wfn.org | Priest builds congregation on Bosto

[ENS.parti@ecunet.org]

April 18, 1997
Episcopal News Service
Jim Solheim, Director
212-922-5385
ens@ecunet.org

97-1745
Priest builds congregation on Boston Common, `where the people are'

by Nan Cobbey
       (ENS) "We are standing on holy ground," said the priest to a
small group huddled on Boston Common on a chill, gray, pre-spring day,
singing a hymn.
       "And I know that there are angels all around."
       Passers-by, tourists and pigeons shared the space beside the
fountain. The MBTA rumbled by underground.
       "Let us praise Jesus now. We are standing in his presence on holy
ground."
       Seventy people sang, some with tears in their eyes. The teary
ones were mostly the suburbanites, who had come to share this open-air
Eucharist with the people of Boston's streets.
       Some arrived from shelters, others from day centers or veterans'
homes. One came in a wheelchair, one with backpack and bedroll. He
laid his burden down.
       The gathering had just heard the announcements: a nurse would
now be present at services; blankets, backpacks and socks were behind
the bench to be picked up. Then there were pleas from the priest: "We
can help with housing," and, "If you are sick, please don't go to the
hospital alone. There are 40 people here who are dying to go with you."
Laughter.
       The priest, their priest, the Rev. Deborah Little, looking slight in
her chinos, sweater and stole and far younger than her 51 years,
delighted them with her breathless enthusiasm. They were responsive.

Taking part in their service
       During the shared homily they had lots to say. The Gospel
reading, John's story of Jesus driving the money changers from the
temple, drew a reaction from the man with the backpack at his feet.
       "Our bodies are temples," he said, reminding, perhaps himself, to
be respectful of what is put into them.
       A man in ragged sheepskin sweater, rolled jeans and backward
baseball cap said, "If Jesus were here today, it wouldn't be money
changers he'd run out ... he'd run out racism." The man was white. The
brothers smiled.
       Some of the reflections shared were likely understood only by
God, but the fellowship was lost on no one.
       "The masks we all wear were being taken off. We were just there
together, naked before God. ... I wept through the entire service," said
Sara Rossiter of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Weston, a wealthy
suburb.
       "It must be very similar in feeling to what the early days of the
church were like--radical, simple and exhilarating," said Sophronia
Camp, a member of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Cambridge, about
the ministry Little started on a shoestring and continues with the help of
contributions from suburban parishes and the diocese's two bishops.
Camp and others bring communion bread and soup and sandwiches for a
meal after the service. 

A church `where the people are'
       Common Cathedral celebrates its first anniversary this Easter. It
was one year ago that Little, once employed in corporate America,
ordained priest just months earlier, concluded a Maundy Thursday foot-
washing at St. Francis House, a downtown day center, and started
walking across Boston Common. "I was thinking about Jesus and my
next thought was, `Wham! The church is out here! Jesus went where the
people are, not where the buildings are.' It just felt so simple and so
clear."
       "My next thought was, `I have to celebrate Easter on the
Common.'" So she did, using a linen-covered metal cart for an altar and
a wooden cross created by the building services staff at Trinity Episcopal
Church, Copley Square.
       She's been there every Sunday since and her congregation has
grown from a handful to 70 or more.
       "I really get a thrill out of seeing the growth," said a man known
as Harold. "Every time I come back it's like a larger and larger group."
       "She's a revolutionary, bringing the Eucharist outdoors," said
Bill, a cab driver who has to work on Sundays but comes anyway, his
meter off.
       "I love it," said Adam, who assists with the Eucharist. "It's gonna
grow big and it's gonna be powerful and I want to be part of it."
       Adam comes to Common Cathedral "to get back on the side of
God." He'd been thinking about that one summer Sunday walking across
the Common. "I seen this nice blond lady having a little crowd around
her." He stood back, listened.
       "The first thing I heard from her, Wham! she was delivering the
messages and people were all different colors here, sneakers on, ya
know, and they were just standing listening at her. I said, `Wow! This is
what I was looking for.' I've been coming seven months straight."

The community grows
       So have others and a community is building. For Little, who tries
to link suburban parishes with the materially needier people of God
through her Ecclesia Ministries, that's the best part.
       "These are extremely isolated people, so isolated that many of
them can't go indoors anywhere," she said. "They used to be terrified to
walk across Boston Common. Now I hear, over and over again, that they
run into someone from Common Cathedral ... and they talk and they are
meeting each other and beginning to have some safety."
       As the service concludes, the congregation joins hands in a circle
that grows wider every Sunday and sings, "We Shall Overcome."
Indeed, they already have.
       To learn more about Ecclesia Ministries' programs for youth and
adults, leave a message for the Rev. Debbie Little at the Massachusetts
Diocesan Office, 138 Tremont St., Boston, Mass. 02111, 617-482-5800.

--Nan Cobbey is features editor for Episcopal Life, the national
newspaper of the Episcopal Church.