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 5, 2023

• First Sunday after the Epiphany (Baptism of Our Lord), January 7, 2024

• Easter Vigil, Saturday, March 30, 2024

• The Day of Pentecost, Sunday, May 19, 2024

There will be one opportunity for Confirmation:

• The Day of Pentecost, Sunday, May 19, 2024

Formation

Newcomers are warmly invited to join the Pilgrim classes on Sunday mornings. Come learn what it means to follow Jesus on the Way of Love in the Episcopal Church. All are welcome—and there are no dumb questions. These classes, along with Quiet Days and Retreats, serve as preparation for Baptism & Confirmation.

The minimum preparations for baptism are:

• schedule a one-on-one meeting with one of the priests

• attend two sections of Pilgrim or other formation classes (Advent/Lenten series)

• write a Spiritual Autobiography to share with your mentor/sponsor (see guidelines for a Spiritual Autobiography below)

• listen to the Being Christian podcast

The preparations for confirmation include all of the above, as well as attendance at the All Things Anglican Confirmation Retreat, May 11, 2024.

ALL THINGS ANGLICAN CONFIRMATION RETREAT

Saturday, May 11, 2024, 2–5 pm

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.++

LIVING THE QUESTIONS: FAITH TRANSITION SUPPORT GROUP

Fourth Sundays, 4:00–5:30 pm, Bates Room

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” — Rainer Maria Rilke

Doubt is a natural part of a lively, mature faith. Following Rilke’s counsel to relate to our questions as invitations to a new way of living rather than as problems to be solved, this group will meet monthly as a gathering of fellow pilgrims on the Way. This is a safe and supportive space for those who may be in the midst of faith transitions, journeying through (necessary and holy!) periods of deconstruction, and/or entering the Episcopal church from other traditions. We will engage spiritual practices as the way to grow in our ability to tolerate and even rejoice in ambiguity—really, to rejoice in the living God who cannot be finally captured in word, concept, or image.

Meets monthly on fourth Sundays at 4 p.m. in the Bates Room, followed by evening prayer in the chapel.

Contact: Mother Holly, holly@stmarksutah.org

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?