I’m excited about all we have coming up starting this Sunday, September 10, with our back-to-school blessing, formation classes, and presentation from Bishop Spencer Place. As I mentioned last week, I’m doing a seasonal shift this Sunday by switching our service music, using a different form of the Prayers of the People, and using Eucharistic Prayer A. Our next shift will be at the start of Advent. Also this Sunday, we will offer communion wine from the common cup. This is optional as we will still have a separate chalice for intinction if you prefer. At the 8 a.m. service we will have two chalices at the main rail, one for sipping and one for intinction. At the 10:30 a.m. service we ask that those who wish to receive wine from the common cup go to the Chapel rail and those who wish to intinct go to the main rail. At the 5 p.m. we will have two chalices for your choosing. I realize there will be some confusion as we try this out for the first time, so I ask us all to be patient. We will adjust as needed and work to make this as easy and effortless a transition as possible. We will also add back “something old” to the 10:30 service—Oblation bearers to carry the bread and wine up to the altar as the offering begins. Ushers will be asking people to serve, but we will happily take volunteers. If you’d like to be an Oblation bearer, please let an usher know when you arrive for the service. We will also have a sign-up sheet available at the Ministry Fair next Sunday, September 17.

I’d like to point out an upcoming Feast Day that will take place before my next From the Desk comes out—Holy Cross Day on Thursday, September 14. This Feast commemorates the dedication of a Basilica and church on Calvary, the site of Jesus’ crucifixion, in the year 335. The emperor Constantine put his mother, St. Helena, in charge of this building project. During the excavation that revealed, once again, Calvary’s hill, a relic believed to be a piece of the true cross was discovered by Helena. The date of dedication, September 14, was picked to coincide with the date of the dedication of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. This is where the current Church of the Holy Sepulchre now stands. 

Don’t forget to join us on Saturday, September 16, for the Cathedral Cup Croquet Tournament.

Please continue to pray for one another, for our Cathedral family, for our nation and the world.

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