Life at Manna
Sundays
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Sundays, 8:30-9:30am
In Lower Sproat Hall
The term “coffee klatsch”, meaning a “gathering of friends over coffee”, came to MANNA via a student intern, Anne. A Coffee Klatsch, she explained, is defined by the deep listening participants offer one another as they share stories of their lives. This concept resonated with the MANNA community and continues to inform the way we hold space for one another.
MANNA’s Coffee Klatsch is a community meeting where members are invited, over coffee and snacks, to listen deeply and share whatever is “weighing on their hearts”, including personal stories of life on the street and in shelters, information sharing regarding resources for housing, food, and medical care, and opinions on recent news events. Coffee Klatsch is a political space, too, inviting local government officials and community leaders into conversation with the unhoused community of Boston. Following Coffee Klatsch, members of MANNA are invited to the sanctuary for a formal Episcopal liturgy alongside the Sunday morning congregation.
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Sundays, 10am
In the Sanctuary
Worship with the Cathedral community.
Mondays
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10am-11am
In the Chapel
A community led and curated group meeting for anyone interested in recovery and recovery-related support. We gather every Monday in the Chapel.
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Every Monday, 12:00-1:00pm
In Sproat Hall
The Monday Lunch Program has been operational for almost 40 years. It relies on the support of our five partner parishes, St. Michael’s Milton, Christ Church Needham, Trinity Church Concord, All Saints Brookline, and St. John’s Newtonville, who provide, prepare, and serve hot meals alongside community “servant leaders”every Monday. Meals are served restaurant style, with table service provided by volunteers from the MANNA community and parish partners. Monday Lunch is a lively space where friendships and connections are made between community members and volunteers alike as they share a meal and conversation.
Monday Lunch provides meals for 75-125 individuals weekly. Lunch is served at 12pm.
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Every Monday, 1:00pm
In Upper Sproat Hall
MANNA, at its heart, is a faith community. While we are a community of all faiths and no-faith, all are invited to worship in whatever way feels closest to their hearts. We eat together, pray together, worship together, and follow Jesus together. Our Monday Worship is another space where the community finds empowerment and leadership. They are the preachers, the altar guild, singers, prayer leaders, and lectors.
MANNA’s Liturgy of the Word and of the Table was written by our founder the Rev. Cristina Rathbone and friend of MANNA, author Sara Miles. The liturgy follows an Episcopal model, the denomination in which MANNA resides, and centers the experiences of the unhoused community, lifting up our hopes for reconciliation, redemption, and liberation. Music is offered by volunteers.
Every Monday, we gather in the Cathedral’s Sproat Hall for a rich and nourishing time with God and each other. We believe that we embody church in all of our gatherings as we share fellowship and shared meals and above all, love.
Tuesdays
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Every Tuesday, 9:30-10:45am
In Sproat Hall
Not a workshop, not a classroom, the Black Seed Writers Group is before anything else a space for writing. The physical manifestation of this space occurs every Tuesday morning in the basement of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, from 9.30 to 10.45. The non-physical manifestation occurs whenever a Black Seed writer thinks about turning an experience into writing, and thereby altering their relationship to that experience. Since 2011 our weekly sessions have provided a quiet, energized environment for hundreds of homeless, transitional and recently housed writers. Publishing is at the heart of what we do: we have produced fifty issues of our magazine The Pilgrim, and our private imprint. No Fixed Address Press has published broadsheets by more than seventy writers. At the Tuesday morning session you are welcome in any condition of body and mind: our regular writers hold the space, and our team will help you get to what needs to be written. Pens, paper and coffee provided.
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Every Tuesday, 11-12pm
in the Sanctuary
Every Tuesday, members of the community gather in the Cathedral’s Sanctuary for silent meditation. Once clergy led, this space is now entirely led by community leaders. Gathering to pray and sit in silence for one hour, people who are living in chaos find a place of silence and stillness where they can lay down their burdens and center themselves in God. Sacred space is prepared with a small altar and candles. A reflection from Daily Readings with John Main: Silence and Stillness in Every Season opens the space.
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12pm-1pm
In the Chapel
Led by Cathedral Music Director Louise Mundinger, MANNA community members participate in a Psalm chanting workshop every Tuesday in the Chapel.
