St Thomas

“…for the saints of God are just folk like you and like me…” I sat captivated as they carried the casket of Ruth Bader Ginsburg up the steps of the majestic Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. I found myself thinking how appropriate, and how ironic, and how fitting, that such a diminutive physical frame, was coming to rest, and be honored, in such hallowed, majestic halls. Because, after all, she lived her life in what appeared to be, at least from this vantage point, some very majestic ways. Unique, individual, and yet so similar, to the emotions stirred as I watched John Lewis’ funeral caisson pass gracefully over the Edmund Pettus bridge less than two months earlier. These two lives, lived so fully, distinctly, humbly, and yet mightily, for the cause of equal rights, indeed liberty and justice for all. These two seemed to be able to think universally…

My Dear Doubters of Great Faith, It is amazing when I stop and consider that only one brief year ago (and yet a lifetime), I had my first conversation with the Search Committee of the Episcopal Church of St. Thomas the Apostle. I remember telling you in our first Sunday together that my time with you, our time together, while sometimes seeming painfully slow, as in a pandemic, would in reality, be fleeting. And so, if we had business to attend to, we’d best be about that business! I was clear in my interviews as to the kind of ministry that God was (and is) calling me into, the ministry of urban social justice work with a particular emphasis on race, reconciliation, and healing. And I believed that was something that St. Thomas would be particularly good and gifted at, based on the leadership and hard work this place has…

Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? I will, with God’s help! My Dear Doubters of Great Faith, It was over ten years ago that I began my official journey toward ordination in the Episcopal Church, and one of my first assignments was the penning of a “spiritual autobiography.” I crafted my work around the touchstone of our particular Episcopal tradition, the Baptismal Covenant, specifically the questions that get asked of or on behalf of candidates. These questions really are foundational to our Christian identity, because they reflect the ways Jesus lived out his human, and yet divine existence, thereby modeling goals for our own behavior. As such, they are (or should be) the lenses through which we view all of life. But this question of justice, and peace, and dignity, particularly when coupled with the seeking and serving…