The CATHEDRAL TIMES The weekly newsletter of the Cathedral of St. Philip · Serving Atlanta and the World · July 31, 2022
WHY I STILL GO TO CHURCH
By the Rev. Canon Julia Mitchener, Canon for Mission You probably think you know why I still go to church . . . and you wouldn’t be mistaken. I am a “professional” religious person, after all. My job is to hightail it out of bed early Sunday morning, don a stiff black shirt and collar that can look like some Nehru jacket gone horribly wrong, then lead prayers that seem irrelevant to ever increasing numbers of people (and not just those living in the Pacific Northwest). I do this almost every weekend. Why? Because it’s my work, my life’s calling. And I love it. That’s not the whole story, though, not by a long shot. To tell you more, I must return to my sophomore year in high school (for you, I will do this). It is a sweltering Sunday evening in late September and I am standing on the lawn of the small wood frame building that houses my church’s youth program. Despite the heat, I have been out in the yard for a while, all by myself. I am feeling miserably self-conscious, thanks to a recent encounter with a Portuguese man o’ war that has tattooed an angry red streak all the way down my left leg. I contemplate hiding in the bushes or sneaking across the street to the 7-11 for a grape slushy to kill time before my dad comes to pick me up. Just, then, though, one of our youth leaders bursts through the screen door and out onto the lawn, exclaiming: Julia! I’m so glad to see you! I’ve been waiting all week to hear about your jellyfish attack! I don’t make it inside to youth group that night, for this woman—a marine biologist—and I spend the next hour or so on the front porch discussing the intricacies of sea life in the North Atlantic. Though I cannot name it at the time, I experience a rare form of grace during our conversation. A middle-aged mom— someone I’d avoid if I saw her from a distance at the grocery store—manages to break through my snarky, angsty teenage self-absorption to access within me something tender, reverent, engaged, and open. It is a strange and beautiful occurrence. Fast forward many years to find me one June morning, now a middle-aged mom myself. My son is suffering a severe seizure that the paramedics cannot stop. The ambulance rushes away with him and my husband, while I follow in the car. At a long stoplight, I type a quick, desperate Facebook post asking for prayers. By the time I reach the hospital, dozens have responded. Who are these kind people? One is a man I ticked off with something I said during a recent sermon. Another is someone I knew in grad school—we haven’t seen each other in years, but here she is now, telling me she has already lit a candle for our boy. Still others are virtual strangers who have since become colleagues and friends. When one of them brings our family Communion the next day, she slips me some lip balm and hand lotion, too. Hospital air is dry—she knows this, and she cares. Writer Annie Dillard once suggested that, rather than offer worshippers coffee and donuts between services, churches ought to pass out life preservers. For we are all navigating the rough waters of human existence. Church is a place we can come for help in staying afloat. A place where we who have felt the sharp sting of life at sea can gather to bind up each other’s wounds. It is not a perfect place. It can be tiresome and hypocritical. It can be petty and divisive. It can be ignorant, neglectful, even abusive. It can fail miserably at its most basic mission. Nonetheless, the Church has met me—and, I pray, you, too—in the midst of some incredibly strong currents and has held me up when I was sure I would sink. In life, in death; in joy, in sorrow; in triumph, in tragedy; in fallow times and in plenty; in natural disasters and in troubles of my own making, the Church has come. And so I go.
This SUNDAY
JULY 31, 2022 · The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost: Proper 13, Year C Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23 · Psalm 49:1-11 · Colossians 3:1-11 · Luke 12:13-21
8:45 A.M. AND 11:15 A.M.: IN-PERSON AND ONLINE CATHEDRALATL.ORG / THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. PHILIP APP / FACEBOOK / YOUTUBE
7:45 A.M. HOLY EUCHARIST, MIKELL CHAPEL Celebrant and Preacher: The Rev. Canon Julia Mitchener
8:45 AND 11:15 A.M. HOLY EUCHARIST, CATHEDRAL Celebrant: The Rev. Canon Cathy Zappa Preacher: The Rev. Canon Julia Mitchener Tenors and Basses (Cathedral Choir): Hymn 516, “Come down, O Love divine” Down Ampney Hymn 376, “Joyful, joyful, we adore thee” Hymn to Joy At 11:15, Psalm 49:1-11, Simplified Anglican chant S-415: melody, Jerome Meachen Hymn 605, “What does the Lord require for praise and offering” Sharpthorne Stephen Caracciolo (b. 1962), How can I keep from singing? Hymn 420, “When in our music God is glorified” Engelberg Robert Powell (b. 1932), S-129, Sanctus & Benedictus Hymn 314, stanza 1 “Humbly I adore thee” Adoro te devote Pablo Casals (1876-1973), Eucaristica Hymn 581, “Where charity and love prevail” Cheshire Hymn 594, “God of grace, and God of glory” Cwm Rhondda
11:15 A.M. SERVICIO DE KOINONIA, CON LA SANTA EUCARISTÍA , MIKELL CHAPEL Officiant and Preacher: The Rev. Deacon Juan Sandoval
PRAYER List FOR THOSE WHO ARE ILL OR RECOVERING: IMMEDIATE NEEDS: Clara Beth Berkenfeld • Apryl Roberts Cox • Elaine Metcalf • Charles Puckett • Christie Woodfin LONG TERM PRAYERS: R. Huntley Allen • Angela Baños • Penny Barnett • Virginia Bicksler • Jeff Bonnell • Laura Cape • Heather
Clark • Lawrence Cowart • Paula Cowart • Sharon Crews • The Crossley Family • Marg Denny • Terry Dornbush • Sarah duBignon • Deborah Ellington • Ruth Fuqua • Libby Gilmore • James Hawkins • Charles Hicks, Jr. • Karen Howard • Jane Jones • Ellen Jordan • Louise Kan • Jane Knight • Lisa Krysiak • Bonnie Lamberth • Marion Losnick • Jill Mahaffey • Tommy Mason • Carol McDonald • Glenn Miller • Susan Myers • Jim Myrick • Charlie Neal • Marian Palmore • Gene Paradise • Ginna Pope • Debbie Ragen • Rubye and Wayne Reid • Lorraine Reynolds • Agnes Elizabeth Robertson • Nora Robillard • Betty Roper • Peter and Kay Sanders • Louis "Skip" Schueddig • Julie Sutton • Rose Mary Thompson • Anne France Tremege • Frank Troutman III • Tommy Truesdale • Ron Wallace • Faye Van Winkle
FAMILY AND FRIENDS: Nathaniel Adams • Jim and Julie Allen • Bettina Bass • Amy Bradley • Lisa Bradshaw • Barton Brown •
Lila Jo Callaway • Marjorie Childs • Vaughn Clapp • Marie Corrigan • Ava Corroon • Bob Crawford • Judy Crosby • Barbara Beam Denison • Easton Matthew Dyas • Dan Elson • Nan Fishburn • Jack Flanigan • Jackson Francis • Carleton Fuller • Al Gardner • Theresa Gent • Mark Goodwin • Ken Griffiths • Vicky Haard • Janet Haldeman • Don Harp III • Martha Heinze • Cathy Hendler • Eboni and Everton Heron • Gayle Higley • Eric Hilkman • William Hudson • Beth Ingle • Cadel Ingraham • Tom Jones • Robin Kemp • Rita Lewis • Pete Livezey • Lauren Makhlouf • Gail Marie • Pat Martin • Christopher McCullough • Jan McPherson • Katie McRae • Ruth Ann Metcalf • Montserrat Miller • The Mills Family • Betsy Moore • Malcolm A. Moore • Linus Nickel • Bess O'Connor • Drew Paterson and the Paterson Family • Bill Poole • Betty Preston • Bobbie Rowe • Einar Sagstuen • James Sands • Gary Schiff • Paige Seifried • Betty Shelton • Denise Siers • Don Smith • Michael and Kathryn Snider • Lauren Stice • Yvonne Tate • Pierson Thames • Cheryl Waybright • Evelyn Williams • Bill Woodring • Whit A. Wright • Hollis Youngner
MUSIC The 32 Sonatas of Beethoven In celebration of Ludwig van Beethoven’s recent 250th birthday—and as a fundraiser for the Cathedral Choir's 2024 pilgrimage to England—pianist (and Cathedral Coordinator for Music) Timothy Gunter is performing all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas in a series of eight recitals which began in 2019. The next recital of the series will be Saturday, August 13, from 4–5:30 p.m. The piano sonatas of Beethoven have been regarded for more than a century as one of the hallmarks of the piano repertoire. The old saying among pianists for generations has been that if you can play all of the Beethoven piano sonatas, you should be able to play anything. Program: Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31, No. 2 “Tempest” Sonata No. 24 in F-sharp Major, Op. 78 Sonata No. 29 in B-flat Major, Op. 106 “Hammerklavier”
The CATHEDRAL off ST. PHILIP The Very Rev. Samuel G. Candler, Dean Dale Adelmann, Ph.D., Canon for Music The Rev. Lauren R. Holder, Canon for Community and Education The Rev. George M. Maxwell, Jr., Vicar The Rev. Canon Julia B. Mitchener, Canon for Mission The Rev. Catherine Zappa, Canon for Liturgy and Pastoral Care The Rev. Deacon Juan Sandoval, Deacon for Hispanic Ministries The Rev. Theophus “Thee” Smith, Ph.D., Priest Associate Ward Bondurant, Senior Warden Samuel T. Wilmoth, Junior Warden
CATHEDRAL TIMES SUBMISSION DEADLINES: FOR THE SUNDAY, AUGUST 7 ISSUE, THE DEADLINE IS WEDNESDAY, JULY 27. FOR THE SUNDAY, AUGUST 14 ISSUE, THE DEADLINE IS WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3. TO RECEIVE THE TIMES BY EMAIL, CONTACT LIZ AULL, LAULL@CATHEDRALATL.ORG. TO SUBMIT AN ANNOUNCEMENT REQUEST, CONTACT SARA CRAIGGOODELL, SCRAIGGOODELL@CATHEDRALATL.ORG. 404-365-1000 | cathedralATL.org pastoral care emergency line: 404-365-1003
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POSTMASTER: Dated Material. Please deliver by July 30, 2022 POSTMASTER Send address changes to: The Cathedral of St. Philip 2744 Peachtree Road, NW Atlanta, Georgia 30305-2920 404-365-1000
CATHEDRAL TIMES (USPS-093440) is published weekly by The Cathedral of St. Philip 2744 Peachtree Road, NW Atlanta, Georgia 30305-2920 Periodicals Postage Paid at Atlanta, GA
STEWARDSHIP ANNOUNCING FISHER HOUSE AND MATCHING GIFT! Our long-time and beloved Chief Usher, Dr. Emile T. Fisher, passed away a little over two years ago. His legacy to the Cathedral of St. Philip and the community are hard to overstate. He left an indelible mark on the usher community, the Cathedral music ministries, and the Cathedral Endowment, to name just a few.
OUTREACH
RESPITE CARE ATLANTA VOLUNTEER INFO SESSIONS Respite Care Atlanta is seeking volunteers for its weekly respite program assisting adults living with mild-to-moderate dementia. Volunteers get to share their ideas and talents while helping to provide a safe and stimulating environment for program participants. Monthly info sessions at Second-Ponce de Leon Baptist Church (the program location) give prospective volunteers a closer look at the program, volunteer roles, and a chance to ask questions. Contact Jane Brann at info@respitecareatlanta.org to reserve a spot! All info session meeting times are 10-11 a.m. on the following dates: • • • •
Monday, August 8 Monday, September 12 Monday, October 10 Monday, November 14
One of Emile’s many qualities was his generosity, which has continued long after we lost this great man. In his estate, Emile left his house to the Cathedral to be used for clergy housing as a means of continuing to attract and retain outstanding clergy to the Cathedral. Emile’s house, located only two miles from the Cathedral, needs significant renovations so that we are able to offer a future Cathedral priest a home. The house is in good shape structurally, but it was very dated and needed a major overhaul of the interior. Since taking ownership of the house last summer, a small design team and the Cathedral Building Committee have worked to come up with plans that tastefully and modestly update the house. A contractor was identified and a building permit was issued in March. The contractor is entering week sixteen of construction. The project cost will be approximately $425,000. Can you help? Through the generosity of ushers, parishioners and the Fisher House Campaign Committee, more than $375,000 has been committed. And, thanks to the generosity of a Cathedral Usher and Friend of Emile (FOE), the next $25,000 in donations will be matched dollar for dollar! To learn more, make a contribution, and view weekly progress pictures, visit www.cathedralATL.org/fisher. Our goal is to raise all money needed and complete construction in order to remember and honor Emile on October 8, 2022—his 99th birthday! Please join us at an open house at 2757 Dover Rd. on Sunday, August 7 at 1 p.m. to learn more and see progress.