Last week, I was thrilled to present an overview of my new series, “Refreshing Christianity in Good Faith!” I was glad to be in the holy space of the Good Faith Chapel, and the screens were able to display some glorious images of beauty and truth! Thank you for being with me! This Sunday, September 27, I will present Week 2 of the series, which is, “The Value of the Bible: The Bible As Holy Conversation!”
This Dean’s Forum series will pause during the first two Sundays of October. On October 4, our Observance of the Feast of St. Francis, we will celebrate creation! There will be animals to bless! And we hope to have various scenes of God’s creation (submitted by you!) on the screens of the Good Faith Chapel, all morning. On October 11, observing the Feast of St. Philip, the Bishop of Atlanta will be with us! The Right Reverend Rob Wright will celebrate and preach and confirm. We welcome him!
Back to this Sunday, September 27:
We also begin a new service, a Contemplative Eucharist, on Sunday, September 27, at 5:22, in The Good Faith Chapel. The starting time, 5:22 pm, is meant to be distinctive, a way to remember that service during our very full Sundays! However, 5:22 is also an allusion to a verse in the Bible, Galatians 5:22, which reads, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
We are living gradually into new prayer in our new chapel. There are still many practices and disciplines to develop. Our Contemplative Eucharist, the 5:22 service, will use much the same traditional prayers and structures of our daily and Sunday eucharists. But the very space, with its quiet and shape (transcendence and immanence!) will shape our prayer in contemplative ways.
Further, we intend to observe the same saints’ days and lesser feasts at the 5:22 service that we observe at the 4:00 Evensong. Our glorious Sunday afternoon evensongs will continue in their beautiful way, except that there will no longer be a short communion service following Evensong in the Cathedral. Instead, there will be the 5:22 Eucharist, in another holy space.
All the prayers that we pray on Sunday are beautiful and effective! Thank you for being present in all sorts of prayer here: from 7:45 am, to 8:45 am, to 11:15 am (in two different places), to 4:00 pm, to 5:22 pm. And beyond! Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness!
The Very Reverend Samuel G. Candler
Dean of the Cathedral of St. Philip