Washington National Cathedral

Mississippi’s leaders and citizens will be celebrated at a special worship service May 25 at Washington National Cathedral. Invited clergy and parishioners from the state and Magnolia State natives living in the nation’s capital will play prominent roles at the event in the landmark house of prayer.

As part of its national ministry, Washington National Cathedral offers prayers for each state annually. The Cathedral, which hosts state funerals and other events of national significance, honors each state with a major observance once every four years.

Mississippi Day also will mark a continuation of the Cathedral’s centennial year celebration.

The Right Rev. Jane Holmes Dixon, a native of Winona, Miss., will preside at the 11:15 a.m. service. Dixon served as the Episcopal bishop of Washington, pro tempore, until she retired in 2002. An historic figure, when Dixon was consecrated as suffragan bishop in 1992, she was the second woman to be elevated to the office of bishop in the Episcopal Church.

The Right Rev. Duncan M. Gray III, bishop of the Episcopal diocese of Mississippi, will deliver the sermon that is expected to include news of the Gulf region’s continuing reconstruction from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

Mississippians will play key roles at the service. They will participate in the service’s opening procession and will bear communion elements and offer up gifts to the poor. The state flag will be placed on the chancel steps and the people and elected officials of the Magnolia State will be remembered in the Cathedral’s prayer cycle for the following week, in further recognition of Mississippi Major State Day.

A group of 30 young men and woman from Episcopal Church of the Redeemer and Main Street Missionary Baptist Church, both in Biloxi, are expected to take part in the service, stopping at Washington National Cathedral on their way to a joint volunteer service project in Lawrence, Mass.

Members of the Mississippi State Society, the organization of Mississippi natives who live and work in the Washington area, also will be involved in the day.

Afterwards, guides will lead guests on a special tour of the cathedral, the sixth-largest in the world. The tour will highlight references to Mississippi, including the coat of arms of the Episcopal Cathedral in Jackson that is carved one of the Cathedral’s half-bosses.

“As a church for national purposes and a house of prayer for all people, the Cathedral opens its doors to all. On May 25, we especially welcome Mississippi citizens as we honor their contributions and service to their neighbors and our nation,” said Benjamin Bradburn, the Cathedral’s senior manager for national outreach. “Mississippi Day will be a celebration of the role the state plays in the life of the Cathedral and our nation.”

The National Cathedral Association, the organization of national friends and volunteers of Washington National Cathedral that is organizing the Mississippi service, has over 30,000 friends and volunteers from many denominations in every state and around the world.

Washington National Cathedral is a church for national purposes called to embody God’s love and to welcome people of all faiths and none. A unique blend of the spiritual and the civic, this Episcopal cathedral is a voice for generous-spirited Christianity and a catalyst for reconciliation and interfaith dialogue to promote respect and understanding. The Cathedral invites all people to share in its commitment to create a more hopeful and just world.

SOURCE: Washington National Cathedral