Late July and August

Every Thursday in September 

Thursday, September 13 

Save the dates! Contact Jeanne Jennings if you'd like to help with the planning!

The Rileys are also on the move! As Jason's tenure at NIH concludes, he, Joanna, Hunter, Jamison, Logan and their dogs Ben and Sam, cat Abigail, 3 mice and 2 fish are relocating. 

They will be leaving the US in late August / early September. They will certainly stay in touch with the Grace family and would love to have many visits from everyone once they get settled - wherever they get settled.

"Peace be with you," were the words our host, Mujahid Beyah, spoke as he called our well-fed group together. 

Twenty-plus Grace Church pilgrims had arrived in the 95+ degree heat an hour earlier and had been treated to a lunch of tuna and chicken sandwiches, fruit and beverages. 

"And also with you," a few of us reflexively responded. 

Despite the heat and the crowded, noisy downstairs room in which members of the mosque worked in the kitchen, talked in groups, or passed through to the upstairs prayer room, peace and welcome radiated from all those who greeted us.

Finished with lunch, we made our way up the stairs to the large open room from which the compelling chant, the call to prayer sung in Arabic, had been coming. Men and boys entered through one door, women, all with scarves covering our heads, through another. All removed their shoes. 

As the service began, the room was sparsely occupied. Men stood, sat or knelt  on the floor, facing East, facing Mecca, the holy city of Islam. Women also sat on the floor but there were more chairs available for the women.

There was no printed order of service, simply a pamphlet with announcements and advertisements, which included a prominent welcome to the folks from Grace Church. Except for a few prayers in Arabic, the entire service was conducted in English.

No order of service was necessary, because almost the entire 45-minutes consisted of a sermon by the resident Imam, Talib Shareef, a 30 year retired Chief Master Sergeant in the United States Air Force. 

His theme was independence, and he called to mind a number of Americans, including Martin Luther King Jr, and Frederick Douglass, weaving together a call for 'independence from dependence,' reminding the people that the soul is God-given, and that though we do not always do what we know is right to do, 'God never overlooks the good we do or give.' And he quoted Jesus, who is a holy prophet in Islam.

Under the spinning and hand-held fans which unsuccessfully attempted to push away the heat, the room slowly filled until by the end of the service there were at least 250 people sitting in informal yet even rows. On occasion, one would rise, perhaps to stretch or to pray. There was quiet coming and going. 

In the women's section, one small, aged, white-clad woman was gently assisted by those around her, some who wore 'Sunday best' hats in place of scarves. The old woman had earlier greeted me warmly, if somewhat distractedly, as I was talking with our host. 'She has been with us for many years,' he said, 'but suffers from some dementia.' To observe the community include and honor her, in small but sincere ways, is testimony to the spirit of Masjid Mohammad's people.

As we were leaving, I mentioned this sense of community and caring to Mujahid Beyah. He looked me straight in the eye and said, 'We can sense the same thing from your group.' We had been welcomed with 'peace be with you,' so warmly by this community of faith. Simply by being present, being open, being ourselves, something of Grace was evidently conveyed....a very good way to begin this summer's pilgrimage.

We've got a few more Vacation Bible School events lined up; see the schedule in the left column -- we hope you can join us!

July 2012 saw the return of the annual Bach Festival to Grace Church. This was the 19th year the festival has been held and Francine Mate put together a varied and always enjoyable program.

I have a confession to make; while I love all types of music, I am not accomplished enough to differentiate between composers. But that didn't impede my ability to enjoy the concerts.

The first concert featured Francine on organ and harpsichord along with more than half a dozen other musicians and singers.  I was delighted with what I saw!

The Coffee Cantata, by Bach, is basically a mini comic opera about coffee addiction written in the 1700s. The singers were very animated, telling the story of a father who promises to find his daughter a husband if she'll give up coffee. What he doesn't know is that she's making her own deals with potential suitors, telling them she won't consent to marry them unless she's allowed her fill of java.

The second concert featured Professor Roland Maria Stangier, from Essen Germany, on organ. He opened with an improvisational homage to JS Bach in the form of a trio sonata. Trio sonatas can be written for multiple instruments (hence the "trio" in the name), but Bach wrote many solely for organ.

In Bach's trio sonatas for organ, the right hand, left hand and pedals are each playing a different part, akin to rubbing your belly and patting your head at the same time. Professor Stangier played a number of additional pieces and ended his concert with another improvisation, a fantasie and fugue on themes provided by Francine.

Francine with Lawrence Molinaro

Lawrence Molinaro, a Grace parishioner (and former organist of Grace Church) was the featured performer for the third concert. He performed "The Art of Fugue," a treatise by Bach on fugue techniques which was initially thought to be unfinished at the time of his death.

Fugues are compositions built primarily on a single musical theme, called a "subject." The subject is presented in its original state, then tweaked in a variety of ways so that it is recognizable but different throughout the remainder of the composition. 

Molinaro pointed out that some musicologists now believe that this piece isn't unfinished, but was intended as a learning tool for young musicians, who were to finish it, either through improvisation or written composition, on their own. 

The festival concluded with a mesmerizing performance by David Bond, D.M.A. In addition to a trio sonata and a fugue by Bach, he performed works from Scarlatti and Walther, both contemporaries of the festival's namesake.

Many thanks to Francine Mate, Helen Buhr and all the other volunteers who helped make this year's festival a success! See more photos of the Bach Festival
in the left column. 

If you weren't able to attend, we hope to see you next year at the 20th Annual Bach Festival. You won't regret it, even if (like me) you don't know your Bach from your Beethoven!

Editor's Note: Viewpoint invites reflections on the application of our faith to issues of common concern. These reflections represent the opinion of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of Grace staff or members.   

Who was Jonathan Daniels? 

He was an Episcopal seminarian who answered the call of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to help register African-American voters in Alabama. He was shot and killed August 20, 1965, while shielding then 16-year-old Ruby Sales, an African-American, from a shotgun blast as both Daniels and she attempted to enter a store to buy a cold drink. 

The shooter, Tom Coleman,  was a white, unemployed highway worker. He was later acquitted by a jury in an Alabama court.

The Episcopal Church added Daniels to the Church Calendar of Saints and Martyrs in 1994 to be remembered each August 14.

Each year, the Episcopal Peace Fellowship has taken part in a pilgrimage to Hayneville, Alabama, and this year it will take place on Saturday,  August 11, 2012 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

The procession will start at the Courthouse Square in Hayneville to proceed to the old county jail where Sales and Daniels were among those detained for a week.  It will then move to the old Cash Grocery Store where Daniels was killed.  A service of Holy Communion in the courtroom will end the pilgrimage.