Dean's Message for October 1, 2026

Author:
October 01, 2026

Beloveds,

Can you believe the calendar is already turning to October?

Before we leave September behind, I hope you’ll spend a little more time with this week’s Living a Faithful Life Card. Its invitation is to notice the beauty we encounter in worship and allow that beauty to turn our attention toward God. One of the practices asks us to notice a moment of wonder in worship; another invites us to let music become prayer rather than performance.

I found myself thinking about both of those invitations Sunday evening. Our Choral Evensong, Chorister Investiture, and first Canon Conversation offered such a beautiful expression of the life we are building together at St. Paul’s. If you have not yet tried our new 4 p.m. Evensong—or another service that is different from your usual Sunday rhythm—I hope you will. And save October 25 for our next Canon Conversation with Canon TimSean Youmans.

As October begins, our Faithful Life focus turns from Worship to Care: noticing and tending what God has entrusted to us. There are already so many opportunities to practice that together.

This Sunday, October 4, we’ll celebrate the Blessing of the Pets during the 9 a.m. Holy Eucharist, followed by a festive Coffee Hour and time with our four-legged friends in the East Garden. Formation continues at 10:10 a.m., our Caregivers Cathedral Support Circle gathers at 12:30 p.m., and we’ll close the day with Choral Evensong and Holy Eucharist at 4 p.m.

This Friday and Saturday, members of St. Paul’s will also join Episcopalians from across Oklahoma for The 89th Diocesan Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma. I ask your prayers especially for our Oakerhater Guild, which has helped bring forward a resolution concerning the Diamondback Detention Center in Watonga. The resolution calls our Diocese to consider questions of human dignity, humane treatment, pastoral ministry, and our response to immigrants in detention. This work is rooted in our continuing commitment to the witness of Saint David Pendleton Oakerhater and what that witness asks of us today.

There is much more ahead. On October 13, join me online at 7 p.m. for the Dean’s Book Club. I’m reading and planning to discuss: Proclaim! Sharing Words, Living Examples, Changing Lives by Marcus George Halley, and I hope you’ll read it with me as we consider how the worship we share shapes the lives we carry into the world. You can purchase this book at our Cathedral Bookstore! Pre-register for the Zoom HERE.

And All Souls’ Day is just one month away, on November 2. One of the ways we care for one another is by remembering. I invite you to share the names of your dearly departed HERE, and bring a framed photograph to the Cathedral before October 29 as we prepare to remember, honor, and hold them together in prayer.

As one month gives way to another, perhaps that is our invitation: carry what we have practiced in Worship with us as we begin to practice Care. Pay attention to what draws your heart toward God. Notice what and whom God has entrusted to you. And then tend it well.

Grace and peace,

The Very Reverend Katie Churchwell, 15th Dean, St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

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