An article for the Cathedral Times by the Very Rev. Sam Candler
Thank you! Thanks to you who prepared the way for holiness and resurrection this past week. It was a Holy Week for us, a Holy Walk with Jesus through processions and prayers, suppers and songs, crosses and blades of growing grass.
Yes, thanks to you, to each of you! You who served so well know who you are. You carried palm branches and sang. You set up altars with vestments and then you took them down. You rehearsed beautiful anthems and choruses. You sang! You prayed. You cleaned floors and polished brass. You vacuumed and swept. You gathered flowers and arranged flowers. You set up a huge bonfire for Easter morning! You locked and secured the building. You carried sound equipment outside and inside. You turned dials and adjusted lights. You distributed service leaflets, and showed people through the darkness with little flashlights.
You carried more crosses! You took up offerings! You made sure we had enough bread and wine for communion. You made sure the Paschal Candle was properly prepared. You lit people’s candles. You rehearsed some more! You arranged more flowers. You read lessons. You prayed intercessions. You preached. You cared for children. You brought friends and family to church itself.
This past Sunday, Easter of 2023, did not just suddenly happen, like a rabbit jumping out of a hat! The beauty and majesty and power and wonder of Easter at the Cathedral Parish of St. Philip happened because holy and faithful people prepared. Devoted people spent hours of their time in such preparation and work. You are those people!
I know that, properly speaking, this church belongs to God! This is God’s church. But the church also, properly speaking, belongs to the people who give to it. Something is not yours if it is only given to you. Something is yours if YOU have given to IT! And you have given to the Cathedral!
Yes, thanks for giving to the Cathedral Parish of St. Philip this past Easter. And thanks for giving throughout the year. It is a great joy for me to walk with you here. I could walk with you as a child of the light throughout the year!
Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
The Very Reverend Samuel G. Candler
Dean of the Cathedral of St. Philip