent • Service Bulletin 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 make a contribution online at saintmarks.org/give (link opens in new tab). You may also donate using the Venmo mobile app from your smartphone (search for @SaintMarksCathedralSeattle ) Thank you for … Read More

Sonjia Gavin: Blessing and Curse

by Saint Mark's Cathedral on March 20, 2020 with 1 Comment

Yin and Yang. Sinner and Saint. Blessing and Curse. As they say, there are always to sides to a coin. In this time of limbo, I find myself thinking about this daily. What is the take-away from all of this? What are we supposed to be learning? How are we going to make it through? Will this ever this end? All around us, we are experiencing a new normal. Students are not in school, employees are being laid off (including … Read More

Reflections on Signs of Grace…

by Saint Mark's Cathedral on March 20, 2020 with 1 Comment

After hearing Dean Thomason’s sermon on March 15, 2020, parishioners were invited to reflect on where they had been experiencing sacramental grace in their daily lives during this challenging time. I snapped a photo (attached) on my walk out of PCC this evening after being greeted by a brass band playing music together in the park. All of the musicians were standing at least 6 feet apart (practicing social distancing) while they played joyful music. Lifted my spirits immediately … Read More