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Posted by Wallace+
"In the mid-17th century, Spanish seafarers sailed up the west coast of the Americas to what is now known as the Baja peninsula. The cartographers of the time simply drew a straight line up from the Strait of California to the Strait of Juan de Fuca between Vancouver Island and Washington state. Consequently, the maps that were published in 1635 show very clearly that California was an island. For 50 years, then, the years of the most constant, most crucial explorations of the California coastline, those maps went unchanged because someone continued to work with partial information, assumed that data from the past had the inerrancy of tradition and then used authority to prove it. Finally, after years and years of new reports, a few cartographers, the heretics, the radicals and the rebels, I presume, began to issue a new version, and in 1721, the last mapmaker holdout finally attached California to the mainland. But - and this is the real tragedy, perhaps - it took almost 100 years for the gap between experience and authority to close. It took almost 100 years for the new maps to be declared official despite the fact that the people who were there all the time knew differently from the very first day." - Sister Joan Chittester, O.S.B. (from On Being with Krista Tippett)
Where are the gaps in our lives between experience and authority? Where do our "maps" not match up with reality, with the reality both within and around us?
For the adventure that awaits, may God grant us both imagination and courage.
Tags: on being, word from grace street
Posted by Wallace+
Blessings to all of you who participated in "Moving Forward Together - In Remembrance of 9/11" at St. Paul's last Sunday and joined in our prayer service on the eve of September 11. It was a weekend of moving memorials and remembrances. I was especially uplifted by how many individuals, of various ages and faith backgrounds, came together at the forum we hosted at St. Paul's.
As the Rev. Jim Somerville said, "I think we can really begin to see that we have so much more in common than those things that divide us."
Tags: interfaith, september 11
Posted by Wallace+
"To love one's neighbor as oneself."
Okay, but do we love ourselves?
And, if we don't consciously work at loving ourselves, how far do we expect to get with our neighbors?
Brother Curtis Almquist, of the Society of St. John the Evangelist, has said, "We love our neighbors the way we love ourselves."
Curtis reflects further,
"The hallmark of solitude is being on good speaking terms with oneself. Solitude invites you to be a very good friend to yourself, to enjoy your own company...Unless I can be a very good companion to myself, I probably cannot be a good member of a community, because I'm going to externalize, I'm going to project, a great deal of my longing, unwittingly and unfairly, onto other people, who simply are never going to be enough...You have to first be reconciled to yourself."
To love one another as God would have us love one another, first we must love ourselves: we must spend time with ourselves; we must, as Curtis says, be on good speaking terms with ourselves.
It's for our own good, yes; and for the sake of everyone around us.
Your brother in Christ,
Wallace+
Post by The Rev. Gena Adams-Riley
On the morning of September 11th 2001, I was traveling north toward Washington D.C. on I-395 from our apartment in Alexandria, Virginia. I wrote a poem in the weeks that followed as I sorted through the experience of watching American Airlines Flight 77 crash into the Pentagon killing 64 people on the plane, 125 people in the Pentagon, and 5 hijackers.
I accelerate;
move left, the fast lane,
tune in my lifeline, NPR—
Terrorists
Attack
New York City
American Airlines
Towers.
What's this about?
I hear it,
then see it play out before me—
silver capsule
red letters
darting through the sky,
too fast, too low, the wrong way,
sharply veering.
Metal meets concrete,
strikes without warning.
The nightmare of a soldier-
a burst of orange,
cloud of black
gray is swallowed.
A mighty wound,
gaping hollowness
cannot be touched.
Steel, rubber, metal,
grind to a halt.
I'm not alone,
they see it, too.
Hands clutch shaking heads,
people bewildered,
stopped in a place we do not belong.
I stand in the roadway,
reaching.
My heart floods with tears,
my eyes are dry.
I shake with coldness,
my stomach burns.
I circle my car,
there is no safety in this place.
You are with them,
whoever they are,
I cannot know them,
they are gone.
Nameless to me—
mothers
fathers
children
sisters
brothers
lovers.
You call them by name;
call them by name!
Have mercy,
deliver them from evil.
They are dust,
to dust they return.
Give me a balm
to heal my sinsick heart.
- The Rev. Gena D. Adams-Riley, Revised September 2011
Pictured: A steel bench from the Pentagon Memorial to the victims of the 9/11 attacks.
Tags: 911, gena adams-riley, poetry, september 11
Posted by Wallace+
| The Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina |
Recently, while visiting at Trinity Church, Wall Street, in New York City, Bishop Michael Curry was asked, "What do you see as the state of the Episcopal Church today?" His answer is worth reading more than once:
"We live in a profoundly pluralistic culture and world. We live in a world where we are interconnected in ways that we never imagined before. We know more about each other; some folks might say we know too much about each other. And I think one of the great challenges for faith is to live in this multicultural, pluralistic world, being people of faith who reflect the love of God and not the tyranny of God. I think that's one of our greatest religious challenges, and it has impact for different ages and generations of people. This is an Episcopal moment, a moment that is crying out for a way of being faithful that doesn't have to deny somebody else's way of being faithful. This is our moment."
Amen, brother.
I am reminded of a bumper sticker that one of you (a member of St. Paul's) saw and told me about: ENTHUSIASTICALLY EPISCOPALIAN.
It is indeed "a moment that is crying out for a way of being faithful that doesn't have to deny somebody else's way of being faithful."
Yes, it is an Episcopal moment.
So, let's claim it.
With grace, and with gusto.
Tags: bishop michael curry, trinity church, word from grace street
Posted by Wallace+
All are welcome to visit St. Paul's for quiet reflection and prayer whenever we are open (daily, 10am - 4pm). However, next weekend, ten years after the terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001, we anticipate some individuals may feel a special need for refuge. In response, we are reminding the community of our prayer presence and inviting them to visit anytime on Saturday, September 10 and join us for a service of prayer and music that day at 5 pm.
To help welcome any visitors, we are looking for volunteers who can help greet during the day and pass out bulletins during the 5 pm service. If you're available, please email John Taylor at taycamp@aol.com or contact me at rector@stpauls-episcopal.org.
If you'd like to know more about our offerings that weekend, visit www.stpauls-episcopal.org/911 .
Tags: 911, september 11, welcome
Posted by Kimberly Allen
While sometimes wandering aimlessly is good for perspective, sometimes it's also also good to be able to plug in your phone or laptop and read email from family and loved ones.
We welcome you to visit the church or parish house as a resting space when we are open. Our electricity is also working and we are set up for wireless Internet access for those who would like to bring in your laptop to check your email. For wireless access, you will need to visit Reception and give your name to receive the password. If no one is at the Reception, please call (804) 246-9384.
(Hat tip to ImageCPR for capturing the above tweet from Chad Ochocinco)
Tags: hurricane irene
St Paul’s Episcopal Church
815 E. Grace Street
Richmond Virginia 23219
Phone: 804.643.3589
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