Parish news
St. John’s celebrates 400 years.
(Hampton, Virginia, July 14, 2010) On Saturday, July 10, 2010, while downtown Hampton, Virginia was crowded with visitors, vendors and more than a thousand community members, a special group of people gathered in the heart of the festivities for another celebration: The 400th Anniversary of St. John’s Episcopal Church. St. John’s Episcopal Church, the oldest continuous English speaking parish in the United States, was established in 1610 at the founding settlement of Kecoughtan. The deep roots started here was something to commemorate!
The weekend-long celebration was a joint event that combined the City of Hampton’s anniversary with St. John’s Episcopal Church’s 400th anniversary. More than 350 St. John’s parishioners and guests from the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia and across the Episcopal Church gathered at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in the heart of downtown Hampton on Saturday as part of the weekend celebration. Special guests included the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts-Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Rt. Rev. Herman Hollerith, IV, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia, and retired bishop of the Diocese of Delaware, the Rt. Rev. C. Cabell Tennis who grew up in Hampton attending St. John’s.
During the St. John’s dinner event the rich history of the church was shared through youth and adults who performed a program of time travel to various times in the church’s past. Included were visit’s with the first rector of St. John’s, the Rev. William Mease in 1610, the Rev. William Selden in 1710, Mrs. Jane Barron Hope, whose words inspired the restoration of the church following the War of 1812 and Mr. Jacob Heffelfinger, a Union soldier who later became a leading citizen of Hampton and vestryman of St. John’s Church, serving into the early 1900s. Ian Edgar and Grace Bowen played the teenage travelers who shared the changes and growth of the church and of society in Hampton, Virginia.
“Thee are the rector of St. John’s?” questioned almost all the performers to the Rev. Donna-Mae Siderius, rector of St. John’s who played herself in the play. The audience laughed and applauded as the first female Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church smiled.
The play was inspired by author and St. John’s parishioner James Tormey who wrote the popular book, “How Firm a Foundation” which tells the 400 year story St. John’s church, commonly referred to as a community icon.
Presiding Bishop Jefferts-Schori along with bishops Hollerith and Tennis led the Eucharist service the following day at St. John’s. The sanctuary and parish house that morning were filled with more than 400 congregants whose voices could be heard on the street by any passersby walking on the sunny day in Hampton. The exquisite, yet simple, communion silver used was the original silver from 1618 and has the longest history of use in America of any English church silver.
Presiding Bishop Jefferts-Schori’s sermon began: “I am very grateful for lawyers.” She refers to the future lawyers mentioned in James Tormey’s history of the church, to the lawyers in the day’s lectionary and to a story told of two boys from St. John’s, one who was trained as a lawyer before becoming a bishop and one “who produced one”. She talked of the Law of Moses and law as compassion, or mercy.
She reminded the congregation of the primary job of the original St. John’s vestry: “Taking care of the poor and the orphans, because this was understood to be one community.” She reminds the congregation that the “alms for mercy-giving came from the whole community”, and that “understanding of mercy is the reason for our existence” and she refers to the 400 years of history seen at St, John’s.
“We’ve gotten clearer over the centuries that the community includes lots of people we didn’t use to think were our neighbors,” Jefferts-Schori said to congregation. “Samaritans – those foreign infidels? Well, look at how merciful they can be. Early Christians weren’t sure that Gentiles were neighbors. Early American colonists weren’t sure about the slaves they imported, or the local residents they found when they landed. We still aren’t too sure about foreigners, or people of another sexual orientation. But Jesus keeps on saying, neighbor, neighbor, neighbor, mercy, mercy, mercy.”
Nowhere is the 400 years of growth that is the Episcopal Church more evident than at St. John’s Episcopal Church. Happy birthday, St. John’s!
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Read more: Below is a copy of the sermon delivered by the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts-Schori.
St. John’s, Hampton, VA
11 July 2010
400th anniversary, 10 am
The Most Rev Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church
I’m very grateful for lawyers. When I meet chancellors on my travels, I thank them for helping to keep bishops on the straight and narrow. They’re trained to think clearly and move to the heart of the matter at hand. They tend to ask very good questions.
James Tormey tells a story about future lawyers in his history of this parish. It relates to that same story you heard last night about Fr. Carter Harrison and his cabin. “Two young boys who had been troublesome to their Sunday school teacher were invited to his cabin where an appeal was made for their cooperation. One was Frank A. Edgar, Sr. who later became Senior Warden of St. John’s Church; the other was C. Cabell Tennis who later became Bishop of Delaware.”[1] Bp. Tennis trained as a lawyer, and Frank Edgar produced one. Some people think all lawyers are troublesome, even when they grow up, which is the origin of most lawyer jokes.
The readings this morning are filled with law and lawyers, who all get a good report. Law is at the heart of what Moses is telling his people. ‘God will delight in you when you observe the law, because you turn toward him with your heart and mind and soul.’ And it’s not so hard, says Moses, ‘the word of the law is so close at hand it’s in your heart and on your tongue.’
The two lawyers in this morning’s gospel ask important and probing questions, like any two effective courtroom attorneys. The other lawyer and Jesus have at it with their questions: “What do I have to do to inherit eternal life?” What is written in the law? What do you read there?” We hear the same answer that Moses gave, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” That is the heart of God’s law, and as another early rabbi (Hillel) said, all the rest is commentary.
Jesus’ parable about the Samaritan is a powerful piece of commentary. It moves us from an intellectual response to law to understanding that law as compassion, or mercy. The punch line of the parable says that loving our neighbors means showing mercy, or being mercy – becoming mercy incarnate.
That’s a fascinating word, mercy. We actually say it a lot around here – Lord, have mercy, Kyrie eleison, Christ have mercy, christe eleison. Eleos, the Greek word, has nuances of meaning like blessing, generosity, compassion, and even rescue, kindness, and strength.[2] Alms (giving) comes from the same root. In English, mercy has its origins in an Etruscan word, that lies behind the Latin, merc, from which we get all those commercial words, merchandise, mercantile, merchant. It means “exchange” or “connection.” The Latin and Spanish version, misericordia, means a compassionate heart.
When we talk about the law of the gospel, do we mean rescue, blessing, connection, or compassion? When we try to live the law of the gospel, is that what we exemplify?
There’s a trend in Christianity, and indeed, in all religious traditions, to concretize the law, to set it out in details and requirements. That’s what Jesus confronts over and over again. We all have a tendency to say, ‘well I just have to do X and that will be enough.’ But the response over and over again, is that it’s not about limits or details, it’s about making mercy and compassion real.
The two guys on the Jericho road who ignore the robbery victim do so out of righteous, religious expectations. They’re afraid that he’s already dead, and if they slow down long enough to find out, they’ll be polluted and unable to observe their other religious obligations. Have you ever avoided somebody because he smelled bad or had been drinking, or just looked a bit odd? There are plenty of Christians who want to dictate the terms on which others should be Christian, and often won’t associate with them if they don’t comply – like alcohol users, people who’ve been divorced, smokers, or even as I discovered in Liberia, women who wear pants to church. Jesus’ response to all such attitudes is along the lines of, ‘well, if you want to talk about purity in terms of obeying all the little laws, well, forget it – you’re all filthy. But let’s talk about the law of compassion. That’s what God is really interested in.’
The history of this parish is enthralling. In the early years everybody was required to go to church – this one. People who were found guilty of staying away had to pay fines – in so many pounds of tobacco. Apparently, other interesting things were going on at the same time as church – like horse racing or pirate festivals. We have never been able to legislate holiness, because holiness and compassion come from inside, not by imposing laws from the outside.
The law of compassion is born out of a transformed heart. That’s why we’re all here, and it’s why St. John’s is still here. There’s still work to do, inside and outside this building. This congregation is here to hold up the reality of merc – that we are all connected, and that if we love ourselves we’re meant to love everybody else, because we are all connected. St. John’s is actually here to make that kind of lawyer – people who do mercy.
The details of the law are important, but they’re not the easy details like what sort of people we’re supposed to be merciful to. They’re the incarnate details of answering the person in front of us with the kind of mercy that s/he most needs. The details of our connectedness have to do with the details of our lives. That guy on the road to Jericho needed food, shelter, and a bed in which he could recover from his beating. He also needed to know that somebody cared about him.
The details of the law are of immense importance. Hungry or thirsty – mercy looks like food and drink. Nakedness needs clothing. Prisoners need visitors and justice. The sick need healing, even the minimal sort called “health care.” Migrants – those people the Bible calls aliens and sojourners – need hospitality.
We’re all meant to be the sort of lawyer who can answer the big question, “Who is my neighbor?” and then go and become mercy to that neighbor.
Do you know what the primary job of the first vestry was in this place? Taking care of the poor and the orphans, because this was understood to be one community. It’s also why everybody was supposed to come to church, and why everybody here was taxed. The alms for mercy-giving came from the whole community. That understanding of mercy as the reason for our existence has 400 years of history here. It goes back to the earliest strands of our Judeao-Christian tradition, and it represents the best of the founding insights of this nation. We’ve gotten clearer over the centuries that the community includes lots of people we didn’t use to think were our neighbors. Samaritans – those foreign infidels? Well, look at how merciful they can be. Early Christians weren’t sure that Gentiles were neighbors. Early American colonists weren’t sure about the slaves they imported, or the local residents they found when they landed. We still aren’t too sure about foreigners, or people of another sexual orientation. But Jesus keeps on saying, neighbor, neighbor, neighbor, mercy, mercy, mercy.
Will you be a lawyer, a gospel lawyer? It’s an honorable profession.
[1] How Firm a Foundation, James Tormey, 2009 p 128.
[2] Jennifer Lord, Christian Century 29 June 2010 p 19
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All Saint’s Episcopal Church works to Stop Hunger Now
SOUTH HILL – Nearly 50 individuals gathered to package 10,000 meals to distribute to developing countries through the Stop Hunger Now Meal Packing Program at All Saint’s Episcopal Church on June 5. After members of the church volunteered their time for a worthy cause of meals equaling $2,500, All Saints pastor, Father James Medley said the event was based on a commitment voted on by his members.
“All Saints has embarked on a year of mission in ministry,” Medley said. “We are exploring what God is calling for us to do, basically what our mission in ministry is in the community outside of these walls of the church.”
Medley said the idea came about after the vestry voted to participate in The Stop Hunger Now program.
“One of the things the vestry decided to do in its mission in ministry was to address hunger on a global scale as well as a local scale,” said All Saints member Robin Allen. “Essentially we paid 25 cents per meals to buy the products and materials and we volunteered our time for roughly four hours. It was such an uplifting day.”
Allen said since Stop Hunger Now addresses starvation of developing countries, church members would also like to volunteer their time locally by working with The Bread Box in South Hill. She added due to the history of the organization, The Bread Box is very dear to the church’s heart.
Stop Hunger Now is an international hunger relief organization designed to coordinate the distribution of food and other life-saving aid around the world. To schedule an event through a nearby location visit www.stophungernow.org/locations.
Reprinted with permission from the South Hill Enterprise
Article by Kristina Ogburn
kristina@southhillenterprise.com
Parishioners from Hickory Neck, Toano reach out to help the people of Haiti.
Many parishes in Southern Virginia are working hard, reaching into their pocketbooks and striving the find ways to help the people in Haiti who are living today without food, water or a place to live. The Reverend Michael Delk, rector of Hickory Neck invited the Rev. Lauren Stanley, who was recently posted as an Episcopal missionary to Haiti, to join Hickory Neck in Toano on Saturday, January 16 for a special service and fundraiser. During the devastating earthquake, Mother Lauren was in the United States, luckily, on her annual fundraising tour.
During Mother Lauren’s special visit, a memorial Requiem Eucharist was held to pray for those who died, for those who mourn, and for those who are trying to survive this disaster. The parishioners and guest who attended the Requiem gave generously to a special offering for the relief of the Haitian people. Mother Lauren’s presence, as our senior missionary in Haiti, proved very powerful and Hickory Neck alone raised more than $12,000 for the people of Haiti.
“The recovery effort in Haiti will continue for years,” writes Rev. Delk in a letter to his parishioners. “For many decades prior to this earthquake, Haiti was consistently the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, a victim of brutal colonialism, and more recently afflicted by political instability and civil strife. The already sparse functioning infrastructure they had has largely been destroyed. The potential for further loss of life from starvation, disease, and violence is great.”
While the needs are expansive and will continue for years to come, we give thanks to the efforts of Mother Lauren, Hickory Neck Episcopal Church, the Episcopal Relief and Development and many others who are working to help those in need in Haiti. If you are interested in contributing to the needs of the people in Haiti, please go to the website for Episcopal Development and Relief at www.er-d.org.