If you have met me more than once, you know of my love for history. You also know that I am especially interested in Church history and biographies. For example, did you know that Jesus was a good cook and once prepared a breakfast of bread and fish for some of his disciples? (John's Gospel, chapter 21).
Our country and our world are in a unique period of history. We can know instantly what's going on almost everywhere. With that much information coming at us, we probably overlook some very good biographical stories. Just for the record, I want to mention a few people who have helped shape history to bring us to our present place. Because of our baptismal vows in the Episcopal Church, I think it is not a coincidence that these people were Episcopalians.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
When Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe, he said, "So, you're the little woman who started this great war!" Lincoln was referring to Stowe's authorship of Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) which peeled back the curtain and gave the world a look at slavery in America. Stowe attended Episcopal services in Florida in the 1870's-1880's. Her husband started a Bible study that was the foundation of the Episcopal Church of Our Savior in Mandarin, Florida.
Eleanor Roosevelt
First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, Eleanor was a cradle Episcopalian. I am acquainted with a grandson of the priest who provided the wedding ceremony for Eleanor and Franklin. Among her other contributions, Eleanor was a U.S. delegate to the United Nations, where she "played a key role in the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948." *
Thurgood Marshall
The first African-American to serve on the United States Supreme Court, Marshall worshiped at St. Augustine's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. A community center there bears his name. Before he came to Washington, Marshall made his mark by winning the 1954 landmark case of Brown vs. Board of Education, which declared school segregation unconstitutional.
John Steinbeck
Have you read East of Eden? It is obvious that Steinbeck got his inspiration for that novel from the Biblical story of Cain and Abel, the first sons of Adam and Eve. Here's a tidbit about Steinbeck's younger days: "He served as an acolyte and choir member at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Salinas, California, where, it is said, he dropped a cross onto a visiting bishop's head and thus lost his head acolyte privileges."*
That's all for now. More historical tidbits later. *Quotes and other information taken from The Episcopal Handbook, published by Morehouse Publishing.
In peace,
Linda+
The Rev. Linda McCloud
Vicar, Holy Cross Church Episcopal
Billings, Montana
406-208-7314
http://www.holycrosschurchbillings.org/
photo: plaque at Christ Episcopal Church
Cody, Wyoming -- "The Poker Church"
No comments:
Post a Comment