Godparent Jubilee

Brendan Murphy on July 21, 2020

Dean Thompson is taking a much-deserved vacation. In his absence, Canon for Welcome and Evangelism Becky Zartman offers this week’s reflection:

In the last week, there have been a series of announcements from local school districts, and districts around the country, about whether or not schools will be reopening in person. 

If you are a parent, I just want to acknowledge how hard it is right now. In my house, we feel this acutely: it’s been months and months of social distancing and trying to juggle two full time jobs and childcare. And what should have been a great cause of celebration, which is our daughter’s first day of kindergarten, is now a source of stress as kindergarten has now moved online for at least the first six weeks. Kindergarten. I don’t even know how you do online kindergarten. Like is that even a thing? And we’re lucky. We have the internet, an extra laptop, and we outnumber her, two to one. 

So, parents, we see you. I see you. All of you are doing the best you can and so many of you are almost at a breaking point right now, if you’re not already several weeks past the breaking point. 

The rest of this message is not for you, because I am not giving you one more thing to do right now. If you like, you can go in your bedroom, lock the door, and scream into a pillow for five minutes. It doesn’t fix anything, but you might feel better. 

Nope. This message is for the godparents of all of those children. If you are a godparent, now is the time to step up. We need godparents more than ever. 

I don’t care if you’ve been a “bad” godparent and haven’t bought your godchild a present in years.

I don’t care if you live in a different city than your godchild.

I don’t care if you’ve never had a conversation about anything meaningful with your godchild. 

Nope. By the power invested in me by nobody, I am declaring a GODCHILD JUBILEE because every single parent in the world right now needs help. This is your mulligan, your chance for a do-over.

So. If you are a godparent, even a godparent of teenagers or college-aged students, these are some things you can do:

  • Pray for your godchild. Every single day. I am really serious about this. 

  • Call and check on godchild’s parents. Listen to them, and love them. 

  • Connect with your godchild through video over Facetime or Zoom or Google Hangouts. It’s pretty accessible and someone can teach you how. (If you have questions about options or ways to connect, Jody Gillit is a good resource.) This is just a conversation where you say hi and ask them about how their life is going, and then listen. You might talk about your faith, or you might not, but you need to establish this relationship.

  • Support them however you can.

If you can send something that might help, whether it’s dropping off dinner one evening, or an activity book, great. But really, godparenting isn’t and never has been about the presents. Godparenting is about your godchild knowing that there is an adult out there, who is not their parents, who is praying for them and loving them. Godparenting is about your godchild having someone to call when they have tough questions about their faith and the world. Godparenting is about your godchild knowing they aren’t alone.

Godparents: You can do this. If you have questions, you can reach out to me, our Minister for Children and Families KariAnn Lessner, or our Minister for Youth Marcia Quintanilla.

We’re all in this together.

Go get them.

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Worship Schedule for Sunday, July 26

 This Sunday, July 26, our worship services will be live-streamed. Please join us from your home for Holy Eucharist, Rite I, at 11 a.m.; La Santa Eucaristía, Rito II, a la 1:00 p.m.; and The Well, Celtic Eucharist, at 5 p.m. We will not worship in-person this week due to COVID-19 conditions in Houston.
 
We also encourage parishioners to watch together on Facebook Live, where a Cathedral priest will be available to communicate with you during the service and take prayer requests, or on our website at the links above. Our Sunday formation offerings for kids and adults continue as scheduled with “This is My Story, This is My Song” at 10 a.m. on Zoom, and “Dean’s Hour Summer Matinee” at 2 p.m. on Facebook Live. We will monitor conditions weekly, and as soon as we are able to return to in-person worship, we will do so.

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Supporting the Cathedral

Even as we worship from home, the Cathedral is engaged in ministry. Our pastoral care, outreach, worship, and program ministries of the Cathedral carry on, and supporting Cathedral ministries is as important as ever. You can make your offering in any of these ways:  

· Visit the Cathedral Give page to find out the many ways you can support our church.
· Make an offering or give in other ways using PayPal.
· Text the word “Give” to 888-998-1634.

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Grace and Peace,
The Reverend Becky Zartman, Canon for Welcome and Evangelism