Formation for Newcomers

If you are new to St. Mark’s, the Episcopal Church, or Christianity more broadly—welcome! These formation offerings for newcomers are designed to get you oriented in this strange new land. Feel free also to get in touch with Cathedral clergy; we are happy to answer questions, learn more about you, and accompany you on your spiritual path.

Baptism & Confirmation

Baptism is “the sacrament by which God adopts us as his children and makes us members of Christ’s Body, the Church, and inheritors of the kingdom of God” (BCP, p. 858).

Confirmation is the sacramental rite in which individuals “express a mature commitment to Christ, and receive strength from the Holy Spirit through prayer and the laying on of hands by a bishop” (BCP, p. 860). Confirmation is an opportunity to recommit oneself to the responsibilities of baptism.

There will be four opportunities for Baptism:

• The Feast of All Saints, Sunday, November 3, 2024

• First Sunday after the Epiphany (Baptism of Our Lord), January 12, 2025

• Easter Vigil, Saturday, April 19, 2025

• The Day of Pentecost, Sunday, June 8, 2025

There will be one opportunity for Confirmation:

• The Day of Pentecost, Sunday, June 8, 2025

YOUR FAITH, YOUR LIFE: NEWCOMERS’ CLASS
(SEPTEMBER 22–NOVEMBER 17, 2024)

Sundays, 9:15–10:15 a.m.

Are you new to the Episcopal Church? Are you a long-time member but would like to refresh your understanding of what makes the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement so special? In this nine-week newcomers' class (open to all!) we will discuss such topics as the Book of Common Prayer, Church history, spiritual practices and much more. The class is meant to be highly participatory so bring those questions that you've always wanted answered! Please email Libby Hunter, Hunterlib@comcast.net; Bob Lloyd, relloyd@syr.edu; or Branden Burningham, btb@burninglaw.com to sign up.

We will be using the text Your Faith, Your Life by Jenifer Gamber and Bill Lewellis. This “everything-you-need-to-know” guide for newcomers to the Episcopal Church is written and designed to provide accessible and user-friendly reading, with an easy-going look and style that’s packed full of substance. The book carefully unpacks the Episcopal Church’s language of worship, theology, church structure, and sacraments, so that newcomers will have the vocabulary and framework to share their beliefs and practices, explore the Bible, understand prayer and discern their own ministry within the church. This book invites readers to consider their relationship with God and the church community as an ongoing process of transformation, while providing ways to engage in that process.

ALL THINGS ANGLICAN CONFIRMATION RETREAT

Saturday, May 31, 2024, 2-5 p.m.

This retreat is designed to equip the saints for ever-deeper encounter with the Living God whose indwelling spirit is the very core of our being and whose deepest desire is to love us into loving. Emphasis is placed on developing a flexible and adaptive constellation of spiritual practices to be engaged on a daily basis in the context of our busy, 21st century lives, that we might become the very love we see in the one we follow after and call “Lord,” as we follow Jesus into the Way of Love. Participants will be introduced to and have an opportunity to practice: 

• the Daily Office

• dwelling on God’s word in scripture (lectio divina and Ignatian contemplation)

• Contemplative prayer

• Visio Divina

• Ignatian Examen

++This retreat is required for those seeking confirmation in the Episcopal Church, and open to all who seek a deeper relationship with the God who loves us first.++

GUIDELINES FOR A SPIRITUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Finding one’s place within the unity-in-difference/difference-in-unity Body of Christ requires that we become comfortable being transparent and courageously vulnerable in telling our story. Telling our story helps us see how God has (often hiddenly) been at work in our lives, open to where God might be leading us, and illuminate for others their own walk with Jesus. There is no set length for the Spiritual Autobiography. Plan to share it with your sponsor and aim for 300–500 words. You can also record your Spiritual Autobiography as an audio file (5-7 min).

What is a Spiritual Autobiography?

A spiritual autobiography is the story of our personal journey with God. Throughout the Scriptures, God reveals Godself powerfully and personally in the particularity of individual lives. These moments of God’s self-revelation and a believer’s God-consciousness enable ordinary folks like us to discern, with the help of other Christians, our place within Christ’s body (Ephesians 4:11–16).

Having an understanding of one’s spiritual autobiography also helps Christians respond sensitively, compassionately, and resiliently to those persons and events they encounter in their ministry. By listening to the presence and voice of God in our own lives, we increase our ability to help others feel God’s presence and hear God’s voice in theirs. God is always with us, even in those moments when we are afraid God isn’t — in the face of suffering, trials, temptations, and testing. Those moments of God’s seeming absence speak just as powerfully in a spiritual autobiography as those moments when we experience God’s presence in worship, prayer, service, or conversation.

What should a Spiritual Autobiography “Say”?

A spiritual autobiography should discuss not only those moments when we have felt the joy of God’s presence but also those moments when we have felt the sorrow of God’s absence. It should also relate the experience of God in community. Please use the following questions as a guide for reflection:

• What kinds of Christian community have I experienced as a child, youth and adult?

• When has God felt most real to me? When has God felt most absent?

• When/where/with whom have I encountered God in a pivotal, life-changing, transformative, or powerful way (such as at worship, at prayer, in conversation, in community, on retreat, while reading, etc.)

• Have I had seasons of doubt, disillusionment, or disobedience? What did these moments feel like? Where was God in these moments? What have I learned about God as a result of them?

• Who do I know, or have known, who seemed to know God intimately? How does my story overlap with theirs? How is my story different?