A new video

Cynthia has put up on to YouTube a video which she has been working on for some time, and has finally gotten it to a place where she feels she can release it "to the public" so to speak. She shared an earlier version of it with her older students at the Marlboro School, and they really liked it. It is called Meeting Dr. King" and it features my son, John, myself, and videos and audio recordings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and it tells the story of a time in April, 1967, when John (who was six years old) and I met Dr. King in Providence, RI. I was a chaplain at Brown University at the time, and I had the opportunity to drive to the Providence airport, pick up Dr. King (and his colleague, Andrew Young) and bring them back to the Brown University campus where Dr. King was scheduled to address the Brown community the following morning. I took John with me, and this gave us the opportunity to be in the car with Dr. King for the 15-20 minute ride back to the campus - a rare opportunity and one we were very privileged to have. John has a vivid memory of Dr. King reaching back from the front seat and shaking his hand and giving him his full attention. Cynthia has done a great job of intertwining her interviews with John and me with still photos, videos of Dr. King and audio recordings of his speaking - one of us might be quoting something he said of importance to us, and then you are hearing Dr King speaking those very same words. If you want to see/hear the full video, you can go to this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxsgntirBhk.

Dr. King addressing a huge gathering on the Washington, D.C. Mall

John and me, a photo taken at Lake Winnipesaukee, NH, but at about the time we met Dr. King.

John, from the video

Me, from the video

Getting things done

Activity is definitely picking up as we move into warmer weather! I mentioned in my previous blog post that we went to Katie and Savanna's to keep Savanna company while Katie and Brendon went to New York City. We actually stayed late to watch the Celtics play the Nets - Savanna is sort of a Celtics fan - and we ended up being there when Katie and Brendon got home - close to 11:3op.m.! We didn't stay to hear a full report on their trip, but they had a good time. Brendon said he was tired and I guess Katie was too, but they were in good spirits. We slept pretty late the next morning but I did go into town to see if I could help Jerome. He wasn't at home at 11a.m., so I did some other things. I went to Richmond's Garage and had them install the part that fixed the loose bumper more permanently, and while they were at it, they fixed a rattle that had developed on our trip to Massachusetts - it was a broken exhaust pipe bracket; plus a loose heat shield. That took care of the rattle. I filled the gas tank ($55!!) and went down to Dr. Van Dyke's office to make an appointment to have my lungs checked out. I am experiencing some shortness of breath. She was there herself, and I have an appointment Monday. I went back and found Jerome at home, but not feeling well enough to shop. So I got some things for him. Today (Saturday), I worked on my service for tomorrow in Dummerston, but also found time to go to Shirley's grave and clean out old dead leaves. The jonquils are blooming beautifully - there are close to two dozen that came up this year. I looked for a ready-made pot of flowers to put on Betsey's grave but found nothing I liked at Walker's or Hannaford's. So I got two six-packs of pansies, and I'll plant them in a pot and take the pot over tomrorrow (hopefully).

Shirley's grave today after some cleaning out of old leaves

Our car on the lift at Richmond's Garage************************************** P.S. I just realized that today would have been the birthday of Shirley's mother, Florence Harris: she was born April 23, 1898. She would be 124 years old, if alive today!

Florence Langley Harris (at left) at age 16, with her twin sister, Grace, whose birthday is also today!

Keeping Savanna company

Ellen and I came down to Katie & Savanna's this morning to be with Savanna while Katie and Brendon enjoy a day-trip to NYC as a treat for Brendon for his Birthday, which was on Monday (he turned 17). Monday was also the anniversary of the birth and death of Frederick B. Tolles, Ellen's father (born April 18, 1915; died April 18, 1975). Katie and Brendon left early this morning and took the train to NYC. They'll get back late, late tonight. At the moment, I am with Savanna while Ellen is with Tamar - Tamar has a hair-dresser's appointment and needed a ride. It's a beautiful day, sunny and a bit on the cool side. I just had a nice walk - there is an untraveled road nearby called Leonard Road that makes a nice place to walk. I've been working on the service for next Sunday which I am leading at Dummerston. April 24th is Easter Sunday in the Eastern Orthodox churches, and I will be making that my theme and connecting in spirit with the people of Ukraine who will be observing Easter in the midst of death and destruction. I have never experienced Easter under conditions like Ukraine is expriencing right now and I can only try to imagine what that is like. Are some churches able to hold services? Will Easter bring hope? Or will despair be so powerful that it will crush all hope and faith? I'm thinking about those trapped in Mariupul, Ukraine. A press-release from the Vatican says, "Russia gave an Easter deadline for their (Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupul) surrender, saying those who put down their weapons were "guaranteed to keep their lives." However, major General Igor Konashenkov, the Russian Defense Ministry's spokesman, warned that "All those who will continue resistance will be destroyed."." The same release said that people could be seen praying in damaged and even destroyed churches in Ukraine. Here is a photo of the Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel in Mariupul:

I wonder if this church ediface has survived the bombing of Mariupul, which has destroyed much of the city? The decision of the Ukrainian Orthodox church three years ago to separate from the Moscow Patriarchate and become an "autocephalous" church angered Putin and the Russian Orthodox leaders and is thought to be part of the reason Putin has invaded Ukraine. So the proclamation of the Easter message is complicated by the politics of the church.

Ukrainian church leaders meeeting in December, 2018, to separate from the Moscow Patriarchate. But towering above all of this is the image of "Christ Pantocrator" (Christ the All-Powerful), which graces the dome of most Orthodox churches.

Will this image and what it represents survive?

Happy Easter Everyone!

Today we went to the Easter service at Dummerston, where I led the choir in singing William Billings' Easter Anthem. We had a small choir - 7 people plus Mary Westbrook at the piano - wore masks, and instead of clumping in the choir pews we sat in the congregation and came up to the front when we sang the anthem, spaced out at least 4 feet or more. We did not wear robes. The anthem went well, and the congregation was very appreciative to have a choir. After church, we delivered three Easter lilies from the church - one to 92-year-old Don Hazelton, one to Sally Perry and one to 95-year-old Althea McBean! Then we came home and had a little lunch; Ellen prepared some food for our trip to Katie & Savanna's for dinner, which is where we are right now. We are about to have our dinner!

Easter dinner: ham, scalloped potatoes, asparagus - YUM!!

Ellen and Brendon at the table

Don Hazelton

St. Matthew Passion

This afternoon (Saturday), Ellen and I have been listening to a recording of the entire St. Matthew Passion of J. S. Bach. It is something we have wanted to do for some time, and we actually found the time to do it. It is a dark and rainy afternoon, and it has been perfect sitting here by our cozy fireplace listening to beautiful music. It also has brought back memories, because we have listened to a 1999 recording of the Passion by the Blanche Moyse Chorale and New England Bach Festival Orchestra, led by Blanche Moyse. I was a member of the Chorale and am singing in this performance. It was my incredible privilege to sing all the major choral works of Bach many times under Blanche's direction for 30 years. This performance featured Hyunah Yu as soprano, Mary Westbrook-Geha, mezzo (Mary is now the organist at the Dummerston Church); John Shirley-Quirk, Jesus; Frederick Urrey, tenor; John Humphrey, Evangelist; and Sanford Sylvan, baritone. It brought us to tears several times. The tears have to do with the power of the music, the depth of the story behind it, and the memories of a world I inhabited back then that is lost to me now, but which I still remember vividly.

The Blanche Moyse Chorale - a picture made after Blanche had retired, and Mary Westbrook-Geha was our director. I'm at the end of the top row on the right.

Blanche Moyse

Mary Westbrook-Geha; an earlier publicity photo

John Shirley-Quirk, tenor

Sanford Sylvan, baritone.

A very different Holy Week this year

Thursday evening, the Guilford Church held it's Maundy Thursday service,6:30-7:30p.m., and yesterday, its Good Friday Service, Noon to 1p.m.. Ellen and I sang in the choir at both services. These events are at the core of the sacred story of our faith, and Pastor Elisa packed a great deal of meaning into both Services. We sang several moving anthems: e.g., Morning, What Wondrous Love is This? Kedron (from the Sacred Harp), and a Ukrsinian liturgical piece, Mnohaya Lita. At the Maundy Thursday service, both Ellen and I were readers. I read from the Johannine story of Jesus washing the disciples feet while Pastor Elisa took the role of Jesus and acted out the story. However, this service was differet from the one we have used for many years in Guilford, as was the Good Friday service. In past years, the Maundy Thursday service would begin with a Passover Seder meal downstairs, led by Margarfet Dale Barrand, and then would continue upstairs in the sanctury with communion and the Office of Tenebrae, i.e., a service in which there are several readings and a gradual extinguishing of candles/lights until the church is plunged into darkness. Then a single candle would be lit, symbolizing the light of the resurrectiom to come, and everyone would file out in silence. Margaret Dale died earlier this year, so there was no Seder. Actually, we missed both Margaret Dale and Tony tremendously this year. In past years we have also been invited to the Feinland Family Seder, but that did not happen this year - Ray Feinland died earlier this year. Good Friday was also different in the past: for years, decades even, there was an ecumenical Good Friday service based on the Seven Last Words of Christ, and seven different local churches would each take a word, and you would get to hear seven different preachers and a variety of music. That has not happened for two years because of the pandemic. Also, this year there is no Easter Sunrise Service in Guilford. However, there is one thing the same - I am leading the choir in William Billigs' Easter Anthem in Dummerston tomorrow, as I have done many times in the past. So time brings change, but there is still some live tradition.

Reading the Gospel of John at the Maundy Thursday Service, with Pastor Elisa.

Taxes Done!

Yay! I just inked my tax returns for 2021! I've been working on them off and on for the past couple of weeks, and yesterday I got serious about it and made a real push. Today, I had to bring the car down to Guilford to Richmond Auto so that Doug could install a new timing belt in the 2011 Impreza. Something that should have been done about 10,000 miles ago. I brought my tax forms with me, walked over to the Guilford Church - which is across the road from Richmond's - and took advantage of my waiting time to finish the forms in pencil and then ink them in. So I can easily get them into the mail before the April 18th deadline. Yesterday was Chicago Theological Seminary Reflections Day. The speaker was Stephanie Crowder, Prof. of New Testament and Dean of Academic Affairs. She is a "womanist" biblical scholar - i.e., she interprets the New Testament through the lens of being a black woman and mother. "Womanism" is different from "feminism." The term was coined, I think, by Alice Walker. At a certain point in the feminist movement, black female theologians realized that the feminist movement was made up almost entirely of white women, and that they didn't really speak for them authentically. Black women typically have very different experiences in life. Their "social position" is different both in respect to race and class. They are much more likely to be oppressed, and white women more likely to be priviledged. So the term "womanist" was coined to represent this different lens. I was first introduced to "womanist" thought when I was Pastor-in-Residence at CTS back in 1999-2001. The womanist theologian I remember most vividly was Delores S. Williams, a professor at Union Theological Seminary and author of Sisters in the Wilderness, which is a powerful study of the figure of Hagar in the Book of Genesis - along with Abraham and Sarah, of course. Prof. Williams does not pull any punches, especially when she deals with Abraham! Stephanie Crowder lives in that tradition, and her talk yesterday was a womanist interpretation of the COVID pandemic and the huge impact it has had on black women. She coined the term "MEdemic" to emphasize the fact that "pan" (which means "all") glosses over the tremendous differences in the way in which the COVID illness has impacted different individuals and groups. by using the term "Me"-demic she zeroed in on the stories of individuals. Potent stuff!

Dean Stephanie Crowder

Prof. Delores Williams*************************************** Tonight is Maundy Thursday and we are singing in the choir at Guilford.