Rector's Blog
July 01, 2011, Church (77), Guest Blog Posts (9)
Courtesy of Elizabeth O'Leary, St. Paul's Tour Guide Ministry
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The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has recently put on view the 1890 preliminary watercolor study for Moses Leaving the House of Pharaoh, the stained glass window designed by Henry Holiday for St. Paul's (LE3, third lower east window). Commissioned by the Stewart sisters of Brook Hill near Richmond, the window is one of a pair by the prominent British designer that were installed in 1892 in memory of Robert E. Lee.
The watercolor, privately owned, is on loan to the museum until February 2012. The watercolor won't remain on view beyond next February because, as a work on paper, it will have met the conservators' set time limitations regarding periods of light exposure.
Look for the watercolor in the British section of the Sydney and Frances Lewis decorative arts galleries on the museum's third level.
Questions? Contact Bety O'Leary, eoleary@verizon.net.
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Tags: lee, stained glass, windows of st. paul's
March 10, 2011, People of St. Paul's (42), Guest Blog Posts (9)
Guest Post by Jenny Bliley, St. Paul's Social Worker
Could you do it? Could your family live off of $1,000 income for thirty days? How much is rent? Would you have money left over to buy food, pay for a field trip for your son, attend a family funeral out of town or get your car fixed? Urban Ministries of Durham has a great new educational game called SPENT that you can play on their web site www.playspent.org. You are given $1,000 to live off of for 30 days.
As a social worker I pride myself in understanding what it takes to stay within a limited budget and make ends meet. I certainly talk with families every day that are making these choices. So, I played the game and...
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Tags: emmaus, finance budgeting, financial planning
February 04, 2011, People of St. Paul's (42), Church (77), Guest Blog Posts (9)
By the Rev. Canon J. Fletcher Lowe Jr., Priest in Residence
Cross-posted from the Diocese of Virginia Newsroom
The following article by St. Paul's Priest in Residence Fletcher Lowe was originally published in the Diocese of Virginia Newsroom on February 2.
"St. Paul's is at the epi-center of downtown Richmond."
-- Jack Berry, CEO/President, Richmond Convention and Visitors' Center
Within walking distances of St. Paul's, Richmond are the State Capitol and the General Assembly, City Hall, the Medical College of Virginia, the Fourth Circuit Court, the Virginia Supreme Court, the John Marshall City Court, Center Stage entertainment center, the Library of Virginia , the banking, legal and brokerage centers, the Federal Reserve, several non-profits and new residential communities.
So what is St. Paul's Christian mission at this epi-center? What about those 85,000 folks who come downtown every Monday through Friday to work, and what about the increasing number who are moving in? Those are questions that are challenging St. Paul's these days.
Click on "read more" below for the full article.
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Tags: base camp, downtown, fletcher lowe
December 03, 2010, People of St. Paul's (42), Church (77), Guest Blog Posts (9)
Guest post by Anne Snyder, a St. Paul's parishioner
A poem, inspired by watching the Rev. Kate Jenkins ever so gently place the "body of Christ" in the hands of a living blonde angel during communion.
On a Sunday Morning
Illuminated by a shaft of light
Untroubled faith capped with Tiffany gold and
Tested faith like the winter willow
Made to bend but never break
Small hands upturned receiving the gift
Of faith enduring through light and darkness
Older slim hands sharing the gift
Of love enduring
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Tags: anne snyder, eucharist, kate jenkins, poem
September 17, 2010, City & Commonwealth (63), Guest Blog Posts (9), In the News (Richmond) (74), St. Paul's Audio & Video Clips (12)
Posted by Kimberly Allen
The 2010 season of Eyes on Richmond got off to a great start today with our opening speaker, The Hon. Kathy Graziano, President, Richmond City Council. Over 100 individuals attended for her remarks on "Learning from Our Past, Hope for the Future." Listen to and/or read her full remarks below.
LISTEN NOW: Learning from Our Past, Hope for the Future
"I appreciate the very kind introduction and the opportunity to be the first speaker in the 2010 Eyes on Richmond event. The shared views, ideas, perspective and commentary from Eyes on Richmond make us a richer, more cohesive city, with a core population invested in our long and short term success.
Richmond is a good place to live today, and will be a greater place for our children and grandchildren to live next year, and the years after. Part of that is what we discuss today...What can we learn from the Past, as we move into the future?" ...keep reading
Special thanks to Cedars Restaurant (106 North 7th St., 771-1665) for catering the lunch and to our media sponsor, Community Idea Stations/WCVE Public Radio. Listen to WCVE 88.9 FM on Monday morning for a follow-up news segment by Craig Carper about the forum. Craig spent a few minutes with President Graziano after the forum, following up on her remarks and audience questions about the unemployment rate, homelessness and poverty, and Richmond tourism.
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Tags: eyes on richmond, kathy graziano, richmond city council
September 02, 2010, Christianity (85), Church (77), Guest Blog Posts (9)
Cross-posted from Jim Somerville's blog:
Now Available!
I've published a book on the issuu.com Web site. It's called "When the Sand Castle Crumbles," and it's for pastors and members of churches that were thriving in the fifties but now struggling to survive. It's free, it's online, and you can read the whole thing in less than an hour.
The book grew out of five sermons I delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church during the 2010 Lenten Luncheon series, as I shared my thoughts about why so many churches in America seem to be dying and what can be done about it. My hope then (and now) is that these words would be an encouragement to those churches, and help them re-imagine their mission.
Here's an excerpt from the introduction:
When my daughter, Ellie, was a little girl we built a magnificent sand castle at the beach. It had turrets and towers, and little flags sticking up on top. We were standing there admiring it when the first wave lapped up against the foundation. "Daddy!" she screamed. "Do something!" So I did. I started digging...
Click on "Read More" below to continue reading the excerpt, learn more about the book, and listen to one of the sermons Jim references above.
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July 14, 2010, People of St. Paul's (42), Guest Blog Posts (9)
Posted by Wallace+
It's with pleasure that I share the following message from parishioner
Richard Lewis. Richard writes in response to Sunday's
sermon:
Wallace, I promised you my "man by the side of the road" story, and here
it is.
Back in the early 90s, my family and I were traveling by car from New
Orleans to our home in Virginia. Somewhere between Laurel and Meridien,
Mississippi, our van ran out of gas due to my insane desire to get the
tank as close to empty as I could before refilling. We were squarely
between two exits, about five miles from each. My kids were about eight
and six at the time and we also had with us our beloved German exchange
student, Francisca. I was bemoaning our plight when Francisca assured me
that someone would stop to help us. I assured her that she was wrong
and I got out of the van and started trudging dejectedly toward the
upcoming exit.
I had not gone more than 100 yards when a pickup truck pulled over to
help me. This turned out to be a family from Texas -- a couple and two
young children -- who were driving to Alabama in hopes of...
Click on "Read More" for the full story.
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June 23, 2010, City & Commonwealth (63), Guest Blog Posts (9), In the News (Richmond) (74), Justice (12)
Posted by Wallace+
Reflecting on the sermon from Sunday, Dave Coogan wrote the following, which I pass onto you with his permission. Dave is completing a book on the writing workshop he has led in the Richmond Jail.
The question you posed--Which is scarier? to stay sick or to get well?--is actually one I've been meditating on for the last week or so as I finish my book. I'm on the last chapter, which I've titled "Character Witness." It's filled with stories of me and the guys and asks what all of us know and can witness, with regard to "the change." Sure, there's me in the witness stand as an official character witness. But there's also me hearing another guy's testimony in my classroom and trying to match what I knew of the man through correspondence to this, my first time hearing him, seeing him. You write about unconscious and conscious moves this week. Doesn't writing, itself, wedge the former into the later? Or maybe writing is the fulcrum in the see-saw?
Otis asked me once if I'd ever seen a demon. We were talking about Andre and what causes a man to give in to that impulse, the one that says [expletive] it! He was serious about demons--serious, the way you distinguished it, usefully, I felt. They sometimes talk of it as that little voice that says "I can have just one" hit of crack. You didn't speak on addiction, but I wonder how many legions are supporting the despair of addiction? In this last chapter, I'm trying to figure out if and how they flee their hosts.
Pictured: Medieval illumination of Jesus healing the man from Gerasa.
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June 17, 2010, City & Commonwealth (63), Guest Blog Posts (9), Reconciliation (23)
Posted by Wallace+
Below is a response, from parishioner Dave C., to a recent Word from Grace Street. The vignette that Dave relays for us speaks both to our call to unity, as well the call to maturity. With Dave's permission, I pass his message along, with thanks to him and to his daughter Lucy!
How timely! I was just playing Michael Jackson's "Black or White" in the car. Michael sang "If you want to be my baby, it don't matter if you're black or white." To which she said: "or be my friend."
"Like your friends, I said."
"Or the men in your prison writing workshop."
"Yeah."
That's where it starts. In a conversation about difference and sameness. It seems so simple. And yet I still meet white college students who tell me they came to Richmond to escape the racism of their hometowns.
"You notice a difference." I explain to Lucy. "But you don't make a big deal out of it."
"I won't spend my life just being a color," Michael concludes.
I realize these pronouncements won't win any awards for subtlety. Race does matter, as Michael's mysteriously changing color indicated. But if a kid can understand the basic premise of unity because of a pop song, either we should all spend less time with subtlety or we need to practice being kids again.
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