Harrison’s Snow Report from the Green

& the 3rd Sunday after the Epiphany

Dear Hearts,

Thanks to Sexton Sheward Hagerty’s day-long efforts with shovel and blower, and Gene Bishop’s visit with a snow plow, there’s clear access to every entrance at Christ Church. Thanks to the Town’s crews, the Church-Town Hall parking lot and the streets are clear from curb-to-curb. However, a dusting of snow continues to fall and no pavement is totally bare. Sheward will return to clear, salt and sand pathways as needed in the early morning. Nonetheless, I suspect you will still want to wear boots and need to be careful on Sunday.

The Octave (eight days) beginning with the Confession of St. Peter and ending with the Conversion of St. Paul (January 18 and 25 respectively) is kept in many Christian traditions – including our own – as the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. So, our cycle of prayer this week calls us to pray for ecumenical and inter-faith cooperation and shared witness. It might be helpful to remember that Peter and Paul were sometimes at odds with each other; so unity among Christians is neither automatic nor easy. That is probably one reason for Washington National Cathedral’s official name; chartered by Congress to be “A House of Prayer for All People,” its proper name is “The Cathedral of St. Peter & St. Paul.”

As you approach the Cathedral from Massachusetts Avenue, the two towers of the west façade rise before you. One tower honors St. Peter and the other honors St. Paul; you enter the Cathedral, and all its worship and witness, between them.

With our Roman Catholic and Congregational friends on the Green, we Episcopalians have long shared the Liturgy of the Palms on Palm Sunday; this last year we added a shared Blessing of the Animals in honor of St. Francis. Along the Shoreline, our shared witness includes a wider circle of traditions including Jewish, Unitarian-Universalist and other Christian traditions. Guilford Inter-faith Ministries – including the Food Bank, Meals on Wheels, Charlie’s Closet and Friendly Visiting – offer the larger community important services of care and concern. The Inter-faith Thanksgiving Service is an annual occasion when our faith communities worship together; last year we also commemorated the September 11^th Tenth Anniversary together with prayer, word and music.

I look forward to joining you tomorrow in prayer for all ecumenical and inter-faith cooperation and conversation, most especially our own in Guilford and along the Shoreline.

Blessings,

Harrison+

YFNR