Remarks shared by Denise Bakerink during worship services at Trinity Cathedral on Sunday, October 18, 2026.
As I prepared this ministry moment, I found myself thinking about invitations. The invitations I've received since I began attending Trinity. The invitations I encounter each time I walk into this beautiful sanctuary. And perhaps most importantly, the ways God invites each of us, again and again, into a deeper relationship with Him, often through the people and communities He places in our lives.
But before I tell you about the invitations that have shaped my journey, I need to make a confession.
I am a cathedral snob.
At least that's what I tell my friends and family when they ask why I drive 65 miles round trip to downtown Cleveland when there are perfectly lovely Episcopal churches much closer to home.
The truth, however, is that I don't make that drive because of the building. I make it because, through Trinity Cathedral, I have found a place where God's invitation became impossible to ignore—through this place, these people, and our ministries—and my life has been enriched, my heart enlarged, and my spirit restored.
Each Sunday, we are invited to participate in worship in ways that are meaningful to us, both personally and as a community.
For some, that means lending your beautiful voices to the choir. For all of us, it is an invitation to pray for one another and for our world, to confess our faith, and to come to the table together, remembering all that Christ has done for us.
For me, that has meant being a part of the Liturgy Mission Team. This ministry has given me the opportunity to do something as simple as offering a warm greeting to worshippers—both old and new—as they walk through our doors. It gives me the opportunity to serve as a lector and as an intercessor.
Each of these is an opportunity to say yes to God by offering my time and talents.
And then comes another invitation: to carry the love we experience in worship beyond the walls of the cathedral and into the world.
There are so many ways to answer that invitation through outreach: filling a backpack for a Marion-Sterling student, providing a Thanksgiving meal for a family, or helping make sure a child has a special gift to open at Christmas.
For me, one of the most meaningful of these ministries has been A Place at the Table, or APATT. Each Sunday, we provide hot, nutritious meals for people in need. For more than forty years, this ministry has allowed us to serve our neighbors in downtown Cleveland.
And every one of these ministries depends upon the same thing: my willingness to say yes.
Yes, I can give some of my time.
Yes, I can share some of what I have.
Yes, I can see the needs of my neighbor and respond.
I believe that when we say yes to these invitations, something happens in us as well. God takes the faith we profess inside the cathedral and gives us the opportunity to live it outside these walls.
During the month of October, we are all given another invitation: to say yes to our faith community. Because I have been so blessed by the beauty that surrounds me, by meaningful worship that restores my soul, and by ministries that call me to put my faith into action, I want to give back so that these ministries can continue to flourish and grow. I will answer God’s invitation with gratitude, faith, and a joyful yes.