All this happened on Wednesday.
1. First, a quick reminder.
Our 2026 Sibling Outings focus on visits to Spokane.
Today, Carol was in charge of our outing and led us on a foray into the Cliff Cannon neighborhood. We started with breakfast at Little Euro, just a block or so away from what was, for me, the heart and soul of our outing, St. John's Cathedral where we worshipped at the 12:00 Rite II Eucharist service.
Once inside this Gothic Revival building for a while, we learned that the 12:00 Eucharist would be held in the Guild Room. The usual worship spaces were closed. They were being spiffed up in advance of Holy Week and Easter Day.
So, about a dozen of us sat around a rectangular table and the Dean of the cathedral, the Very Rev. Heather VanDeventer, guided us through a Rite II Eucharist and, lo and behold, Carol volunteered to read the Epistle, a passage from Hebrews, and I volunteered to read the Old Testament lesson from Isaiah.
I've been out of touch with Episcopalian life and with the worldwide Anglican Communion for just about six years. I was very protective of myself during the pandemic, fell out of the habit of driving to CdA to worship at St. Luke's, and I haven't pushed myself back into that routine again.
So, I didn't know that today was a momentous day in the Church of England and Anglicanism globally.
First of all, today was the Feast Day of the Annunciation, celebrating the angel Gabriel's announcement to Mary that she would conceive Jesus.
The celebration of this momentous day in the history of the church was, appropriately, also chosen as the day when the first ever woman, Bishop Sarah Mullally, was installed as the Archbishop of Canterbury. (Click on this link to read more about the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury.)
Dean Heather VanDeventer gave a terrific homily today that paralleled the call to service Mary received on this day and the call the (now) Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally also received on this day. Most of all, I enjoyed learning that central to Archbishop Mullally's vocation is her devotion to the understanding that all of us are pilgrims in our faith, journeying together in our walk of faith, equals in the eyes of God, sharing the experience of not having arrived, but being on a road to understanding and service.
2. We drove a short distance from the cathedral to Cannon Hill Park.
I'd never been to this handsome, elegant park before.
Its most attractive feature for me was its pond. I could have walked around the park, but ever since leaving Eugene, OR and Greenbelt, MD, I've yearned for a pond I could travel to easily and yearned to sit and watch ducks and geese and whatever waterfowl might also pop in for a visit.
So, that's what I did.
I sat still.
Quiet.
And I watched the birds and dreamed a bit about how fun it would be to live near this spot and walk the circumference of the pond and enjoy the water, trees, and the birds.
We left the park and went to The Scoop ice cream parlor on W. 25th and Monroe, thus wrapping up our outing with delicious and refreshing ice cream.
3. Back home, Debbie slow cooked a chuck roast on the stove top which she then turned into a superb beef and egg noodle dish.
This delicious bowl of my favorite cut of beef, some vegetables, noodles, and a savory broth, brought this significant and fulfilling day to a close.
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