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The Cathedral Congregation—A Worshiping Community Introduction |
Worship |
Formation |
Service |
Stewardship |
Hospitality | |
We are called to be a people…committed to serving a broken and hurting world…Those who come into this beautiful space to glimpse Christ must go out ready to see and serve him in the suffering world around us…This Cathedral is called to form a people for mission and service in Christ’s name. — Dean Samuel T. Lloyd III [from his installation sermon] As it embarks on its second century, Washington National Cathedral is preparing to establish a worshiping, praying community at the heart of its life. The Cathedral’s strategic vision document, “A New Century, A New Calling,” suggests that this has been “a missing piece” in the Cathedral’s life. Our hope is that this missing piece can be formed and nurtured on the Cathedral Close. We find encouragement as all kinds of people—young and old, life-long Episcopalians and unchurched, those who have prayed here for years and others who have only recently found their way to the Cathedral—gather to talk and pray about their future as the Cathedral Congregation. We have the strong beginnings of a rich, blessed life together. Over these last weeks and months, we have identified six building blocks that will define our life as a worshiping community. As we work to shape a congregation at the heart of the Cathedral’s life, we need to explore each area more deeply, to understand what is common to all churches and what is particular to the Cathedral and its people, so that this new community can grow in numbers and faith with integrity and joy. Worship Worship is primary and formative. We are made for love, created to praise God together. As we offer “our selves, our souls and bodies, as a living and holy sacrifice to God,” we are joined together as the body of Christ. Worship is our response to God’s grace in our lives, and through it we find the grace to respond in love to each other and to the world. It is in gathering, singing, praying, and sharing the bread and cup week after week that we will be held together and shaped as a community of faith. Formation Formation is a process that begins with the question: “What gives meaning to my life?” We welcome all who find themselves, even casually, engaging that question. It is the definition of the seeker. Washington is a magnet for people beginning their careers, and the search for meaning is bound to emerge sooner or later. We believe that growing spiritually and theologically in a community that cares about what is happening in the world is at the core of the Christian life. Classes in prayer, Bible, theology, ethics, and opportunities for spiritual formation will support that growth. We invite all into a “generous-spirited, intellectually probing, compassionate Christianity.” Service Engagement in the world is a primary mark of discipleship, and it is a natural outgrowth of a deepening life of faith. Through Christ, the world is reconciled to God, and we are called as Christ’s own people to join in that work of reconciliation. Indeed, the Church will be judged by how it witnesses to God’s justice and mercy. Set high on a hill in Washington, D.C., this Cathedral is called to be a beacon of hope to those who feel hopeless and a challenge to the arrangements of power that keep some of God’s family oppressed at the expense of others. Working together, this Cathedral community will actively seek and develop opportunities to serve as agents of reconciliation in our broken world. Stewardship It’s easy to think of stewardship—giving a proportion of our time, talent and treasure back to God, who has given us all we have—as a solitary act. And each of us must decide for ourselves what that proportion should be and how it will be given. But learning to talk openly about stewardship and to share our abundance (even when it feels less than abundant) with our community and the world through the church is one way our faith and spirituality gain depth and become real. We understand stewardship as an aspect of our formation as a community, and we will encourage one another to grow in giving. Hospitality Every year more than 500,000 visitors from every state and from around the world visit the Cathedral. Generously welcoming the traveler is at the heart of our ministry. We hope that tourists will become pilgrims while they are with us, inspired by the spiritual power of this magnificent place and its people. The Cathedral Congregation will play an important part in providing hospitality, welcoming these visitors “as Christ” into their prayer and worship, opening their hearts to greet and listen to our guests. Membership in the Cathedral Congregation The Cathedral Congregation is meant to be a vital church home for its members. Individuals can register to join this new community by filling out a form available below or in each week’s worship bulletin. Doing so implies a commitment to ongoing worship, spiritual formation, service, stewardship and hospitality in this place. While this new congregation will represent a core presence, the Cathedral family includes faithful partners in mission from across the city and nation who support the work of this church while also faithfully serving their local congregations. The Cathedral Congregation is intended for individuals without a current congregational home. There are—and will continue to be—many ways for those who maintain membership in their parishes to fully engage in the life of the Cathedral through volunteering, occasional worship, and participating in its many program offerings.
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