The View from Bolton Street
The View from Robert Street
Conversions & Baptisms
Then Peter said, "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?
Acts 10:47
I want to tell you my conversion story.
When I was in college I was very active in church and in college ministry. Like many college freshmen, I had a very rough year emotionally and academically, and one of the only things that got me through it was the Athlete’s bible study.
We were a small group, maybe 10-15 people at most sessions, and the student leader was a senior named Bert. Bert was a deeply spiritual young man from West Virginia who had the kind of accent that made everything sound just a little bit brighter. Not only did he welcome me into the Bible study, but he also made an effort to reach out when he knew I was struggling.
About midway through my freshman year, I received an email that said something to the effect of — due to some recent revelations — Bert has been removed from leadership in the Williams Christian Fellowship and is barred from leading the Athlete’s bible study.
As a somewhat clueless freshman I immediately reached out to find out what was wrong.
Bert had come out of the closet, revealed himself to be gay, and was kicked out of the group.
That was my Saint Peter moment. My conversion story. I was Peter yelling ‘Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing Bert who has received the Holy Spirit as much (more even!) than I have!’
Did you think conversions only happen once?
Most faithful Christians will have multiple conversion moments throughout their lives. These moments almost always follow this pattern that Peter establishes in Acts.
Those people I don’t understand are bad.
Those people over there are wrong.
I should go talk to those people and tell them.
Wait these people are not so bad.
These people are faithful just like me.
We are the Body of Christ.
You will find similar accounts from preachers talking about working with the enslaved, missionaries overseas, working across barriers of language, culture and even religion.
Trust and relationship matter.
Now don’t misunderstand me. This is not ‘I’m okay, you’re okay’ happy-clappy Christianity.
And its not ‘come as you are and leave like me’ Christianity.
What our faith is, or should be, is that it is not our external reality that matters, it is what is in: Our hearts, our minds, our souls.
Do we believe in God, the Holy Trinity, three in one?
Do we believe that Jesus Christ was born, lived, served, was crucified, and rose from the dead?
Do we believe in the Holy Spirit, the ever present reality of God in our daily life and work?
If we believe these things we are Christians. Part of a common family with many different branches! Many different styles. And flavors and colors. But one family.
As we prepare to welcome a new member into the Memorial family, one with a non-traditional (for some of us) identity — I want to invite each of us to examine our own Petrine (a fancy way to say Peter-like) conversions. Rev. L.A. McRae, our Director for Reparations and Justice Ministries is a non-binary person who uses either he or they pronouns. I cannot wait to begin working with L.A. and seeing how their unique background in faith-based organizing, preaching, and justice work (and coffee-making and beer-brewing) bring life to our work here.
How have you been converted to loving someone you thought weren’t supposed to love? To welcoming someone you thought you were supposed to lock out? And how can you reach out in curiosity, love and charity to someone who is different than you? Someone who may have a different gender-identity than you? A different ethnic background or tradition? And can you do so with an open mind to the possibility that you might be shouting back to anyone who can hear ‘WHAT IS TO PREVENT THIS PERSON FROM BEING BAPTIZED!? THEY ARE A CHILD OF GOD CRAFTED IN GOD’S IMAGE!?!?
You may not be there yet. And that is okay. But I invite you to begin your own introspection around your various conversions, and what that might look like in the weeks and months ahead.
E-Church 10:30am, 5/9
To join us, all you need to do is click on the link below. We will have the order of service up on the screen to follow along. We recognize that all of us have different levels of comfort with technology - we will do our best to help everyone do what they need to feel comfortable and participate!
Two tips for Zoom worship:
1) Let us see your face! If at all possible, please start a video feed so we can see each other face to face, even across distance.
2) Please mute yourself unless you have a speaking role in the service. And if you find you are muted, please don’t unmute yourself unless asked. However - even when you are muted, please do respond to the prayers and readings, as we are all worshipping together.
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E-Faith@8, 5/9
The Faith@8 group is continuing to meet during this time of social distancing. Join us for an informal, community led service with more questions than answers and an open spot for whoever appears. Just follow the Zoom link below!
Memorial Faith@8
Time: Sundays at 8:00AM Eastern
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Introducing our new Lead Justice Organizer
The Rev. Dr. L.A. McCrae, affectionately known as “Doc,” “rev,” or “the revlatte” is a Maryland native. L.A. began their formal work in organizing and activism in the second grade. L.A. is a member of Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity and collaborator with the Organizing Black crew in Baltimore. L.A. trained in Public Narrative with Marshall Ganz at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. They have led grassroots organizing in local communities and international faith-based organizing initiatives in faith communities. They are excited to bring these skills and experiences to the justice and reparations work of the Memorial community. L.A. uses the pronouns He/They.
E-Faith@8, 5/2
The Faith@8 group is continuing to meet during this time of social distancing. Join us for an informal, community led service with more questions than answers and an open spot for whoever appears. Just follow the Zoom link below!
Memorial Faith@8
Time: Sundays at 8:00AM Eastern
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Meeting ID: 833 0955 4789
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The View from Robert Street
Sheep & Shepherds
“He arose, and taking up his crook, began to awaken the sheep that still slept. He had noticed that as soon as he awoke, most of his animals also began to stir. It was as if some mysterious energy bound his life to that of his sheep.” The Alchemist, Paulo Coehlo
This week I have been doing check-in meetings with our staff, reviewing the Lenten season and Holy Week, and getting feedback from everyone about how they are feeling about what is next.
The uniform response I have gotten from most everyone? Exhaustion. The challenges of hybrid worship, the continued stress and worry about COVID, the frustration around inconsistencies about what is ‘safe’, the endless cycle of violence in the news, uneven access to the vaccine, and a lack of clarity about what is safe, and perhaps above all ‘how much longer do we have to do this?’
This week while one police officer in MN was convicted of killing an unarmed black man, another shot a 15 year old black girl in Columbus, Ohio who had called the police for help, and another shot an unarmed black man in Elizabeth City, NC.
No rest. No sabbath. No time to breathe.
Even ardent police advocates acknowledge that poor training, bad supervision, working too many hours with too little experience are making police involved shootings more likely, and the unnecessary murder of innocents more so.
I can’t breathe.
I can’t rest.
I don’t have time for sabbath.
When I was reflecting on sabbath and rest my mind drifted back to the opening lines of Paulo Coehlo’s the Alchemist. A young shepherd has found a safe space for he and his flock to spend the night, safe from wolves and predators. When the young boy wakes up in the morning he notices that his sheep start to awaken when he does. There is a connection between them.
Then after some further reflection, “he realized it could be the other way around: that it was he who had been accustomed to their schedule.” Sheep and Shepherds. Symbiotically connected, feeding off each other’s energy, warmth, and strength.
How can we rest when they have no rest?
How can we find peace when there is no peace?
The daily life of a sheep and a shepherd is stressful. Finding food, keeping the flock together, finding water, avoiding predators, getting a good price for the wool, finding shelter.... but when it is time to rest. They glory in it.
We need to glory in our rest.
We need to be good sheep for a Good Shepherd.
This Sunday is Good Shepherd Sunday, and we are reminded that we are sheep who follow a shepherd who will not abandon or leave us, who comes looking for us when we stray, and would lay down his life for us if need be, indeed he already has.
Yesterday I remarked at Olivia Thomas’ funeral service that she was a Good Shepherd. She fiercely protected her sheep and frequently went out to go get those who had strayed. She was able to do that only because she knew she had a Good Shepherd who kept her safe, a living God standing with her. She was comfortable being a good sheep.
This week I want to encourage you to find ways to be a good sheep for a Good Shepherd. There are a lot of bad shepherds who would seek to lead us astray, but we know a Good Shepherd who only seeks to protect us and bring us home.
E-Faith@8, 4/25
The Faith@8 group is continuing to meet during this time of social distancing. Join us for an informal, community led service with more questions than answers and an open spot for whoever appears. Just follow the Zoom link below!
Memorial Faith@8
Time: Sundays at 8:00AM Eastern
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83309554789?pwd=czZUbWt6Yk1WVmgvNlAwNExQUWc5QT09
Meeting ID: 833 0955 4789
Passcode: 214106
Dial by your location
+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 833 0955 4789
Passcode: 214106
E-Church 10:30am, 5/2
To join us, all you need to do is click on the link below. We will have the order of service up on the screen to follow along. We recognize that all of us have different levels of comfort with technology - we will do our best to help everyone do what they need to feel comfortable and participate!
Two tips for Zoom worship:
1) Let us see your face! If at all possible, please start a video feed so we can see each other face to face, even across distance.
2) Please mute yourself unless you have a speaking role in the service. And if you find you are muted, please don’t unmute yourself unless asked. However - even when you are muted, please do respond to the prayers and readings, as we are all worshipping together.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84992001341?pwd=QUMvMFYzZU9HQkRLVmxISkVPRGlIQT09
Meeting ID: 849 9200 1341
Password: 563025
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Dial by your location
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Meeting ID: 876 9436 6639
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E-Faith@8, 4/18
The Faith@8 group is continuing to meet during this time of social distancing. Join us for an informal, community led service with more questions than answers and an open spot for whoever appears. Just follow the Zoom link below!
Memorial Faith@8
Time: Sundays at 8:00AM Eastern
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83309554789?pwd=czZUbWt6Yk1WVmgvNlAwNExQUWc5QT09
Meeting ID: 833 0955 4789
Passcode: 214106
Dial by your location
+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 833 0955 4789
Passcode: 214106
E-Church 10:30am, 4/18
To join us, all you need to do is click on the link below. We will have the order of service up on the screen to follow along. We recognize that all of us have different levels of comfort with technology - we will do our best to help everyone do what they need to feel comfortable and participate!
Two tips for Zoom worship:
1) Let us see your face! If at all possible, please start a video feed so we can see each other face to face, even across distance.
2) Please mute yourself unless you have a speaking role in the service. And if you find you are muted, please don’t unmute yourself unless asked. However - even when you are muted, please do respond to the prayers and readings, as we are all worshipping together.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84992001341?pwd=QUMvMFYzZU9HQkRLVmxISkVPRGlIQT09
Meeting ID: 849 9200 1341
Password: 563025
One tap mobile
+13017158592,,84992001341#,,,,0#,,563025# US (Germantown)
+19292056099,,84992001341#,,,,0#,,563025# US (New York)
One tap mobile
+13017158592,,85296035556#,,1#,141735# US (Germantown)
+13126266799,,85296035556#,,1#,141735# US (Chicago)
Dial by your location
+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
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+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
Meeting ID: 876 9436 6639
Password: 729226
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdoU8Ii34Q