US Episcopalian priest Spencer Reece: ‘Poetry saved my life’

Church Times has published an interview with Fr Spencer Reece following his recent visit to the Parish of Wickford and Runwell.

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:

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Spencer Reece - Poetry Holds Us Together.