July 2020 St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church 82 Kimberly Drive, Durham, NC 27707 From the Rector Dear Parish Family and Friends, of the moment and toward God. Two good ways to do that are (1) to read a little meditation such as those found in The Summer Solstice (June 21) is now behind us and we Forward Day by Day (available in booklet form through the are in the heart of the summer season. July begins with a church office or online at https:// very special observance. On Sunday July 5 we will cele- prayer.forwardmovement.org) or (2) to subscribe to one of brate the anniversary of the very first service at St. Ste- the many email lists that sends a verse of scripture or a lit- phen’s, held on July 5, 1959. After the diocese approved tle thought at the same time each day (see our weekly par- the formation of St. Stephen’s as a mission congregation, ish emails for suggestions). the fledgling community gathered in an open space at 82 Kimberly Drive for a service conducted by The Rev. John Travel can problematic at the moment for obvious reasons, Davis, the new vicar, who would become the first rector but one can always travel though videos, movies, the Inter- when we were granted parish status about two years later. net, and, especially, through books. I received an email from a parishioner recently that was really a chain of pho- It was an exciting time as families, many of whom had tographs people had forwarded to one another, showing been members at St. Philip’s downtown, finally gathered what they could see from their front window. It was re- closer to home. St. Luke’s had been formed a little over a markable – everything from breathtaking landscapes to gor- year before, and it was a time of growth and change geous sunsets to high-rise apartment blocks to trash bins. throughout the Episcopal Church. We are blessed today, The latter was particularly poignant, as the elderly writer some 61 years later, to have a few of our founding mem- had appended an explanation that, while it was all she bers and several of their children still among us. We will could see from her window, it was because her children had give thanks and acknowledge the debt we owe to those taken her into their small home so that she would not be faithful who came before us, and rededicate ourselves to alone during this time of pandemic, and how very grateful the furtherance of God’s work through the church, and in she was to be with them. particular here at St. Stephen’s. Please join us for this spe- cial celebration, and also for our annual observance of In- Finally, I am grateful to Bishop Rodman for his willingness dependence Day, this year featuring the National Anthem to continue my appointment at St. Stephen’s through the played by the Marine Corps Band! end of the year, and to so many of you for your expressions of appreciation and support. The extra three months will We are pressing forward with our continued development give us time to make sure things are in order when I depart. of programs and opportunities to connect more deeply with It also seems fitting both to recover time unexpectedly redi- one another and with God, even while we are constrained rected to other things by the emergence of the pandemic, from gathering in person. One of the most helpful things and also to close out the calendar year. for us, whether young or old, is to order our lives in such a way that our daily and weekly schedules can carry us along Keep the faith, share the joy, and see you in (virtual) with a regularity that gives rhythm to our lives and a meas- church! ure of comfort to our souls. Daily prayers are an important part of that rhythm. They need not take long, but prayer or meditation is a way to be mindful of God’s presence and Faithfully, care, and so They need not take long, but prayer or media- tion is a way to be mindful of God’s presence and care, and so require turning our conscious minds away from the cares Stephen’s Window July 2020 From the Priest-in-Residence Dear Friends, the news of damage and death to the family in the waiting room; they whom You know, each and every one, glorious Last month I wrote you about a conference I attended via and lovely in their greens and blues and rainbow cloth- Zoom, which included a life-giving process of self- ing; they who are You in every tender touch and quiet evaluation. I shared with you the standards presented to us friendly gentle murmured remark; they who are the best in hopes that you might also find them engaging and help- of us; bless them always and always Mercy; for they are ful. This month I want to share with you one more re- the clan of calm and the tribe of tender, and I bow in source I discovered from that conference, one that might thanksgiving for them. And so: amen. also nourish and sustain you. It is “A Book of Uncommon Prayer: 100 Celebrations of Faithfully, the Miracle and Muddle of the Ordinary,” by Brian Doyle. Our conference leader began one of our mornings by read- ing from Doyle’s book. He chose one of the 100 reflec- tive, stream of consciousness prayers entitled, “Prayer in Thanks for Decent Shoes.” It began: Do we take them for granted? Of course we take them for Celebrate the Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray granted. We don them, slip them on, shuffle into them, doff them, toss them, kick them to the back of the closet, and It has become a tradition to celebrate the feast of the Rev. never not once do we say, o Coherent Mercy, thank you for Dr. Pauli Murray on July 1. St. Titus', Durham, has host- the skins and wood and cloth that keepeth our feet from the ed this gathering in recent years, and this year the tradi- flinty earth, that swaddleth our flippers and protecteth our tion continues. toes, that allow us to wander briskly without (a) tearing the pads of our feet to shreds in thorny bristle and granite Though we cannot gather in person for the celebration, dagger and (b) losing various toes to steamrollers and ar- St. Titus' has gathered service participants and is offering rogant bicyclists and testy rattlesnakes and spinning crick- an online celebration on Wednesday, July 1 at 7p.m. The et bats and such. service will include music, a sermon by the Rev. Hershey Mallette Stevens, the Rt. Rev. Anne Hodges-Copple, I was so engaged by what one reviewer, Mary Oliver, Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of North Carolina as called Doyle’s “passion for the human, touchable daily celebrant, and a special video presentation by the Pauli life, and equally for the untouchable mystery of all else,” Murray Project of Durham. that I ordered a copy on line. Picking it up and meditating on Doyle’s agile prose, I find it easy to agree with Ms. Oli- We invite you to join us in celebration of this amazing ver that, “His gratitude, his sweet lyrical reaching, is a gift North Carolina saint. The service will be shared on Face- to us all.” book on July 1 at 7p.m.and can be viewed on the St.Titus', Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina and the Here is a “Prayer of Awed Thanks for Nurses,” particular- Pauli Murray Project Facebook pages. If you are not ly relevant in this time of COVID 19: available to join us as the event happens, you can still enjoy the service on the diocesan Vimeo channel. Witnesses, attendants, bringers of peace; brilliant tech- nical machinists; selfless cleaners of all liquids no matter how horrifying; deft finders of veins when no veins seem available; soothers and calmers and amusers; tireless and patient and tender souls; brisk and efficient when those tools are to keep despair at bay; those with prayers in their mouths as their patients slide gently through the mysteri- ous gate, never to return in a form like the shriveled still one in the bed; feeders and teasers, mercies and singers; they who miss nothing with their eyes and ears and fingers and hearts; they who are not saluted and celebrated and worshipped as they ought to be; they who are the true ad- ministrators of hospitals and clinics, for it is they who have their holy hands on the brows and bruises of the broken and frightened; they who carry the new infants to their sobbing exhausted thrilled mothers; they who must carry July 2020 2 Stephen’s Window Christian Education and Programming To the St. Stephen’s family: The story of Moses and the burning bush is one of my favorites. I’ve been spending some more time with it lately in preparation for an adult formation program. There has been quite a bit of writing about just the bush itself, especially among the rabbis and later, writers in the early Church. What kind of bush was it? What does it represent? Several translations specify it as a “thorn bush.” Now the Hebrew word is quite rare, so it’s not altogether clear what kind of bush it was. But out of that tradition comes a powerful reflection. The general idea among some rabbis was that when God’s people suffer, God also suffers.