An article for The Cathedral Times
by Sara Craig-Goodell, Program Coordinator for Communications and Outreach
Next week it will be August 11, Homecoming Sunday and the Ministry Fair! It’s one of my favorite times of the year at the Cathedral. Everyone is back from vacation and it feels like the Cathedral woke up from a well-deserved nap, energized and ready to roll.
My main responsibility for Homecoming is making sure the Handbook is ready. The Cathedral Handbook, if you haven’t read it, attempts to encompass every way to be part of this vibrant and close-knit community. There are so many things happening at the Cathedral all the time, with so many people helping out! Whether you’re interested in volunteering, meeting socially, or just peacefully enjoying the presence of others, there’s a way to get involved and make new connections.
Want to be a part of the services on Sunday? There’s a place for you! You can acolyte, be an intercessor or lector, or join an usher team. There is also tons of behind-the-scenes work that goes into every service! Volunteers for the Altar Guild, Baptism Guild, brass polishing teams, eucharistic visitors, finance count teams, Flower Guild, and the Funeral and Wedding Guilds are what make the Cathedral’s hospitality top notch and keep worship services and special events running smoothly.
Want to expand your mind and meet friends while you do it? We have several education offerings on Sunday: Old Fashioned Sunday School, Living Faith, Young Professionals Formation, and Enjoy Biblical Greek. During the week you can join the Thursday Morning Men’s Group, Thursday Evening Book Study, four different Bible Studies, and a new offering called “After The Chosen: Media Practice and Spirituality,” a spin-off class from the wildly popular The Chosen Watch Parties.
More interested in quiet contemplation? We have you covered there, too! From the Spirituality Conference and Taizé, to Quiet Days, and the Women’s Retreat, there are numerous ways at the Cathedral to explore and enrich your faith. This year’s spirituality conference will be led by Meredith Anne Miller, author of Woven: Nurturing a Faith Your Kid Doesn’t Have to Heal From, and will be on Saturday, October 26.
If nurturing and growing young minds is more up your alley, you can volunteer with the youth and children’s ministries by teaching, chaperoning, driving, providing food, being a volunteer leader, playing an instrument, or by joining the Green Aprons. Have a special skill? The students from Garden Hills Elementary in the LaAmistad after-school program would love to learn it, too!
Love to be the host and meet new people? You can welcome new members to the church and throw fun parties as part of the Newcomers Committee or enjoy meals and fellowship with the Foyers. The Young Professionals are a group of parishioners in their twenties and thirties that gather regularly for social gatherings and service projects. The Episcopal Church Women (ECW) host gatherings and offer a variety of educational, spiritual, and service project opportunities. All God’s Children, the Cathedral’s community of LGBTQ+ members, families and friends, exists to welcome all people into the body of Christ, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. And finally, there are the wonderful Parish Life events like the Parish BBQ, Epiphany Gathering, Chill on the Hill Concert, and Kanuga Parish Retreat.
The point of listing all of this out (and read the Handbook, there’s more!) is that there is a place for you here. It’s fantastic when folks come to the services and worship with us, but we hope you’ll want to do more than that. We hope you’ll want to develop a connection to the Cathedral and its wonderful people, and we invite you to join us whenever you’re looking for a sense of community. To learn more about how to get involved at the Cathedral, visit the Ministry Fair on Homecoming Sunday, August 11, flip through the Handbook, or email me at scraiggoodell@cathedralATL.org, I’ll be thrilled to help you find just the right place.