Driving Miss Dot

When I was in elementary school in Eastern PA, my parents found an Episcopal Church they loved and we started attending regularly and becoming more involved. It wasn't long before I joined the children’s choir, my step-dad Dave was serving on vestry, and my mom was hired as parish coordinator. After a few Sundays of talking with an elderly member at coffee hour, Dave asked if she needed rides between her nursing home and church. 

That’s when Dot entered our lives. 

In her mid-90s, Dot still played the piano, loved her scotch, and introduced herself as “Dot P., O.B.” When people would engage her about being a doctor, she would correct them and tell them that O.B. stood for Old Bag. She was self-assured and had a great sense of humor, and my family had a great time getting to know her over the next couple of years that we gave her rides. Sometimes, when we took Dot back to her nursing home, we would stay and join her for lunch or see her to her room.

Even though she didn't have children of her own, Dot took a liking to me as I did her. For her birthday, I brought her a stuffed animal, which didn't fit with her décor or demeanor, but which she ended up cherishing and putting on her bed each day. One day, when we dropped her off, she gave me a little cushioned box that was hers. A couple of years later, after we had moved to Illinois, she died; I found that little blue box and held onto it as I cried.

Though it was only a small portion of my week, rides with Dot formed a lasting memory for me. It’s amazing to think that this relationship started with a simple, “Hey, do you need a ride?” When I asked Dave why he reached out to Dot, he said that in a church community, we’re all there to help one another worship God more fully. Giving Dot rides was a wonderful and rewarding opportunity for him to connect with another member of the church and get to know someone better, while helping a fellow parishioner. Dave had so much fun doing it that – once we moved to a new community – he found another spunky parishioner in her 90s to drive to church. 

He says it’s a simple plan: Be alert to the needs of the people in your church, and when you see them, respond. I am grateful for his ministry because it was a great example for me as a child and allowed me to form a bond with someone I may have never met otherwise.

At St. Martin’s, we have opportunities for you to connect with others. One of these ways is through signing up on our Transportation Ministry page as someone who would be willing to provide rides to church to someone in your geographical area. Needs vary and commitments are flexible; if you are willing to open your car and your heart to a neighbor, take the first step of signing up. Like my family, you may get to know someone whom you remember for many years after the rides have ended.

- The Rev. Callie Swanlund

The NEXT Level

Case Statement

“Next Level” Accessibility Project

Every Sunday some members of our St. Martin’s community cannot attend services and classes because they find accessing the Sanctuary and Parish House simply too difficult.  Although they want to share the beauty of God’s presence in worship, fellowship, and service, they are unable to climb the stairs or fear an unreliable wheelchair lift. These are not just those who use wheelchairs, walkers, or canes; they are also those with small children in strollers. Our community is diminished by their absence.

We cannot say “All Are Welcome!” until we are accessible to everyone who wishes to partake in our dynamic and diverse community.  The “Next Level” Accessibility Project will build on what has already been done and bring our campus one step closer to 100% accessibility. 

The “Next Level” Accessibility Project will create easy and dignified access to worship, fellowship, learning, and service on the St. Martin’s campus.  People who in the past have been unable to navigate independently into our Sanctuary and Parish House will now be able to do so with ease.

An elegant ramp of Wissahickon Schist will curve up to the Willow Grove Avenue door, its profile so integrated into the building as to appear part of the original design.  

Willow Grove ramp rendering by McEwen Architects.

Dangerous steps will be replaced on the Willow Grove Terrace by gentle slopes and curb cuts so all levels are accessible and tripping hazards are removed. Handrails will be rearranged for the ease and safety of all.

Handicapped parking spots will be clearly demarcated on Willow Grove Avenue close to the accessible entrance and protected from traffic by set-backs from the street. 

The Willow Grove Terrace will be expanded and smoothed for safety, for liturgical gatherings on Palm Sunday and Easter Vigil and for hospitality before and after worship.

The Parish House Door will be rearranged to make it more easily operable. A friendly and welcoming glass door will be installed inside the existing wood doors that many find heavy and difficult to maneuver.  The beautiful wood doors will be hinged open during the day like shutters and closed at night. 

New lighting will be installed in the project area to illuminate the church and grounds at night for the comfort and safety of our members, visitors, and guests. 

Construction on the Next Level Project is planned for summer 2014, beginning in June and completed by September.  Fundraising will begin in February of this year after a public presentation of the project on February 9.  We will need to raise approximately $200,000 to fund the project.

When Jesus preached the Kingdom, all people – no matter their status or ability – had room by his side.  The “Next Level” Accessibility Project is about the Gospel, the Good News that reaches out and includes all in God’s unconditional love.  Together we will make the renovations necessary to support our mission to Welcome All People as Christ welcomes us.

Threshold Anxiety

I am obsessed with doorways.  Thresholds consume my imagination.  What does it take to cross through a portal into a new experience, a new community, and new way of living?

Our front doors. Photo: Lucy Baber Photography

Long term church members forget the anxiety which grips newcomers and visitors when they approach the church door.  When that door is approached questions percolate as the pituitary sends a rush of endorphins to our brain.  What is waiting for me?  Will I be warmly greeted?  Will my space be respected?  Will I be gravely disappointed by the worship?  Will someone try to convert me or come on too strong?  Will I be ignored? 

If you are a gay, lesbian, or transgendered person, or a person of color in a predominately white church, the stakes are even more intense.  Is this community homophobic and hateful?  Will the words and the looks sting and hurt and raise my anger when I am looking for solace and connection to God?  Is the community racist and exclusionary in behavior and in culture?  Is my culture and my person respected here?

I call this response, threshold anxiety.  A focus of my ministry is to decrease this anxious experience as much as possible.  I want people to immediately feel welcome, acceptance, curiosity, and kindness when they enter our space.  We need to send clear signals that each person is a delight and an addition to the goodness of our community.  Why?  Because, however imperfectly, we represent a God who delights in all Her children and has room for all at Her table. 

Concretely, our buildings send signals.  Are there signs directing newcomers or is the building indecipherable and poorly lit.  The latter state of affairs sends a message that says, “We are not expecting you and we are not going to make life easy for you here.”  

Our buildings must communicate to all people that we are expecting their arrival and have a space in our web of relationships prepared for them.  For example, when we designed the rehab of the first floor of Hilary House, we chose a front door with a glass window in it.  Solid doors obscure what lies within.  Glass in a door sends a message of welcome and gives the reassurance that whatever is behind that door is accessible, open, and transparent.    Most shops – except those that wish to communicate exclusivity- have glass doors for exactly this reason.

I told you that I am obsessed with doors.

Over the next few years we will continue to work on our thresholds both physically and spiritually.  The vestry is working hard on the design and funding for an access ramp for people in wheelchairs, those who use walkers, and young families with strollers so the church will be more welcoming.   We will also make the door to the Parish House fully accessible and add glass to make it less foreboding and more embracing.  By the time we are done with this phase and the work at Hilary House about 65% of the facility will be fully accessible.  Not enough, but progress.

Spiritually we need to remember that the word “catholic” means “embracing.”  As a Church in the Anglican Catholic tradition we embrace God’s creation in every facet finding sparks of God’s light and grace wherever we go.  Thus, our buildings and our spirits must strive to be equally embracing.  We will continue to build on our Anti-Racism training (all the staff and the vestry attend this training!) so that we have the knowledge and skills to dismantle racism at St. Martin's and to work across significant divides of race without further aggravating the hurts and grievances of historic racism.  

Our mission statement says we exist to “Welcome All Seekers,”  and the good news is that we are receiving much positive feedback from newcomers who call us friendly, warm, and welcoming.  Our website, yet another modern threshold, is also telling, we are told, a welcoming story for families approaching us electronically.  May these words motivate us to be obsessed by thresholds and empathetic to all with the courage to cross.  Each newcomer is God’s delight and God’s gift.  Our spiritual work is to make room and make welcome.

- The Rev. Jarrett Kerbel