Holy Purpose – Our patron saint, Deaconess Anna Alexander
The Rt. Rev. Frank S. Logue preached this sermon on September 25, 2025, for the dedication of the chapel at the Episcopal Center in Savannah to the patron saint of the Diocese of Georgia, Deaconess Anna Alexander.
Holy Purpose
I Kings 8
Set aside for holy purpose.
This is what we do when we consecrate a building to serve as a church: we set the church aside solely for the holy purpose of housing our worship of the living God.
This consecration of space is an ancient practice. Our Old Testament lesson describes King Solomon consecrating the Temple in Jerusalem. Before that, Moses had consecrated the Tent of Meeting that served as the focal point of worship for the people of Israel. In each case, they offered sacrifices to God as they prayed for the ground and the tent and temple to be hallowed by the presence of the Spirit of God. This way of setting aside space for holy purpose has continued through the millennia.
The Episcopal Church, and other liturgical churches, has a service to dedicate and consecrate a new church building. We are not using that liturgy this afternoon, as Bishop Middleton Stuart Barnwell dedicated and consecrated this holy space for the congregation of St. Michael and All Angels at the 11:30 am service on November 26, 1944. In the many years since the liturgy that set aside the church, this place has been consecrated by the ongoing prayers or the people of that parish. We can recall today all the many occasions the people of St. Michael and All Angels celebrated in this place, the many joyous Easters and Christmases, the solemn services on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. The many, many baptisms, weddings, and funerals. Those prayers have soaked into these walls, continuing the consecration that began with the church being first dedicated and consecrated.
This afternoon, we undo none of what came before as we dedicate this chapel to the Patron Saint of the Diocese of Georgia, Deaconess Anna Ellison Butler Alexander. We add to all that has come before with prayers to dedicate this chapel to a woman whose steadfast faith in Jesus offers an inspiring example of all that Jesus can and will do through us if we dedicate our lives to God.
Anna Alexander was herself set aside for holy purpose in a liturgy on May 7, 1907. That day at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Thomasville, Georgia, Anna knelt as Bishop C.K. Nelson prayed over her asking that “God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, bless, preserve, and sanctify you” as she was set aside for her work. That liturgy was meant to consecrate Anna, yet in the service the church was acknowledging what was already true as Anna had already dedicated her life to serving God.
The service used that day as Anna knelt surrounded by black Episcopalians who held her in high esteem joined in prayer was the one used for the many women set aside as deaconesses in our church. The Order of Deaconess is mentioned in the Bible, but it died out in the 500s. Beginning in the 1800s, there was a move to recover this ancient order. The first six women were set aside as deaconesses in Baltimore in 1857, so Deaconesses were a part of the Episcopal Church for Anna Alexander’s whole life. Yet though she joined an order that included hundreds and hundreds of other women, Anna’s call was unique.
Yes, she was the only African American in the order of Deaconess, but that is not the distinction I am holding up. In the history of this order that would continue until women were ordained as deacons in the 1970s this was clear, Deaconesses never did anything liturgical. They founded and operated schools, hospitals, orphanages. They had a servant ministry outside of the church. In the church, they participated in worship led by men. This was well-recalled by Deaconess Priscilla, who was the last living woman set aside as a Deaconess until her death in 2022. I met Deaconess Priscilla on a couple of occasions, one in the Dominican Republic and then later at the Community of the Transfiguration in Ohio, where she retired for her last years. She said that to be a Deaconess, “You had to be a pious lady. You had to be a member in good standing in the Episcopal Church. No scandals in your life. You had to have an orderly life.” Deaconess Priscilla also noted that Deaconesses did not have a role in the liturgy of the church.
But this was not true of Deaconess Alexander. While she was already a teacher at the Mann School at St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church in Darien, before she was the founder of a school, Anna was a church planter. In the fall of 1894, thirteen years before she would consecrate her life to the ministry of a Deaconess, Anna started a church. The school on Pennick Road in west Glynn County would not open until 1902. The church came first. When she was made a Deaconess in 1907, she continued to have a role in the liturgy for many of the services at the Church of the Good Shepherd and all of them in her Parochial School.
Deaconess Alexander described the worship on the school in 1910 writing, “There are many children, large and small, who walk daily for miles to attend the school. They will be in time for devotions in the morning. Just to hear them respond in the Litany on Wednesday and Friday mornings, and to see and hear them find and read the Psalter for the day, will bring tears to the eyes.”
In so many ways, the Deaconess was a singular person whose ministry went well beyond all expectations. On her death in 1947, the Episcopal periodical The Southern Churchman ran a notice of her funeral saying that they had received word of the death of Deaconess Anna E.B. Alexander. They noted, “Deaconess Alexander was a very consecrated woman and the work she did among the people of her race in the little backwoods town of Pennick was very wonderful.”
A very consecrated woman. Consecrated. Devoted to the God that she knew loved the children of her community as she did. Dedicated to serving Jesus and set apart for a holy purpose.
So we gather this afternoon, to dedicate this sacred space, long consecrated by the prayers of those who worshipped here for decades, to a unique leader in our church whose dedication to God assisted her in lifting up her community.
The prayers that hallow these walls have continued since the Parish of St. Michael and All Angels voted to turn the care of this building and grounds over to the Diocese of Georgia. The Church of the Epiphany has found a home in this diocesan chapel and continues the worship. Beyond this, removing the pews has allowed this holy place to house other events. Just last week, Migrant Equity Southeast distributed food to families who have someone in held in detention because of their immigration status. Jesus told us to feed the hungry and in this place where the spiritual hunger of so many people has been fed, we also offered essential food for families in need.
As volunteers and those in need entered and left this chapel, I saw many pausing to look at the interpretive sign in the entrance that in words and photos shares the story of Saint Anna. In this way, many more people will come to be inspired by a woman who dedicated her life to holy purpose, just as we dedicate this chapel to holy purpose in her name.
I trust that some people will enter this chapel and discover a saint who looks more like them so this dedication to her will offer an effective witness to the God who made Anna, gifted her in a unique and powerful way, and used her to holy purpose to raise up generations of children who would have gone by the wayside if not for her loving care.
I hope that this dedication will also inspire us as a Diocese of Georgia to stand against the type of injustice that Deaconess Alexander faced through her entire ministry. Her years as a Deaconess from 1907 to her death in 1947 coincide exactly with the dates that our Diocese held segregated conventions with a separate, but not equal, meeting for black Episcopalians. Anna had to work hard to earn extra money, including through cooking meals for our summer camp that was on St. Simons Island in her day. While Camp Reese had an Anna Alexander Cabin it was described in a 1945 article in The Living Church as “a servants’ house built by the young people and named in honor of Deaconess Alexander.”
Though her work was extolled by the bishops, she was not supported by the diocesan budget, largely raising money from benefactors in the north. We can’t simply hold her up as a paragon, we must also continue to work for justice.
For the work that fell to her to lift-up generations in the years before public education would be offered equally to all is not our work now. Yet, there is much that remains for us to do in order for our churches and communities to reflect the coming Kingdom of God. In that ongoing work, this chapel is an important witness to what God did in our midst through The Deaconess even as this dedication challenges us to dedicate ourselves to holy purpose.
Amen.
Follow this link to learn more about Deaconess Anna Alexander, including a short documentary on her life and ministry as well as information on our work to restore her schoolhouse:
In 2025, we will also offer a 1Book1Diocese read for Easter through Pentecost of Holy Mysteries: Encountering the Risen Jesus by Frank and Victoria Logue. As with their Advent through Epiphany devotional 
The 1Book1Diocese read for Lent 2025 will be Rowan Williams’ deeply wise book Passions of the Soul. In this brief text the former Archbishop of Canterbury tells how self-awareness about our instincts and emotions can offer practical assistance in diagnosing what is binding us to unhelpful and potentially destructive patterns of thinking. In the process, Williams shows how these thoughts like pride or anger are not necessarily wrong in themselves if we attend to these thoughts properly. He states, “For the Eastern Christian writers, ‘passion’ is the whole realm of instinct, reaction, coping mechanisms, and this is the level at which complications arise. We cannot live without these things if we are to be human at all; yet unless we understand and in some degree transfigure them, we are trapped in something less than human.”
Callie Swanlund
Anders found the camera loaded with color film and quickly captured the view in a photo called Earthrise. Everything any human had ever known could be seen in what looked to all like a blue marble hovering over the bleak lunar landscape and otherwise alone the vast emptiness of space. That startlingly new perspective, seeing earth from space, made all of human existence appear smaller, more fragile, than ever before. 
We see this in the Acts of the Apostles as in the first seven chapters of this story of what happened to Jesus’ followers after his resurrection we see how they preach with boldness and thousands come to faith. Then as that seventh chapter is ending, the Deacon Stephen is stoned to death. A persecutation breaks out against the Jesus Movement and the community scatters. Then in Acts 8, we see how God uses this tragedy to spread the Gospel. Disciples who would have stayed together in Jerusalem are soon spreading the grace, mercy, and forgiveness they have found to people who would have remained lost and left out if the faith had stayed within that small geographic area.
This sea anchor stops the craft from drifting downwind. The sea anchor keeps the bow pointing windward, facing the waves head on. The reason this image speaks to me is that it shows that we are not being blown about by the winds of the culture or doing what the open water equivalent is of an ostrich burying its head. A sea anchor offers real stability, keeping a boat from being tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind. Anchored to the sea itself, the boat is not pushed off course, but turned into the storm in what could otherwise be an overcoming sea, we can not only endure, but in the words of the hymn Joyful, Joyful, we can experience the “Wellspring of the joy of living, ocean-depth of happy rest.”
Since we last met in convention in Augusta, that city has been hit hard by Hurricane Helene. As I said in my sermon this morning, the aftermath showed Episcopalians serving their neighbors including at Saint Paul’s where our previous convention Eucharist was celebrated and the Byllesby Center which is supported significantly by Good Shepherd where the convention met in the school gym. While many of us have been able to move on, it will be quite a while before many people in Central and South Georgia can say their lives are back to normal. Crisis reveals what is already present in a community and the Hurricane revealed the faith and resilience of our people and communities.
As I have been getting feedback from the listening sessions and the survey, I have seen the direction the Diocese wishes to move. While there is more to hear, I already see clearly the ways in which the diocesan staff has to be more responsive to you, the people of the Diocese. There are two tiers in the Diocese—those who know staff well and have no trouble getting what they need from staff and those who don’t know who to call or how to learn where to go for help. This is not based on the size of a congregation, but the familiarity with the team. This cannot continue. To address this, I am taking a multi-pronged approach. We are making which staff to call for what is more readily evident on the website. We will also have a complete website redesign in 2025 with the sole goal of making it easier for you to find who you need and what you need. In addition, our phone system now lets a caller more easily reach the person you need. Additionally, I know that I need a Chief of Staff as my travel schedule has me away from the office enough that the staff needs a leader who is with them when I am traveling. Some other changes on staff are taking some responsibilities off of Canon Loren Lasch’s load and I am naming her the Canon to the Ordinary and Chief of Staff. This acknowledges some of what has already been a part of her work with the staff and leaning into it more.
Now, Jesus joins Cleopas and the unnamed other disciple on the road. They are in the depths of despair as they walk toward Emmaus. Neither of these first followers of Jesus know this seeming stranger on the road to be their Rabbi. This lack of recognition reveals the way despair clouds our vision and hinders us from seeing rightly.
I want to pause here to note how the Enlightenment that led to the gifts of modernity also found its way into our faith. The Desert Mothers and Fathers saw the struggle of good and evil playing out not just in their lives as they saw the cosmic struggle of good and evil playing itself out within their own hearts as they sought through their prayers and fasting to overcome temptations. They lived in a world shot through with a sense of transcendence, the knowledge that what we see is not all that exists in the universe as the time we live in is held in eternity. 
Seeing the ways God has broken into your life before gives confidence when looking to an uncertain future. For example, we can look at decline in church participation across the generations and join others in despair. Or we can look to the ways that the living God has been present with us in the past, is with us now, and already holds the future. That perspective makes it possible to be both realistic about where we are and what we face while remaining hopeful about the future. Whatever causes us to despair, when we tap into the certainty that God can, does, and will show up, we have a reason to hope.
We have received a number of inquiries from outside of the Diocese about where to send donations for Disaster relief. The first way to do this is to donate directly to the Bishop’s Fund for Disaster Relief. This money will go directly to helping our parishes and Honey Creek in meeting their deductibles as they repair damages to their properties, which is a needed type of aid that is not covered by other grants. Once those initial costs are covered, any leftover donated funds will be used for additional assistance as needed.
We are receiving surveys now through October 31 for our strategic planning process. Take the survey online here: 
Strategic Planning Committee 
Sean said, “And finally, what about our idolatry of structures and practices that exclude and diminish our witness? We have to get it together. That’s going to mean laying some things down.” By the end of the day, an announcement went out to the church that our Presiding Bishop-Elect 
The gift nestled in our propers for this commencement is clarity that while we long to see lives changed by the Good News of Jesus, that 
This Lent, the Diocese of Georgia offers a study using a book The Good Life written by the directors of a more than eight-decade-long study of what makes for a fulfilling life. The Harvard Study of Human Development offers a window into lives of meaning and purpose through the data they have collected. The book also looks at what is gleaned from similar studies around the world. While the book itself does not make connections to our faith in Jesus, the discussion guide does.
The delegates to the 2023 diocesan convention unanimously voted to name Deaconess Alexander as the Patron Saint of the Diocese. Deaconess Anna Ellison Butler Alexander (1865-1947) has been recognized as a saint by the Diocese of Georgia since 1998 and by the General Convention of The Episcopal Church since 2018, with her feast day celebrated on September 24.
Kindle our hearts and awaken hope.
Speak God, for this servant is listening.
When the weather is nice, one of the things I enjoy is grilling on the back patio of our home. When cooking outside, I use lump charcoal, which means that the process of starting the fire is not immediate like with a gas grill. Those of you who are familiar with lump charcoal know that it is not uniform in shape like manufactured briquets that are mostly the same size. I sometimes think of this form of grilling as being similar to cooking over a campfire. The lumps of charcoal, in a variety shapes and densities, must be stacked in such a way as to allow for air to flow through the heap. After lighting the stack, I make sure the bottom and top vents are open to allow for the greatest amount of air to flow and feed the smoldering flame. After about 15 to 20 minutes, I usually return to find the embers ablaze with fire and ready for whatever needs to be cooked.
After meeting Dave at college, falling in love and marrying, the two tried to find a church home only to discover that they were miserable sinners as they had their feet metaphorically dangled over the flames of hell. While raising kids, they took a break from church. That is when Shayna’s old softball coach’s pleas to go to church with him broke through. Dale Jones persistent invitation finally reached the point where she could not keep turning him down. Shayna says of coming into this beautiful church, “I remember that first visit so well. Yes, we were a little overwhelmed with keeping up with the prayer book, and the kneeling and standing. But, [she added] we felt the love, the genuine spirit of the people, the closeness of God. I truly felt the spirit of Jesus.”
This was faith he learned in the cradle. Born at home, in the little Central Florida settlement of Clay Sink, the entire population were his family by blood and marriage. He was at birth added to the cradle roll of Clay Sink Baptist Church. While his family would move around the Lakeland area, church was a constant for his parents, for Johnny, and his four brothers and three sisters. He was a steady presence in Sunday School, sang in the youth choir, and took part in all the activities for youth. He made his public confession of faith at the church in Kathleen, Florida, where four generations of his family are buried.
Yet this fails to capture the liveliness of a woman of great depth. With a playful spirit and a great sense of humor, you just never knew what she was going to say. Of George’s call to ministry coming after he had settled well into the family’s furniture business, she said, “We were convinced it was a call from God, because we would have never thought of it.”
“Baptized for Life: A Lay Ministers’ Conference” will take place September 9-10 at Honey Creek! This conference is intended for any lay person in the Diocese who is in any active ministry in their congregation. Examples of such lay ministries include those who assist or lead worship, serve on the Vestry, serve on committees, teach Sunday School or lead youth activities, serve on the Altar Guild, care for the buildings and grounds, lead outreach activities, and more. This conference will be led by Dr. Lisa Kimball, the Vice President for Lifelong Learning and the James Maxwell Professor Chair of Lifelong Christian Formation at Virginia Theological Seminary. “Dr. Kimball has focused her teaching and research on lifelong, life-wide, and life-deep discipleship and Christian vocation…She is a passionate advocate for lay ministry, the full inclusion of all generations, digital literacy, and leaders who are confident teachers of the faith.” For more information about Dr. Kimball’s background and history, 
The Lambeth Conference—as an introvert, I both looked forward to and dreaded attending. From meeting with other spouses of Bishops (via Zoom instead of in-person because of Covid), I learned that we would be broken into small groups of 8-10 with other spouses from around the globe. Which meant, I was sure, that I would have to hear the simple phrase that accelerates the hearts of introverts: Let’s go around and introduce ourselves.
Working with the app also helped me to acquaint myself with some of the spouses attending Lambeth. So, the first time I was asked to introduce myself, I was already familiar with a number of spouses. (photo of Caroline Welby)
We would then break up into our small group Bible studies with the Bishops crossing the street to gather at the Parkwood Apartments in small groups and the spouses hurrying over to Venue 2 to gather at our round tables. Here we would look at the verses we had just heard about and speak to them in what became the favorite phrase at the Lambeth Conference: in my context. Because the gathered bishops and spouses were from more than 160 countries from around the world, the context for a spouse in South Sudan was different than the context for a spouse in Pakistan, which was different for a spouse in Malaysia, which was different from a spouse in America . . .
In every congregation of the Diocese of Georgia, I know people who disagree with each other profoundly on politics (and sports which is even more difficult) who are grateful to worship together and miss one another if someone is not in church. I value this so much. We differ in many ways, but we all know that we need Jesus and we need each other. I have seen this writ large in gathering with more than 650 bishops from 165 countries at the Lambeth Conference.
When we gathered here, Archbishop Welby said, “You are the shepherds of your flock as I am the shepherd of the flock that I serve. Let us not act in a way that disgraces our witness. Speak frankly, but in love.”
Last evening, in a bit of serendipity, I came back to the dorm from the Eucharist walking, holding hands, and talking with the Archbishop of South Sudan, on a lovely late evening in Kent with Canterbury Cathedral at our backs and a return home in front of us. Two bishops from very different contexts with different views of a Jesus shaped life, but with the most important thing in common: we are both beloved children of God, united by one Lord, one faith, one baptism.
I am at the Lambeth Conference of Bishops of the Anglican Communion with more than 650 bishops and more than 460 spouses from 165 countries. Our time together includes a deep dive into the First Letter of Peter led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. This week Bishop Hosam Rafa Naoum, the Bishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East, who I met at his church in 2018 before either of us were elected as bishops, told me then and repeated again to a gathering this week that people go to the Holy Land to see the stones, but need to meet the living stones, the Christians of the Holy Land. Now here at Canterbury Cathedral, an ancient site of pilgrimage, I have enjoyed this historic place, but am being transformed by the living stones, the bishops and spouses from around the world.
I am finding this time so humbling. The problems we face in Central and South Georgia are put into perspective by dedicated followers of Jesus who love Word and Sacrament as we do and face daily challenges we can not imagine. This is the 15th Lambeth Conference since the first in 1867. While the provinces of the Anglican Communion, such as our Episcopal Church, are independent, we are also deeply interdependent and while this conference has no authority over us, the moral authority over time makes a difference.
As the Bishops of the Anglican Communion meet together for the first time since 2008, Bishop Frank and Victoria Logue are representing the Diocese of Georgia at the historic meeting. First convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1867, these conferences are an essential part of establishing and maintaining connections with Anglicans around the world. With the theme of ‘God’s Church for God’s World – walking, listening and witnessing together,’ the conference will explore what it means for the Anglican Communion to be responsive to the needs of a 21st Century world.
Victoria is on the leadership team for the “House of Spouse” as the spouses of the House of Bishops are known. She will take part in a variety of events at Lambeth that will include any of the spouses of the Episcopal Church who will be present for the conference as well as spouses from around the Communion. The spouse gatherings are an important part of the meeting.
The announced goal of the conference is to resource, inspire, and encourage Bishops in their local ministries; supporting their pastoral and leadership roles in church life and mission as we all follow Jesus. In an unexpected move, the Archbishop of Canterbury sent out a 58-page document to affirm as a body. The text is problematic as it asks for clear stands together where there are deeply held differences. Most notably, it initially asked those in attendance to reaffirm Lambeth resolution I.10, from 1998, which is against extending all of the sacraments to all baptized Christians. The concerns many bishops raised, including Bishop Logue, led to a revision, which itself may be the subject of further debate. This late change is shifting the character of the meeting even as bishops are checking in on site for the conference. Please hold the Logues in prayer as they worship and discern alongside their colleagues from around the world a faithful way to continue to walk together given these differences, while honoring the dignity of all God’s children.
In the spring of 2020, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry saw how the pandemic led to history was repeating itself when planning was underway to consecrate a handful of bishops with only the minimal people present as required by canons. He was reminded of the Scottish Episcopal Church’s cathedral in Aberdeen where a small gathering consecrated Samuel Seabury as the first American Bishop in November 1784. Bishop Curry referred to the liturgies in pandemic as “Aberdeen Consecrations.” When Bishop Logue became the first person made a bishop with a congregation largely online, the image was even clearer as Communications Manager Liz Williams’ photo of the moment with just three bishops laying on hands looked more like a stained glass window in Aberdeen than any consecration in memory.
To honor this history and further renew the connection, Bishop Logue, together with Bishop Deon Johnson of Missouri, Bishop Glenda Curry of Alabama, and Bishop Craig Loya of Minnesota will travel this week to Scotland for a series of visits in the Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney. Bishop Logue will preach at St. Andrew’s in Alford this coming Sunday as a part of this visit.
This General Convention was the seventh I have traveled to on behalf of the Diocese of Georgia, but my first in the House of Bishops. The General Convention is sometimes compared to the US legislature with a larger House of Representatives and small Senate. In the General Convention, the House of Deputies comprises four lay persons and four clergy persons from each diocese for more than 800 deputies in a typical convention. Every convention has a lot of first time deputies learning their way around. The House of Bishops, which is more analogous to the Senate, has less than 150 members and most have previously taken part in a convention. 
This familiarity changes the nature of debate on resolutions in the House of Bishops as you are speaking to a smaller group of people who you know well, creating a higher level of trust and allowing deeper conversations.