“Decisions, decisions…”

(photo credit: John Hargrove)

Ash Wednesday, February 22

7:30 a.m. Holy Communion (Rite I) and Imposition of Ashes in the Nave

10:30 a.m.  Holy Communion (Rite I) and Imposition of Ashes in the Nave

12:05 p.m. Lenten Noonday Preaching Service in the Nave
Preacher: The Rt. Rev. John McKee Sloan, Bishop of Alabama

(Note: There is no noonday Holy Communion service in the Chapel on Ash Wednesday. The Wednesday Holy Communion services in the Chapel move to 11:30 a.m. for the other Wednesdays in Lent.)

The Cathedral Choir will sing Choral Evensong for Lent on Sunday, March 4^th at 4:00 p.m. in the Nave. The music will include the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in D by George Dyson, “Hide Me Under the Shadow of Thy Wings” by John E. West, and “Pilgrims’ Hymn” by Stephen Paulus. Canon Gibbes will officiate. Parking will be available in the Financial Center Deck. You are warmly invited to attend.

…At the beginning of our common work on behalf of the gospel, it did not seem likely that religious freedom would be one of our primary concerns. The communist project in Europe had collapsed; the commitment of Christian believers to defeat totalitarianism through the weapons of truth had triumphed; and throughout the world, a new era of religious freedom seemed at hand.

We are now concerned—indeed, deeply concerned—that religious freedom is under renewed assault around the world. While the threats to freedom of faith, religious practice, and religious participation in public affairs in Islamist and communist states are widely recognized, grave threats to religious freedom have also emerged in the developed democracies. In the West, certain religious beliefs are now regarded as bigoted. Pastors are under threat, both cultural and legal, for preaching biblical truth. Christian social-service and charitable agencies are forced to cease cooperation with the state because they will not bend their work to what Pope Benedict XVI has called the “dictatorship of relativism.”

Proponents of human rights, including governments, have begun to define religious freedom down, reducing it to a bare “freedom of worship.” This reduction denies the inherently public character of biblical religion and privatizes the very idea of religious freedom, a view of freedom such as one finds in those repressive states where Christians can pray only so long as they do so behind closed doors. It is no exaggeration to see in these developments a movement to drive religious belief, and especially orthodox Christian religious and moral convictions, out of public life.

Given these circumstances, we offer this statement, In Defense of Religious Freedom, as a service due to God and to the common good. The God who gave us life gave us liberty. The God who has called us to faith asks that we defend the possibility that others may make similarly free acts of faith. By reaffirming the fundamental character of religious freedom, we contribute to the defense of freedom and to human flourishing, in our countries and throughout the world…

Read the whole thing.

The Advent is building a house in partnership with Habitat for Humanity, the Central Alabama Long-Term Recovery Committee, and Mrs. Mary Patterson – a grandmother whose Pratt City home was destroyed in the April 2011 tornado [above].

Kickoff date for construction is February 25, 2012.

Workers are needed for six Saturday workdays:  February 25, March 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Minimum age: 14

Volunteers are needed to provide lunch for workers.

To volunteer contact Lee Hoerner, lee.hoerner@gmail.com, or Charlie Saunders, saundersrealty@aol.com.

If you wish to make a monetary or in-kind donation, contact Carol Williams at 443-8550 or Carol@CathedralAdvent.com.

Here’s a flyer with directions to the site.

Here’s the volunteer info form.

Here’s the Habitat waiver form.

How can you help?  Let us count the ways.

First – Check out the incredible 2012 speaker line up and plan on attending the services.  And bring friends with you!

Help spread the good news about this fantastic ministry to our community.

Yard signs and posters are available for pick up in Clingmon Commons.  Please place one in your yard and where you do business.

UPDATE:
Lent is here and we still need volunteers to serve in many areas:

Wait tables, make entrees, salads, chop chicken or substitute when regular workers are sick or out of town. We especially need:

• Wait Staff – Wednesdays 11:45-1:15
• Dessert Servers – Wednesdays and Fridays 11:45-1:15
• Express Cashier – Mondays 11:45-1:15

Please stop by the LL table in Clingmon Commons this Sunday to sign up. You also may call or email Tanya Cooper to sign up at tmcetal@aol.com or 871-6800.

Each Monday and Thursday during Lent, childcare will be available from 11:30-1:15.  After dropping off your little one(s), you can use your time to volunteer to help prepare and or serve our Lenten Lunches, or you can simply go hear the speaker and have lunch with your friends. RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED and may be made by calling Leslie Housman at 492-3504 or emailing  Leslie.Housman@gmail.com.

As the original dates in January proved unworkable for nearly everyone, we have rescheduled the Advent’s Marriage Retreat for February 24-26.  Thankfully and fortunately, Trey Hill will still be able to serve as our presenter for the weekend.  A psychologist at Covenant Counseling, Trey is a frequent presenter at the Advent, combining great faithfulness, competence and warmth.  An excellent presenter with a great sense of humor, the weekend will be more enjoyable with Trey as a part.

Registration closes on Wednesday, February 8.  We have a block of rooms reserved – we hope you can join us so none of the rooms will go unused!  To help with everyone’s planning, we do not anticipate offering another marriage retreat until 2014.

We certainly hope you will be able to join other Adventers – whether married for 5 months or 50 years – for this weekend of enrichment and refreshment.  You certainly do not have to be in the midst of a marriage crisis to come!  Non-Adventers and friends are certainly welcome.

Our weekend will be at The Hotel at Auburn University (www.auhcc.com).  (Depending on your allegiance, you could think about it either as reconnaissance behind enemy lines or as a sort of homecoming.)  The facilities come highly recommended; the hotel is within walking distance both of the University and the restaurants and shops in downtown Auburn.

Couples may arrive at any time after check-in on Friday afternoon.  The retreat will begin after dinner on Friday night, promptly at 7:30pm; we will conclude before lunch on Sunday.

Costs and registration

Registration for the weekend is at the link below; cost for each couple is $65.  We have a block of rooms reserved with the hotel (deluxe king); upon receipt of your registration, we will reserve your room for you.

This registration cost covers a portion of the expenses associated with the use of the hotel’s meeting rooms and other facility costs.

We have a room rate of $99 per night, not including tax.  Couples are responsible individually for their room and other costs incurred during the weekend (meals and amenities).  As mentioned, the hotel is within walking distance of the restaurants in downtown Auburn.  Each couple is on their own for meals, allowing the greatest amount of control of costs.  There is no fee for parking or for Internet.

There will be free time on Saturday afternoon, simply to relax or to take advantage of nearby activities or areas. The hotel’s website lists nearby interests.  As you consider your plans or make reservations, please be mindful of being finished in time to rejoin the group for our late afternoon session on Saturday.

Please call or email Gil Kracke (226-3516 or gil@cathedraladvent.com) with any questions.

Friday
Check-in and dinner (on your own)

7:30 to 9:30                       Session One

Saturday
Breakfast (on your own)

9:00 to 9:15                       Morning Prayer

9:15 to 10:30                     Session Two

10:30 to 10:45                   Break

10:45 to 12:00                   Session Three

12:00 to 5:00                     Free (lunch on your own)

5:00 to 6:30                       Session Four

Dinner (on your own)

Sunday
Breakfast (on your own)

9:00 to 9:30                       Morning worship

9:30 to 11:00                     Session Five 

Here’s the registration link.

And here’s the hotel’s website.

It’s April 19 – 22.

The Men’s Hike is physically demanding.  In many ways it becomes a metaphor for life.  It is good for a man’s soul.  It is amazing how four days of hiking in the wilderness without cell phones or emails can awaken a man’s soul from an air-conditioned, dry-cleaned, calendar-crunched, paperwork-induced slumber.

For more info, including online registration, click here.

Epiphany
by John Goodman

How could they have known not to come

On what amounted to pretense? Everything

Their learning held, all their beliefs

Said regal gifts were needful for a king.

The things they brought were left behind,

Doubtless; or maybe traded for bread:

Impecunious Joseph with a family

To feed, a roof to put over his head.

Before these star-gazers even made it home

The bloody swords of Herod’s boys did ring

Down the streets of Bethlehem; the baby,

Meanwhile, was on the run. Some king.

Did one of the astrologers live long enough

To hear some wild-eyed wanderer from the west

Explain what had transpired? Was the word given:

“Before you came in blessing, you were blessed”?

I like to think for one of these, or all,

The world did not remain as it had seemed:

Drawn now to a cross, as before to a stall,

Their lives, their worthless gifts, now stood redeemed.