I AM THE CATHEDRAL There is a picture by Norman Rockwell entitled "Sunday Morning". It depicts a 1950's matron leading her family off to church. She is dressed in her Sunday best, accompanied by her two daughters, similarly attired. At the end of the procession is her youngest child, a boy. He too is dressed in his Sunday best, but unlike his siblings, he is not looking forward. He is looking over his shoulder at his father-who is slouched down in a chair, in his PJ's, smoking a cigarette with the Sunday paper, hoping not to be seen.

That picture has always resonated with me in a negative way. It described a world in which "Church is women's work-men don't have to worry about it". That is a condition I found unacceptable.

In 1987, my daughter was ready for church school. My family had made the Cathedral its spiritual home for the previous two years (I was more comfortable in the Episcopal Church than my wife was in my heritage Roman Catholic Church) and we had found it to be a welcoming community. But as we became involved in the church school program, it occurred to me that we had no male teachers-at least a partial embodiment of the theology of "Sunday Morning". I determined to see if I could change that dynamic a bit and volunteered to teach-and wound up teaching a 7th grade class heavily dominated by young males.

Well, I survived, and that experience led me on to a new world of Christian Education, both as student and teacher. Teacher, in that I have taught classes for the better part of a quarter century-student, in that I have learned more from my students than I would have thought possible. We have encountered God while watching movies, having snowball fights, serving in food pantries and senior citizen centers, having late night conversations in dimly lit churches (both the Cathedral and elsewhere); and, in my particular case, while sitting on a cliff face in Utah, being circled by vultures.

My experience in our Christian Education program inexorably led to participation in other areas of Cathedral life-as a LEM, member of Cathedral Council and eventually, as Chancellor for the Cathedral corporation ("Chancellor" is what they call the church's lawyer). In that last role, I have been able to utilize my professional skills for the benefit of our church assisting in its mission to bring the Good News to its members and the community at large. As I enter the "post-employment" phase of my life, I look forward to being able to do more in this area.

There are only a few places in which I feel totally "at home". The Cathedral, along with the family I share it with, is one of those places. It is not a duty to serve here-it is a pleasure.

I AM THE CATHEDRAL