I’m looking forward to Youth Sunday at our 10:30 a.m. service this week. We will celebrate all the young people at our Cathedral and, especially, all those who will be graduating from any school this year (young and young at heart alike!). Thank you to Clare and to all who will participate in the service. You may notice a couple of different things at the service this year. First, all youth and clergy will be in matching Youth Sunday T-shirts, something we haven’t done for a while. The bulletin cover will match the shirts. Second, we will be using a different-sounding Eucharistic Prayer. Instead of using Prayer A, B, C, or D from the BCP, we’ll be using Eucharistic Prayer 2 from Enriching our Worship 1, a supplemental liturgical text published in 1997. Written to be used as an additional resource to the prayer book, EOW expands the language, images, and metaphors used in worship.
As I mentioned, we will celebrate those who will be graduating this spring and offer our congratulations to all, including our own Clare Stern-Burbano, who graduated from the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary last Saturday, April 27. Clare received her Master of Divinity degree (MDiv).
Over this last week, the news has been dominated by protests on various campuses around the country against the ongoing war in Gaza. While the right to free speech is one of the freedoms we enjoy, violence is never a solution. I offer this prayer for the safety of all who wish to have their voices heard, and for freedom from all forms of hatred, discrimination, and violence.
O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (For the Human Family, BCP p. 815)
Please continue to pray for one another, for our Cathedral family, our nation, and the world.
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