Dear Friends,
Like many last Wednesday, I was mesmerized by the sight of 22-year-old Amanda Gorman, inaugural National Poet Laureate of 2017, reading her poem ‘The Hill We Climb’ and I marveled even more when I discovered that it was poetry that had helped her overcome a speech impediment of many years. I loved the passage from the poem quoted above – of entering into the past in order to change the future. Significantly, Gorman precedes those thoughts with a reference to one of George Washington’s favorite lines from the Bible, Micah 4:4, which is the culmination of a prophecy of hope and restoration:
‘It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the LORD
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be raised up above the hills;
and peoples shall flow to it,
and many nations shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
and we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between many peoples,
and shall decide for strong nations afar off;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.’ (Micah 4:1-3)
In the Christian tradition, we enter into our past not just through reflecting on church history or patristic theology, but through the liturgy and, in particular, through the reading of the Bible. Making connections between sacred text and today’s world helps us on our spiritual journey. Sometimes those connections may seem tenuous, and sometimes out of kilter with the modern world. However, entering deeply into our tradition helps us grapple with the same questions that we find in the Hebrew Scriptures, in the teachings of Jesus, and in the life of the infant Church. That is why we still read the scriptures sequentially at the Daily Office – even the portions of scripture that are clearly from a very different age. Some of those passages give us the same hope as they did when they were first written; they help us through difficult times to press on by reflecting on the past but living in that same hope. Micah’s amazing prophecy of beating swords into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks suggests that those who were once estranged will eventually become farmers! And once they have done that, there is time to rest under the shade of vines and fig trees for there will be no grounds for fear or mistrust.
This week, the first cohort of boys returned to school and, like all other schools, we are following strict protocols during the pandemic. We follow the advice of the Department of Health and the Department of Education to the letter, and the gym has become a new Song School where the boys can practice at a safe distance while wearing masks. As we found when the boys went to Connecticut, they are delighted to be back in each others’ company. I must pay tribute to the extraordinary hard work of Ms. Francisco, the Housemothers, and the Faculty who have worked so hard to ensure that everything is right for the boys’ return and that the boys can continue to grow and flourish. The boys will be singing a limited number of services in the next few weeks, beginning with Evensong on Sunday.
Sadly, they will not be able to sing with the gentlemen. A number of boys wrote lovely cards at Christmas but this one sums up the sentiments of many of them: “Thank you for the care-package. It made me miss school even more, and I really look forward to the day we can go back.”
A Prayer for our Parish and School
Almighty and everliving God, ruler of all things in heaven
and earth, hear our prayers for this parish family and its choir school.
Strengthen the faithful, arouse the careless, and restore the penitent.
Grant us all things necessary for our common life, and bring
us all to be of one heart and mind within thy holy Church;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
May God continue to bless us and keep us.
The Rev. Canon Carl F. Turner,
Rector
