Home » Who We Are » Our Rector

Who We Are

Who We Are

A Word from Grace Street

The Beauty of God in Community

September 01, 2010

My Dear People,

"The test of true religion is whether or not it is producing the kind of life in which the beauty of God appears."

- The Reverend Walter Russell Bowie, Rector of St. Paul's Church (1911-1923)

Thursday afternoon I will be joining clergy from around the Richmond area, and across faith traditions, for a press conference that will be held at Richmond's Islamic Center. A number of faith leaders from the Richmond area will speak, and a statement signed by Richmond faith leaders will be published.

Naturally, a range of words will be used to describe what we are standing up for: Civility. Freedom. Respect. Tolerance. Calm. Justice. Community. Diversity. Equality. Reconciliation. Welcome. Understanding. Unity. Hope.

While all those words have their rightful place, some come closer than others to what God wants for us, his children. While "tolerance" is a start, Jesus said nothing about tolerance, and we won't settle for it. While "civility" is a beginning, we are called to something higher, better, and braver.

Dr. Bowie said it as well as anyone: what God wants for us is that the beauty of God's own life be present in our life, our shared life, the life of the one human family.

Your brother in Christ,

Wallace+

Next entry: Our Whole Person

Previous entry: What would Jesus shoot?

Email Newsletter

A WORD FROM GRACE STREET

A Word From Grace Street, Wallace's weekly theological reflection, is sent by email to all who are interested. Sign-up above or read them below.

SERMONS

To Bethlehem; to Bethlehem, we have come.

And, of course, this Christmas, tonight, and tomorrow, new memories are being made; a Carol sung, pure and exquisite; an old friend; warm, endearing words exchanged; a first Christmas for a new grandbaby; a candle lit, a face aglow, eyes agleam.

The Pointer’s Point

More than fifty times, in his published writings, Barth refers to the Grunewald image; and, indeed, usually, it is precisely in reference to John,  and John’s relation to the figure of Christ; as he points.
Barth (and Grunewald before him) understood John’s sole purpose to be to serve as a pointer to Christ, a reference to Christ, a witness to Christ.

Keep Alert, Awake, and Watchful

On any given day, there are those things that would get our attention; those things that would bring fresh perspective; those things would remind us of what is most important, what is most true. If, that is, if we but notice. We never know when those things, those experiences, those people might come. And so it has always been, so it has always been.

The Rule of 72

The Rule of 72, they call it.  It’s a rule of thumb to figure how long it’ll take to double your money. If you know you can get 5%, on your investment, then you divide 5 into 72 and that tells you: it’ll take roughly 14 and ½ years to double your money. That’s the Rule of 72. Now, sometimes an investor doesn’t want to wait 14 and a ½ years, or however long the Rule of 72 tells you that you have to wait and so increased risks are taken. And sometimes you win, and sometimes you loose.

Walk the Way of a Servant

We all want, in the words of St. Paul, to “lead a life worthy of God.” A life worthy of God. Un-like the lives of the false prophets, of Micah’s day, or the false teachers of Jesus’ day, the scribes and the Pharisees, teachers of the law. Their lives are un-worthy of God, we are told, in no uncertain terms. In their hypocrisy, they serve, not God, not God’s people, but themselves.

View Sermon Archive

VIDEO & PHOTOS

It Gets Better


View Media Archive