Part of the reason I have embarked on this 52 houses of worship in 52 weeks’ journey is to explore many of the beautiful churches our Holy City has to offer, and St. Philip’s Church did not disappoint in terms of beauty. As I walked up Church Street (yes, for you non-locals, many of our historical churches reside on Church street – ha!), I was overwhelmed by the sounds of the bells ringing. It’s such a gorgeous sound, especially early in the morning.

I was nervous when I walked up, as they had a list of attendees and I had not pre-registered (COVID-19 measures). The ushers were gracious and immediately assured me I could go in. Similar to St. Michael’s, St. Philip’s has the pew boxes. These crack me up, and the lack of space makes it challenging for all the kneeling, standing and sitting. Tight quarters. This service had several prayers leading up to the sermon, and it does help to bring you into the moment.

The sermon at St. Philip’s was my favorite so far on this journey. Reverend Miller is a masterful speaker, and his storytelling ability was superb. The day’s sermon was on discipleship and the cost of it. It prompted a lot of questions and head nodding from me, as it hits on a key topic for me: are Christians today ready to “give up everything to follow Christ? Or do they have a weakened faith?”  His message (and I won’t do it justice) discussed how to be a disciple you need to be (1) obedient (2) repentant and (3) have perseverance. He mentioned Christians today want the benefits of “Common Law” faith relationship without all the responsibilities, kind of like living with someone without getting married. He spoke about living your daily life as a Christian and how you are a disciple in your entire life, not just at the end of your life when you might have regrets. Again— and I may not sum this up exactly right— my takeaway was being a Christian is hard work. You need to buy into it all and be willing to give up certain aspects of your previous life. Similar to the story in the book of Mark when a few fishermen left their boat and nets to follow Jesus, it was an act of faith and discipleship. Pure obedience.

I thought about this a lot as I went to brunch after church. My issue with many churchgoers over the years is they are disciples on Sundays, yet not Monday-Saturday. Are these common-law relationships with the Christian faith? Maybe. Does it work for those people? That’s for them to answer, but I did really appreciate how Rev. Miller called it out. Are you willing to pay the cost of discipleship?

And because I like the random nuggets, I’ll share this: I experienced a first in all of my years of saying the Apostles Creed. I’m reading along and then boom “…He descended into hell.”  Wait What? Wow – who says that? Going to do some research on it and share later because I was taken aback by this alternate version of the reading. Oh, and Anglicans rolling with the lower case “c” again when referencing the Catholic Church. It’s kinda cracking me up.

Fun Facts:

• Congregation organized 1680; current building rebuilt 1838
• Domination:  Anglican (Christian)
• American Flag – yes