The View from Bolton Street

L. A. McCrae 6/9/21 L. A. McCrae 6/9/21

Popcorn Theology

Our guests for the evening: Rev. Grey Maggiano, Minister Ken Brown/Analysis, Ralikh Hayes, and Rev. Dr. L.A. McCrae

Participants to view at least one of the documentaries, below:

Watch "Dreamland: The Burning of Black Wall Street" on CNN
Watch "Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre" on The History Channel
Watch "Tulsa: The Fire and the Forgotten" on PBS
Watch "Tulsa Race Massacre: 100 Years later" on OETA

Review Resources from:

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund https://www.naacpldf.org/naacp-mission/criminal-justice/
The Maryland Lynching Memorial Project: https://www.mdlynchingmemorial.org/
Organizing Black (Baltimore) https://organizingblack.org/

Read excerpts from Rev. Dr. James H. Cone’s The Cross and the Lynching Tree

Excerpts here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QODkOldnO5Kh8DklIJlPEe901MtdpI3u/view?usp=sharing
Please purchase copies directly from the publisher, Orbis Books. The Cone estate receives a higher percentage when purchased directly from the publisher.
- https://www.orbisbooks.com/the-cross-and-the-lynching-tree.html

Live Discussion - Part 1

June 9, 2021

6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

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https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8268296397

Meeting ID: 826 829 6397

Memorial Episcopal Church 6/9/21 Memorial Episcopal Church 6/9/21

E-Faith@8, 6/13

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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Memorial Episcopal Church 6/9/21 Memorial Episcopal Church 6/9/21

Outside Church 9:30am, 6/13

The 9:30 service will be at Liberty Pavilion in Druid Hill Park. There will be no Zoom for the in-person, outdoor 9:30 Service.

Faith@8 will remain an online-only Zoom service through the summer: Faith@8 Click Here

Meet us in the Liberty Pavilion of Druid Hill Park

There is parking on Greenspring and also at the zoo, but the walk from the zoo parking is up a steep hill.
Water, lemonade, and pastries will be provided; please do not bring food to share as we do not yet have permission for that.

Memorial Episcopal Church 6/9/21 Memorial Episcopal Church 6/9/21

Back to Bolton Street

It is good to be back. This does not mean of course that the pandemic is “over”. Especially for those of us with young kids or those who do a lot of client facing work, there are still plenty of necessary precautions to take; but after 15 months it seems we finally have the coronavirus under control in our little corner of the world.

So what does “life after” look like?

In truth, I don’t know! But I do know two things: 1) we are all tired of never-ending change and uncertainty; and 2) we have all spent a lot of time contemplating what we REALLY need.

With that in mind, let’s consider this weeks gospel and the parable of the mustard seed.

Can we be the tiny seed that sprouts to provide shade and rest and comfort for all those around it?

What do we need to offer to the community to become that?

The last year has taught us that this community is very resilient. You all have shown up and shown out on zoom and in the community caring and nurturing each other and others.

We recognized that the ability to connect and share with each other is important to us.

And that when we had to choose the things that mattered most - it was gathering together for corporate worship, offering praise to God on high, and sharing in the Gospel of Jesus.

That is the seed Christ has given us to plant. To create a community where we are learning and discerning how to get closer to God, how to live well together, and how to cultivate and grow other gardens in other places.

As I sit here on these steps - it is hard not to notice the people that could use some shade, some hope and some joy. Can we be that community?

Can we be that mustard tree?

Memorial Episcopal Church 5/19/21 Memorial Episcopal Church 5/19/21

E-Church 10:30am, 5/23

Open Live Zoom Worship

Or: Stream Worship Live on YouTube

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
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Memorial Episcopal Church 5/19/21 Memorial Episcopal Church 5/19/21

E-Faith@8, 5/23

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

Open Zoom link here

Memorial Episcopal Church 5/19/21 Memorial Episcopal Church 5/19/21

The View from Robert Street

And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.

I can’t be the only one who read this in 2021 and thought, NOT NOW GOD! THINGS ARE BUSY ENOUGH AS IT IS! There have certainly been times in my life when I was open to hearing the Holy Spirit and, God forgive me, now does not feel like one of those times.

I am fairly certain the disciples felt about the same. Jesus had just died. They were still trying to figure out what their mission was, and how they were organized, heck they were still trying to figure out who was a disciple when all of a sudden WOOOSH the Holy Spirit comes in and lays it all out.

There is a good chance that the Holy Spirit is trying to speak to us right now. That God has things to say to us in our personal, professional and pastoral lives. The question is - are we ready to hear it? Or are we too tired or just plain closed off to anything new?

All of our lives have been upended for the last 15 months. As we are beginning to re-open our lives and our communal spaces, we should also consider what we have learned, and what God has shown us, that we can take with us.

For example, we have learned that worship on Zoom can be Holy and fulfilling, and also a wonderful way to bring new people into our community and a deeper relationship with Christ.

We have learned that simple things (like a loaf of bread or a conversation) mean more than complex assistance programs.

We have learned that the impacts of any crisis are disproportionately felt by those who have been systematically underserved, and that we have a Christian responsibility to right those historic wrongs.

We have learned that time with the people we care about is precious, and that we all need to work on slowing down and re-prioritizing our lives.

Individually we have also all learned new gifts and talents, hidden skills and abilities that we did not know we had.

Perhaps most importantly we have re-learned the value of prayer as the beginning and end of all of our work in the world.

So the question for you, me, all of us is — as we celebrate the birthday of the church — what new gift have you been given? What new work are you called into? What words has the spirit put in your mouth, what fire has been put in your heart? And how do we, each according to our ability, live into that calling as the Body of Christ.

Memorial Episcopal Church 5/12/21 Memorial Episcopal Church 5/12/21

The View from Robert Street

Smoke Gets in your Eyes

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them.

Luke 24:51

The ascension story takes on a different tone this year, as the path to Bethany is clouded with smoke from fires and the sky over Israel is filled with rockets and explosions overhead.

Can the disciples even get to Bethany? Can Jesus even get up to Heaven?

We put up so many barriers to letting Jesus into our lives, and even more barriers between ourselves and seeing God in the other.

How do we hear the still small voice of the Holy Spirit when everything is a loud?

How do we see the face of Christ through the smoke?

The conflict in the Middle East seems far away, but it is reflected in all of our conflicts and divisions right here. We’d like to think this “started” because Israeli settlers tried to evict Palestinians in Jerusalem and a series of escalations led to thousands of rockets across border fences and country wide lock downs.

But the conflict started somewhere very different. It started when Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs stopped seeing each other as humans. When they let the smoke cloud their vision.

In the same way we think our current conflicts around racism and police started with Michael Brown or Trayvon Martin. But in reality they started much earlier. They started when our system of justice started seeing black people as less than — which was in the very beginning.

This past week I listened as a community leader spoke in a public forum about the dangers of low income housing and the extreme threat poor people present to our health and well being.

It was demoralizing and depressing. This is where the conflict starts. When we let the smoke and fire blind us. When we try to stop Jesus from ascending to Heaven. When we are too busy fighting with each other to hear Jesus’ words “ you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

How can we be witnesses for peace in Judea and Samaria? In Israel and Palestine? In Baltimore and around the world?

Memorial Episcopal Church 5/12/21 Memorial Episcopal Church 5/12/21