Traveling to Stand in Solidarity with Standing Rock

Memorial to Chief Gall who invited
the Episcopal Church onto
Standing Rock

Last week, the Reverend John Floberg, the Episcopal priest serving on the North Dakota side of the Standing Rock reservation, issued a call to clergy across the country to join with him for an action against the proposed Dakota pipeline which crosses sacred Lakota lands, and threatens the water of the Standing Rock reservation.  This week, I will be traveling with over a dozen individuals, both lay and ordained, from the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts to join in this action.

St. Elizabeth's, Wakpala, SD
on Standing Rock

Standing Rock is a place I feel deep connection to.  I have been to the Standing Rock reservation several times.  My friend and mentor, the Rev. Robert Schwarz, served as the Episcopal priest on the South Dakota side of the reservation for a number of years.  Sara and my kids visited him and his wife Jean there, we had a chance to meet the people who lived there, and visited their churches.  Also, in seminary Sara and I had a classmate, Hal Clark, who was from Standing Rock. During our first year, he died suddenly, and dozens of people from the reservation traveled to New York for the funeral, and we hosted many, including the ceremonial drum in our one bedroom apartment for several days.

After the news last week of the escalating actions by officials against the Standing Rock Water Protectors, I was kept awake at night about how to respond from so far away. Hearing of peaceful protesters teargassed, shot with rubber bullets and violently arrested was deeply disturbing. I am aware of both of the environmental and human rights issues at play here - and also feel that this happening to people and a place I feel so connected to there must be a way to participate in taking action.  A colleague reached out to me and said she was interested in going, and Sara and I offered to fund her trip.  I asked my Bishop, Alan Gates, if he would also pay for someone to go if I could recruit them.  He said he would send two people.  It snowballed from there, and my Vestry said they would pay for me to go - so now a large delegation will be traveling from Boston to meet up with almost 400 others in Standing Rock.

Please keep us in prayer this week, and I will update this blog as the journey unfolds. Here is the sermon I preached on Sunday about deciding to go on this trip:

A Celebration of Rainbows, Medford’s Diversity, and the Perfection of God’s Creation

A Celebration of Rainbows, Medford’s Diversity, and the Perfection of God’s Creation

The following is an open letter from members of the Medford Interfaith Clergy Association in response to a Letter to the Editor from Pastor Thomas Michael, printed in the Transcript, Thursday, September 15, 2016.  This letter appeared in the September 22 Medford Transcript. 

Dear Mayor Burke and Medford Friends,

We are grateful for the affirmation of Medford’s LGBTQIA citizens represented by the rainbow banner hanging at City Hall. That positive act of support and pride was celebrated by all of us and many members of our congregations. In fact, we hope there will be an even larger rainbow banner next year! Thank you for this witness to our city’s commitment to justice and equality for all.

As seminary trained and denominationally ordained leaders of both Christian and Jewish faith communities in Medford we are compelled to offer an alternative perspective to that represented by Pastor Thomas Michael in his September 15 Letter to the Editor. While his letter presumes to speak for all “all sincere Bible believing Christians” and all “God-fearing taxpayers in Medford” we can assure you that it does not.

We are faith leaders who believe that all of God’s creation is made in God’s image. We affirm the wholeness of LBGTQIA persons and support the caring and loving relationships in which they may be engaged.

We are religious practitioners who are guided by scripture. We each do this in different ways through our varied traditions.  We each, though, have come to a similar conclusion of our support of the full inclusion of LBGTQIA persons in our faith communities and civic life.

Scripture tells us to “love kindness, seek justice and walk humbly with God.” (Micah 6:8). As such, we have learned not to attempt to speak for other representatives of our faith traditions. Together, we reject hate, work for justice and do our best to lead with love.

We pray, during this time of political division and tension in our community over difference and change, that our Medford neighbors know that we are here amongst you, praying and working unceasingly for the welfare of our city and the well-being of all of her people. We are here, loving God and loving you, our neighbors, all of our neighbors. May it be so for all and with all. May God bless you and keep you.

Rev. Dr. Maggie Arnold, Assistant Rector, Grace Episcopal Church

Rev. Gerald Bell, Pastor, Shiloh Baptist Church

Rev. Brenda Bennett, Pastor, Community Baptist Church

Rabbi Braham David, Rabbi, Temple Shalom

Rev. Dr. Dorothy Emerson, Unitarian Universalist

Rev. Noah Evans, Rector, Grace Episcopal Church

Rev. Tony-Jarek Glidden, Pastor, Community Methodist Church

Rev. Thomas Hathaway, Pastor, North Prospect Union Ujnited Church of Christ

Rev. David Kilpatrick, Pastor, West Medford Baptist Church

Rev. Wendy Miller Olapade, Lead Pastor, Sanctuary United Church of Christ

Rev. Lambert Rahming, Community Minister, Sanctuary United Church of Christ

Rev. Matthew Rasure, Pastor, First Baptist Church

Rabbi Talya Weisbard Shalem, Medford Resident and Rabbi

Green Burial in Medford

The movement to allow "Green Burials" at Oak Grove Cemetery is moving forward.  This is an important effort to provide this option in our city for both cultural and environmental reason.  Read more about this movement here!

Local Press on Green Burials:

Medford City Council, local clergy want plan for green burials

Medford resident requests space for natural burial at Oak Grove
GREEN BURIALS: Movement for natural burial gathers steam across U.S., Massachusetts
Members of the Medford Interfaith Clergy sent the following letter to the Trustees of Oak Grove Cemetery:

Medford Interfaith Clergy
c/o the Reverend Noah H. Evans
Grace Episcopal Church
160 High Street Medford, MA 02155

February 15, 2016

James McDevitt, Chair, Oak Grove Cemetery Board of Trustees
Stacie Clayton, Vice Chair, Oak Grove Cemetery Board of Trustees
Susan Dee, Oak Grove Cemetery Board of Trustees

Dear Members of Oak Grove Cemetery Board of Trustees:

We write to you today as the faith leaders of the City of Medford, the people who are often given the privilege and responsibility at presiding at the funeral and burials of many people in Oak Grove cemetery. Oak Grove is a beautiful cemetery and truly an important part of the spiritual and religious fabric of our City. We are aware that for a number of reason the practice of “green burial” has been brought to your attention. We are writing you today in encouragement and support of the Board of Trustees of Oak Grove Cemetery developing practices and policies which will allow this to happen at Oak Grove.

Though we understand that green burial is not the right choice for all people, we believe that the practice of green burial values the importance of care for the earth that is present in many of our individual religious traditions and would be a faithful choice for members of our community. As you know, green burial does not put toxins into the earth as embalming does; nor release toxins into the atmosphere as cremation does, rather, green burial allows for the body to decompose naturally, unlike the embalmed body placed inside a vault or liner. Therefore, green burial promotes the preservation of unpolluted land and conservation land as well. Green burial allows for the person's last wish to be a gift to the earth, because it does not pollute the land or atmosphere. We believe that green burial is a respectful way to handle the dead.

We understand that this is a traditional practice for burial, though it is only recently being reclaimed in the United States. We hope that your deliberations about the best ways to accommodate green burial at Oak Grove can move forward swiftly and in a timely fashion.

Please know that we are all available to continue to support your efforts.

Thank you.
Peace,

Rev. Tess Baumberger, Unitarian Universalist Church of Medford
Rev. Brenda Bennett, Community Baptist Church, Medford
Rev. Wendy Miller Olapade, Sanctuary UCC, Medford
Rev. Tony Jarek-Glidden, Community Methodist Church, Medford
Rev. Gerald Bell, Shiloh Baptist Church, Medford
Rev. Matthew Rasure, Frist Baptist Church, Medford
Rev. Noah H. Evans, Grace Episcopal Church, Medford

Cc: Stephen Brogan, Superintendent, Oak Grove Cemetery
Stephanie M. Burke, Mayor of Medford
Mark Rumley, Medford City Solicitor
Medford City Council

Grace Episcopal Church on the "A Small Good Thing" blog

Grace Episcopal Church was recently featured on the blog of the film we recently screened, A Small Good Thing.  Read more about it here: GRACE EPISCOPAL CHURCH: ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP AND THE POWER OF COMMUNITY

Why I Give

I wrote this reflection for the October 2015 Grace Church Newsletter

In the Episcopal Church, members of the congregation are asked each year to make a pledge of what they plan to give to the Church for the entire coming year. At Grace Church we do this in late October to early November, with special events and mailings during this time. For some people, especially for those new to the Episcopal Church, making a pledge may be a new experience.

Why do I make a pledge each year?

First, in pledging I am supporting the parish community to which I belong, and its mission. Grace Church is a self-supporting parish; we as a community have to support our shared work. By making a pledge, I am giving the Vestry and parish leadership the ability to plan for the ministry of the parish in the coming year. By making a financial pledge, I am also saying that I support and want to be part of the mission of the parish. Each year that I have been at Grace Church, I have more and more deeply come to believe that what we do together is the work of God.  Part of God’s work to care, to serve and to welcome all at God’s table.  That’s something I want to be a part of.  So I give.

Second, pledging is a spiritual discipline. Giving is a discipline that people of faith have practiced for millennia. Spiritual disciplines are acts that we choose to do not because we always feel like it or want to, but because they are part of our commitment to God, to each other, and to ourselves. Pledging helps us to know that all that we have, things material and spiritual, is a gift from God. By giving generously, we thank God for God's loving care for our lives, and we dedicate what we have been given to God’s purposes. Giving is a practice of thanksgiving that over time makes us even more grateful for the abundance of God’s grace in our lives. It opens our hearts to the awareness that all life is a wondrous gift. Over the last few years, my wife Sara and I have come to learn how we can build our own family budget around our giving. It has taken time to get there, adjusting our budget each year, but now we tithe.  We give 10% of our income away.  We give about 1/3 of that tithe to Grace Church through our Annual and Capital Campaign pledged.  We give about 1/3 to my wife’s church, Christ Church in Waltham, through Annual and Capital Campaign pledges and about 1/3 to other causes and needs that are important to us.  Giving is an important part of our lives, and something we try to teach and demonstrate to our children as well.  This discipline helps to remind us on a daily basis that all that we have and do is truly a gift from God.  Our giving helps us to know more deeply to grace God has given us all. 

My prayer is that pledging will bring you the joy it brings my family and me.  My prayer is that it can bring you a greater awareness of God’s grace in your life.   And it is my hope that you will join me in supporting the work of this amazing community and church! 

Please think and pray about how you can be part of God’s generosity in your pledging and giving to Grace Church this year.  And look for a stewardship packet in the mail in the coming weeks, and reflect with us on our giving during our month of stewardship events.  Thank you for all you give to our ministry and work together!

Peace,

The Rev. Noah H. Evans, Rector

Celebrating 'Eid al-Fitr

This is reprinted from the Grace Episcopal Church Blog

On Friday, July 17, our Muslim brothers and sisters all over the world celebrated 'Eid al-Fitr, the holy day marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. On Sunday, July 19, several Muslims from the Bangladeshi Islamic Center of Massachusetts took time out of their festivities to attend Grace Church's 9:00am Eucharist service, joining us afterwards for coffee hour and homemade Bangladeshi sweets traditionally served during Ramadan. The Bangladeshi Muslim community of Medford, Somerville, and the surrounding area has been praying each evening in our parish hall throughout the thirty nights of Ramadan. In his sermon, the Rev. Noah Evans shared about the moving moment in his office when the leaders of the prayer group expressed just how meaningful it had been for their community to finally have a space to gather and pray. That moment, Noah explained, made him a better Christian, just as the experience of providing hospitality to our Muslim neighbors has been a beautiful opportunity for our church to grow more fully into our Christian faith. 

Dr. Mawdudr Rahman, whose vision initially created the Muslim prayer group in downtown Boston that has been praying at St. Paul's Cathedral on Tremont St. for over three decades, spoke to our parishioners about why his faith inspires him to reach out in peace to Christians. The Muslim, Christian, and Jewish faiths are all of the same Abrahamaic root and we share a great-great-great-grandfather in the Prophet Abraham, Dr. Rahman reminded us. Dr. Anwarul Hasan, the President of the Bangladeshi Islamic Center of Massachusetts, helped us understand how the central practices of Ramadan--fasting and obligatory charitable donations--are spiritual practices of solidarity with the starving and impoverished of the world. He stated that we all have a moral obligation to reduce the growing divide between the have and have-nots of the world, especially when so much of humanity goes to bed hungry. 'Eid al-Fitr, the festival at the end of Ramadan, was declared by Prophet Muhammed to be a day when no person in the world should ever have to beg for food. 

In answering questions from parishioners about Ramadan and Islam, Noah and the two Muslim leaders emphasized how important it is for Americans to recognize media bias surrounding individual acts of hatred and terrorism prepetrated by radical and disturbed Muslims, such as the recent shooting that killed six in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The leaders explained that we must consider them to be individual acts by people intent on using religion to further their own agenda, the same way we might consider domestic terrorism by Christians to be unrelated or anti-thetical to the true Christian message. Dr. Anwar urged each of us to use our voices to call for peace and an end to division, even when it might seem that voices calling for violence are amplified in the media. 

Most of all, the celebration was infused with a overwhelming sense of immense gratitude. We as Grace Church are very grateful to get to know our Muslim neighbors in a new way and to share a piece of our faith with them in our service and fellowship afterward. We greatly look forward to continuing in partnership with the Bangladeshi community throughout the year. 

Grace Episcopal Church, Medford Celebrates Marriage Equality

Grace Episcopal Church, Medford Celebrates Marriage Equality 

Grace Episcopal Church in Medford celebrates the arrival of the right for all people to marry across the country and in the Episcopal Church.  After the June 26th Supreme Court’s ruling granting marriage rights to all people across the United States, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, voted July 1 to make the canonical and liturgical changes to provide marriage equality for all Episcopal Churches across the United States.  For a number of years, Bishops of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts have allowed clergy, including those from Grace Church, to solemnize same-sex marriages within the Diocese.

Grace Episcopal Church in Medford celebrates these long awaited civic and religious rights being extended to all people.  In a sermon celebrating marriage equality the Sunday after the Supreme Court ruling, Grace Church Rector, the Reverend Noah Evans, told the story of Supreme Court plaintiffs Jim Obergefell and John Arthur and “how the seeds of change came from the love found in the relationship between these two men.  It shows us how love grows to change the world…God’s love wins.”  In a statement after the Supreme Court ruling, Massachusetts Episcopal Bishops Alan Gates and Gayle Harris described marriage equality in an official statement as “A thing to be celebrated.”

Lucia Page, Grace Church Warden (senior lay leader) said, “…the Episcopal Church's passing of marriage equality is the formal ratification of what our church already actively practices and preaches. It's a community that's truly welcoming of all, and proudly proclaims its belief that all marriages and families matter - that my marriage and my family matter. The announcement further strengthens my faith in God, and makes me so proud to be part of my religious community.”  The Rev. Dr. Maggie Arnold, Grace Church Assistant Rector stated, “It is a profound honor to be able to serve all of our members more fully, with the pastoral office of marriage. I am so glad to be part of a church that seeks and serves Christ in all persons.”

Grace Episcopal Church in Medford, located at 160 High Street, is a dynamic, vibrant and welcoming community that is the spiritual home to a diverse congregation of over 200 families with different racial, social, ethnic, cultural, family and religious backgrounds.  All are welcome to join in the life of its community.