Nearly 110 people, joined by their friends, family, clergy, and other supporters, filled the Cathedral of St. Philip on March 15 to celebrate being confirmed, received, or reaffirmed.

They came from the Diocese of Atlanta’s 120 worshipping communities and 56,000 parishioners across Middle and North Georgia. Since December 2023, more than 800 people have been welcomed into The Diocese, received from other Christian traditions, or reaffirmed their ongoing walk with God as Episcopalians.

“God continues to draw people to this expression of Christianity, for such a time as this,” said Sally Ulrey, Canon for Congregational Vitality and Ministry Development. “It’s exciting to see how God continues to work through our Church to make an offering to the world, and always an inspiration when people say yes to the invitation to follow Jesus and join that work.”

The congregations represented included:

• Mary & St. Martha, Buford
• All Saints’, Atlanta
• Resurrection, Sautee-Nacoochee
• Holy Family, Jasper
• Gregory the Great, Athens
• David’s, Roswell
• Holy Cross, Decatur
• John’s College Park
• Margaret’s, Carrollton
• Mark’s, LaGrange
• Saint Anne’s, Atlanta
• Church of the Advent, Madison
• Church of Our Saviour, Atlanta
• Francis, Macon
• Jude’s, Marietta
• Paul’s, Atlanta
• Stephen’s, Milledgeville
• Benedict’s, Smyrna

The service was held on the Fourth Sunday in Lent, also known as Laetare Sunday (“Refreshment Sunday”). At the midpoint of Lent, this service typically presents a more joyful tone amidst the penitential season.

Bishop Wright’s Sermon on Spiritual Maturity

Bishop Rob Wright’s sermon was commanding and upbeat as he affirmed the confirmands’ budding spiritual maturity.

“Spiritual maturity means we have decided you and I we have decided to move from being just Jesus-adjacent to becoming active followers of Jesus,” he said.

Spiritual maturity is developed through observing other people and the world like God does. As taught by the story in 1 Samuel 16, when Samuel anoints David as king, Samuel judges outward appearances while God sees the heart.

“The first step in spiritual maturity begins when we confess and understand that God sees differently than we see,” Wright said.

The gap between these viewpoints is an opportunity to use curiosity, humility and patience to authentically understand someone’s heart. Spiritual maturity is not attained through AI or social media. It requires the “godly use of time” and “spiritual due diligence”: the willingness to wait for God’s clarity, even when doing so challenges social conventions.

“Understanding this gap between God’s viewpoint and ours is the beginning of wisdom and faith and devotion,” Wright said. “And Instagram can’t do that for you. And AI can’t do that for you.”

Wright encouraged the listeners to see patterns of God’s work in their own lives, even during times of “disorientation and the occasional temptation to despair.”

The idea of sharpened seeing was carried through music of the service, in the hymn “Be Thou My Vision” and anthems “View me, Lord” and “I lift up my eyes to the hills.”

Spiritual maturity also means developing a relationship with God that carries into a compassionate bond with others we love and those we struggle to love.

“Spiritual maturity means that when faced with the inevitable conflict of living in community with others, you will apply Jesus’s strategy for conflict resolution, rather than relying on the world’s strategy for conflict,” he said. “There is no one that Jesus wants to bomb into submission. And for Jesus, the lives of little Iranian school girls are just as precious as the lives of American servicemen and women.”

After the sermon, Ulrey presented the confirmands in groups. Their confirmation, reception, and reaffirmation wrapped with this prayer:

“Almighty and ever living God, let your fatherly hand ever be over these your servants; let your Holy Spirit ever be with them; and so, lead them in the knowledge and obedience of your Word, that they may serve you in this life, and dwell with you in the life to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

What Set this Service Apart

Baptisms are not usually conducted in this service, but Christopher L. Quinn of St. Benedict’s was baptized so he could be confirmed.

A large team is responsible for confirmations and other diocesan services. In this one, The Rev. Andrew Gordon, rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in LaGrange, was the celebrant. The music came from the Choir of St. Luke’s, Atlanta, with Jonathan Easter as conductor. Chase Loomer of The Cathedral of St. Philip accompanied the choir as organist. Jane Roberts of St. Gregory the Great, Athens, served as lector.

The service unfolded a few hours after, and only a few miles from, the 2026 Hunger Walk Run, an event with roots at St. Luke’s that raised almost $1 million in 2025 to help people who face food insecurity. Wright told the confirmation audience that the combination of fundraising event and milestone ceremony made him “breathless.”