Unstoppable Transformation

"Unstoppable Transformation"

Sermon by The Rev.Ranie Neislar

August 17, 2025


I am from Georgia, but I am putting roots down here in Birmingham, naming this city as our home. Birmingham was built on raw materials—iron, coal, limestone—that combined to make steel, earning it the name Magic City. Transformation and creativity are trademarks of God’s power and of this city. Like Sloss Furnace, once abandoned but reborn as a place for community, we too are called to be transformed. Fire can destroy, but it can also refine and strengthen like steel. All Saints has literally risen from the ashes, a prophetic community embodying God’s lasting word. We are like those rocks broken into smaller stones, renewed for new work. At heart, All Saints is a place of unstoppable transformation—a Magic City Church—where God’s power makes us stronger so we can go out and do God’s work. And so, if you had to make a statement about what God is saying to you here, how would you finish this sentence: And God said…


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July 2, 2026
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June 30, 2026
These are the highlights from the Vestry Meeting on June 28th. You can watch the entire meeting by clicking the button below. Takeaways: We have received a designated gift of $180,000 to pay off our long-term debt. Our stewardship theme this year is Rooted in Abundance, and pledge cards will be available beginning September 13, with our in-gathering on November 1. Our Parish Profile has been posted, and the Search Committee is receiving names and beginning to consider candidates. We will start our program year with a “Blast Off” celebration on August 16. We will return to two morning services that day and host a ministry fair between them. We will begin our Christian Formation program with a special intergenerational formation offering in the Great Hall. Join us for the Theology & Science of Project Hail Mary on August 23, 30, and September 9. We will add a Sunday morning Adult Formation class called “Cross Examined Faith.” This class will be led by Kelley and will begin with a discussion of Christians and Artificial Intelligence. Begins September 13. We will offer Wednesday night programs beginning mid-September. (See below) We will have a new, streamlined Atrium schedule on Sunday mornings and will expand to offer a Toddler Atrium. (See below) Staff Updates: Elena Moreno has joined the staff as the part-time Interim Director of the Choir School. Davis Haines and Emily Wolfe will serve as part-time Co-Directors for our Fiddlesticks Music program Kathleen Busbee will rejoin the staff in the newly created position of Parish Engagement Coordinator. She will begin in July.
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