I remember my first service at Redeemer. I was eight years old, and our family had recently moved to Sarasota from New York. My mom and I pioneered Redeemer, and the first time we came I remember wondering if it was a special day because of the organs’ excitement and the festivity that the Gloria was sung in—I would soon learn that every Sunday at Redeemer was special. After the lesson, my mom encouraged me to join in the sea of kids walking towards Gillespie Hall, and I followed the other children to my first Children’s Chapel. Jon Roberts was the youth minister at the time, and he taught Children’s Chapel with a mail box; every week there would be something else in it that he used to teach his lesson. On this particular day, he opened the mailbox to find a cell phone. When the phone rang, he answered it and started having a conversation with God! I remember being very impressed. After communion, I went to Sunday School with the Montgomerys and began to learn the Gloria, which to this day is my favorite part of the service.
Elementary school life at Redeemer was awesome. Though I have interacted with the wonderful Mrs. Boedecker more in high school, I now know that she is the mastermind behind the amazing programs for youth at Redeemer. I remember making bowls for the Empty Bowls project in LOGOS, and then having a delicious lasagna dinner with Emmy Hill, Patty Sullivan, and Nancy Boyle. I remember in fourth grade, I brought my fish to the blessing of the animals and Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell taught us a song to help us learn the books of the New Testament. In fifth grade, I listened to Mrs. Peet’s story about floating in the Dead Sea and decided that I wanted to go there one day, too.
Then came middle school. In sixth grade, I was finally a VBS Aide and got to attend Jr. EYC with Scott Merritt and later Brett Watson. I also started to go to Friday Morning Bible Study at the Devitt’s, where Scott Merritt’s wife, Lynsey and Mrs. Meister taught. Seventh grade, my mom was my Sunday school teacher! Not to mention every Wednesday, we had Confirmation classes with Father Marsden that occasionally turned into Confirmation that there was a Civil War class. Though there were a couple of confusing months without a youth minister, order was restored with the arrival of Chris and Kate Wood.
I find that being a member of the Church of the Redeemer entails constant learning, which is inspired, not enforced, starting at a young age. Two of the most important components of my faith were discovered in middle school. The first is that I found my favorite bible verse. In sixth grade, as an end-of-the-year present, Lynsey Merritt gave us these beautiful little canvases on which she painted Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is being sure of what you hope for, and certain of what you do not see.” I love this verse because to me it gives comfort and reassurance that faith is so much more about internal feelings and love than it is external. That being said, I feel that growing up at Redeemer with the numerous programs for the youth teaches us to think about our faiths as opposed to mundanely going about and mindlessly accepting our practices and beliefs. This verse especially relates to why I so enjoyed Mr. Hartenstine’s Sunday school lessons, which always tie science and Christianity together. The way I interpret what I’ve learned in high school is that science and religion can and do go hand in hand, and that is very comforting to me. All of my Sunday school teachers have inspired me in some way— even my mom. But at Redeemer, a child doesn’t only learn from his or her Sunday school teachers. We learn from our peers (older and younger), table parents at LOGOS, confirmation sponsors, VBS shepherds and aides—and quite honestly, every person here.
The second thing that has stuck with me throughout my life has been a bible study lesson from sixth grade. I wish I could remember the lesson exactly, but the idea is basically this: say you make a peanut butter sandwich for yourself. You go to the couch and sit down with your sandwich and watch television. It’s a good feeling. Now say you make a peanut butter sandwich at a soup kitchen, and give it to someone who really needs that sandwich. This is a very different feeling, but still a good one. It is perfectly fine to make that sandwich for yourself and enjoy it, but you should also take time to make sandwiches for others and also find happiness in charity. Essentially, God wants us to be happy and we should be “allowed” to do positive things for ourselves, but He also wants us to help other people to be well and happy. Redeemer teaches us this “love your neighbor as yourself” kind of joy and love at a young age as well. LOGOS is a great example. I loved LOGOS, I got to have a snack, play with my friends, make crafts, and then eat dinner. However, I also was able to help others—as I said before, we participated in the Empty Bowls project and created bowls that were sold to raise money for the food bank. Redeemer always encourages a caring environment that I have been so blessed to have been raised in.
Redeemer is not just a congregation, but a very large family—I’d say that this family atmosphere can be attributed to our wonderful Father Robinson. Being a part of this church means that one will always be loved and love everyone else; everyone here legitimately cares for and about each other. Everyone is family, whether related by blood or not. A silly example is this: I do not have any first cousins, which has always been slightly disappointing for my sister Mercedes and me; however, there are plenty of people here who I have deemed “cousins”. It’s unlikely that we are all seventeenth cousins eighty-two times removed. But the Church of Redeemer definitely constitutes a family by association and shared love.
To me, Redeemer is the constant in my life. In the past nine years I’ve switched schools, gone through countless friend groups, switched my extracurricular activities, and I even changed my hair color a few times; but no matter what, I could expect Redeemer the be the same: a place of family, love, faith, and learning.