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Dear Cathedral Community,
Cathedral family, this week is a moment, a line of
demarcation. A threshold between where we have been and where God may
be leading us next. This is not just another week on the calendar.
This is a week of preparation.
As we approach Palm Sunday and prepare to enter Holy
Week, I want to invite you to lean in and do the spiritual work that
prepares our hearts for what is coming.
I have been sitting with Ezekiel 37:1–14—the vision of
the valley of dry bones. Ezekiel is led by God into a valley filled
with bones that have been there a long time. They are dry, scattered,
and lifeless. It is a place where hope seems impossible.
And yet God asks the question that echoes into our own
lives:
à “Mortal, can these
bones live?”
Ezekiel doesn’t pretend to know the answer. He simply
responds, “O Lord God, you know.”
Then God tells him to speak—to prophesy to the bones.
As he does, something begins to happen. The bones come together.
Flesh forms. And finally the breath of God
enters them, and what once looked like death becomes a living
community again.
I keep thinking about that this week, because if we
are honest, many of us carry valleys of our own. Places that feel
tired, uncertain, or worn thin. Prayers we have been holding for a
long time. Concerns for our families, our community, and our world.
And if I am being honest with you, I find myself
standing in that valley too. As I prepare to depart a place—and a
people—I love dearly, there are moments that feel like standing among
dry bones. Moments filled with gratitude, grief, memory, and transition
all at once. Yet even there, I trust that the same God who breathed
life into that valley is still breathing life among us and ahead of
us.
And when we look around us, we see valleys too—people
searching for safety and home through migration, neighbors
experiencing homelessness, communities longing for dignity and
equality, and a creation itself asking for care and healing.
So this week matters. This
week is preparation!
Preparation for Palm
Sunday.
Preparation for the
journey to the cross.
Preparation to receive
again the greatest love story ever told.
For God so loved the
world…
So
I am asking you, Cathedral family, to pray.
Pray for those searching
for home.
Pray for neighbors who
are without shelter.
Pray for justice and
equality among all God’s children.
Pray for the healing of
creation.
Pray that we, as a Cathedral family, would have the courage
to love more boldly and serve more faithfully.
Take time this week.
Pray deeply-Listen for the Spirit. Pay attention to
where God may be calling you to bring hope, compassion, and courage
into the world.
Prepare yourself for the greatest love story ever
told!
Because the promise of Ezekiel is that God has not
abandoned the valley. God is still breathing life. God is still
raising people up. God is still doing new things.
So prepare your hearts,
Cathedral family.
Lean in and pray! Get ready!
Because God is about to do something new.
In
Peace,
Tim+
The
Rev. Timothy M. Kingsley
Provost,
Saint Mark's Episcopal Cathedral
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