All Saints' Young Adults Newsletter

July 9, 2020

Dear Friends,

“A flower is relatively small. Everyone has many associations with a flower — the idea of flowers. You put out your hand to touch the flower — lean forward to smell it — maybe touch it with your lips almost without thinking — or give it to someone to please them.

Still — in a way — nobody sees a flower — really — it is so small — we haven’t time — and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time. If I could paint the flower exactly as I see it no one would see what I see because I would paint it small like the flower is small.

So I said to myself — I’ll paint what I see — what the flower is to me but I’ll paint it big and they will be surprised into taking time to look at it — I will make even busy New-Yorkers take time to see what I see of flowers.

Well — I made you take time to look at what I saw and when you took time to really notice my flower, you hung all your own associations with flowers on my flower and you write about my flower as if I think and see what you think and see of the flower — and I don’t.” — Georgia O’Keefe

Georgia O’Keeffe, Red Canna, 1924 (Georgia O’Keeffe Museum)

Sometimes I’m not sure what I’m seeing. Aging eyes struggle, especially when so many waking hours are spent in front of a screen. Seeing truly takes time, like the legendary O’Keefe insists. Sometimes I don’t feel I can afford to slow down enough to notice the world around me. Other times I am struck by the strange reality that—wherever I am looking—what I notice indeed differs from what others appear to see. Some argue contemporary society relies on training us not to trust our sense of sight.

When O’Keefe says we hang our associations on one another, she is responding to Freudian symbols folks see in her rendering of nature, namely flowers. But her astute observation holds, when we expand the proverbial lens out wider, examining our ways of being in the world. How often do we really see someone (or an object of our gaze) rather than simply perceiving what we already think or believe about who (or what) we are beholding?

Summer is a season we associate with down time—moments for slowing down to appreciate what we love about life and lingering with those precious gifts. Maybe it shouldn’t seem so decadent a splurge, sticking with what is unfolding in the present moment, whether we’re drawn to flora, fauna, or the faces of dear ones we have not seen for a spell. And perhaps a pandemic presents us with an opportunity to change our practices of seeing the world.

Several familiar faces soon will be off to take in fresh sights. Emma Siegfried and Simeon Bruce, two long-time members of our All Saints’ Young Adult community, will be leaving Atlanta later this month, to commence graduate studies in California and Tennessee, respectively. Seeing them off on new adventures will be a bittersweet privilege for those of us who have come to know God’s loving light that shines in their lives. And so it seems only meet and right to gather (virtually) to bid them farewell and good luck, as they step into a new season of adulthood, with God's help.

O’Keefe isn’t talking out of church when she insists that having a friend takes time. And there are friends that stick closer than siblings. For Jesus’ own sake we do well to cherish such precious friendships. So, I invite you to spend some time putting into words any love, wisdom, and gratitude with which you might like to honor these friends we have come to know and love here in Atlanta, through the years. We’ll share those memories, prayers, and blessings with Emma and Sim via Zoom on Thursday, July 23, during a special Saintly Summer Send-Off that starts at 7:00pm and concludes with our customary weekly Compline prayers at 8:00pm that night.

May we see (and cherish) God’s gifts of love, in all the seasons our lives,

The Rev. Sarah Stewart

Associate Rector for Young Adults and Innovation

sstewart@allsaintsatlanta.org

Endless Summer: Reaching Out

All Saints' Cares: Emmaus House

Our Young Adults’ Service Team is writing to thank each of you for your collaboration in raising $100 for Emmaus House during the last two weeks, as our collective focus partner in the All Saints' Cares initiative.

Thank you for your generosity! If you wanted to participate but have not yet donated, there still is time! Email Alexsis at aleskeen@gmailcom with details of any additional contributions toward this project. We are grateful for all the love you put into action in our city!

Among the many ways you can help Emmaus House continue serving the Peoplestown community, especially at-risk youth, their families, and the elderly, please consider:

Online monetary donations to fund weekly groceries for families (only $10 needed for a family of 4), for rent and utilities, provide prescription assistance, etc.

Emmaus House Food Pantry donations (can bring to church or deliver directly to Emmaus House)

Online monetary donations for the Carver Market’s Bags of Hope program

Purchase books for their summer and after-school programs

Mask donations

Give directly to Emmaus House using the links to the online giving pages provided above.

We appreciate all who have joined us in this endeavor, or who may yet be planning to do so, through this or any other opportunity through All Saints' Cares Initiative that speaks to your heart.

With gratitude for this community of faith, hope, and love,

The All Saints' Young Adults' Service Team

July and August

Saints UnTapped Virtual Happy Hour

**RETURNS August 20, 2020 at 7:00 p.m.**

Join us next month (August) when we resume our monthly Saints UnTapped gathering for an inaugural “Saints Take On Atlanta” Trivia Challenge, complete with puzzles and prizes to local culinary (not viral) hot spots.

Download the free App “Kahoot” now and mark your calendars for Thursday, August 20. Whether you come for the fellowship and fun or find yourself gunning for the coveted gift cards to local eateries, we look forward to playing with you! Sign up here .

Compline (Evening Prayer, weekly)

VIRTUAL PRAYER via Zoom

Every Thursday at 8:00 p.m.

Please join us for our weekly peer-led prayer group, as we lift up the needs of our world and all whom we love.

Contact Justin Averette at justin.averette@gmail.com to obtain access details.

All are welcome! We appreciate your cooperation in fostering "safe church" on the inter-webs and look forward to seeing you in the "Zoom Room" each Thursday, thanks to peer leadership this summer, starting June 4, 2020!