From the Rev. Canon George Maxwell
via livestream
Grace to you, and peace, in Jesus Christ, our Lord. I am George Maxwell, the Vicar of the Cathedral of St. Philip, in Atlanta. Today is Wednesday, June 10, 2020, and I am delivering our regular Wednesday evening Parish Notices today.
We continue as the week progresses to live into the new awareness that we have gained in Atlanta and around the country about who we are and how we relate to each other and what our faith has to do with it all.
We continue to be hopeful that the awareness that we are gaining will enable us to live into our faith with greater trust that God will guide us through these troubled times in a way that allows us to emerge on the other side with a greater willingness and ability to be authentic and to be just in our relationships with ourselves, with each other, and with God.
We are slowly beginning to open up at the Cathedral. The Book Store is now open. The Farmers Market continues to be open. Each will continue to provide online options and curbside pick-up.
The Thrift House is also open for a limited number of hours on a limited number of days.
We invite you to look at the websites of each of these ministries to find a time and a way to engage that is best for you.
Otherwise, our building remains closed. If you need to be inside the building, though, please contact one of the staff members associated with your ministry, and we can make preparation for you. We request that all visitors and staff of the Cathedral wear masks if you have to be inside.
On Sundays, we are still worshipping online. Some of our clergy are officiating, or preaching, from one of the Cathedral altars, and that has been gratifying to experience. We will continue this online structure of worship for at least the next three Sundays: June 14, 21, and 28.
Pray for us!
Again, even if there was some process by which we could re-engage in-person worship at the Cathedral with all sorts of restrictions and conditions – say, with masks on, or with pews marked off so that we used only 50% of our space, or with online reservations only—we are not sure what all that would accomplish. The conditions and restrictions of our in-person re-engagement might well be more discouraging than edifying. With the chapter of the Cathedral, we continue to evaluate safe possibilities for all sorts of things – just as each of you are doing for your own lives and households.
We do not yet know when, or how, we will return to in-person worship at the Cathedral of St. Philip. We do know that when we do, we want it to be safe, and we want it to be real. It will not be simply because we can, with conditions that are too awkward and burdensome. It will be because we discern that in-person worship will help build up the Body of Christ and help bring in the kingdom of God. That is our mission.
Pray for us!
And pray with us! Every day, our Midday Meditation is posted at 12:15 p.m. And every Sunday, we pray in online worship at 8:45 and 11:15 a.m.
Join us!
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and love of God, and the fellowship of Holy Spirit, be with us all, evermore.
Here endeth the Parish Notices for Wednesday, June 10, 2020!