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OREGON CELEBRATED WASHINGTON – The people of Oregon were celebrated at a special Feb. 17 worship service at Washington National Cathedral where speakers also called for the church and its members to heed calls to address social problems, AIDS and poverty. The Right Rev. Johncy Itty, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon, presided at the service, accompanied by other clergy from the state. Other participants included parishioners who traveled across the country and native Oregonians who live and work in the Washington area. The Very Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III, the dean of Washington National Cathedral, preached the sermon before 972 people at the 11:15 a.m. service. Later in the day, the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Choir, from Salem, performed at the Cathedral’s Evensong service. Forty-five members of the St. Paul’s choir performed a variety of sacred music, including African-American spirituals, Anglican chants, music from the Renaissance and from German composer Felix Mendelssohn. “This was a very satisfying and successful opportunity for us,” said Paul Klemme, director of music at the Salem church. “We had a nice big crowd of people. It was a dream come true.” Washington National Cathedral designates one state each month for special prayers, inviting local clergy, political leaders and parishioners of all faiths. Oregon Day also continued Washington National Cathedral’s celebration of its centennial year. In addition to the service, Oregon visitors were shown the Keiskamma Altarpiece, a monumental tapestry created by 130 women of Hamburg, a fishing village in Eastern Cape Province of South Africa whose population was devastated by the AIDS virus. The altarpiece, a 13-foot by 22-foot series of panels, was created through embroidery, beadwork, photography and wire sculpture to demonstrate the community’s determination to prevail against the disease. The artwork is on touring display in the United States. On Oregon Day, prayers were offered for the village and its survivors, including a intercession prayer that incorporated the South African hymn, “Thuma Mina,” or “Send Me, Jesus.” Dean Lloyd also touched on the South African community in his sermon, in which he said God is trying to “get through to us” to call our attention and draw our efforts to combat hunger and health crises. “But it isn’t easy,” Lloyd said, with most of us consumed by our own schedules. Some hear the call, like former congressman Tony Hall of Ohio who devoted his career to hunger issues after a revelatory visit to Ethiopia, or Minnesota businessman Ward Brehm, whose spirit was transformed during a short mission to East Africa. “I don’t know how God will get through to you,” Lloyd told the congregation, “Through a health crisis, or a conversation, or a book, or a friend, or a sermon, or a hymn, or a course.” But Lloyd said he did know that “God wants us to loosen our grip and open our hands and eyes.” Brian McLaren, an author and Maryland pastor who is a leader in the “emergent Church” movement, also took part in Oregon Day as the focus of the Cathedral’s Sunday Forum program immediately preceding the service. McLaren, conversing with Dean Lloyd and the assembled congregation, discussed a cultural shift that is signified by “disturbing” drop-offs in church attendance among young adults. “I think something big is happening around the world,” McLaren said. “In the U.S. this is a phenomenon that began in the 1990s. There are shifts in the way we believe, very deep philosophical shifts in the way we understand our relationships with other faiths.” McLaren, who founded the nondenominational Cedar Ridge Community Church in Maryland, said some scholars are rethinking the philosophies that propelled the church over the past 500 years, and whether they will apply into the future. “It seems like we have two things that have been separated that shouldn’t be,” McLaren said, “One is a privatized, personal faith and the other is a social, institutional faith. Both are part of the story of Christian faith. “ The emergent Church movement advocates for a “generous orthodoxy” centered on the teachings of Christ and practiced with flexibility and adaptability to address the major problems confronting society like poverty, war and peace and the crisis of the planet. “Our religious communities in general are not mobilizing us to address the problems,” McLaren said. “Sometimes they are distracting us and sometimes they are making the problems worse. “What is driving people away from faith is a faith symbolized by the raised fist rather than the outstretched arms of Jesus Christ,” “In many ways people think going to church on Sunday is a nice civilized thing to do but if we really start to grapple with these things, coming to church suddenly becomes revolutionary, world changing, one of the most dynamic things that could possibly happen. “ For instance, McLaren said, “That the gap between rich and poor is irrelevant to our faith, that is a crazy idea.” “If this doesn’t get embodied in our churches we miss as huge opportunity to address serious problems,” he said. “Secondly we will start losing a good reason for the younger generation to come to church if we don’t leverage our faith and action and love in a sensible way toward these really catastrophic crises.” Oregon visitors and natives played various roles within the service. Sharon Weldon, of West Linn, read Scripture. Oblation bearer included Kate Hundley, a native of Bandon who works as a project manager in conservator’s office at Washington National Cathedral. Bishop Itty was accompanied by Barbara Collins, executive assistant for the Oregon diocese; Canon Lanny Collins, canon for finance and administration; and the Rev. Canon Jonathan Weldon, canon to the ordinary. “It was a wonderful and festive service,” the bishop said afterwards. “The Cathedral is a wonderful place of gathering. I am very thankful to have this place to call our spiritual home as a nation.” The St. Paul’s Church choir maximized its weekend in the nation’s capital through a series of performances. On Saturday it sang at the Basilica at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, while on Sunday morning it performed at St. Columbus Episcopal Church in Washington. Klemme said the trip was four years in the making, and the choir conducted “intensive rehearsal” for six months. Choir section leaders included David and Barry Nelson, and Nicole Kent.
ATTN PRINT MEDIA: If you desire e-mail transmission of this account and/or photos sent as JPEG attachments please contact Elizabeth Mullen at the number above. Available on the website are print-quality photos of Washington National Cathedral (’Photos for Print” under ’News” at www.cathedral.org/cathedral). | |