Deacon Sue Ouellette was so excited to see me at the Crossroads of Caring Celebration Dinner, “We had a whole pew of deaf folks, adults and kids, in the first row at St. Paul’s on Sunday!” We both jumped for joy; they had all learned about St. Paul’s worship with an ASL translator at the Deaf Festival on June 6. Steve Richards and myself, along with volunteers from our Deaf Ministry Task Force had spent the hot windy day at a table, giving out smiles, stickers, buttons, and brochures. An ASL translator was provided for those of us who don’t sign (I am signing up for class again in the fall!). We all had wonderful conversations — with people who grew up in the Episcopal Church and people who had never heard of our church. The Pride/Episcopal shield was of especially interest; people were happy to see a LGBTQ+ inclusive church. We recommended all our parishes (and even some in other dioceses) and especially St. Paul’s, with their weekly ASL interpreter. One woman said, “My mother and I just moved here and we are looking for a church; God brought you here today!”
I had a similar experience at the Southern Finger Lakes Pride Festival in Corning. Christ Church had the best swag—FREE! stickers, temporary tattoos, buttons, candy, flags and brochures—and again I had wonderful conversations. One woman remembered Easter Sundays with her grandmother at Christ Church, another came on his own every Sunday as a teenager and has recently moved back to the area. Perhaps they will try out a Sunday service, but more importantly we received several thank yous just for showing up “I can’t believe a church is here; this is so important to me, thank you!” Christians being Christian shouldn’t be such a surprise.
I am sure The Rev. Andrew and Kathryn Lee and volunteers had similar responses at Wellsville Pride on May 31 when they gave out glitter blessings! I am looking forward to the Finger Lakes Pride Festival in Canandaigua this Saturday, June 20 and the Rochester Pride Parade on July 18. Another great opportunity for evangelism is Episcopal Night at the Red Wings on Friday, August 14! We hope to have new Diocese of Rochester t-shirts ready so that we can make a big splash!
Speaking of evangelism, thank you to all those individuals and parishes who have contributed to the Bishop’s Appeal. We have raised just over $5,000 so far. The campaign lasts until the end of the year and we hope to at least triple the amount so that we can use the funds to provide advertising and evangelism materials that you can use in your churches and at events you sponsor in your community. As my festival experience shows showing up is half the work. The other half is hard work and preparation. I happened to glance at the sign-up sheet at the Pride Festival. There were two volunteers signed up for each hour, from 1until 4 p.m. yet there was just one name under “set up” and “clean up”: Troy Preston (Rector of Christ Church). The ordination vows include many important and serious promises; “other duties as assigned” is perhaps the most real and lived into promise for a priest or deacon. Thank you to all the clergy and lay leaders who do the hard work of planning, schlepping, setting up, showing up and cleaning up! You are truly the hands of Christ in this world.
And speaking of hands, Columba Salamony still needs volunteers at the Episcopal Church table at the FLX Pride Festival, at the Ontario Fairgrounds this Saturday, June 20 from 2-4 pm! And you can still register for the Rochester Pride Parade and Episcopal Night at the Red Wings. Check out parish and diocesan events on our website: episcopalrochester.org!
