MCN Online
Welcome to MCN Online, the extended online edition of Maryland Church News. Here you will find resources, additional news and deeper coverage of each quarter’s print issue.
Summer, 2008: The Consecration of the 14th Bishop of Maryland
We give you thanks that from the beginning you have gathered and prepared a people to be heirs of the covenant of Abraham, and have raised up prophets, kings and priests, never leaving your temple untended. We praise you also that from the creation you have graciously accepted the ministry of those whom you have chosen. (Prayer of Consecration, BCP, p. 520)
Diocesan Convention may be over for this year, but the work continues. In this edition of MCN Online read about the ongoing efforts of the Task Force on Reparations for Slavery and contemplate a poem by famed Harlem poet Georgia Douglas Johnson. Good works continue at our churches as St. Mark’s Church, Lappans, shares its unique Lenten worship, St. John’s Church, Mt. Washington, feeds the hungry, and St. John's Church, Ellicott City, is honored for its commitment to Camp Amazing Grace.
Click the links below to jump to the stories on this page.
Healing Slavery’s Hurt
“The Diocese of Maryland profited from slavery,” reported the Task Force on Reparations for Slavery – now a commission – to the convention.
Interracial
Bishop-elect Eugene Sutton concluded his Convention Liturgy sermon with a poem by Georgia Douglas Johnson, the poem is entitled, “Interracial.”
Visual Arts in Worship
During the season of Lent this year St. Mark’s Church, Lappans, moved one of its three Sunday services to its Parish Hall to make use of the space for creative worship.
Feed My Sheep
In the spring of 2007, St. John’s Church, Mt. Washington, applied for and received a $4,000 grant to coordinate with the Salvation Army Feedmore van to provide meals to homeless people in Baltimore City.
Camp Amazing Grace honors St. John's, Ellicott City
Healing Slavery’s Hurt
By Val Hymes
“The Diocese of Maryland profited from slavery,” reported the Task Force on Reparations for Slavery – now a commission – to the convention. A videotape created by the Rev. Phebe L. McPherson titled, “A Time to Love: Conversations on Reparations” details the task force’s history and research that revealed “how this nation was built on the backs of slaves.” The conversations around the diocese explore ways to repair the racism that is the “inheritance of slavery.”
The task force, headed by Nancy Barrick and the Rev. Dr. Ronald H. Miller, last year sponsored a successful resolution that confessed its “complicity in its perpetuation of the sin of racism.” It also apologized for the roles of the church and the state in slavery and in the subsequent racial injustice.”
Diocesan Archivist Mary O. Klein and the Rev. P. Kingsley Smith, historiographer for the diocese, wrote for the diocese’s history, “The Anglican Church in colonial Maryland and the Episcopal Church in the State have been deeply embedded in racism from the beginning, and have been in denial about the Church’s role in slavery and its racist aftermath—tolerating and then accepting it, depending on it and even blessing it.” See http://www.ang-md.org/history-racism.php
According to the Maryland State Archives’ Guide to the History of Slavery in Maryland, “The fortunes amassed from the labor of enslaved workers allowed Maryland’s gentry to dominate colonial politics and propelled some to national prominence.” http://www.mdslavery.net/
Asked to recommend concrete steps the diocese and parishes can take to repair relations between races,” Smith said commission members are trying to take out to the parishes the video and their research showing that the “inheritance of slavery has been racism.”
“We want to raise the consciousness of people so they can develop economic and charitable programs that will overcome racism,” he said. His favorite example is Pimlico Road Arts and Community Center in Baltimore.
“Every parish must participate in the solution,” said Nancy Barrick. “We must talk to each other.”
Inheriting the Trade
In 2001 Thomas DeWolf, 47, discovered that he was related to the most successful slave-trading family in American history, responsible for transporting more than 10,000 Africans to the Americas. His infamous ancestor, U.S. senator James DeWolf of Bristol, R.I., continued in the trade after it was outlawed. James DeWolf died in 1837, the second-richest man in America. In his memoir, 10 family members retrace the steps of their ancestors and uncover the hidden history of New England and other northern states.
Thomas DeWolf addressed convention attendees and signed copies of his book, Inheriting the Trade.
Katrina Browne, Thomas DeWolf's cousin, learned about their family's history. She resolved to confront it head-on, producing and directing a documentary feature film, Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North, based on her cousin’s memoir. The film premiers on PBS June 24. Check local listings for details.
Val Hymes is a frequent contributor to Maryland Church News and member of St. James’ Parish, Lothian.
Interracial
Bishop-elect Sutton concluded his Convention Liturgy sermon with a poem by Georgia Douglas Johnson, the poem is entitled, “Interracial."
Let’s build bridges here and there
Or sometimes, just a spiral stair
That we may come somewhat abreast
And sense what cannot be exprest,
And by these measures can be found
A meeting place - common ground
Nearer the reaches of the heart
Where truth revealed, stands clear, apart:
With understanding come to know
What laughing lips will never show:
How tears and torturing distress
May masquerade as happiness:
Then you will know when my heart’s aching
And I when yours is slowly breaking.
Commune - the altars will reveal...
We then shall be impulsed to kneel
And send a prayer upon its way
For those who wear the thorns today.
Oh, lets build bridges everywhere
And span the gulf of challenge there.
Visual Arts in Worship
By the Rev. Anne Weatherholt
During the season of Lent this year St. Mark’s Church, Lappans, moved one of its three Sunday services to its Parish Hall to make use of the space for creative worship. Tammi Bricker, a member who is a graphic artist, created a new design for each week in Lent based on a series called “Signs of Lent.” Her designs included a low entry table with touchable items for interaction at the doorway and arrangements for the altar and worship area. She used several different arrangements for the chairs as well.
Each week the Gospel was acted out or read by a different group of students from the Sunday school and the liturgy included selections from Enriching Our Worship, the new Lutheran Book of Worship and the new English Book of Common Worship, as well as the Book of Common Prayer. A refrain for the Prayers of the People used music from the Taize community in France. Members entered quietly, listening to quiet music from a Christian CD. Silence was used from time to time. Based on reactions from the members, all ages felt the visual arts enriched their worship experience and helped them understand the scriptures better.
Lent 1: Sand; Matthew 4:1-11
Temptation in the desert; members were encouraged to play in the sand and touch the face of Jesus.
Lent 2: Wind; John 3:1-17
Children were encouraged to take a pinwheel to play with. A Small fan underneath the altar made the wind chimes play and the streamers move during the service.
Lent 3: Water; John 4:5-42
A fountain with a cross was the centerpiece. Water was sprinkled on the members during the entrance rite. Floating candles illuminated the table. A water-filled basin and sea shells greeted them at the door.
Lent 4: Earth; John 9:1-41
Children were encouraged to take gummy worms and play in the dirt.
Lent 5: Rock; John 11:1-45
A Japanese garden became our worship “spot.”
Lent 6: Tree – Palm Sunday; Matthew 26:14-27:66
Three worship areas tell the story: from Palms, to the Last Supper, to the Cross.
The Rev. Anne Weatherholt is the rector of St. Mark's Church, Lappans. 301-582-0417; stmarks@myactv.net.
Feed My Sheep
In the spring of 2007, St. John’s Church, Mt. Washington, applied for and received a $4,000 grant to coordinate with the Salvation Army Feedmore van to provide meals to homeless people in Baltimore City. Last August other Episcopal churches were contacted and agreed to join St. John’s in this program.
Each church received $100 to purchase, prepare and serve bagged meals. All of the churches participated numerous times. Participating churches included Emmanuel Church, Baltimore; St. John’s in the Village (Huntington); St. David’s Church, Roland Park; Old St. Paul’s, Baltimore; and Church of St. Mary, Woodlawn. Episcopal Campus Ministries UMBC group also participated.
By June 30, when the funding ends, Feed My Sheep will have prepared and served over 5,000 meals with more than 120 volunteers. This inter-parochial hands-on project has been a great success according to everyone involved.
Submitted by Frank Russell, St. John’s Church, Mt. Washington, 410-367-7287
Camp Amazing Grace honors St. John's, Ellicott City
Deacon Patrick Arey, director of Camp Amazing Grace '08, presents a plaque expressing gratitude for the ongoing support of St. John's, Ellicott City, to (l-r) the Rev. Rosemary Beales, associate rector, the Rev. Carol Pinkham Oak, rector, and Melinda Becker, director of Vacation Bible School. They, Deacon Mimi Mathews, and the people of St. John's have given the camp for children of prisoners, time, talent and treasure.
-- Val Hymes photo.