As he explained during his visit, he says in the interview that: 'Both his poetry and now his ministry have also helped him to survive personally. “Poetry saved my life,” he says; and the Church saves it now, though in a different way. As Rector of St Paul’s, Wickford, in Rhode Island, and after the recent deaths of his parents, the church has become not just a place of ministry, but a community that sustains him.'
Fr Spencer is Rector of St Paul’s Episcopal Church in Wickford, Rhode Island, and an internationally acclaimed poet. His dream, prayer, and ultimate goal for his time with St. Paul’s Church is to continue the ongoing work of the parish in spreading Jesus’ radical love. “Let kindness be our legacy,” he has said.
It was wonderful to welcome Fr Spencer to our parish and to reanimate the links between our two parishes. We look forward to time in Rhode Island ourselves and to welcoming Spencer and others from the parish to Wickford and Runwell next year. To find out more about the historic links between our parishes and towns, see Wickford Community Archive.
For more on Fr Spencer's visit, see here and here. To read my interview with Fr Spencer for International Times see here and, for my review of Fr Spencer's more recent poetry collection, see here. Fr Spencer spoke at St Martin-in-the-Fields during his visit, see below for that service and click here for one of the services in our parish at which he preached:
The teaching Jesus gives us in the Sermon on the Mount, of which the Beatitudes is part, is based on lessons drawn from his understanding of nature and creation. He looks at the cycle of existence – the circle of life - which enables all creatures to live and flourish in their way and time. We only need look at Wai-On’s music videos to see that she shared this understanding. We began our service observing the antics of a duck as we listened to ‘The Waves’ performed by her good friend Albert Tang. ‘Three Times No Less’ featured images of beautiful lotuses from Canton. Although longer pieces, we could also have included ‘Swan Beauty’ or ‘Fly Wild’, the latter incorporating images from Martin Singleton.
Jesus uses birds as a specific example in the Sermon on the Mount, possibly because they would have been prolific and yet are not reliant on human beings for their survival. The birds don’t do any of the things that human beings do to provide food for themselves – they “do not sow seeds, gather a harvest and put it in barns” – yet, in the circle of life there is a sufficiency of the food that they need in order to survive. In this way, Jesus says, we see that God the Father is taking care of them.
For Jesus, God’s provision for the birds is a sign of the worth that he sees in his creation as a whole and in each specific part. Just as the creation as a whole is “good,” so are the birds which are found within it. If that is true of birds, then is it not also true of human beings? “Aren’t you worth much more than birds?” Jesus asks. Wai-On showed that same sense of value to a woman she sought to comfort as described in a piece we will listen to later entitled ‘You Are Not Alone’.
In one of the Eucharistic Prayers that is said when the elements of Communion are consecrated, we read that in the fullness of time God made us in his image, the crown of all creation. That gives us incredible worth and value, in and of ourselves and regardless of how we feel about ourselves. Our unique position in creation - being conscious creators – speaks clearly to us of this incredible privilege of having been made in the image of God. To what extent do we appreciate this reality? Often, we can be so caught up in the busyness of daily life that we do not stop to reflect on the wonder of existence and our existence. Stop for a moment to think about the incredible complexity of our physical bodies and of our conscious existence. Wai-On clearly stopped in this way in order to create her compositions and the videos that accompany them.
Stop for a moment and think about the incredible achievements of the human race – the great art we have created, amazing technological developments and inventions, the cities we have built, the scientific and medical advancements we have seen, the depths of compassion and sacrifice which have been plumbed by the great saints in our history. Stop for a moment to think about the amazing music and wonderful videos that Wai-On created. While we are also well aware of the darker forces at work in human beings, our positive abilities and achievements reveal the reality of our creation as beings that resemble God in his creative power and energy. We can and should celebrate this reality – realising the worth that God sees in us – at the same time as giving thanks to our God for creating us in this way.
Isn’t life worth more than food and isn’t the body worth more than clothes, Jesus asks us. Often we can be so caught up in the busyness of daily life that we do not realise the wonder of our existence and do not realise all that we could achieve if we were to use our abilities and creativity more fully in his service. “We were meant to live for so much more” is how the rock band Switchfoot put it. Jesus challenges us to be concerned with more than the worries of daily life, to be “concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and with what he [God] requires of you.” Stop for a moment and think of the unique way in which you have been created by God – the unique combination of personality and talents with which you have been blessed – and ask yourself how these things could more fully be used for the building up of the Kingdom of God on earth, as in heaven, just as Wai-On made full use of the talents with which she had been blessed.
Stop for a moment and think about the Kingdom of God as described in the Beatitudes with which Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount. The Kingdom of God is a place of happiness for those who know they are spiritually poor, a place of comfort for those who mourn, a place of receptivity for those who are humble, a place of satisfaction for those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires, a place of mercy for those who are merciful, a place in which God is seen by the pure in heart, a place in which those who work for peace are called God’s children, and a place which belongs to those who are persecuted because they do what God requires. What might God be calling us to do for him to bring the Kingdom of God to others? Wai-On chose to bring that Kingdom to others through music and imagery.
Jesus argues that the goodness and worth of all created things can be seen in the way that creation provides all that is needed for creatures and plants to live and thrive. Our worth is greater still because we are made in the very image of God having power over creation and innate creative abilities ourselves. It is incumbent on us then to use the power we possess for the good of others and for the good of creation itself. Bringing happiness, satisfaction and belonging by giving comfort, practicing humility, sharing mercy and working for peace are all powerful ways of tending and guarding creation and building the Kingdom of God on earth, as in heaven. Stop for a moment to recognise the something more for which we are meant to live. Dedicate your life to be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and with what God requires of you. Then you will know blessing, as Wai-On also did.
To view the Memorial Service see here. For more on Wai-On's exhibition 'From Hong Kong to Wickford' see here and here.
