Sermons from St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Atlanta
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Oct 4, 2026 · 15 min · 6 segments
Sermons from St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Atlanta
Oct 4, 2026 · 15 min · 6 segments
Bird Girl is a small statue from Bonaventure Cemetery that, uh, was designed as a young woman, and in each hand is a small bowl that was intended for birdseed.
And this was used on the front cover of the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
So s- somehow everyone needed their own mini statue version of it, and I've seen a few here in Atlanta and other places around the country.
But I would venture to guess that the most common popular statue in the US and in pockets around the globe to find in a garden or in the yard or maybe even in the house would be a statue of St. Francis.
And these statues that you often see in gardens or in yards, uh, always depict Francis in a way that he's depicted in pretty much all art forms, uh, including, uh, on the cover of our bulletin this morning.
He's depicted with usually a bird on the shoulder and something like a squirrel or chipmunk or animals around his feet, and he's wearing his simple tunic.
And somehow this person that lived in the eleven and twelve hundreds still speaks to us in our time.
And to their great frustration and, uh, uh, he decided to step away from the family business, the family prestige, the family status, the family wealth, and he wanted to live simply.
And he felt like the only way that he could live truly simply was to choose a life of poverty.
And he credits hearing gospel lessons like today's, where Jesus says that which we store up as our earthly treasure, we can't take it with us.
We cannot take it with us.
And in that spirit, Francis decided to try to truly live a simple life that he perceived as modeled on Jesus.
He began to live this, uh, adventure, this journey, this trial, if you will, even, and he began to live simply in a life of prayer and service.
And as he did this, he began to feel more and more spiritually connected with all of God's children, particularly the poor.
This began to grow and expand as his spirituality began to take on the idea that all things and all people and all of creation is interconnected.
And he began to use terms like brother sun, sister moon.
Other young men in the area began to see Francis living this alternative life, and they were drawn, and they began to follow him around, and he agreed to let them sort of live near him and in, in community with him.
And in time, they would go to the pope and get permission to found an official order.
And the order was founded with the name that it still officially carries today.
And the name of this order that Francis founded was the Order of Friars...
Bird Girl is a small statue from Bonaventure Cemetery that, uh, was designed as a young woman, and in each hand is a small bowl that was intended for birdseed.
And this was used on the front cover of the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
So s- somehow everyone needed their own mini statue version of it, and I've seen a few here in Atlanta and other places around the country.
But I would venture to guess that the most common popular statue in the US and in pockets around the globe to find in a garden or in the yard or maybe even in the house would be a statue of St. Francis.
And these statues that you often see in gardens or in yards, uh, always depict Francis in a way that he's depicted in pretty much all art forms, uh, including, uh, on the cover of our bulletin this morning.
He's depicted with usually a bird on the shoulder and something like a squirrel or chipmunk or animals around his feet, and he's wearing his simple tunic.
And somehow this person that lived in the eleven and twelve hundreds still speaks to us in our time.
And to their great frustration and, uh, uh, he decided to step away from the family business, the family prestige, the family status, the family wealth, and he wanted to live simply.
And he felt like the only way that he could live truly simply was to choose a life of poverty.
And he credits hearing gospel lessons like today's, where Jesus says that which we store up as our earthly treasure, we can't take it with us.
We cannot take it with us.
And in that spirit, Francis decided to try to truly live a simple life that he perceived as modeled on Jesus.
He began to live this, uh, adventure, this journey, this trial, if you will, even, and he began to live simply in a life of prayer and service.
And as he did this, he began to feel more and more spiritually connected with all of God's children, particularly the poor.
This began to grow and expand as his spirituality began to take on the idea that all things and all people and all of creation is interconnected.
And he began to use terms like brother sun, sister moon.
Other young men in the area began to see Francis living this alternative life, and they were drawn, and they began to follow him around, and he agreed to let them sort of live near him and in, in community with him.
And in time, they would go to the pope and get permission to found an official order.
And the order was founded with the name that it still officially carries today.
And the name of this order that Francis founded was the Order of Friars...
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