An article from the Cathedral Times
by the Very Reverend Samuel G. Candler,
Dean of the Cathedral of
St. Philip
There are days like this past Sunday, when all I can say is
"Thanks to you!"
Thank you for the delightful energy
of the Cathedral of St. Philip during this September season! Our Sunday
education classes are full, our hallways are brimming, our worship
services are packed. Thanks to you who want to be part of a learning
community!
Thanks to you visitors who keep showing
up. Every Sunday we meet someone new. And thanks to you who are
transferring your membership here. We want you! This is a beautiful
community!
And thanks to the youth! So many of you
were on the bus trip to Florida for "Rock the Universe," and you made it
back for communion at the 8:45 service in your sweatshirts. Thank you
for showing us how to bond and how to have
fun.
Thanks to you who are signing up to feed the
homeless, and to serve breakfast on a Saturday! Thanks to you who are
supporting our own Cathedral kitchen transition plans. A new Cathedral
kitchen community is emerging. Thanks to you who are coming to Wednesday
lunches and to the Wednesday night dinners!
Thanks
to you who have supported our Preschool! It is truly a delight to have
those children walking and singing through our hallways after a summer
absence. Thanks to you teachers and leaders,
too.
Thanks to you who bring such energy to our
Sunday mornings. It might be worship and singing, but it is also deep
prayer and engagement. Sometimes, it is simply the energy of laughing
and greeting. And, speaking of energy and singing, what about our
choirs? Thanks to you who were part of "Choirs Uncorked""”a lively and
mischievous glimpse of the secret life of our noble musicians! From
frivolity to the discipline of Sunday routines, our choirs are the
best.
Oh, and thank you"”a deep thank you"”to you who
are generous givers. I mean givers of funds and finances. Some of you
have been giving annually, and monthly, for years. Some of you have
recently increased your pledges (we need increases more than ever). Some
of you are giving regularly to the Cathedral for the first time. No
matter where you are on that spectrum, this Cathedral needs that
generosity! Our energy and life and service could not exist without your
generosity. Thank you.
Thank you"”thanks to all of
you"”for being part of something enormous and alive. Our energy and our
size, are both rather rare in The Episcopal Church these days. God has
blessed us with a special identity and calling.
In
short, we are a vibrant and growing Christian community. We are a
community of faith. We really do transcend the amplified polarities of
the world around us"”conservative and liberal, democrat and republican,
rich and poor. Yes, these are important differences, and our
parishioners represent the most passionate of these distinctions.
But what draws us to the Cathedral is something that
transcends even those distinctions. We have found a faith and a
community which energizes us, which feeds and challenges us, which gives
us life. So, thanks to you. "I thank my God every time I remember you,
constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you,
because of your sharing in the gospel ,"
(Philippians
1:3-5).
The Very Reverend Sam Candler