Remembering Mother Robyn Arnold

Rev. Robyn Arnold (Parish Photo)

Even though I arrived early, the small parking lot was already full and cars were lined up on the street. When I found a place to park, I had to walk a couple of blocks down to the church. The pews were filled as I and a handful of others entered the sanctuary and managed to find a seat. 

I was not surprised by the crowd. The Rev. Robyn Arnold, “Mother Robyn,” as she was known to the parish, had been a beacon of light in an impoverished neighborhood and a source of strength to a diverse and welcoming congregation. On this warm July morning, many came out to remember the remarkable life of a caring soul, gone too soon.

Grace Episcopal Church is an Anglo-Catholic parish, over 100 years old, located in the once-vibrant-now-declining community of Woodlawn. The needs of the community are great and Grace Church works to meet those needs with ministries that include a soup kitchen, a food pantry, a clothes closet, a warming station for the homeless in the winter, and a summer program for the children in the neighborhood. Known for its high liturgy on Sundays, Grace’s slogan is “Where Street and Altar Meet!”

Mother Robyn Arnold was an exemplary pastor to her parishioners and a source of hope to people in a transitional neighborhood. The church’s funeral announcement stated, “A soul filled with light and love, Mother Robyn Arnold changed Woodlawn, changed the world, changed the lives of so, so many. It is with great sadness, we announce her passing. May she forever remain in our hearts.” (Read her obituary here)

The eulogy by Deacon Kay Williams recounted Mother Robyn’s life from her childhood in rural Kentucky to a career as a Ph. D. environmental scientist to her transition to pastor and priest. 

In her memory, I am sharing my accounts from four of my encounters with Grace Church under Mother Robyn's ministry.  The first is from five years ago when during a low point in the world I made my way to Grace Episcopal Church for her pastoral guidance. That day she said, among other things, 

We must respond to hatred and injustice, but that response will differ with different people: some will respond publicly to oppose injustice, hate, and greed; others will respond more quietly to do small things in love right where they are.   ~ Rev. Robyn Arnold

You can read the full account at Grace in a Time of Hate.

In my essay, A Nurturing God, I found myself unusually moved at the close of the worship service with the post-Communion prayer. It was a prayer that called to mind the feminine aspects of God in a beautifully personal way.

Where Grace Abounds recounts my Advent experiences at Grace which included incense, the tolling of the bells, music, prayers, and thoughtful, heartfelt homilies delivered by the Reverend Robyn Arnold. I also share some of the parish’s rich history.

In Why Pray, I tell how a visit with my friends at Grace Episcopal Church, I was reminded once again of why we pray. I also recount how at an earlier time I discovered liturgical prayer at a time when I had been battered by circumstances and unsure of which way to turn.

These are just snapshots of the ministry she offered for ten years as rector of Grace Episcopal Church.

Grace Episcopal Church (website photo)

    

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Remembering Mary Oliver

Photo from Orion Magazine

There are some people who, when they die, all you can think of is the light that they imparted.

It was sad to hear of the death of Pulitzer Prize winning poet, Mary Oliver. She said in an interview on National Public Radio that "The two things I loved from a very early age were the natural world and dead poets, [who] were my pals when I was a kid."

To read or listen to NPR's recollection of the widely loved American poet,  visit the link at "Beloved Poet Mary Oliver, Who Believed Poetry 'Mustn't Be Fancy,' Dies At 83"

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Robert Taylor, Friend and Mentor to Many

Profile picture from Robert Taylor's Facebook Page

I learned last week of the death of my friend and mentor, Robert Taylor. Bob was a clinical psychologist by profession and he was also a humorist, a poet, an avid bird-watcher, a lover of nature and a friend of the arts. He was a friend to many and a natural mentor due to his warm, friendly nature and his keen insight. Bob Taylor did many things that I wish I could do. Because he was a man of such varied activities and interests, there were many capacities in which I might have known Bob, but I knew him primarily through his love for poetry.

I first met the man years ago when I attended some small group sessions that he led called “Life Cycles Poetry.” During those informal sessions Bob guided us in reflecting upon the various stages of life by reading poetry. He also invited us to bring poems that were meaningful to us to share with the group. It was a wonderful time of stopping to reflect upon the whole of life, hearing others share from their lives, and appreciating the insights that poets have given us. Bob mentioned at one point during those sessions that he had done similar sessions in nursing homes, and that the people there were greatly appreciative of the activity.

I also knew him through the writers group that met for a time at the Birmingham Unitarian Universalist Church. I was so glad to be able to hear some of the poetry that he wrote. In a single short poem, Bob could lead the listener to a profound depth of feeling so that in that last line there would be an “aha” sensation of true being. I once told him that I admired the way he could do that with a poem because I tend to be more tentative. Too often I hold back and don’t quite say the profound thing. I don’t always acknowledge the pain, the longing, or that yet-unanswered-question which lies beneath the surface of our endeavors. Bob Taylor, however, could do that in just a few words.

Not only did Bob write some beautiful poetry, he could also read a poem better that anyone I know. He had a quiet and unassuming demeanor, yet when he read a poem, it was in a voice that knew exactly where that poem came from. Those who heard him knew that they were witnessing a true encounter.

It was also my privilege to attend a men’s group that Bob was a part of. It was a group with no real agenda except to “talk about stuff.” Sometimes conversations were about what was happening in the world, sometimes about what was happening in our lives. We talked about books and magazine articles and various philosophies that caught our interest. We spoke of fathers and brothers; politicians and artists; house repairs and first jobs.  As a man fully entering into that “midlife stage,” I knew that Bob had managed the waters of midlife. I had the unmistakable sense that if I paid attention I could manage those waters as well, and if I was lucky, I might one day manage old age as well as my friend Bob Taylor.

I will miss his smile, his calm demeanor and his welcoming nature. I will miss his witty commentary on life. More than anything, though, and for the rest of my days, I will always wish that I could hear one more poem from Bob Taylor.

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Remembering Pete Seeger

A couple of years ago I wrote a blog essay titled, “How Pete Seeger Taught Me about Forgiveness.” It was one of those blog posts that continued to get hits month after month, then with the news of Pete Seeger’s death at the age of 94, my blog site was inundated with hits. I was glad that so many who were searching the web for information about the folk singer were finding an essay that was so personal and had such meaning to me. That story, which you can read here, related how Seeger’s example helped me as an adult to learn an important life lesson.

A Lifetime of Influence

The fact is that Pete Seeger was influencing my life before I even knew who Pete Seeger was. As a kid, when we were at school or at church and someone decided we all ought to sing a song, someone would usually come out with, “If I had a Hammer.” On the radio, The Byrds were “Turn, Turn, Turn.” At youth camps and retreats we would sing, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” I knew all of these songs without knowing who Pete Seeger was or that he had written those songs. He had an important message to share about what it meant to be alive, what values were important for us to strive for and hold on to. Those values and lessons were being instilled into our minds and into our culture by way of the songs that the folk singer wrote. 

The first time I became aware of Pete Seeger was when I was in the seventh grade and he was a guest on The Smothers Brothers Show. Having been blacklisted from radio and television since the 1950s, that was his first national broadcast TV appearance in my lifetime. I remember him singing "Guantanamera." He also sang a song in protest of the Viet Nam war, "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy," which was censored from the telecast, but Seeger was allowed to come back on a later date to perform it again. His call for peace struck a deep chord with me since I had been living in the shadow of Viet Nam since I was  11 or 12 years of age and would continue to do so until the draft was ended just before my eighteenth birthday. The ideal of peace in our time would remain with me to this day. 

It was my privilege to finally see the folk singer in person back in 1985 when he came to do a benefit concert at Sloss Furnace in Birmingham, Alabama. My wife and I attended and it was quite a memorable event. Pete Seeger would have been around 65 and he gave a dynamic performance. I still remember how he turned the entire audience into a choir singing in parts the refrain to "Wimoweh" while he bellowed out those high notes. 

His Social Vision

Many people have been writing this week about the remarkable life that Pete Seeger lived. PBS aired a re-broadcast of “The Power of Song” a beautiful documentary of Seeger’s life.  Arlo Guthrie shared some personal reflections about him with Time Magazine:

Pete had a real vision of what the country was about. He came from a long line of Puritan stock. His family had been in the country a very, very long time, and he had a sense of history. He wasn’t just a scholar of music; he was also a political scholar and a historical scholar. He loved the idealism of a nation founded on the principles he thought were important, and he spread that wherever he went.

I think to be asked about his religion, or about his beliefs, or about his political thoughts, was such an insult to him, because it was insulting to every American. He had a way of taking these personal events in his life and moving them forward so that they included everyone. If it had just affected him, he wouldn’t have said anything; he wouldn’t have written about it; he wouldn’t have made a big deal. But because it affected everyone, he was involved. I think that’s one of the things that motivated him about the environment, the war in Vietnam, the Civil Rights movement. Sometimes he was right; sometimes he was wrong, but he was right most of the time. And he set out to make the country in what he imagined it was meant to be, what it could be. Whatever was going on, he was there because he had a sense of how it impacted everyone. It was not just personal. It was America.

Here is a brief excerpt from a tribute, “Remembering Pete,” by Rich Warren, host of The Midnight Special on WMFT radio in Chicago:

Pete Seeger, singer of folksongs, became the icon of American folk music against his will. He insisted the song was more important than its singer, and the listener was more important than the performer... Pete Seeger: idealist, iconoclast, and inspiration. He welcomed the friendship of anyone who loved music; his humble cabin in Beacon, New York became a gathering place of song. Pete lacked the gorgeous voice of his contemporaries such as Theo Bikel; he may have lacked the banjo and guitar finesse of the many he inspired to take up those instruments; but it was his spirit and his presence; his complete conviction and caring that always carried the day, the movement, and his popularity.

Coincidentally, in the January edition of The Oxford American is an article by Daniel Brook about the Highlander Folk School, a grassroots education center that once existed near Monteagle, Tennessee. It was there that Pete Seeger taught Martin Luther King his version of “We Shall Overcome,” which became the anthem for the Civil Rights Movement.” 

"An Inconvenient Artist"

Pete Seeger was blacklisted in the wake of the Communist scare during the McCarthy days of congressional hearings back in the 1950s and early 60s. Unable to appear on television or the radio, the folk singer began a career of touring college campuses. Ironically, he had a greater influence there than he might have had if he had remained in the broadcast media. He was highly instrumental in the folk revival that swept the college scene and gave cohesion to the student protests for peace during the 1960s. He was a strong and constant advocate for important social causes that included civil rights, peace, and environmental responsibility. The man who had been feared as a communist sympathizer when he was younger was honored with the National  Medal of the Arts at the age of 75. Upon granting the award, President Bill Clinton called him "an inconvenient artist, who dared to sing things as he saw them." Pete Seeger was a truly remarkable man. May his inspiration and influence continue in the years to come.   

From the film documentary, Pete Seeger: The Power of Song:

“Once upon a time, wasn’t singing a part of everyday life? As much as talking, physical exercise and religion, our distant ancestors wherever they were in this world, sang while pounding grain, paddling canoes, or walking long journeys. Can we begin to make our lives once more all of a piece? Finding the right songs and singing them over and over is a way to start. And when one person taps out a beat while another person leads into the melody, or when three people discover a harmony they never knew existed, or a crowd joins in on a chorus as though to raise the ceiling a few feet higher, then they also know there is hope for the world.”

                   ~Pete Seeger

For further reading:

• The Telegraph, always an excellent source of information, has an obituary that includes video clips from some of Pete Seeger’s performances at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10601366/Pete-Seeger-obituary.html
• To see a 2008 interview with the folk singer on the radio program, Thistle & Shamrock, go to   http://www.thistleradio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=682:pete-seeger&catid=41:archived-interview-transcripts&Itemid=69
• See Pete Seeger along with his grandson Taos Rodriquez and Arlo Guthrie performing "Wimoweh" at The Wolf Trap at http://notdarkyet-commentary.blogspot.com/2012/10/monday-music-pete-seeger-wimoweh.html
• "Pete Seeger: How can I keep from singing?" By Sarah van Gelder  Folk legend Pete Seeger talks about his life in music and social activism – and the power of making millions of small changes. At http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a-difference/Change-Agent/2014/0131/Pete-Seeger-How-can-I-keep-from-singing
• Pete Seeger In His Own Words, by Pete Seeger (2012) Paradigm Publishers.  “Although he has never written an autobiography, his life story is nowhere more personally chronicled than in the private writings, documents, and letters stored for decades in his family barn.”

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