The two Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles parishes hit hardest by the wildfires, Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church in Altadena and The Parish of St. Matthew in Pacific Palisades, have something in common besides loss and grief. Each hosts a highly respected Episcopal school, which means four institutions instead of two will be recovering, taking stock, and rebuilding.
While God didn’t plan it that way, the Holy Spirit, as always, will be in the healing. At most of our schools, most students and their parents aren’t members of the church. It will be a boon to each parish that it enjoys a broad network of neighborhood relationships as well as a marrow deep commitment to outreach, a core value of Episcopal education. All of us at at the diocese will be walking with them each step of the way, including the executive director of our Commission on Schools, the Rev. Ryan Douglas Newman.
Both congregations’ Resurrection spirit was on display on this Lord’s day. I attended the 8 a.m. service at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in Santa Monica, which extended a warm welcome to St. Matthew’s neighbors, an estimated three-quarters of whom have lost their homes. The Rev. Nathan Rugh, the rector, presided, inviting his St. Matthew’s colleagues, the Revs. Bruce A. Freeman, KC Robertson, and Stephen Smith, to join him and the St. Augustine’s associate rector, the Rev. Katie Cadigan, at the altar. All three Pacific Palisades priests lost their homes in the fire. Stephen and his spouse, Holly, have a two-year-old, Bruce. Their second child is due in March.
Katie preached powerfully about grief and recovery, noting that the current St. Augustine’s church building was raised up after a fire in the sixties. She said that the towering stained glass window behind the altar is called “the great fire,” with reference to the Holy Spirit. She said how difficult it may have been for St. Matthew’s people to hear John the Baptist, in today’s gospel reading, talk about Jesus baptizing with fire. She preferred our reading from Isaiah: “When you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”
At St. Matthew’s, while the church buildings survived, the parish school’s elementary building and other facilities were lost. After church, two veteran teachers told me of plans to get students back to class soon. Over coffee in the parish hall, KC, Stephen, and I heard moving stories from two longtime members who lost their homes Both are safe and secure. Lizzy Tooke Moore said that she and her fellow vestry members are calling everyone in the parish and doing their best to stay on the line after the usual “we’re fine” to make sure they’re getting the whole story.
At St. Mark’s, where the church building and most of the campus are gone, worship, with a congregation 140 strong, was via Zoom at 10:30 a.m. The rector, the Rev. Carri Grindon, invited me to say a few words. The Rev. Michael Mischler, ordained a priest on Saturday, presided. Director of music Lisa Sylvester and organist Mark Robson (who mourns so much that has been lost, including the St. Mark’s organ) turned to their pianos to accompany hymn singing. I found myself giving thanks that COVID helped us hone our remote worship chops. As with fires, God does not intend pandemics. But God’s spirit always floods in and helps us make do.
Carrie’s sermon was rousing. “Whether you’re in hotels or AirBnbs, driving in your car, staying in the homes of family or friends or strangers who aren’t strangers anymore,” she said, “the bonds among us are bonds that cannot be severed. We are the latest in a long list of God’s people put on the road by disaster and displacement. We are still one in love. We are still one in Christ.”
The merciless Eaton fire struck St. Mark’s so quickly Wednesday morning that nothing in the church building could be saved. Carri said her only remaining vestments are a cassock and surplice she’d wadded up in her van early last week so she could get them dry-cleaned in time for Michael’s Saturday ordination. Circumstance delayed her errand until Friday, when two dry cleaners in a row said same-day service wasn’t possible. When she broke down and told the second that she was the rector of the church in Altadena that burned, and that she needed to be with her people the next day at St. John’s Cathedral, they said, “You’ll have it by four.”
One of many small graces and miracles this week. Another is that amid the horrific loss of the St. Mark’s campus, its beautiful new preschool building survived. It will be a long time before classes. But it’s a start. St. Mark’s parish is raising a rebuilding fund. You can help here: https://www.saintmarksaltadena.org.
