Washington National Cathedral

After completing final rehearsal an hour before singing at Washington National Cathedral on April 20, members of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Concert Choir joined hands in the Cathedral lobby. Bonny Anderson, a Cathedral trustee from Warwick, Md., led a prayer.

“Thank you for this wonderful choir,” Anderson said, head bowed. “Thank you for the gift of music, the gift of song. Help them to inform the worship service with their joy.”

The 30-voice chorus then delivered a powerful performance before an audience of 1,367 attending a special Maryland worship service. Anderson’s prayer had been answered.

“Were they good, or what?” she exclaimed at the end of the program.

The university choir was among a number of Maryland participants spotlighted at Maryland State Day. Washington National Cathedral designates one state each month for special prayers, inviting local religious and political leaders and parishioners of all faiths.

Maryland Day continued the Cathedral’s celebration of its centennial year. The service also observed Earth Day in advance of its April 22 date. The environment was the topic of the sermon delivered by the Very Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III, the Cathedral’s dean.

Further recognizing Earth Day, Douglas Siglin of Highland, Md., federal affairs director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, read scripture. Barbara Brown of Granite, Md., the employee of the year at the Maryland Department of the Environment, carried the state flag in the service-opening procession.

Marylanders also took part in a conversation with Walter Isaacson, former editor of Time magazine and a well-known author of biographies about Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin and Henry Kissinger.

Isaacson is currently president of the nonpartisan Aspen Institute think tank and in December was appointed chairman of the U.S.-Palestinian Partnership, a government and private sector effort to provide economic and education opportunities for the Palestinian people. He was the guest of the Cathedral’s Sunday Forum program leading up to the 11:15 a.m. Maryland service.

The Right Rev. James J. Shand, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Easton, presided at the service. Also taking part was the Rev. Canon Eugene T. Sutton, canon pastor and director of the Cathedral Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage at Washington National Cathedral, who will be consecrated on June 28 as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.

An estimated 450 Marylanders were in attendance, including a significant number from the Eastern Shore.

Dean Lloyd said Marylanders “filled the house today.” Bishop Shand agreed the state was well-represented at the landmark Cathedral.

“The glory and majesty of this place, it is a sacred place,” the bishop said following the service after greeting dozens of parishioners from his diocese. “You are setting your foot on holy ground. And to see so many people that I know… If half the parishes could be here I would be a happy camper.”

Other Maryland clergy guests included the Rev. Sally Joyner-Giffin, rector at Catoctin Episcopal Parish in Thurmond and the Rev. Thomas S. Rogers III, assistant rector at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Frederick.

Further, parishioners processing at the outset of the service carried colorful banners representing Harriet Chapel of Catoctin Furnace, Christ Church of Forest Hill, St. John’s Episcopal Church of Ellicott City and Trinity Cathedral in Easton.

The University of Maryland Eastern Shore Choir rehearsed a month for its Cathedral performance, according to its director, Dr. Sheila McDonald Harleston. Soloists Margaret Rutherford and Jamal Drayton punctuated the choir’s 20-minute program of unaccompanied sacred music.

Although the group has traveled in Europe and went on a trip last year to Barbados, Harleston said its Cathedral appearance was special because a number of parents and friends living in the Washington area could attend.

“It was wonderful to hear ourselves echoing back” in the rich acoustics of the Cathedral nave, said soprano Adenike Adelugba of Randallstown, a senior and the university’s Chorister of the Year.

“The audience was good, too,” Adelugba said. “They were very welcoming of us. It was a good performance. It was a pleasure to perform here.”

In her sermon, Dean Lloyd challenged worshipers to broaden their view of their place in a world environment.

“Can we muster the vision and courage we need to stop the destruction of the earth before it is too late?” he asked. “Christianity has often made the mistake of narrowing its focus solely to the matter of personal salvation. My faith is about me and my own well being and all about my going to heaven.”

But, Lloyd went on, “It is God’s house we are in, not ours. And we humans have become rude and self-centered guests.”

Lloyd said he embraced the idea that people should take responsibility for actions within their control.

“None of us can turn the earth around,” he said. “All we can ever do is hit it a few whacks in the right direction.”

People need to see themselves not as special lords over the resources of the earth, but as a part of the earth that will face the consequences of its erosion. Further, Lloyd said, “we need to evaluate our lives, the cars we drive, the trips we take, the light bulbs we burn,” and pledge to reduce the drain on the environment.

Lloyd also moderated the conversation with Isaacson. The Sunday Forum at Washington National Cathedral: Critical Issues in the Light of Faith, provides dialogue about the major issues of the day as seen from the Christian perspective.

Isaacson discussed projects undertaken by the U.S.-Palestinian Partnership where loans are offered to shopkeepers, taxi drivers, garment manufacturers and information technologists in an effort to create a middle class “that has a stake in peace.”

“We are doing it on the Israeli side as well,” he said. “We are trying to bring people together on things they can agree on.”

Isaacson also served as vice chairman of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, a government relief agency created in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He delivered an optimistic assessment of New Orleans’ recovery.

While some low-lying sections of New Orleans may never be rebuilt, “You have a city whose heart and soul is back. The music is back,” Isaacson said. “In the past six months you can feel the revival of New Orleans and its neighborhoods.”

SOURCE: Washington National Cathedral