Happy Thanksgiving

Philippines 1:3 - "Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God."

We can't say it any better than the apostle Paul.  We are so thankful for you.  For your family.  For your life. We thank God everyday for the privilege of serving you.  

On this Thanksgiving week, we just want to make sure you know how thankful we are for each one of you.  Thank you.  From the bottom of hearts, thank you.  

We pray you have a blessed Thanksgiving this year.  On Wednesday night our church family is celebrating with a Thanksgiving Communion Service at 7 pm.  You are invited to join us.  This time of year our community food banks always needs lots of help, so we are asking people to bring non-perishable food as part of our celebration.

We are all looking forward to a great Holiday season as we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Savior with a bit of flare this Christmas.  You’ll be hearing more about this at our worship services during the month of December.

God Bless You and Your Family,

Pastor Tim & the Washington Cathedral Staff

A Prayer Meditation

 By Pastor Becca McCary

The sermon on Sunday was on the Mary Martha story from Luke 10. The challenge to the church was to do the “One thing” Jesus asks: tune our hearts into the presence of Jesus for it is there that we find complete acceptance and belonging. Here is a prayer practice to help teach you to tune your heart to Jesus.

(This is a prayer practice meant to be done with a family member, friend, or someone you trust. One person will lead this prayer by reading this script while the other person or people follow the directions, connecting with God. This is a great way to learn and to listen to God by tuning into God’s presence. Let the person leading this activity read slowly and calmly, giving the person or group time to soak in each phrase you say.)

We are going to do a relaxation prayer practice. It is OK to fall asleep, because we are going to practice a very relaxed prayer. God can speak to us even while we are sleeping. It’s also ok to use your imagination to help you connect to God during this prayer too. So if I ask you to imagine God, think creatively… imagining what God looks like, feels like to hug, or even smells like. Our main goal is to be calm and relaxed as we recognize God’s presence with us.  

This prayer practice is based on the following verse:

“Be still and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10

Close your eyes. Relax and get comfortable. Feel the way your body sits in the chair or on the floor and re-adjust as you need.  

Take a deep breath in, feeling the air fill your lungs. Now slowly release your breath, letting any worry or tension leave with the exhaled air. Slowly breathe in remembering God’s love for you. And slowly breathe out any anxiety you might be feeling. Take a deep breath remembering that God is offering you peace. And slowly exhale as you become more and more focused on relaxing.  

Continue to breathe normally as you feel comfortable.

Let any distractions around you wash away. As distracting thoughts or questions come into your mind, picture yourself taking hold of those thoughts with your hand and then putting it in a jar with a lid for later. Then return to your relaxed, focused state. Hear God’s voice calling you deeper into his presence as you continue to breathe deeply.

Let your body slowly relax more and more as you realize God’s complete love for you. Like waves of relaxation rushing over your body, feel your face relaxing. Your jaw muscles loosening, your tongue becoming still and heavier, and the stress wrinkles on your forehead loosening up.  

Remember that there is nothing you can do to make God love you any more or any less. So even in this moment of complete stillness, God loves you and fully embraces you.

As your neck muscles loosen, your shoulders dropping down, imagine God’s hand gently resting on your shoulder, communicating God’s gentle, warm presence. Can you feel his large, warm hand resting on your shoulder? Maybe God is sitting beside you with His arm around you, or maybe God is standing in front of you, gently placing His hand on your shoulder.  

Can you see the warmth and love in God’s eyes as He looks at you? God designed you; He made you; and He is so happy to have your attention right now. And even as you imagine God looking at you with compassion and love, remember that God really is here with us. The bible says “where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am with them.” The Bible tells us that “God is love.” So any moment that you’ve ever felt fully or deeply loved, draw on that to know that God loves you like that, and even more so right now. You can be completely at home in God’s presence.

Continue to breathe deeply as your back and stomach relax… letting the relaxation flow down to your legs and even into your feet. Feel yourself firmly but comfortably rooted to the floor or chair.  

Now as you sit completely relaxed from head to toe, picture some place in nature that is beautiful. Maybe it is a camp site you visited once with your family… Maybe it is a hike you took with friends… or maybe it is some special place you have made up completely in your imagination. How does the air feel on your skin? Is it damp and cold or is it warm and dry? Is the sun shining? Can you feel the air on your skin? Are there tall trees? Grainy sand? Picture the specific place in your mind. As you sit in this peaceful, beautiful spot, hear the words from Psalm 23.

The Lord is my shepherd;
    I have all that I need.

When I am in God’s presence I am perfectly content because I know that he loves me just as I am and is offering me perfect peace.

² He lets me rest in green meadows;
    he leads me beside peaceful streams.

Can you hear the water flowing?

³     He renews my strength.  

I feel the tiredness and stress in my body leave as I totally relax in God’s presence.

He guides me along right paths,
    bringing honor to his name.

God shows me what he wants for me and reveals good ways to live. There is no stress or guess work in following Jesus because God speaks to me, continually guiding me in where I should go.

⁴ Even when I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will not be afraid,
    for you are close beside me.
Your rod and your staff
    protect and comfort me.
⁵ You prepare a feast for me
    in the presence of my enemies.

No Matter what I face, I can trust you to care for me.  

You honor me by anointing my head with oil.
    My cup overflows with blessings.

⁶ Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me
    all the days of my life,
and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.

And as you continue to breathe deeply, enjoying God’s peaceful presence, I’m going to count back from five as you slowly come back to a more awake state. Five, your breathing becomes a little bit less deep. Four, your fingers begin to move around a bit more. Three, you can feel your toes start to move now too. Two, your eyes open. One, you’re sitting back up.

How did that feel? Have you done something like that before? Were you able to picture God? Were you able to feel what it is like to be in God’s loving presence? Was anything hard about it? The more practice we get “being still and knowing that he is God” the easier it becomes to sense God throughout our entire day.

Church for the Unchurched

By Pastor Ben McCary

Whenever we step into a new place, there are all sorts of signs – both visible and invisible – that help us feel welcomed or make us stand out. When it comes to church, this is no exception. But Jesus and the authors of the bible teach a very different way of interacting with people of diverse spiritual backgrounds. One of Christianity’s founders, the apostle Paul, wrote a letter to one of his churches where he tries to help them understand this sort of interaction.

In the middle of this letter, he writes discussing people’s dietary habits, how they dress in Christian gatherings, and how the rich and poor interact with one another. In pastor Ben’s sermon, he discussed the first section, on eating (check out his thoughts on the second passage, dress, on his personal blog). In this passage, Paul advises the people in his church to be willing to step out of their comfort zones and into someone else’s world as a way to show love and caring.

In the city of Corinth, there was a practice of offering animals as sacrifices to the gods of the Roman empire. After that, the priests in the temples would sell that meat at discount. The issue that the Corinthian Christians dealt with was whether this meat was to be considered safe to eat. In eating it, they might be saying that they submit to the Roman gods; in abstaining, they might be saying that they are against the reigning Imperial government and it’s gods. They were in a lose – lose situation.

But Paul says that, because of Jesus’ life and teachings, we no longer need to live in that lose – lose situation. Instead, we can live with a radical love and empathy for everyone, while also holding firmly to what we believe.

Being willing to step into a new world is difficult. Psychoanalyst Stephen Grosz says it this way:

Research has shown, again and again, that when we do move, we follow old habits. We don’t trust emergency exits. We almost always try to exit a room through the same door we entered. Forensic reconstruction after a famous restaurant fire in the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Kentucky confirmed that many of the victims sought to pay before leaving, and so died in a queue.  

After twenty-five years as a psychoanalyst, I can’t say that this surprises me. We resist change. Committing ourselves to a small change, even one that is unmistakably in our best interest, is often more frightening than ignoring a dangerous situation.

We don’t want an exit if we don’t know exactly where it is going to take us, even – or perhaps especially – in an emergency. 

We are vehemently faithful to our own view of the world, our story. We want to know what new story we’re stepping into before we exit the old one. We don’t want an exit if we don’t know exactly where it is going to take us, even – or perhaps especially – in an emergency.

Radical empathy is a value that Washington Cathedral tries to live out. Over the past 28 years, it has become one of our core values and we do it in a lot of ways. We have created a “Meta church” which accepts congregations from every kind of ethnic background. That is why we have a vibrant Brazilian congregation, a Korean congregation, and many others. We also have a variety of recovery and support groups.

This is a place where everyone is valued, but that means that everyone has to be willing to step out. If you’ve never been to church, Jesus has a plan for your life and calls you to step out and experience faith along with us here at Washington Cathedral; if you’ve been in church your entire life, Jesus calls us to step out and share our lives with everyone around us.

Like what you hear, but want more? You can check get more information by checking out our website, or you can email us if you have more questions.

Elijah’s Accident

By Pastor Rey Diaz

As I walked in to the bathroom, I saw bright red blood everywhere.  On the floor.  On the walls.  And all over Elijah.  He was yelling and crying.  Elise was trying to stop the bleeding but we couldn’t figure out where the bleeding was coming from.  Pastor Jeony ran to get his car.  I picked up Elijah and carried him to the car, trying to calm him to no avail.  We rushed to an ER where the nurses and doctors promptly led him into a room.  The next three hours were the longest of my life.  It was worse than physical torture.  It was a long heart breaking experience full of anguish and desperation. Hearing Elijah cry and yell and scream from the pain of the shots, the stitches, removing the ceramic, and his own fear. He kept saying, “Daddy, please help me.  Please it hurts.” 

There was nothing I could do. I wanted to cry. I wanted to magically take his pain away. I would have traded spots with him in a split second. But there was nothing I could do. It broke my heart. I was helpless and powerless.

Once we were done we drove home and Elijah fell asleep. I was exhausted emotionally and spiritually. I needed God, so I went for a walk trying to process and pray through what had just happened. 

During the walk, I thanked God because it wasn't too serious, realizing the cuts were millimeters away from doing real damage.  It could have been so much worse. I thanked God that it was over and Elijah was safe. During my walk, I passed 15-20 kids barefoot, in poverty.  One little girl in particular stood out as she must have 3-4 years old and was trying to jump in front of the moto-taxis.  I thought about how the kids at AFE get cuts like Elijah (and worse) in the dump. With no option for help except AFE. I thought about all the kids around the world in similar or worse situations. When Elijah was hurt, I had access to a vehicle, access to great medical care, and means to pay for whatever it cost.  Unheard of in this area with such a high level of poverty.  

And I heard God whisper/imprint in my heart – what you felt today is what I feel everyday, exponentially more, for all these children. I have compassion for these children. For orphans.  For the vulnerable.  For the hungry.  For the abandoned.  For all these children. 

God is best described as our heavenly Father.  And God has deep, desperate compassion for these children. 

Psalms 68:5 - Father to the fatherless, defender of widows— this is God, whose dwelling is holy. 

Psalms 145:8-9 - The Lord is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. The Lord is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all his creation.

The Heavenly Father who feels deep compassion for his children, is inviting us to join in that compassion.  To defend the cause of orphans.  To love mercy and act justly. To feed the hungry.

So what can you do?