June 20, 2017
 
 
 
 
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Reflections on a trip back East

This week’s column offers a theological reflection on an last week's trip to
Washington, D.C.


 
 
 
 

Last week Father Ted and I made a quick trip to Washington, D.C. We had been invited to come and offer a prayer and blessing at a reception following the investiture of parishioner Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court. (Prayer is not permitted in the Courtroom itself.) We arrived at the Supreme Court an hour and a half before the ceremony so that we could go through security screening with several hundred other guests. We were ushered into the courtroom and sat and waited. And then we waited. And then we waited some more. Men in suits with curly wires descending from their ears disappearing into their lapels stood at regular intervals throughout the crowd. From time to time, the din of excited conversation rose to a level they deemed improper, and they’d shush us. The room would quiet but it didn’t last long.


Law professors, federal judges, current and former attorneys general, and Gorsuch family and friends seemed to comprise the majority of the attendees. In one section, we spotted a number of legislators. I was reminded how many lives one human being can impact. Friends and colleagues from years past greeted one another and spent the time catching up. New connections were made. The law professor seated to my left had come to DC from his vacation in Maine, so of course we had much to chat about. Between shushes.


I admired the courtroom: the massive marble columns, heavily swagged and fringed velvet curtains, and the carved stone frieze circling the room, marking the transition from wall to high ceiling. I spotted Moses holding the tablets of the Ten Commandments, and a lot of figures in Greek or Roman dress I couldn’t further identify. The seats were pews, essentially, and there were even some ornate metal screens to the sides of the room, like rood screens in a cathedral. Despite our country’s efforts to separate church and state there was a sense of holiness about the place (hence perhaps the shushing), and I was reminded that God and justice cannot be understood apart from each other: “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” [Micah 6:8]


And then the courtroom buzzer sounded. The raspy little prompt felt insufficient for the solid grandeur of the place. We were summoned to stand as the President and First Lady were announced. I caught a glimpse and then we were directed to be seated. Some moments later, the buzzer-stand-sit process repeated itself for the entrance of the Justices. The investiture ceremony itself was very brief. Justice Gorsuch had been sworn in back in April and began work right away. The investiture ceremony follows the swearing in by weeks or sometimes months and has been described as a ritual wherein the new justice is formally welcomed to the bench by his or her colleagues. [1] Applause was permitted, and Neil was permitted to say a few words. We were later told this was a first. As Ted noted in his sermon on Sunday, Justice Sonia Sotomayer told us later that the Court is even more tradition bound than the church. As someone raised in the Roman Catholic faith, she knows tradition.


Following the investiture there was a reception and Ted and I met and chatted with many people, among them others who had traveled to DC from Colorado for the occasion. We then changed clothes and emerged into a humid and sunny DC afternoon with several hours to pass before the evening event. We headed back to the court a bit early, changed back into our collars and more formal attire and joined the private evening reception for 200 people. Justice Gorsuch said a few words and then invited Ted and me to the microphone. We offered a prayer written for the occasion and then I gave my customary “Life is short and there is too little time to gladden the hearts of those who travel the way with us” blessing. Neil spoke a bit longer and then the reception continued. I got to visit with some fascinating people, among them Justice Sotomayer, as we shared thoughts on living a life of faith. I found her to be accessible, joyful, and “real”. One of her former law clerks told us that Sotomayer has a powerful life story to tell and that her inspiring public lectures have a revival meeting atmosphere about them. I plan to add her book “My Beloved World” to my summer reading list.


A number of people approached us and thanked us for our words. If their gratitude was an indicator, it seems the world welcomes the chance to catch its breath and is hungry for prayer and blessing. In Boulder, Colorado we don’t pray often enough for the people who work in our nation’s capital. They tend to be bright, energetic, talented and driven—regardless of party affiliation. We may or may not align with their ideologies, but we ought to respect their dedication and pray for their well-being. From the stories we heard, many of them give up their lives to their government and public service careers. They sacrifice time with children, evenings with spouses, and weekends puttering in the yard. They endure breathtakingly long and traffic-jammed daily commutes. They work even when they are not working. They do not enjoy the ever-present backdrop of the Rocky Mountains nor the clear blue Colorado sky. That they do not have the life we have here tends to get buried beneath the scrum of politics.


Nonetheless, back East people are praying for us. Each week, the National Cathedral prays for a different state in our country. Ted and I visited there the day following the investiture. Last week, the cathedral was praying for the people of Alaska, my former home. Somewhere on one of the stone towers is a carving of two Inuits in kuspiks, clutching a snowshoe. In the narthex, the seal of the state of Alaska (as well the seals of the other forty-nine states) is set into the slate floor. During one week in March, the National Cathedral prayed for us here in Colorado. The words of those carefully crafted prayers are exquisite. Here is the prayer they offered for the people of Colorado:

“Bless, high and holy Lord, the people who live under the eaves of our continent. Bless the rocky peaks of their golden rood-land, which pluck crystal snow from heaven to refresh the earth on every side with water pure.

Guard, O God, the mountain passes, the spruce and lovely aspen sentinels upon their crests; protect the lowly sheep and patient cattle in their verdant valleys; prosper the seed by man’s labor planted. So, loving Father, do Thou keep Thy Colorado children in the beauty of their lofty clime, and the joy of their unspoiled hope;

Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” [2]


Ted and I decided to forego the guided tour of the cathedral in favor of wandering about. We chatted with members of the Flower Guild, who were busy on that Friday arranging flowers at the many altars in the place. We introduced ourselves as two priests from the diocese of Colorado, and they kindly granted us access beyond the velvet ropes to the high altar and the pulpit. I couldn’t resist trying out the latter.

I missed the space window with the chunk of moon rock embedded in it, but did see several pieces of 1st century Roman stone work set into the walls elsewhere. We admired the sweet needlepoint seat cushions of the chairs in the children’s chapel, and rode the elevator to the seventh floor to take in the view from one of the towers. We speculated how many people it would take to encircle the base of the mammoth stone columns. We did back-bends to look at the flags of the states that hang high up in the nave like banners in a medieval banquet hall. When we attend a service at our own cathedral in Denver, the dean stands up and welcomes everyone, and inevitably reminds us that cathedrals belong to the dioceses they serve. So likewise it is with the National Cathedral. It belongs to each Episcopalian in this country. The flags, the seals set in the floor, and the prayers for the states bring that point home.


The National Cathedral was commissioned by President George Washington in 1791, a mere sixteen years after the Revolution. It was conceived as “a great church for national purposes.” [3] We are part of a longstanding Episcopal tradition that is part of the bedrock of the United States. Our forebears in faith were the architects of the bicameral system of government. We are separated by intention from that government and yet curiously woven together with it nonetheless. For that and for the chance to take a very small part in history this priest is profoundly grateful.




[1]http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/07/facts-about-supreme-court-oath-ceremonies/


[2] https://cathedral.org/states/prayers/#colorado


[3] https://cathedral.org/history/timeline/