Below you can find a message from the Very Rev. Pamela. These are sent out most Fridays in our newsletter. Published September 12, 2025.

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Message from the Very Rev. Pamela from Sep 12, 2025:

Dear Ones,

Yesterday marked 24 years since the terrible events of September 11, 2001. As you know from my sermon last Sunday, I truly believe that times of disaster and tragedy can also be times of renewal, resilience, and solidarity. And I also believe that a necessary part of the healing we need in our country and communities is truth telling. We must find ways to acknowledge the gravity of our situation and the ways we are all implicated in it.

This Sunday both our services will begin with an Order of Penitence, something we usually do during Lent. This time the liturgy is adapted from resources provided by the Episcopal Church for the Season of Creation, to which I added a petition concerning the violence that is rampant in our country today. Ecological awareness and theology have both helped me see that our interconnectedness extends to our areas of disease, as well as health. Whether we are addressing the climate crisis, the gun violence epidemic, or hatred directed against marginalized groups, we are addressing the same underlying moral disorder, systemic injustice, and what our Prayer Book calls “the spiritual forces of wickedness” and “the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God.”

Once again, clergy will also be wearing orange stoles, a symbol of solidarity with all who have been victims of gun violence. While this week saw the assassination of one prominent voice on the political stage, it also saw yet another school shooting with casualties. What is nearly incomprehensible to me is that this wasn’t an anomaly; according to a September 5 posting by the Gun Violence Archive, “the United States has now reached 10,000+ fatal shootings this year—an approximate average of 40 gun deaths per day.” There are no words for how tragic, how simply wrong, this is. We must do better.

Acts of penitence are always followed by absolution, which we hope can lead to reconciliation and new life. Let us pray that what we practice in our liturgy we can live out in the rest of our lives, as we place our trust in a God who loves us, who grieves with us, and who is always making all things new.

Blessings and peace,

Pamela+

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