Cathedral Connection

In this country we have made many strides in terms of our racial and slave owning/trading past, and we still see vestiges of that past in our current daily life.  The ghosts appear in the educational achievement gaps among races in this country.  The ghosts appear in subtle and not so subtle ways in politics and religion.

Cognizant of how stories of the past can haunt current day life, the national church has called on all dioceses and parishes to reflect on their respective histories around issues of race.  It is a call both to see where strides have been made and where stories of the past may have been minimized, forgotten or never related.  It is not a call for hand wringing.  It is a call which recognizes that our stories can either haunt or redeem.  It is a call recognizing that things brought into the light, even if initially uncomfortable, ultimately become our paths to freedom. 

“Repairing the Breach”:  Stories which inform and free

In the months of March and April we will be exploring these issues and stories.  In the Adult Forum we will look at All Souls’ history with race.  We will hear stories of individual members who have been interviewed about this past.  We will hear stories of our diocesan and national church.  In addition, during our Thursday evening Lenten series we have invited as guest speaker Glenda McDowell, long time member of this diocese and participant in our diocesan program “Repairing the Breach.”  She has worked with the Mediation Center in Asheville for many years and will be speaking on how we find freedom by walking through, not around, our past.     

All of this supports our diocesan-wide work called “Repairing the Breach.” It is a work of parish reflection designed to name the ghosts and uphold the courageous, and in so doing find a way forth free from the things that haunt.

A Visit from the Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori

On Saturday, April 9 at 11 a.m. at Trinity Church, Asheville, Bishop Schori will preside at a diocesan service marking the work of “Repairing the Breach”.  It will be a time where we as a diocese offer the courageous and haunting moments of our diocesan life.  It will be a time to name where we have been and where we hope to live.  I heartily encourage all of you to be present for this liturgy.  It is a way in which we signify through our presence the importance of this work.
“A rabbi, a professor and an Episcopalian walk into a bar…”

Well actually they are walking into All Souls.  During our Thursday Lenten evening series, Rabbi Batsheva Meiri of Congregation Beth Ha Tephila, The Reverend Dr. Katherine Grieb, professor of New Testament at Virginia Seminary, Dr. Katherine Zubco, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at UNCA as well as Glenda McDowell will be guest speakers discussing reconciliation from their respective areas of work.  You will find further descriptions of this on the next page.

It takes a Community

“Thereby the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith.”  Ash Wednesday Liturgy
In his book, India’s Unending Journey, Mark Tully speaks of that country’s continued search to find balance and the integration of its past and current life.  He makes it clear this is a lifelong sojourn.  I believe that to be true in all areas of reconciliation.  The work is ongoing.  While that might give pause in regard to its unendingness, it also proclaims that the level of freedom we can find as a people is likewise unending.  May we recognize this “need which all Christians continually have…” not as a burden, but as a path to deep relationship and deeper freedom, with ourselves, with each other and with the One who creates and lives in and through us.

Blessed reconciliation,

Todd