And he said to them, 'Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.'
It is January, the year of Our Lord, 2012. And this is what "Cathedral Voices" looks like now – a blog on a newly unveiled website. A Dean who has yet to figure out Facebook and Twitter, now is challenged to communicate by 'blog'. There will be more 'voices' coming along in the weeks and months ahead – Kevin and Jackie, wardens, lay leaders, seminarians – maybe the Bishop will jump in. The 'voices' of St. James. There is all this newness in our midst – new people in the pews, new pledges for the plate, new ministries emerging – new ways to tell our story, to hold out to ourselves and to the world, something more about our mission, our sense of identity as an outpost of the Kingdom at the corner of Wabash and Huron.
We have a newly constituted communications committee who with clergy and chapter will be working with a media and PR group called Canticle Communications. Canticle will help us take who we are already and what we already do with such passion and grace and make the messages that will better define it all for those who come through our doors and those who have not yet found us.
I hear from veterans and new folk about how energy and vision and welcome mark us these days. We are a place to ponder the mystery that is God in the company of others -- a place that holds out a spirituality for those who grapple with faith, for those who need to ask questions without being placated by easy answers, for those who find God in the act of feeding and helping those in need.
I am heartened at how we are a people who strive in our common life to become the image of a God who embraces the fullness of our human condition, a people who have found here for themselves something of both justice and mercy and who long to extend those to others. It occurs to me that the Church of the 21st century, maybe like the Church in all the centuries that have gone before, is called to the task of that householder in the Kingdom of Heaven – to bring out of the treasure what is old and what is new.
For our newness is deeply grounded:in the Church’s history and a Gospel heritage,in the ongoing story that is St. James and the Diocese of Chicago, in rich traditions around music and worship and prayer and prayer books, in patterns of hospitality to the City and the Diocese, in making justice through advocacy and outreach, in sacred space that is more than our personal place for worship, but a sanctuary for all who walk by our doors.
We showed what that all looks like throughout the month of October when the Michael Nye photography exhibit, Hunger and Resilience, marked our worship space, and kept the Cathedral open to the city during weekdays. The Beatitudes Mass, offered as a concert by our Choir, drew in others, and gave another dimension to the story of hunger in America, through the beauty of music and the talents of our musicians. The most expansive, and most successful, Cathedral Shelter Christmas Basket project, the ongoing work of the Just Meals program and Sandwich Sunday, the Socks project, turn the spiritual and the artistic into action that makes a difference. I believe that is what we do best –how we hold together the old and the new, how we integrate beauty and justice, prayer and action, and extend the hospitality that makes it all available to friends and strangers. And in the Year of our Lord, 2012, I am hoping we will get better at telling others who we are and whose we are.
