Gathering for Sacred Business

Community Conversation Regarding Our Priorities

We've got a lot going on in The Gathering and much to share with each other, so this evening will be full of engaging with the Spirit and discussing and deciding things that shape who we are. You are encouraged to participate. The Gathering is a collaborative community where, just as our bell banner symbolizes, each voice is unique and important in making up the whole chorus. We say we welcome all into the "full life and ministry of The Gathering" and that doesn't just mean others - it means us, too!

Recognizing the time issue, we will not have a regular pot-luck; feel free, however, to bring a sack supper if you'd like. Our monetary offering will be designated for The Gathering; you are also invited to bring school supplies which will be donated to Austin Elementary, the school zone in which Promenade Square (618 Locust) resides.

Sunday, August 29
5:30 pm, 618 Locust Street

War on Prayer

Join Us in The Garden

Dinner and a Movie
Sunday August 22, 5:30 pm

We'll watch Academy Award Nominee The Garden, and discussion will be lead by Maurice Toliver.

Synopsis: The fourteen-acre community garden at 41st and Alameda in South Central Los Angeles is the largest of its kind in the United States. Started as a form of healing after the devastating L.A. riots in 1992, the South Central Farmers have since created a miracle in one of the country's most blighted neighborhoods. Growing their own food. Feeding their families. Creating a community.

But now, bulldozers are poised to level their 14-acre oasis.... The powers-that-be have the same response: "The garden is wonderful, but there is nothing more we can do." If everyone told you nothing more could be done, would you give up?

We'll share garden fresh vegetables and other treats while we watch the movie, so easy-to-eat-on-your-lap garden-fresh kinds of things are suggested for our potluck. In observance of Ramadan, and in response to the devastating floods in Pakistan, our offering will be designated to help Pakistani flood victims.

618 Locust Street
San Angelo, Texas

Service of Song & Prayer in Manner of Taize

The Taizé community, based in Taize, France, is an ecumenical monastic order with a strong devotion to peace and justice through prayer and meditation. Prayer and silence are at the heart of the Taizé experience.

The 100-strong community of Catholic and Protestant monks is drawn from 30 countries across the world. The community has become one of the world's most important sites of Christian pilgrimage. Over 100,000 young people from around the world pilgrim to Taizé each year for prayer, Bible study, sharing, and communal work. Through the community's ecumenical outlook, they are encouraged to live in the spirit of kindness, simplicity and reconciliation.

The community seeks to include people and traditions worldwide. They demonstrate this in music and prayers where songs are sung in many languages, and include chants and icons from the Eastern Orthodox or other pieces of scripture, repeated and sometimes also sung in canon.

Sunday's Gathering worship experience will be a Taize service of prayer and meditation. Our offering will honor our own ecumenical effort devoted to peace and justice - West Texas Organizing Strategy. Our potluck theme is, of course, simple French fare.

August 15th at 5:30 pm
618 Locust
San Angelo, TX

A Forest of Love

This Sunday we will gather for exploration, reflection and conversation concerning the notion of unconditional love. Teresa Rylander and Howard Green will facilitate the conversation, and they use as their foundation an interesting collection of writings from the Tao te Ching, John Shelby Spong, and Dale Allen Hoffman.

The offering will be designated for Bread for the Journey and the potluck theme is Light and Easy. Join us 8 August 2010 at 5:30 pm, 618 Locust.

Pastoral Response to Proposition 8 Ruling

August 4, 2010 – Today, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker declared the California state law that defines marriage as a union of one man and one woman unconstitutional. I applaud this ruling and believe that Judge Walker has issued a just and fair ruling that pleases God. The journey to full marriage equality for all Americans is still before us. But I have faith that the God who created each of us and called it good is with us in this journey and will see it through.

As the world’s largest predominantly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender congregation, we stand with the 18,000 same-sex couples who have already been married in California and with the hundreds that have been married here at the Cathedral of Hope in our 40 years of ministry. We also stand with every gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender person who has courageously made covenant with someone they love despite the laws in our nation. This is a day of celebration and joy and we have seen the realm of God come closer to the earth and for that I give God thanks.

Rev. Jo Hudson, Ph.D., Senior Pastor
Cathedral of Hope
Dallas, Texas