An article from the Cathedral Times
by the Very Reverend Samuel G. Candler,
Dean of the Cathedral of St. Philip
I thank you, the diverse Cathedral community, for this past weekend, when we showed the world that Jesus is the way, and the truth, and the life.
Saturday was an extraordinary day for us. We knew that people would be coming and going throughout the day; we knew there would be sadness and joy, grace and commerce, beauty and routine. Our witness would be to Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, and the life.
Yes, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life at the Cathedral of St. Philip. Saturday started with the lively Cathedral Farmers Market, gathering farmers and crafts persons and friends and strangers together for Cathedral community in the classical style. What a success that has been! We are stressing the way of local economy, the life that comes from supporting community farmers and artisans, the truth of rubbing shoulders and recipes with neighbors. We believe that is the way of Jesus.
During the morning, our splendid Cathedral Flower Guild was holding still another workshop for representatives from other churches, including many of our neighbors on Peachtree Road. Their way, the way of Jesus, is the way of beauty and art. A theological education training session was also being conducted all day at the Cathedral. They were learning the truth of Jesus, the truth that emerges from critical education.
At 10:00 on Saturday morning, seventy of us gathered in St. Mary's Chapel to consecrate a beautiful altar for that lovely space. We remembered a devoted and faithful and loving life, the life of Dennis Hall, in whose memory the altar was given by Mary, Austin, and Mary Stuart. Dennis died ten years ago, but his life and devotion are always a part of our Cathedral memory. He was a lawyer, a warden of the Cathedral, a Boy Scout leader, and a Sewanee lover; all those loves are incorporated into the elements of the altar. It is intentionally the first liturgical object we have authorized for St. Mary's Chapel, because we want all other features in that sacred space to follow its example.At noon on Saturday, over three hundred of us celebrated the life of a dear friend and colleague, the Reverend Bill Payton. His life and ministry, along with the ministry of Joan, have touched people from Atlanta to Lawrenceville to Cumming to Rhode Island; and representatives of many of his former parishes were with us that day. The gospel was John 14.1-6; Jesus is the way, and the truth, and the life. We were honored to have Bill among us these last few years as a Priest Associate. A delightful and pastoral priest, he was a lover of prayers and parties. I especially want to thank so many parishioners of the Cathedral community for their tender care of the Payton family during this last chapter of his life; with Bill, we showed the world the way of Jesus. Even after the lovely reception for Bill (another extravaganza coordinated by Ruth Vaught), Saturday was not over.
Our Cathedral Choir members are some of the most committed and devoted members of the Cathedral community. Joined by the New Trinity Baroque Orchestra, they sang our Spring Concert on Saturday evening, an annual event sung in honor of Dr. Emile Fisher, and sponsored by him. I hope everyone knows the persistently generous Emile Fisher! Under the direction of Bruce Neswick, our choirs were superb; theirs is the way of Jesus, the way of aesthetic truth and precision.
Our Habitat For Humanity volunteers were sore on Saturday night. They had been working all day away from the Cathedral, building our twentieth house. That house will be dedicated this coming Saturday, in honor of still another Cathedral saint, Chuck Corley, who was an early pioneer of our Habitat ministry.
I am sure that other Cathedral members were serving in many other ways on Saturday. It is our routine. On Sunday, in eight services at the Cathedral, over one thousand of us gathered to worship and to pray and to learn and to sing. Our gospel for the day was John 14.6; and I taught about it during the Dean's Forum. "Jesus is the way, and the truth, and the life." But the real truth of that verse is not in our understanding it intellectually. The real truth is in our living it. We lived that verse on Saturday, April 19, 2008. Thank you.
The Very Rev. Sam Candler