The CATHEDRAL TIMES The weekly newsletter of the Cathedral of St. Philip · Serving Atlanta and the World · May 15, 2022
YOUTH SUNDAY SERMONS!
Last Sunday, May 8, the Cathedral celebrated Youth Sunday, including four excellent senior preachers! Here are excerpts from each of them; read or watch the full sermons at cathedralATL.org/sermons. From Sadler Stukes: Around this time last year, my track team was preparing for the region meet. This meet determines if you go to state, so it is a really big deal. I was a part of the 4 by 100 relay team and we decided to purchase a custom baton for regionals. …We ended up ordering a black baton with the Louis Vuitton logo scattered on it. Naturally, we named it “Louis Baton.” On the bottom, there was a Latin phrase and a Bible verse. For the Bible verse, we tried to think about the coolest one. We wanted something intimidating yet inspirational. After some debate, we ended up writing “Psalm 23 verse 4” on the baton. … The psalm opens up by saying, “The Lord is my shepherd.” We have all heard this countless times, but what does it mean to me and others? I feel as though we see part of the Lord in all of the people we know. The Lord has put people in our lives to guide us to the green pastures that the psalm mentions in the next verse. From MP Perkins: I stayed away from church events for a bit and made myself as busy as possible so that I didn’t have to think about the questions and doubts that I had about God. An existential crisis is really not what I wanted to have during my busiest year of high school. I know a lot of my friends can remember me saying things like “I don’t know if I believe in God” or “maybe I’m agnostic, who knows.” …Today I would say that my faith is stronger than it ever has been, because God really stuck with me even when I wasn’t seeing him. I still have a lot to learn and am only at the beginning of my journey, but I know that it’s okay to ask questions and have doubts. As I was writing this and reflecting on my time here at the Cathedral, one thing that was very clear to me was that growing your faith and relationship with God takes a lifetime, and going through the highs and lows is just a part of it. From Rebie Benedict: My faith journey has had a lot of ups and downs. Before March 2020, I was involved in every possible church event I could. …Once COVID hit, it was all gone. We still had diocese Zoom calls, and I helped lead worship and plan online events, but it wasn't the same. I didn’t realize how much of my life and my happiness came from the church community until I lost it. My faith was rock solid but it slowly dissolved as I was isolated alone during quarantine. I’ve learned that my faith and my trust in God doesn’t come from reading scripture or reciting prayers, but the environment and the community and being surrounded by people who love you and love God. My faith was so much more than just coming and coloring during the 8:45 service. It is the atmosphere here at church; that is what I missed the most. It was the people here I know I can always trust. Special shoutout to all of the people who I've grown up with in the church, and explored our faiths together. From Carter Sessions: There is a common thread in all of these memories though. My sister, Ramsay, Maggie, Meg, Clayton, MP, Rebie, Blake, Lily, Jackson, and Keith. People. My faith has waxed and waned over the years, but I never take for granted the fact that this community has raised me and given me piles of love, heaps of joy, and a deep connection with those around me. This community has given me my closest friends and mentors. This community has given me a shoulder to cry on, and steady legs to depend on when I need to take a break. This is how I’ve experienced religion. I have continued to engage in the church not because it helps me always understand my faith, but because I experience such an immeasurable amount of love from everyone I come in contact with here. You can call it experiencing God’s love if you’d like or you could simply call it having a strong sense of community. I don’t know If I could come up with an adequate description for the feeling. Whatever it is though, I am grateful for it because it has given me a home.