In
October 2008, the Vestry announced that The Rev. D.Wallace Adams-Riley
would become the 15th Rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in downtown
Richmond. Wallace, age 39, comes to us from St. John’s Cathedral in
Jacksonville, Florida, where he served as Canon. He began his ordained ministry at Christ
Church in Alexandria. Wallace grew up in Columbia S.C., as one of four
boys. He is married to The Rev. Canon Gena Adams-Riley with whom he has
a four-year-old son named Nelson and newborn son named Fin M'Coul.
Any reflections about what you’ve read here that you’d like to share? A prayer
or poem you’d like to pass along? Please click on the link below to contact our
Rector, the Rev. Wallace Adams-Riley, with your thoughts.
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.
A new study out by the Pew Hispanic Center shows that illegal immigration into the United States is down, and very much so, over the last decade: a 67% reduction to be exact.
What do we make then of a rising chorus of voices in our country denouncing illegal immigration and blaming illegal immigrants for all manner of things?
Well, sadly, I think Frank Rich has it right when he speaks of "the latest minority groups to enter the pantheon of American scapegoats, Hispanic immigrants and Muslims" (as I quoted in Sunday's sermon).
Lord, drive from our hearts all bigotry, and help us to be the people you call us to be, people of compassion, justice, and generosity.
As the German Blitzkrieg rolled into Poland, and World War II began, on the morning of September 1, 1939, W.H. Auden sat in a New York City dive, writing the poem that would take for its name simply the date itself, "September 1, 1939."
In what would become one of the most-widely-known lines in all modern poetry, Auden wrote, "We must love one another or die."
Tomorrow after at 2pm, Wallace+ will join faith leaders from the Richmond area for a press conference at the Islamic Center of Virginia. In today's Word from Grace Street, he explains why they are coming together in solidarity:
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.
Among those who will speak are: Bishop Charlene Kammerer, Rabbi Martin Beifield, Pastor Charles Baughum, Rabbi Ben Romer, Imam Ammar Amonette, Rev. Jon Barton and others.
In addition to standing together, they will publish a joint statement, which will be posted tomorrow.
I have lately been listening, for, a second time, to The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. I recommend it HIGHLY. While Dr. King did not in fact write an autobiography, Stanford's Clayborne Carson has taken Dr. King's written and spoken words and woven them together into a single and stunning piece. While it is available in paperback, the audio version is my recommendation, with many recordings of Dr. King being incorporated, including his "I Have a Dream Speech," naturally, as well as, for instance, his reading of his Letter from the Birmingham Jail. From the latter, I was especially struck (again) by what he says about the "white moderate," in answer to those who urge patience in the face of injustice.
Thanks be to God for Martin Luther King, Jr., and may God bless us as we carry on the brave and faithful work of his life. Indeed, may God help us to be both brave and faithful.
Let the good news roll. Parishioner Anne Snyder also took a moment to fill out our Good News form online.
She shared this update and prayer from her recent travels to France:
My two weeks in [Normandy] France were extraordinary. All my friends came from various areas to spend time together. I experienced a very great honor. While at the cemetery, the cemetery staff realized I was the daughter of one of "their soldiers" and asked if I wanted to help retire the flag for the evening. You bet I did and so a staff member and I brought down that precious symbol, folded it, and I was asked to present it to the cemetery manager. I can't really describe what an emotional experience that was and, on a humorous note, how I was happy to find out I had not lost my flag folding expertise. In participating, I was really representing over 193,000 "war orphans" of the men who died during the invasion.
As I helped lower the flag, I said a prayer that such ceremonies in that type of location will become a thing of the past.
The good news keeps on coming! Last week, we shared this moment in the lives of parishioner Jamie Miller and his parents. Today, we highlight Scott Sherrill.
Hometown Hero - Scott Sherrill The day does not end for Scott, a popular
teacher at Henrico High School, when the school bell rings. In fact,
it's just beginning. Scott is known for his one-on-one involvement with
students after school, support of athletic programs, and going the extra
mile, as evidenced by recently helping a student without health
insurance obtain dental care.
Here at St. Paul's, Scott is also known for his active involvement with family ministries and this summer made a regular appearance at our Emmaus Family Days with his children, and helped out with the Welcome Committee's Nametag Stuffing parties in preparation for Homecoming Sunday on September 12.
Last Wednesday, August 25, Scott and the other heroes were recognized during the Richmond Squirrels game at The Diamond. Pictured below, Scott with one of his students at the game.
Regardless of our political persuasion, some lines from Michael Gerson's Heroic Conservatism are worth keeping in mind:
There is no doubt that religion can be the source of a false and intolerant political certainty. It is a mistake to believe there is a single biblical or moral view on issues like tax policy or missile defense. These are prudent matters, to be debated on their merits. On policy issues, there is often, as the saying goes, truth in my opponent's error, and error in my own truth.
Many of you know 19-year-old parishioner Jamie and his mom, Mary Miller. But, living in Richmond, you may not yet know about a wonderful segment that aired last Sunday on WAVY-TV 10 News in Virginia Beach. In the story "Surfing camp helps children with autism," WAVY-TV featured Jamie's experience at the beach.
"I've never seen such a big smile," Mary told 10 News after her son Jamie returned to shore after surfing for the first time
during a "Surfers Healing" camp. With Mary's permission, we're sharing this fantastic moment with you!
Click on the image below to watch the video.
Way to go, Jamie!
Also, hat tip to parishioner Barbara Davis for sending the video!
Do you have good news to share with the parish? Give us a call at 643-3589.
In today's Word from Grace Street, Wallace+ describes his recent visit to a gun show on the outskirts of Richmond and how he came across the question "What would Jesus shoot?":
We went directly from church. And, I must say, I'm not sure I've ever experienced a more jarring juxtaposition with worship. I went in company with a fellow Richmond pastor, as well as with two
people whose respective children were victims in the 2007 Virginia Tech
shootings. (Both children survived.) One of those parents bought me the t-shirt (pictured) at the gun
show...
The back of the shirt proclaims that Jesus would shoot with an AR-15. Wallace+ continues:
And, in case you were wondering further: "AR-15" stands for "ArmaLite
Model 15," an assault rifle capable of firing up to 800 rounds per
minute; and accurate at up to 600 yards.
This poem is written explicitly for the poet; however it's a gift to anyone who takes the time to read it, anyone, that is, who is open to and interested in "what comes from silence."
The closing lines simply blow me away.
Accept what comes from silence.
Make the best you can of it.
Of the little words that come
out of the silence, like prayers
prayed back to the one who prays,
make a poem that does not disturb
the silence from which it came.
For years, Berry has been an inspiration to me, both in the integrity and character of his life, as well as in his writing, be it poetry, fiction, or non-fiction. He has, as they say, an old soul.
I thank God for Wendell Berry.
And I thank God for his life-giving, silence-infused words: indeed, they "[do] not disturb / the silence from which [they] came."
Thich Nhat Hanh is an heroic figure and a spiritual giant, whom Dr. King once nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. (What more needs to be said?) A Buddhist monk, he travels the world teaching about enlightenment, compassion, and peace. He is also someone committed to inter-religious dialogue and cooperation. Here follows a reflection of his, from Breathe, You Are Alive!, on the miracle that is reality; a fresh perspective, for me, anyway:
The hairs on your head may seem ordinary, but each hair is an ambassador of truth. Please receive the credentials of your hair. Observe them well and discover every message that each hair sends you. According to the principle of interpenetration, each hair contains all the information of the cosmos. Are your eyes unimportant? Of course not. They are windows that open up onto the miracle of reality. Don't neglect anything. Look deeply, and you will see.
Hopkins (1844-1889), a Jesuit priest, is recognized as one of the great poets of his era and, indeed, one of the great poets of modern English poetry. A person and poet of deep faith and lyrical spirituality.
The Jesuit tradition, which originated in the Roman Catholic Church, is
one of the great streams in the wide and beautiful river of Christian
prayer and spirituality. It has been and continues to be very important
to me.
Jesuit spirituality, based in the teachings of St. Ignatius of Loyola, was also very important in shaping the life and ministry of Father Richard M. Benson, the founder of the Society of St. John the Evangelist (SSJE), the Episcopal monastic order, in whose monastery I retreat every year.
The Jesuit tradition is woven into, not only Roman Catholic life, but
also Episcopal life, by way of SSJE, as well as through the influence of
Jesuit practice and spirituality in the lives of countless Christians
of all stripes.
"In the beginning, there is struggle and a lot of work for those who
come near to God. But after that there is indescribable joy. It is just
like building a fire: at first it is smoky and your eyes water, but
later you get the desired result. Thus we ought to light the divine fire
in ourselves with tears and effort."
Reflecting on the accessibility of her words in contemporary society, he adds:
Few of us will take monastic vows; however, we don't have to "go
monastic" in order to hear the truth Amma Syncletica speaks; to hear and
to know what we already know, and what we must be reminded of, again
and again and again: that the journey into relationship with God takes
work. Sustained work. Just as any relationship of any depth does.
And, Amma Syncletica is telling us: it's worth it.
In recent years considerable attention has been given to those books that did not make the canonical cut, that is, those writings that did not make it into the canon of scripture, that is, the Bible. In as much as we understand what happened, we know that the formation of the Bible was a long and complex process, and not altogether pretty. Having said that, the Church believes that, even in the imperfect process of discernment that it was, the Spirit of God was at work. Nevertheless, that's not to say that there was nothing of value in those books that did not make it into the Bible. Following is a fabulous excerpt from the Gospel of Thomas. Thomas gives us a theological expansion of the ancient philosophical aphorism "Know thyself.":
If those who lead you say to you, "See the Kingdom is in the sky," then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, "It is in the sea," then the fish will precede you. Rather the Kingdom is inside you and outside you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons [and daughters] of the living Father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty, and it is you who are that poverty.
"I see all the sacraments in place--and the redeemed world never smelled so sweet." - Ken Weisner
Amen, man!
After all, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Mary Magdalene once mistook Jesus for a gardener.
And, I've been looking for an excuse to do something with the i-Phone pic (above) that I took of a dragonfly. This seems as good a place as any to place it, i.e., in a garden. The dragonfly sat so still for so long that I was able to pick Nelson up and walk him up close to the beautiful creature; and we watched him pivot his head all around; and saw the amazing range of vivid colors. We were at the home of parishioner Martha Anne Ellis, in, yes, her garden.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow: all creatures great and small.
The "flux" of the present can not, of course, be taken lightly. It can be, yes, lethal.
And we can (and we must) recognize the deadly seriousness of this moment in the human family, while, thanks be to God, at the same time, we can also live in and toward hope.
Indeed, that is our calling, and the true calling all who claim to be devoted to God.
"A number of blind men came to an elephant. Somebody told them that it
was an elephant. The blind men asked, "What is the elephant like?," and
they began to touch its body. One of them said, "The elephant is like a
pillar." This blind man had only touched its leg. Another man said, "The
elephant is like a husking basket." This person had only touched its
ears. Similarly, he who touched its trunk or its belly talked of it
differently. In the same way, he who has seen the Lord in a particular
way limits the Lord to that alone and thinks that He is nothing else."
Ramakrisha, says Wallace+, is speaking to "the hunger that every human being has... to know the truth, whatever we might call truth."
I posted last week about Phyllis Tickle's The Great Emergence.
When I wrote that post, I was still making my way through Tickle's
book. It got even better as I went. Several articles and columns below
resonate with Tickle's subject, i.e., this moment of huge, indeed
global, transformational change that religion is undergoing. Along with
Tickle, Brian McLaren,
and countless others in the "emerging church movement," I see this
moment as a wonderfully potent opportunity for God and, yes, for
Christianity, as we seek to preach and to embody the Good News of Jesus
Christ in a post-modern and religiously pluralistic age. If anything, I
am filled, not with dread, but with hope and excitement over the
possibilities. God will act, we can be sure. And, of course, God is
already acting, moving in our midst and changing the lives and world and
religions of his children. As far as I am concerned, let's get on with
it!
Leonard Pitts had one of his make-you-gulp columns over the weekend...
You may be aware that the venerable civil rights organization that Dr. King helped form, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), is in the midst of some real turmoil. For the first time in its 52 year history, two annual conventions are being held, by respective factions. One is meeting right now in Atlanta, and the other starts on Friday in a suburb of Atlanta.
Moments before the atomic bomb was dropped, my mother's friend happened to seek shelter from the bright summer sunlight in the shadow of a sturdy brick wall, and she watched from there as two children who had been playing out in the open were vaporized in the blink of an eye. "I just felt outraged," she told my mother, weeping.
At Friday's ceremony, marking the 65th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, for the first time, at such a ceremony, an American representative was present. I give thanks for his presence. I also give thanks for the witness and words spoken there in support of nuclear disarmament.
Let us pray for nuclear disarmament; for peace; and for an end to war.
There is, of course, no room in the Kingdom of God for nuclear weapons nor, indeed, for war itself.
As we pray so often, and as we'll keep praying: Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
On earth. As it is in heaven.
On earth. As it is in heaven.
Amen, amen, amen.
Pictured: Hiroshima peace memorial from stock.xchng.
Imad Damaj is someone who diligently works to help Richmond be everything it can be; and he is a friend, someone I admire and who inspires me as a person of deep faith. I commend to you his op-ed in today's RTD.
And, p.s., I was proud (though not surprised) to see the Reverend Jim Cooper,
Rector of Trinity, Wall Street, standing, along with other faith leaders,
behind Mayor Bloomberg as the Mayor spoke in support of the plan to build the
Islamic center.
Before heading into the weekend, I wanted to make note of a few more things that caught my attention this week:
The RTD had an exquisite and poignant piece on forgiveness, "The Sweet Sound." "Grace amazes and abounds." Indeed. And, perhaps the strongest line in the piece," He is also a human being..." Amen.
Also in the New York Times, an editorial, entitled "Marriage Is a Constitutional Right," is superb. Justice has turned a corner. (Of course there are many corners still to turn.)
Ahmed has recently published Journey into America: The Challenge of Islam. Ahmed spoke about, among other things, the Founding Fathers' respect for
religious pluralism. John Adams called Mohammed "one of the greatest
truth seekers of history," and Benjamin Franklin called him a "model of
compassion." And Jefferson, as is well known, had his own copy of the
Qur'an.
Ahmed also talked about "bringing the temperature down" through
education and through our (i.e., Americans of different faiths) getting
to know one another better. Amen, amen.
Let us pray for peace and understanding. Let us pray for the human family.
The world needs mosques and churches and synagogues dedicated to interfaith tolerance built, not just in New York City, but, yes, in Islamabad and in Riyadh, and, for that matter, in every city in the world.
Come to think of it, shouldn't that be part of what every mosque and church and synagogue in the world is dedicated to?
And, truth is, we don't want merely "interfaith tolerance." We want interfaith conversation and collaboration. We want nothing less than reconciliation. Indeed, we want peace on earth.
That's all. Peace on earth.
That's what we want. And that's what (the one) God wants.
How do we put on the mind of Christ? How do we think as God thinks? Or,
to put it still another way, how do we find the wisdom of God?
Well, first, some things should be clear from the start: Try as we
might, we're never going to get it all right all the time; that is for
sure. Indeed, there is nothing more essential to the quest for wisdom
than humility. And there is nothing that gets in the way of true wisdom
more, or more quickly, than self-righteousness.
So, with humility as our starting place, close behind humility must be
patience. Our era has been called "the age of the quick fix." We must be
absolutely clear that quick fixes do not lead to wisdom. We are in this
for the long haul. For eternity, for that matter. And true wisdom comes
only with staying, and waiting, and listening.
I commend to you David Brooks' very thoughtful and thought-provoking column, "The Summoned Self." I was relieved, though not altogether surprised, that he arrives at Both/And by the end of the piece. In a word, he's talking about the essential and life-long process of discernment. Good stuff.
The RTD has an intriguing editorial today, with some affirming words about theological discourse at UVA.
And while naming anyone America's "best theologian" is, as the RTD says, a little silly, if America has one, Stanley Hauerwas just might fit the bill. An Episcopalian, as of rather recently, I recommend to you anything he has written. Brilliant, wise, and witty, he is not afraid to say anything. Stanley Hauerwas is, indeed, a brave, prophetic, and refreshing voice for our age.
YouTube: Hauerwas Discusses "Hannah's Child: A Theologian's Memoir"
In their determination not to let extreme, radicalized voices define their faith, a group of American Muslim leaders have posted a short video, "Believers Beware: Injustice Cannot Defeat Injustice." You can read more about it in an article in yesterday's NYT, "American Muslims Make Video to Rebut Militants."
These Islamic leaders remind us, and people of all faiths, that, while a multiplicity of voices is natural and good, followers of any religion are duty-bound to make sure that their faith is being represented in ways that are true to their faith.
Bless these men, and blessings upon all those who speak and act on behalf of truth and peace, in the name of God and for the good of humankind.
How timely was yesterday's RTD editorial, "Feed the Hungry." (I commend it to you.) Yesterday, St. Paul's hosted the twice-annual Point-in-Time Count, sponsored by our partner Homeward, during which a) various services are provided for those who are homeless, along with our regular Emmaus meal; and b) a census of the homeless population is taken.
As the RTD said, the daily bread we pray for is not meant merely for ourselves alone, but for all God's children. I give thanks for our partnership with Homeward, and for all those who support our Emmaus ministry. To find out more about our Emmaus ministry, including how you can get involved, please call Jenny Bliley at 545-5416.
In this article, Chris Young highlights that more people are becoming homeless for the first time and our own Jenny Bliley describes the increased need:
"Due to the economy, there are fewer resources in the community that are able to help address homelessness," Bliley said. More people are asking for emergency money to pay rent or bills.
Homeward will release preliminary results from yesterday's survey, which took place at St. Paul's, area shelters and on the streets, next week.
Pictured: Sandra Whitfield, a parishioner, surveys a guest during the summer Point-in-Time count at St. Paul's yesterday. This count was the first time Sandra, along with parishioners Roger Whitfield, Suzanne Spooner-Munch, Michelle Whitehurst-Cook, and Chris Hilbert, had volunteered.
Bishop Mark Dyer taught me and Kate and my wife Gena in seminary. A wise man with a wonderful wit, Bishop Mark has said that every 500 years or so the Church has a rummage sale, tossing out the clutter for something better, something fresher; and that, indeed, we are going through such a rummage sale right now. Phyllis Tickle draws on this insight of Mark's as she opens her book The Great Emergence, which I'm reading now as part of our Parish Read.
Next Wednesday at 7pm Bryan Appel and I will lead the first of two sessions intended to provide an open opportunity for conversation and reflection. Please consider joining us. And, if you haven't started reading, no worries. It's a short book and makes for a quick read. It should be a fun and thought-provoking night. I hope you'll join us!
"But the big breakthrough will come not when we are better able to spot
the lies. It will come when we are better able to handle the truth about
people. We are complex beings; no one is all good or all bad. And
people do evolve into better people over their lives — just look at
Senator Robert Byrd, who died this month and who entered politics as a
segregationist and left as a statesman.
We have to understand that no one can be defined by a single photograph, open-mike gaffe or sound bite. Not even our greatest leaders could have survived if they had to be taken to task for every poorly conceived utterance or youthful demonstration of immature political views. When it comes to politics in the age of Facebook, the killer app to stop the “gotcha” bullies won’t be a technological one — it will be a wiser, more forgiving culture."
"Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus."
Reflecting on those words and the question of what really matters (and what doesn't), he adds:
We are Christians. We want to know the mind of Christ. We want to "put
on the mind of Christ," as one translation renders Paul's words from
Philippians.
To put on the mind of Christ. To seek, and to never stop seeking, a
deeper union with God in Christ, so that our thoughts become his
thoughts, and our ways become his ways, more and more, and still more.
What kind of nation, what kind of people, do we want to be? The following pieces from the last few days got my attention and speak right to that question:
The RTD editorial "Compassion," asks us if we, as a nation, will continue to bring relief to the people of Africa, helping to combat AIDS and other debilitating and deadly diseases there. I think the RTD has it exactly right that the leadership George W. Bush showed on this front will be remembered as "his finest hour." I pray that we will build on the good work President Bush began in Africa.
Leonard Pitts' "Build the Mosque: It's the American Way" is simply superb. Yes, it is the American way. And it is the Christian way. Pitts' musings are particularly strong and incisive on how we must never judge a member of a group based on what other members of that same group have done. It hardly gets more elemental than that, in terms of what it means to build and live in a just and peaceful community, be it a city or a nation.
And USA Today closed an editorial on the Shirley Sherrod story with a solid question, "If a 62-year-old black woman, who says her father was killed by white men who were never charged, can achieve racial reconciliation with an 87-year-old white farmer in the Deep South, why does it seem so hard for others to do the same?"
As we pray so often, "thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
Amen, amen.
Pictured: Father Erasto with children in our partner village of Mwitikira, Tanzania, where many have lost loved ones to AIDS.
In the last few days likely anyone reading these words has become well aware of Shirley Sherrod's story. It's one of those stories that speaks for itself, really; a parable of sorts.
When, in our lives, do we not listen long enough to get to the redemption?
The God we believe in is, well, present in every story; ready and eager to bring about redemption; ready and eager to bring about reconciliation, healing, hope, rebirth... if we will but listen, if we will but listen long enough.
In today's Word from Grace Street, Wallace+ writes about the death penalty, spurred by a recent article from the author of an upcoming book on the subject:
I didn't know that France was still using the guillotine when I was
older than Nelson is now. Nor did I realize that, in other Western
countries, majorities of the populations still favor the death penalty.
And, while I knew that most executions in the U.S. take place in the
South, I'm not sure I would have guessed eighty percent.
In case you didn’t hear, we had
QUITE a time last Wednesday at The Urban Farmhouse, with
our Mary Oliver Night. I
can only imagine that we’ll have more evenings like that going forward.
In the
meantime, let me recommend Mary Oliver’s “Coming
to God: First Days.” If I had
ever read the poem before, I can’t remember doing so. Anyway, I sat down
this
morning and, as happens so often, her words just lit me up, with joy. I
hope
you’ll take a minute and see what happens for you!
While I love my iPhone (and I use the word "love" advisedly, of course), I also love the feel of a real newspaper in my hand. (Yes, I am one of those people.) That is, the "new media" has a lot to offer, but, needless to say, it doesn't have it all. If you ask me, anyway.
All of which is a way of getting around to saying that I'll sometimes literally set aside a newspaper article or column, knowing that I might want to return to it. And often (usually, really) I've underlined certain passages that resonated for me.
So it was with a column several weeks ago by Kathleen Parker, "Never a Dull Moment," where she tells about a new prime-time cable talk show that she will host with Eloit Spitzer. Yes, Eliot Spitzer. Yes, that Eliot Spitzer!
In this case, it was indeed one particular line that resonated for me, and to which I thought I would probably want to return: "like the rest of us, he is not only one thing."
Like the rest of us. Not only one thing.
Those are golden words.
They are humane words. They are kind words. And they are true words.
After all, whatever else we are, we are also children of God.
"Some people will say, 'You're swimming upstream.' You know what? So I'm swimming upstream,'' McCarthy said. "But I can't let the NRA step all over this Congress."
I give thanks for Bobby Scott, and for Carolyn McCarthy, Lori Haas, and Colin Goddard. I give thanks for them, and for all those with the courage to swim upstream with them, against a political and cultural tide that carries innocent American after innocent American to their bloody graves every year.
Let us pray for justice and for peace; for sane gun policy; for the victims of gun violence, and for their families; and for wise and courageous leaders.
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...
"I think Blake has it right; I think he says it about as well as
anyone ever has: we are put here for love; to learn how to bear the
beams of love. And the double metaphor works well (he was William Blake,
after all):
Beams in the sense of timbers, as in a bridge or a roof. Heavy and
strong; and sometimes burdensome; and hard. And absolutely necessary;
without which the whole thing falls apart.
And beams in the sense of sunbeams, warming us; and warming us, perhaps,
too much for our own comfort sometimes. And life-giving. Indeed,
essential to life."
The last sentence in a book review caught my attention this weekend.
Lauren Winner, an Episcopalian and author of Girl Meets God, ends her review of Faith, Interupted, by Eric Lax, an erstwhile Episcopalian, by asking, "What kind of faith might be possible even after the verities of childhood have passed away?"
An excellent question.
The verities of childhood have their time and place, of course. That being said, may God give us all the grace, the courage, and the imagination to continue on the journey of faith.
As Winner says, "I suspect my own little Episcopal church would be largely empty on Sundays if anyone who ever questioned the Creed, anyone whose faith life included seasons of aridity, stayed home."
My friend and fellow pastor, the Reverend Alex Evans of Second
Presbyterian, draws our attention, in
an RTD column yesterday, to words from "America, America, God Shed
His Grace on Thee," where we are called to love "mercy more than
life...till all success be nobleness and every gain divine."
I must say, those words had never gotten my attention with such force as
they did while reading Alex's fine reflection on the Parable of the
Good Samaritan. I commend his column to you; and, likewise, Nicholas
Kristoff's column from yesterday, which, in its own way, is on the
same theme: loving mercy more than life itself.
Praying for mercy. And praying for merciful hearts.
Amen, amen.
Video
WTVR Report on the recent death of an inmate
in the Richmond City Jail that the Rev. Alex Evans references in his
article. Click on the image to watch the video.
Today's RTD editorial "The
Right Place" is worth a read. The following lines stood out to me
especially:
History seems easier to make than to confront. The conversation never
ceases. The deep emotional difficulties that have affected Richmond's
struggles with its past afford the city and it surroundings perhaps
unrivalled standing to set national standards for telling the truth.
Amen! Beautifully said, and so true.
That we might become that city on a hill that we're always talking
about, and that Jesus talked about; a witness to the rest of the
country, if not the world; a witness to truth-telling and to
reconciliation.
May it be so!
Pictured: Image from the Web site of the Virginia
Sesquicentennial Commemoration of the American Civil War and
Emancipation.
The poem on today's Writer's Almanac, Erica Jong's "You Are There," brought to mind a line of Don Cowles' from his recent RTD profile, "We've got a lot of faithful doubters here." Amen. So we do. And, in truth, we're all doubters. The question is what we do with that doubt, how we live with it, whether or how we let God into our questions, our wrestlings, our minds, and our hearts, in the meantime.
"We see now as in a mirror dimly lit," our patron Paul said, "and then we shall see face to face."
Till then, my fellow doubters, in our doubting, and in our living, may we pray for both honesty and faithfulness.
In today's Word from Grace Street, Wallace+ writes about the ancient counsel to "take a personal interest in others." He writes:
These simple words from a noble Christian soul in his last hours have
become, for me, life-defining wisdom... After all, to take a personal interest in others is simply to respect
the dignity and worth of another human being, which is simply to love
one's neighbor as oneself. It's amazing how simple it all really is.
To take a personal interest in others, just as God does.
Wallace+ illustrates this point through the life story of Frank Meeink, a self-described "recovering skinhead" and highlights a recent interview with Meeink on NPR's Fresh Air.
A New
York Times article, from Friday, offers an effective summary of
how the Roman Catholic Church's global sexual abuse scandal has
unfolded; and the piece includes some new reporting on debates at the
top of the denomination's hierarchy.
Someone asked me recently why I have posted a number of times on this
same subject. I must confess, I was somewhat taken aback by the
question. Here follows, in brief, a response:
This "story," the story of the sexual abuse scandal in the Roman
Catholic Church, is simply, in a word, monumental. In truth, it's hard
to think of a word that does justice to the magnitude and the
weightiness of what has happened and what is still unfolding: to think
of all the violated innocence and unnecessary suffering, all perpetrated
by ministers of the Gospel.
Of course, as Christians, we believe in, we pray for, and we work for
the Good News of God in Christ, the redemption and healing of all that
is wrong and ugly and broken in our world.
Let us continue to pray for, and do anything we can do to help bring
about, the righting of this great wrong. Particularly, and truly, let us
hope and pray that Benedict ends up being remembered as far and away
one of the great saints in the history of the Church, for the courage
and leadership he ends up showing in the face of this crisis.
However, for this to be even possible, the Vatican must honestly and
forthrightly reckon with the reality of things. Then and only then can
the needed change come about.
In the meantime, I believe that all Christians, indeed, for that matter,
all people, should feel duty-bound to be well-informed about this
"story." It's simply that important; the stakes are just that high.
And the Church must be held accountable. (Jesus would expect no less.)
And thus I write.
And thus I pray.
I pray for a change.
I pray for my brother Benedict.
I pray for the victims.
I pray for healing.
And I do believe that all things are possible with God.
Charles Wright's "The Ghost of Walter Benjamin Walks at Midnight" might leave you a little dizzy--and I mean that in a good way! A poignant, lovely poem, Wright draws us into reflection on the mystery and wonder of experience, of reality, and, above all, of God. Language, as precious as it is to us, finally can never do justice to reality, and, again, least of all to God.
The playwright Ionesco's phrase "incommunicable reality" comes to mind.
Reality is always bigger, more complex, and richer than language, and God is always bigger, more mysterious, and more wonderful than any words can possibly convey.
Thanks be to God.
You can read or listen to the poem at the Writer's Almanac.
And, in case you're wondering (I was), Walter Benjamin was a brilliant German philosospher and philologist.
"It is a mystery we are dipped into. Two-thirds of Jesus' teachings are about forgiveness. A good third of Jesus's parables are about forgiveness, directly or indirectly. Forgiveness has nothing to do with logic. It is the final breakdown of logic. It is a mystical recognition that human evil is something we are all trapped by, suffering from, and participating in. It calls forth weeping, humility, and healing much more than feverish attempts to root out the evil. The transformation happens through the tears much more than through threats and punishments."
Following are some links to some Rohr homilies. Needless to say, I commend them to you.
In yesterday's Word from Grace Street, Wallace+ writes about a phase coined by Anne Lamott to describe "those special people in all our lives who seem to know exactly how 'to
push our buttons.'"
"with that characteristically sassy wit of hers, Lamott assigns these
"special" people to a category she designates EGR, short for "Extra
Grace Required."
I first came across Lamott's EGR several years ago and haven't been
able to forget it. For one thing, we've got to be able to laugh
(particularly at our own hang-up's, pet peeves, etc.), and all the more
so when there is any risk that we might take ourselves too seriously."
Wallace+ goes on to share a couple of his own reflections on grace.
Two opinion pieces in yesterday's RTD speak to the question of our city's and our commonwealth's future, of what kind of community we want to be: the editorial "The Ramparts?" raises questions about bringing Arizona-style immigration legislation to Virginia, and M. P. Williams' gives us good food for thought in anticipation of the coming Sesquicentennial of the Civil War & Emancipation.
While in Vermont recently, following the death of my father-in-law, I came across Jan Heller Levi's "Not Bad, Dad, Not Bad." With my father-in-law in mind, as well as with Father's Day at the beginning of this week, Levi's poem is especially timely.
Grace for our imperfect fathers and mothers, grace for us all.
In today's Word from Grace Street, I quote from Bono's Sunday New York Times column "In Ireland, Tuesday's Grace." I recommend it highly. Bono may be a rock star, but he's also a real-world theologian. (As I've written before, after all, we are all theologians.) Along with the line I borrowed for today's Word from Grace Street, the following excerpts from the column also stood out to me:
Healing is kind of a corny word but it's peculiarly appropriate here; wounds don't easily heal if they are not out in the open.
It's not just the Devil who's in the details...God, it turns out, is in there too.
Things are quick to change for the worse and slow to change for the better, but they can. They really can.
[T]his was an act of reconciliation to be listed alongside Hirohito at Arlington, F.W. de Klerk at Nelson Mandela's presidential inauguration and other penitents throughout the ages.
Indeed, examples for us all, as we carry on Christ's ministry of reconciliation in a world in need of healing and hope.
Pictured: "Generations," photo of a boy playing soccer at the location of bloody sunday with a
mural remembering that day behind him. Photo available from stock.xchng.
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.
In A Word from Grace Street a couple of weeks ago, I wrote about gratitude and grief; how we live, not with one or the other, but with both, and everyday. If we are awake, that is. A poem of Mary Oliver's, "At the Pond," speaks of these same truths, poignantly and with beauty, as only she can do.
May God bless us in our gratitude, and may God bless us in our grief.
In the article, Bacqué eloquently
captures Don's
commitment to faith and building a better Richmond through dialogue and
collaboration. One long-time friend to Don Cowles (and to the St. Paul's
community), Jack W."JB" Burtch, sums up Don's approach to leadership:
"Don has the capacity to achieve his goals without people feeling
they've been stepped on or pushed aside. The blessing is he's a man of
noble goals."
A blessing indeed!
This photo of Don with his mentee Tod'quan Jones, taken by Eva Russo for the RTD, tells the joyous story of the Micah ministry without a single word.
Click on read more for additional ways Don's care and faith blesses our community.
When the Bible was just coming into English, an early rendering of the Greek word we translate "disciple" was, believe it or not, "learning knight." Remembering that certainly presents a fresh way to imagine what it might mean for us to be followers or students of Christ.
Well, though he doesn't explain his choice of that phrase, it also makes for an intriguing title to Wes Davis' thought-provoking column "The 'Learning Knights' of Bell Telephone."
Davis makes the case for, in a word, consciousness. As he says, "We need fewer drifting straws on the stream of American business, and more discontended thinkers who listen thoughtfully to both sides of our national debates."
Indeed. We need that in American business; in America in general; and, yes, as always, in the Church.
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.
The Pope's address, on Friday in
St. Peter's Square, does indeed seem to indicate a "growing awareness" of the
abuse crisis, while, at the same time, it is true that he "did not go far
enough," i.e., he needs to spell out a concrete course of
action.
Also, with all due respect, I thought
the Pope was off the mark with what he said about the Devil being responsible
for the timing of the crisis, namely in the midst of "The Year of the Priest."
For one thing, I think the Church must always be careful with "Devil talk," if
you will, which can easily be construed as an unwillingness to take
responsibility. Furthermore, why wouldn't it be God who is responsible for the
timing?
Once again, let's pray for Benedict and
the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church; and, as always, let us pray even
more for all victims of abuse.
Yesterday, Virginia's Supreme Court reversed a ruling by a lower court, a ruling which had prepared the way for dissident Episcopalians to take property with them as they left the Episcopal Church. These unhappy Episcopalians are unhappy over the trajectory of the Episcopal Church in regard to such things as the ordination of homosexuals and the blessing of same-sex unions (see Tuesday's post re our PB). We await final resolution of things once the lower court revisits the case.
In the meantime, let's pray that God's will be done; and let's pray for the healing of God's Church.
WTVR Interviews Secretary of the Diocese on the Decision
In today's
Word from Grace Street,
Wallace+ reflects on his feelings about the death of his father-in-law,
Gene Riley (pictured). He writes that grief and gratitude go hand in
hand in life as in death:
"Gratitude and grief. It's not one or the other, but both; and at the
same time.
I grieve that Gene won't teach his grandsons to fish; that he won't take
them to Vermont's fabled Northeast Kingdom, to Lake Seymour, where he
was going the day he died. I grieve that I won't get to sit on his front
porch with him again, as the sun goes down, looking out into the Green
Mountains. And I grieve that my wife grieves; and that her brother
grieves; and that her mother grieves.
I give thanks that Gene lived as long as he did after his diagnosis with
ALS; and I give thanks that he didn't experience the extreme misery of
the late stages of that disease. I give thanks that he was at Fin's
baptism. I give thanks for the pages and pages of notes I took while he
told me stories about his life. I give thanks that he was headed for the
Northeast Kingdom on his last day; and I give thanks for his friends
Mike and Tom, without whom he would not have been making that trip, and
without whom he would not have made many other such trips.
Gratitude and grief. Grief and gratitude. It's not one or the other;
it's both. This day. And everyday. If we really are to live."
In a thoughtful and provocative column on Sunday, Ross Douthat reflects on parallels between the modern state of Israel and the Crusader kingdoms from the medieval era. One parenthetical comment he makes resonates with some writing I've done here, and, more importantly, with the issues already being explored in preparation for the Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War and of Emancipation.
(Indeed, Douthat's use of the metaphor of amnesia is the same one used by historian Gordon Wood, as quoted below.)
"Out of a mix of amnesia and self-abnegation, we tend to remember the Crusader states only as deplorable exercises in Western aggression. (Never mind that in an age defined by conquest and reconquest, they were no less legitimate than the Muslim states they warred against -- which had themselves been founded atop once-Christian territories.)"
This is delicate territory that Douthat has entered into here, and parenthetically, no less. However, he is right.
Of course delicacy should not keep us from telling a more whole version of history, and thus a more true version of the (our) story; for the less whole and true our telling of history is, the less whole and true our understanding of ourselves is; and, the less whole and true our understanding of ourselves is, the less hope there is for anything like peace and justice.
It's just that simple, whatever the history we're considering, be it American or Middle-eastern, Christian or Muslim.
Our Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefforts Schori, has recently issued "A Pastoral Letter to the Episcopal Church," addressing developments in the Anglican Communion (the international family of churches who share roots in the Church of England), relating specifically to the Episcopal Church's evolving views on human sexuality. In particular she responds to statements made by the Archbishop of Canterbury (the leading bishop in the Anglican Communion), and she comments on the Anglican Covenant (a document that would theoretically bind all Anglicans to certain commitments).
"So it might not surprise that a writer has just come out with a book about the problem of noise. But what does it mean that three have done so, within barely a month?"
As BP's broken pipe gushes oil into the Gulf of Mexico for the 44th day, Wallace+ looks forward to whether we might transform this tragedy into a catalyst for changing how we "inhabit God's green earth" in today's
Word from Grace Street. He begins:
The Law of Undulation: that life is like the waves on a sea, a series of
ups and downs, troughs and peaks; and it's in the troughs where, more
often than not, we allow God to do God's deepest, most transformative
work in us.
+
C.S. Lewis gave us this ironically witty articulation of a deep
spiritual truth. God does reach us, and speak to us, on the peaks as
well, of course; however, if we've paid sustained attention to our own
lives, we know that it's through, during, and after the more difficult
experiences, that we are more likely to let God do the holiest work in
us, and in our world.
+
The black and blue images we now see of the Gulf of Mexico present us
with just such a difficult moment, to put it mildly, only this
experience is of gargantuan proportions. To reprise a question that
we've had to ask more often than we would like recently: Will we let
this crisis go to waste?
I used the three-leafed clovers above on Sunday to teach the children about the Holy Trinity, borrowing from St. Patrick, who did the same 1500 years ago in Ireland.
In that spirit, I commend to you "Mysteries, Yes," a poem in Mary Oliver's most recent collection.
"... that they may become completely one, so that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me..."
Completely one. Completely.
Jesus prayed thus for his disciples the night before he went to the Cross. Which is to say, the night before his Passion, Jesus prayed thus for all his followers, throughout the ages: he was praying for me and for you, that we would be completely one.
Completely.
+
Now, we have to remind ourselves periodically (if not daily, sometimes) that unity and uniformity are not the same thing, thank goodness. And, truth is, we get the two confused often, indeed very often.
In his "Meditation XVII," John Donne, the celebrated 17th-century poet (and priest in the Church of England), left us some timeless theology. The meditation comes from Donne's Devotions on Emergent Occasions, which he wrote while recovering from a series illness.
It's worthy of reading often. (And, if you didn't know, this is where Hemingway got his title for "For Whom the Bell Tolls.")
After a far-ranging, thorough, and prayerful search process, it is my
pleasure to announce that St. Paul's Church has extended a call to a new
Minister of Music; he has accepted; and he will begin his ministry with
us on Sunday, August 1, 2010.
David Sinden
is currently serving at Christ Church Cathedral, in Indianapolis,
Indiana, as Assistant Organist and Choirmaster, where he has been since
2006. Prior to being at the Cathedral, David served at St. Thomas
Lutheran Church in Bloomington, Indiana, and at St. Peter's Episcopal
Church in Lakewood, Ohio. He was educated at Oberlin College
Conservatory of Music, where he received a Bachelor of Music, and at
Indiana University in Bloomington where he received his Master of Music. Click on "read more" for the full announcement.
Listen to David
Fugue in C Major from BWV 564
J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
When on retreat recently, at the monastery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it was a pleasure and a blessing to hear our Presiding Bishop preach, in celebration of the patronal feast of the Society of St. John the Evangelist. Following is a link to that (very fine, and memorable) sermon.
That poem was the jumping-off point for a spot-on RTD editorial last Friday, on the essential relationship between religion and government, or, to put it another way, between faith and politics. (The phrase "hidebound critics of religion in the public square" was especially apt.)
I've been reading the Franciscan Richard Rohr lately...
As we approach the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War and Emancipation, the following words from an interview with historian Gordon Wood are worth reflecting on:
"Historical knowledge is essential for understanding yourself in the present. It's like an individual without memory; that person suffering from amnesia is a scary, lost person. And a society that doesn't understand its past, and doesn't understand it correctly, is going to make all kinds of mistakes in the present. So, you hope that an understanding of the past will give you wisdom."
May God grant us that wisdom, as well as the courage and the imagination necessary to get there.
"It is as though beautiful things have been placed here and there throughout the world to serve as small wake-up calls to perception, spurring lapsed alertness back to its most acute level. Through it's beauty, the world continually recommits us to a rigorous standard of perceptual care: if we do not search it out, it comes and finds us."
"At the moment we see something beautiful, we undergo a radical decentering. Beauty, according to Simone Weil, requires us 'to give up our imaginary position as the center.'"
On Beauty and Being Just is a philosphical (and academic) meditation on beauty, which naturally leans into theology and spirituality, and which I highly recommend.
The coverage of Tuesday's remarks by Pope Benedict, on the sexual abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church, suggests that the Vatican has begun to truly face into the reality of the situation. The following lines are particularly encouraging:
"Today we see in a really terrifying way that the greatest persecution of the church does not come from the enemies outside, but is born from the sin in the church."
"The church has a profound need to relearn penance, to accept purification, to learn on the one hand forgiveness but also the necessity of justice."
Let's continue to pray for Benedict, for the Roman Catholic Church, and, of course, above all, for those who have been victimized. Let us pray for healing, for hope, and for courage.
Click on the image below for video fo the Pope's remarks.
I hope you saw Kathleen Parker's "Whose Prayers Carry More Weight in Heaven's Realm?," talking about Franklin Graham's unfortunate comments (to put it politely) about other religions. Lame, lame, lame, Mr. Graham. And, more to the point: un-Christ-like.
David Bena (see yesterday's Word from Grace Street) is coming from the same place, in truth, as Graham. It is the place of fundamentalism, which is to say, a place of legalism and literalism and narrowness, a place where there's not enough oxygen in the room for the Spirit to operate freely.
Friends, let's pray for some fresh air.
As St. Paul put it, the letter kills, but it's the Spirit that gives life.
He quotes two different ways of interpreting scripture and the Christian life, one is a fundamentalist approach and the other is rooted in modeling Christ's love. Both might describe themselves as 'simple,' but as the saying goes...
Specifically, Wallace+ quotes the following insight shared by U2 front man Bono during an interview with Michka Assayas:
"My understanding of the Scriptures has been made simple by the person
of Christ. Christ teaches that God is love. What does that mean? What it
means for me [is] a study of the life of Christ. Love here describes
itself as a child born in straw poverty, the most vulnerable situation
of all, without honor. I don't let my religious world get too
complicated. I just kind of go: Well, I think I know what God is. God is
love, and as much as I respond in allowing myself to be transformed by
that love and acting in that love, that's my religion."
For Bono, the key to understanding Scripture and, by extension, the key
to the Christian life, is the love of God as made known in the person
and life of Christ.
I'd like to recommend several articles from the last few days, all of
which, in their own ways, speak to the deep human (and God-given) hunger
for reconciliation and harmony:
In the
past week, St. Paul's Micah and Emmaus ministries, as well as our
Tiffany windows have been featured in the local press. If you've been
wondering whether volunteering for Micah or Emmaus is for you -- or,
perhaps, you're considering the tour guide ministry -- please take a
moment to read the following stories and get involved! Click on "Read More" below for an expanded version of this post with excerpts.
Goodness is stronger than evil.
Love is stronger than hate.
Light is stronger than darkness.
Life is stronger than death.
Victory is ours through him who loves us.
--Archbishop Desmond Tutu
"Any day is a good day to pray Archbishop Tutu's prayer. That said, with news of the murder at UVA, the attempted terrorist attack in Times Square, and the oil spill in the Gulf, perhaps this week his prayer is especially welcome. As is "A Prayer of Desmond Tutu," a new composition, by the English composer James Whitbourn..." ... read more.
NPR Reviews James Whitbourn's Celestial Sounds
Includes audio clips from "A Prayer of Desmond Tutu," including a prayer read by the archbishop.
Two columns in particular from last week, while I was away, are must-reads: Nicholas Kristof talks about finding "the great soul of the Catholic Church" at the grass roots; and very much in the same vein, Leonard Pitts writes about people like Richmonder Dorothy Height bringing about change.
The view is from my room at the monastery of the
Society of St. John the Evangelist, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, looking
out over one of the monastery gardens to the Charles River, where I
spent last week. (The feint checked overlay is the window screen.)
The picture I posted on my blog last week, of
the yellow tulip, was taken down in that garden.
It was my ninth annual retreat and, as I've mentioned before...
There are many things about the day that I won't soon, if ever, forget;
that said, what impressed me most was the compassion that I encountered
in those who are trying to help the most vulnerable members of our
community.
I asked two social workers at the Social Services Department and one
lawyer at Legal Aid why they do what they do, and if they find joy in
what they do. Each of them answered in simple, warm, unaffected words:
"Life happens," one of them said, "and sometimes people just need a
little help." He continued, "Life has happened to me before."
The compassion and the joy were unmistakable, humbling, and moving.
Today's RTD editorial on a textbook being proposed for use in Chesterfield County is simply superb. The RTD has it right, and so does the ACLU.
Snip:
"What the Constitution forbids is government
favoritism toward any particular religion. Christians in Chesterfield
should ask how they would react if the public schools adopted a textbook
calling Islam or Hinduism the one truth faith. If they're uncomfortable
with that, then they also should be uncomfortable with a book that
treats Christianity the same way."
"Thanks to an unlikely confluence of history and genetics — the fact
that he is African-American and president — Barack Obama has a unique
opportunity to reshape the debate over one of the most contentious
issues of America’s racial legacy: reparations, the idea that the
descendants of American slaves should receive compensation for their
ancestors’ unpaid labor and bondage.
There are many thorny issues
to resolve before we can arrive at a judicious (if symbolic) gesture to
match such a sustained, heinous crime. Perhaps the most vexing is how
to parcel out blame to those directly involved in the capture and sale
of human beings for immense economic gain."
My experience yesterday, taking part in the simulation sponsored by Homeward, was certainly one of the best-spent days I have had since coming to Richmond. The identity I was given was that of Ronnie, an unemployed, homeless carpenter, who had brought his family into Richmond, after losing the family home in Chesterfield County to foreclosure. I'll write more about it in next week's Word from Grace Street. That said, for now, I hope you'll join me in giving thanks and praying for all those who minister to and serve the most vulnerable in our city. God bless them all, and, of course, God bless those whom they serve.
And by the way, if you've been thinking about volunteering with the Emmaus Walk-In Lunch, maybe now is the time for you to check it out. You can sign up to volunteer using this online form or contact Jenny Bliley, St. Paul's Social Worker, at 545-5416.
Earlier today, Wallace+ and Bryan Appel participated in "Walking In Their Shoes," an event organized by Homeward to raise awareness about the challenges faced by our region's homeless population on a daily basis. Afterward, St. Paul's hosted a de-brief session for the panelists to come together and share what they felt and learned.
In today's Word from Grace Street, Wallace+ writes about the philosophy of ubuntu and the notion of "inescapable mutuality."
He begins by quoting Dr. King's last Sunday sermon, given at the National Cathedral in D.C.:
"We are tied together in a single garment of destiny, caught in an
inescapable network of mutuality, and whatever effects one directly
effects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I
ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be
what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the way
God's universe is made; this is the way it is structured."
In the spirit of ubuntu, tomorrow morning Wallace+ and our Youth Minister Bryan Appel will spend the day walking in the shoes of a homeless person in Richmond. They, along with 20 other community leaders, will be asked to navigate the challenges faced by our region's homeless population on a daily basis, including accessing food, shelter, and transportation. And they will both sit on the other side of St. Paul's Walk-In Emmaus meal every Thursday -- as guests, not volunteers.
No doubt tomorrow will be an affecting experience. At 3:45 pm tomorrow afternoon, participants in the simulation will convene at St. Paul's for a de-brief of the day, while their experiences and feelings are raw, to discuss what they learned. This event is organized by Homeward as part of Affordable Housing Awareness Week.
I hope everyone saw Sunday's front-page RTD article, "How do LGBT people fare in the area?" Our own Cathy Vaughn and Katie Fessler were both part of a discussion hosted by the RTD. Bravo, Cathy and Katie. Thank you both for your witness and leadership. (You can listen to some of Katie's insights in the below video clip.)
In the section "Education for allies," Katie shares the following wisdom/story:
Fessler: Language is so important. There was a corporate executive someplace where I used to work, and
we were chit-chatting. And he asked me if I'm married. And I said, "I
have a partner. Her name's Cathy." And instead of freaking out or
blanching or diving under the table, he did a really great thing. He
said, "Let me ask you a question." I said, "Absolutely."
And he said, "Are we not supposed to ask people anymore if they're
married? Have we gotten to a place where, in the workplace, we're not
supposed to be curious?" And I said, "Some people might assert that. I
actually think the opposite is true, that people do their best work when
they're whole people. What we can do is make really conscious choices
about our use of language."
And he said, "Help me understand. What should I say?" And I just love
this guy for being so curious and real and open and not afraid. And I
said, "You could choose to ask, 'Do you have a spouse or a partner?'
You'll invite the person a step closer to you instead of throwing up one
of these automatic barriers, never meaning to do so."
Kristof offers a refreshing, heartening reminder that the Vatican, whatever it is or isn't doing well, is not the whole story of the Roman Catholic Church today:
In my travels around the world, I encounter two Catholic Churches. One is the rigid all-male Vatican hierarchy that seems out of touch when it bans condoms even among married couples where one partner is H.I.V.-positive. To me at least, this church - obsessed with dogma and rules and distracted from social justice - is a modern echo of the Pharisees whom Jesus criticized.
Yet there's another Catholic Church as well, one I admire intensely. This is the grass-roots Catholic Church that does far more good in the world than it ever gets credit for. This is the church that supports extraordinary aid organizations like Catholic Relief Services and Caritas, saving lives every day, and that operates superb schools that provide needy children an escalator out of poverty.
This is the church of the nuns and priests in Congo, toiling in obscurity to feed and educate children. This is the church of the Brazilian priest fighting AIDS who told me that if he were pope, he would build a condom factory in the Vatican to save lives.
This is the church of the Maryknoll Sisters in Central America and the Cabrini Sisters in Africa. There's a stereotype of nuns as stodgy Victorian traditionalists. I learned otherwise while hanging on for my life in a passenger seat as an American nun with a lead foot drove her jeep over ruts and through a creek in Swaziland to visit AIDS orphans. After a number of encounters like that, I've come to believe that the very coolest people in the world today may be nuns.
So when you read about the scandals, remember that the Vatican is not the same as the Catholic Church. Ordinary lepers, prostitutes and slum-dwellers may never see a cardinal, but they daily encounter a truly noble Catholic Church in the form of priests, nuns and lay workers toiling to make a difference.
Memory: a golden bowl, or a basement without light.
--Mary Oliver, Poet
The light of consciousness is the light of the One.
--Eckhart Tolle, Mystic
+
I joked with a friend last week, while in South Carolina, that I was
getting used to being in Virginia and being embarrassed by South
Carolinians (my distant cousin Joe Wilson's "You lie!," the governor's
"hike on the AT," the lieutenant governor's comparison of the poor to
stray animals), but it was a new thing, for me, to be in South Carolina
and be embarrassed by something a Virginian did. But so it was a week
ago, with our governor's proclamation of April as Confederate History
Month.
A lot of commentary has gone under the bridge since then, as would be
expected. (I commend to you, by the way, yesterday's RTD op-ed by Charles
F. Bryan, Jr.; and M.P. Williams'
column, particularly as it quotes U of R's Ed Ayers.) Embarrassment
has been a common motif, as has sadness; and there has been talk of
blindness. Language like "shockingly amateurish" and "gaffe" has been
used. Apologizing for leaving African-Americans and slavery entirely out
of the proclamation, the governor explained that he had not been
"focused" on slavery.
The thing is, this was not merely about a misstep, or an inattentive
moment. This was not a gaffe. This was not about things being done in an
amateur fashion, versus professionally. To think or speak of it in
those terms is to trivialize the substance of the matter, is to miss
entirely what is important about the moment. Something much deeper and
much more significant was and is at play.
Last week I was away, getting a little post-Easter-Day sabbath time in
South Carolina, where I took this snapshot of this small wild iris,
which is native to the southeast. When I asked my uncle the name of the
flower, he said, smiling, "You should know; you work for him."
It's an Iris Christata. How fitting that I would "meet" this flower in
Easter Week, and, no less, in the place where my spiritual rebirth
began, my uncle's home in the country, south of Columbia, "Wavering
Place."
A friend pointed out the beauty of the symmetry within the dysymmetry.
There's an Easter message for you.
Also, after the jump are several links from the week that I'd like to pass along,
followed by a snapshot I took in the Fan over this past weekend; all of
which, in their own way, relate to the beauty and hope of Easter. (Of
course, in truth, if Easter relates to anything, it relates to
everything.)
Last week, Wallace+ devoted his Word from Grace Street to the scandal (scandalon) facing the Roman Catholic Church. "A scandal made all the more a scandal as a result of
the
Vatican's approach to the situation over the course of Holy Week, namely
avoidance and defensiveness," he wrote.
In that message, in seriousness and with no hint of disrespect to His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, Wallace+ offered his thoughts on how different Holy Week might have been had the
Vatican taken a different approach to the situation. If, instead of avoidance and defensiveness, the Pope had embodied repentance:
Some have suggested that Pope Benedict should step
down; something, of course, that has never happened before; and
something that
is not going to happen now. Given the nature and magnitude of the
scandal; the
obstacle now laid bare before the whole world; something more
courageous,
something more radical, is called for. Imagine if the Pope were to go
about
embodying, in his own person, the repentance that is, in truth, the only
appropriate response to the scandal.
Imagine the message that would have been sent if
the Pope had done public penance in St. Peter's Square every day
throughout all
of Lent, saying prayers of repentance for the Church, and prayers for
the
victims of abuse. And imagine if, on Easter, the Pope had spoken right to the
crisis, making appropriate commitments to change and speaking about
healing and
hope for the victims, for the Church, and for the
world.
For those who missed First Fridays last week, the exhibit "Simple Gifts" will remain on display in the Parish Hall throughout April. The next First Fridays Art Walk is scheduled for May 7. The Virginia Art Educators Association will present a group show in our Parish Hall and the Fox Elementary School Choir will perform in the church at 7 p.m. Music and art will also be featured at Richmond CenterStage, the Library of Virginia, and University of Richmond's downtown campus. It's all part of an effort to expand the downtown art walk known as "First Fridays East." It's a great way to start out the night before heading to the main
stretch of First Fridays on Broad Street between Belvidere and 1st
Streets.
And now for a few photos from last week's art walk at St. Paul's -- click on "Read More" to see more photos.
Leslie Choplin was our guest preacher on Sunday, August 22, as part of “Eightfifteen Sunday,” when members of the eightfifteen group for 20- and 30-somethings at St. Paul’s led our 10 a.m. worship service.
The way Jesus lived forced a choice upon everyone who met him. Jesus didn’t grab people by their lapels and shout at them to follow Him or else. Instead, he offered himself. He spoke of God. He told the truth. He lived with compassion. He lived with love and he lived with integrity. People saw in Jesus something that caused in them a crisis and they had to choose. For the world to see Jesus today, it must look at us.
Fear will remain, but how do we learn to live in such a way that fear does not get the better of us, does not hold us, keep us, back, from doing what God would have us do; that fear would not keep us from really living the lives that God would have us live. And so, in this morning’s gospel passage, we hear Jesus say, “Be not afraid.”
“... if we’ll go back and take a closer look at the parable, there’s something there that we might have missed, something that goes beyond warning to something still more life-giving, something more encouraging than simply a message of warning.”
Prayer is the work of a lifetime. Prayer changes things. Prayer changes us. We pray so that we might know the one who Jesus called ‘Daddy.’ The one who is the source of all being…
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In
October 2008, the Vestry announced that The Rev. D.Wallace Adams-Riley
would become the 15th Rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in downtown
Richmond. Wallace, age 39, comes to us from St. John’s Cathedral in
Jacksonville, Florida, where he served as Canon. He began his ordained ministry at Christ
Church in Alexandria. Wallace grew up in Columbia S.C., as one of four
boys. He is married to The Rev. Canon Gena Adams-Riley with whom he has
a four-year-old son named Nelson and newborn son named Fin M'Coul.
Now Available! 
A new study out
As the German Blitzkrieg rolled into Poland, and World War II began, on the morning of September 1, 1939, 
Tomorrow after at 2pm, Wallace+ will join faith leaders from the Richmond area for a press conference at the Islamic Center of Virginia. In 
I have lately been listening, for, a second time, to 
Hometown Hero - Scott Sherrill The day does not end for Scott, a popular
teacher at Henrico High School, when the school bell rings. In fact,
it's just beginning. Scott is known for his one-on-one involvement with
students after school, support of athletic programs, and going the extra
mile, as evidenced by recently helping a student without health
insurance obtain dental care.
Regardless of our political persuasion, some lines from Michael Gerson's 
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I commend to you 
Posted by Wallace+
In my travels around the world, I encounter two Catholic Churches. One is the rigid all-male Vatican hierarchy that seems out of touch when it bans condoms even among married couples where one partner is H.I.V.-positive. To me at least, this church - obsessed with dogma and rules and distracted from social justice - is a modern echo of the Pharisees whom Jesus criticized.
by Wallace+
Last week, Wallace+ devoted his 
