The View from Bolton Street

A Sabbatical Reflection from the Senior Warden

But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he

would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is

coming at an unexpected hour. – Luke 12:39-40

Some reflections just kind of write themselves.

Because, really, what have I, and the sabbatical committee, the church staff, and others who

lead this congregation been doing for the past several months but getting ready? And not just

the leaders, but all of us in the congregation have been readying our hearts to be without our

much-loved rector and family for a time, even as we wish them Godspeed. Fr. Grey’s sabbatical

is the biggest change at Memorial since COVID, but unlike that cataclysmic alteration of our

world, we knew this one was coming. So we could prepare. And we did.

We formed a sabbatical committee, whose members have been systematically examining all

the duties and ministries that need to continue in Grey’s absence. We have a constantly

evolving spreadsheet to help us keep track of all the moving pieces. Who’s preaching each of

the fourteen Sundays of the sabbatical? Who will be our celebrant? What will be the youth

formation curriculum? Who’s going to write the weekly reflections in the newsletter? Who will

work with Candice in the church office on the service bulletins? Who will respond to issues

related to our building and grounds? Who will make sure Pierre has supplies for coffee hour?

Who’s the tech guru (and by the way, why is our wi-fi connectivity so persnickety, and what

should we do about that?)? What does the staff need from us in order to continue to do their

best work and feel valued? How do we assure that we are communicating what is happening?

The staff has been examining its procedures and processes, looking at ways to better organize,

and clearly defining each person’s role, while they continue their day-to-day work.

Those who lead our worship services have been looking at what’s needed to keep them

humming, and people have been acquiring new skills. Zoom skills. Technology skills. Reviving a

practice we haven’t used for some time, the offering of communion from the reserved

sacrament.

The Justice and Reparations Initiative continues to study our neighborhood needs, and

uncovers new opportunities where our funding will make a real difference in people’s lives.

The preparations have run the gamut from the complex to the mundane. Clearly, we took

Luke’s admonition seriously. No way was Memorial Church going to be caught off guard. And

because we wouldn’t, things would go smoothly. Well…

This past weekend, Deacon Natalie fell, and hurt her back. Not seriously, we think. But injuries

of this kind take a bit of time to heal, and rest is the primary treatment. Like the thief in the

night, her accident caught us while we were sleeping, so to speak. We were counting on her to

preach and give us communion this coming Sunday – it was on the spreadsheet, for heaven’s

sake!—and she won’t be able to do that, nor lead the Tuesday morning Peace and Justice

service.

Perhaps I was a bit smug in my belief that all this preparation would shield us (well, me) from

the unexpected. Because, while God wants us to keep ourselves ready, for Jesus to come again,

busily going about the tasks that we think are important to God does not guarantee that

unwelcome events will not occur. It’s pretty much guaranteed that they will.

God does promise us, though, of God’s faithful presence, accessible through prayer, and

apparent in beloved community. And that is what I found when I took a deep breath, said a

quick prayer, and looked around me. Natalie might have been sidelined, temporarily, but we

still had diocesan resources to help us find replacement clergy. We still had a vibrant and

connected congregation with established relationships that could be drawn upon at just such a

time as this, with skills developed from lifetimes in faithful service. A living God, evidenced by

God’s church, sees us through when best-laid plans fall short.

The upshot of all this is that the Rev. Jim Holmes, a friend of Memorial for at least as long as I

have been here, and an inspiring witness of God’s word, will preach and celebrate this Sunday.

Please come and welcome him back, and join in prayer for Natalie’s healing. Oh, and the Peace

and Justice service will be just fine, too. Pam Fleming will lead Morning Prayer, and Steve

Howard will handle remote worship technology.

Thanks be to God.

Bill Roberts, Senior Warden

The View from Bolton Street

Famous Naps in the Bible

Jesus during the storm

The Garden of Gethsemane Nap

Post-feeding 5,000 Exhaustion

Peter in Prison

Daniel in the Lion’s Den

Joseph in an Egyptian Jail

While few things in the bible are ‘clear’, the Biblical argument for rest is strong. Throughout Christ’s ministry, not to mention the life and ministry of the saints and prophets, taking time to retreat, rest, pray, restore and rejuvenate oneself is a constant refrain.  Jesus often goes off by himself to pray. Elijah finds solace in a cave. Moses goes up to the Mountain.  Of course, there is also that whole ‘remember the sabbath and keep it holy’ commandment.  

God knows we need rest.  More importantly, God knows we need time to reconnect with God and with our families and loved ones, particularly in challenging and stressful times.  

Quite a few of Jesus’ moments of solitude and sleepiness come right before or right after stressful events.  Obviously, his time in the Garden prior to his arrest, and before the storm in the boat.  But also, in Luke’s Gospel Jesus retreats to a quiet place to pray after healing the man with leprosy, and in Mark Jesus goes to an isolated place after he performs a series of healings and casts out demons.  I can’t help but wonder if Jesus took breaks like this to both recharge and refocus himself.  

Throughout the Gospels, we see the concern Jesus has with being seen as a magician, a faith healer, and one of the hundreds of ‘miracle workers’ wandering that part of the world in the 1st century.  He wanted to make sure people understood he was something more.  That God was offering them something more.  Takes a break to remind himself not to get caught up in the crowds, to get pulled away by the moment, and to ensure that his eyes were always on the prize, the salvation of all of our souls.  

During this sabbath time, we should consider our own mission, our own mindset, and our own desires.  What are the things that God is calling us to do, what are the things we like to do for attention, and what are things we feel like we have to do because ‘We’ve always done it this way.’?  

Taking a break, a step back is an opportunity to evaluate those who can see where God’s will intersect with our work, where we feel Christ alive in our ministry, and where we feel like we are just treading water.  Now Jesus is always available to pull us out when the water is too deep, but he would much rather swim with us in the work.  I know we would too.  

So, as I go off to a quiet place to pray, I hope you all will do the same. In your faith life and in your personal and professional lives.  Where is God calling you? Where do you feel frustrated? Unfulfilled?  What can be solved with a Holy Nap? And What may require a reorientation of priorities?

My prayers are with you over the next three months, I do hope your prayers come with me as well. 

The View from Bolton Street

What Unity Hall Means To Me

To learn more about Unity Hall, please click here.

The View from Bolton Street

Reparation Sundays with Memorial Episcopal & Fareeha Waheed on Education & Justice

Reparations have become a popular topic of discussion in America, and Baltimore seems to be at the forefront of many of these discussions. This past Sunday at Memorial, Fareehah Waheed, Vice president of the Baltimore Teachers Union, and educator at Eutaw Marshburn Elementary, gave a presentation on the socio-economic needs, disparities, and injustices that plague many Baltimore City schools. She told compelling stories of her students in need, and her experiences as she is faced with the daunting task of educating her students while working in a school system that has suffered from major systemic Injustices… During her presentation, she expressed the importance of legislation like the Blueprint for Maryland's Future. 

While Fareehah spoke of the Blueprint being a win in general she also describes the Blueprint as "the floor". Unfortunately, the time allotted for speaking did not allow Fareehah as much time as she would've liked to elaborate on that statement. However, she did take the time to elaborate via email after her presentation. Here's what she wrote: 

"While the bill is truly remarkable, and I'm so thankful our students, teachers, and community will benefit, I am still concerned about some of the finer details in the bill and its implementation. Governor Hogan kept delaying the implementation of the Accountability and Implementation Board for the bill and even tried to question the members chosen to derail the whole process. The bill is going to help fix Baltimore city's funding formula after the outdated Thornton funding formula, but I referenced it as "the floor not the ceiling" because there is still a lot more work to be done beyond the initial bill getting passed. I've written one piece about the work that still needs to be done, which is here: 

https://www.baltimoreteachers.org/the-blueprint-for-marylands-future/. I know we have really strong champions behind this bill like David Hornbeck and Memorial Episcopal so I am confident that we will be able to keep up the joint advocacy for more fair funding until we fully get the state to raise the revenue needed for this bill. I look forward to continuing to collaborate and learn more from each other." 

I believe this expresses the need for accountability committees and implementation teams. The Blueprint becoming Maryland Law is a giant step towards equity in school systems, but this also brings home the true reality of the amount of work that still needs to be done. What is law, if there is no accountability? What is true power and equality, while systemic racism still exists? The general consensus is the sky's the limit, and there is certainly more work to be done. David Hornbeck gave some insight on the topic as well and stated that "passing a law with good policy and money is one thing. Faithful implementation is another. What is needed is monitoring implementation at the local and state levels." This statement, I believe, “hit the nail on the head”. Fareehah and David have both been at the forefront of moving this potentially life-changing legislation into place.

Fareehah’s presentation helped to shed some much needed light on Baltimore's unjust school system. Including the fact that 3.2 billion dollars have somehow missed Baltimore school systems over the past 20 years. The reparations committee at Memorial is committed to working on helping to diminish educational disparities and create solutions as we move forward. Fareehahs insight and knowledge will certainly be strongly appreciated as we work to obtain equal opportunity education in Baltimore. 

If you are interested in getting involved or simply have some Insight or questions.. please email Anthony at justice@memorialepiscopal.org. 

-Anthony Francis

The View from Bolton Street

General Convention is here! 

Wait, what IS General Convention? 

Tomorrow delegates from all over the U.S., and a good portion of the Western Hemisphere, will be arriving in Baltimore for the 80th General Convention of the Episcopal Church. 

While scaled-down substantially because of COVID, this is still a very large convention and will set the agenda for the business of the Church for the next three years. 

Just as we have an annual meeting to vote on the budget and elect officers at Memorial, so do the Diocese and the National Church. But the National Church only meets every three years (four years this time due to a COVID delay), and a lot of business needs to get done. 

In addition to voting on the budget, electing officers to National Bodies, and setting broader policy agendas, there will be important resolutions on everything from revising the prayer book, to the study of colonization, to where the National Church needs to go on Reparations.  

There will also be a LOT of Church.  And very very good Church.  

Thanks to everyone who has volunteered to help with the convention - it is much appreciated!

One of the vows we make as clergy is to take part in the councils of the Church.  That’s because from the beginning we have believed that when the Church gathers together the Holy Spirit is present and guides us to wise decisions and right actions.  

And I don’t mean just the Episcopal Church, but the Christian Church!  From Pentecost to Nicea to Today when the Church gathers prayerfully, interesting and unexpected things happen.  

With that in mind I invite your prayers for the presence of the Holy Spirit here in Baltimore this week as we gather to consider what is next for the Episcopal Church and for the Kingdom of God. 

Welcome to Baltimore #GC80 --

While you are here in Baltimore we would like to invite you to come get to know the history of the Episcopal Church in West Baltimore. 

Memorial Episcopal Church has curated two outdoor walking tours of West Baltimore - Thursday July 7th and Saturday July 9th. Tours will start and end at 1505 Eutaw Place - The Baltimore Unity Hall

Plan to meet at 11 am for an 11:30 am departure. Thursday’s tour will focus on the case for reparations - the history of racism, segregation and division led by the Episcopal Church in Baltimore.

Saturday’s tour will emphasize the moments of resilience and hope in Black Baltimore - including the important role of Black Episcopal Leaders in the civil rights movement.

The View from Bolton Street

Baking Bread Together…. Apart

A Sabbatical Journey

Hello from the Corner of Bolton and Lafayette,

As you are (hopefully) aware, on August 1st I will begin a three-and-a-half-month sabbatical with the support of Memorial’s staff and vestry, and the tremendous generosity of the Lily Endowment.  The current language around sabbaticals is that the congregation and clergy take a sabbatical ‘together’.  While I don’t think Lily is going to support all of us going to Southern India in October, I do recognize that my absence will be a time of rest for many of you.  Thankfully, we have an excellent sabbatical committee that is working to ensure things will go smoothly and that we all are able to refresh, restore and renew ourselves over the next few months. 

The sabbatical is called: “Grains, Trains, and Automobiles”  and it uses the process of Baking Bread - Mixing, Leavening, Stretching, Resting, Baking - to help us understand the hard work of rest, and to explore the role that hospitality plays in our ability to work across difference, repair relationships, and see the face of Christ in the other. 

The last three years have been extremely exciting and challenging for all of us here at Memorial.  From Justice and Reparations to COVID and Renovations we have all had our share of highs and lows, we could all use a rest, even as we are all excited for what is coming next with respect to reparations, the completion of the renovations, and the next five years of Memorial’s life. Deacon Natalie has put together an excellent group of preachers and celebrants to assist with worship, and the vestry and lay leadership are excited to step into some new leadership roles. 

We all agree that this long season of COVID has shifted some of our leadership and worship patterns, and this is an opportunity to rebalance responsibilities between staff and volunteers, and also for some new leaders to rise up within the congregation.  So if that speaks to you, I hope you will reach out to the sabbatical committee to volunteer!  

The Sabbatical will be broken up into parts: 

Mix: When you mix ingredients for baking you are giving them time to get to know each other, connect, and strengthen the bonds and relationships between the parts. It is also a good time to look at what needs to be repaired and restored within ourselves and our community. 

Leaven: The leaven is what agitates the flour and gluten, allows the bread to rise, and creates space to breathe.  During this period, I will be ‘interning’ at a local bakery here in Baltimore, deepening my own understanding and appreciation of the bread baking process, and working out a whole other set of skills and muscles in the process.

Stretch and Fold:  Part of this sabbatical is also making sure Monica, Isabella, and Nicolas also get their own sabbatical experiences - so we will be stretching ourselves on a two-day train ride through the Rockies from Denver to San Francisco.  We will be visiting friends that we have not seen in many years and taking Isabella to Sequoia National Park and Nicolas to the Golden Gate Bridge because that is on both of their bucket lists. 

Bake: Finally, we will finish the sabbatical with an extended trip to Southern India as a family. We will be exploring the way of St. Thomas, and also exploring the concept of hospitality and inter-religious dialogue in one of the few places where so many world religions live together in peace and harmony.  

Through all of this, you will be meeting experts in baking, Christian hospitality, The Church in (and of) South India, and rest and renewal.  Finally, we will all come back together in mid-November to bake bread together.  

My ‘leave-taking Sunday’ will be July 31st. Please plan to join us for a send-off celebration on that day, with food, drinks, music, and community. 

I want to thank again our vestry, our sabbatical committee, Deacon Natalie, and all of you, for making this possible. 

The View from Bolton Street

"The Light Shines in the Darkness" | The Rev. John B. Burruss

The View from Bolton Street

Unity

This weekend is the 15th anniversary of the No Boundaries Block Party.  The brainchild of Ray Kelly and Rebecca Nagle, the party that became a movement started as a way to bring both sides of Eutaw Place together.   What better way to get people to come together than a party?  

After 15 years, we can look around this country and even this city and see so much work left to be done, yet in this little corner of Baltimore, we continue to be more and more united across divisions of race and class and neighborhood as we all seek one common goal.  More opportunities and more joy for everyone in the 21217 zip code.   What better way to celebrate this than another party?  I hope you will come out and join friends and neighbors this Saturday from 12-4 and join in the fun.

Two other important things are happening at the same time: First, the No Boundaries Coalition is moving as an organization back to where it all started, to the 1500 Block of Eutaw Place inside the Unity Hall, developed by MAC, the former Memorial Apartments Corporation on which Ashiah Parker and Myself serve as President and Vice President, respectively.  

Eutaw Place has been a destination kind of address for the entire life of this city.  When the Phoenix Club was opened at 1505 Eutaw Place it was the first Jewish Social Club to make it to Eutaw.  When Lillie Carroll Jackson purchased her home at 1320 Eutaw she became the first African-American and the first woman to own property here.  

With the Opening of the Unity Hall (at 1505 Eutaw no less) We are opening, on this historic line of division, a space open to all — for arts, culture, community, entertainment, job training, and education — a building that will serve the entire community.  

The first meeting to plan the Unity Hall was a listening session at Pedestal Gardens led, of course, by Ray Kelly. Next, we were in the Rec Center.  We did a radical thing when trying to understand what this building should be — we talked to the people we wanted to be in it.  

When Elijah needed to hear the voice of God, he went up to a cave on a high mountain and lived through a hurricane, an earthquake, a fire,  and a storm before he could hear the still small voice of God.   We did not have to go that far.  We just had to listen to each other.  

I hope you will come and see the Unity Hall this weekend, and also come back and visit in the months and years to come. 

The View from Bolton Street

Phew. We made it. 

It has been a long program year. From in person to zoom worship and back again.  Through Delta and Omicron. Our young men (and women) got vaccinated and our old men (and women) got boosted. 

Many of us recovered from COVID many of us are still waiting for when our number is up.  

We hired a new youth director (Hi Miles!) and then we went virtual.  We hired a new Reparations Organizer (Hi Anthony!) and were actually able to get work going.  

We thought we would have air conditioning but apparently God (and the city zoning department) had other plans.  

We supported more than 200 Afghans getting out of Afghanistan and have helped around 100 settle here in Baltimore.  

The Unity Hall on Eutaw Place opens next week and we have deepened our connections and relationships with neighborhood coalitions and organizations alike.  

The Choir came back and sang in person (Hallelujah!) and acolytes, ushers, vergers, altar guild, and the flower guild all learned to re-navigate the sanctuary.  

You all deserve a big BIG round of applause.  And a break.  

To the volunteers who re-learned their ministries 3 or 4 times over this year - THANK YOU. 

To the staff who put up with an ever changing set of rules, guidance, and responsibilities - THANK YOU. 

To the choir and musicians who came back to sing - THANK YOU.

To the volunteers who sat in front of computers and tablets in the church and at home so others could worship - THANK YOU. 

To the Deacon who is more and more a superwoman every day - THANK YOU. 

To all of you who were nervous about coming back to worship but got up the courage to come to church - THANK YOU. 

To the parents who were just able to get their kids out the door to school this year - THANK YOU.

To the folks who couldn’t quite make it back in to church but still pray with us on zoom or YouTube - THANK YOU. 

To the vestry who have guided this ship this year - THANK YOU.  

To our interns - Carolyn and Ryan who brought new energy and life to ministries and efforts - THANK YOU.

To our Justice and Reparations Committee for your incredible work guiding our thinking, our hiring and our focus - THANK YOU. 

To everyone who donated supplies and money to support Afghan Refugees - THANK YOU. 

For everyone who had patience with me when I did not return a call or missed a meeting or was unavailable - THANK YOU. 

Truly — you all have been exceptional this year.  Please join us as we celebrate this Sunday with a jazz band and a festive outdoor coffee hour to say thank you to all of our volunteers and to celebrate what it is to be part of the Memorial community. 

Thank you.