Then Canon for Common Life Bob Williams and I thought that we might make an exhibition out of the unveiling — to position renowned portraitist Juan Fernando Bastos’ work among others’, all tuned to the “key of heart.” These include works by David Andrew Davis of All Saints’ Beverly Hills and Cynthia Sanchez of Neighborhood Youth Association and others lent by our St. Paul’s Commons, Echo Park co-tenants the Immaculate Heart Community and Nefesh.
In December 2016, after our last bishop’s election, I was preparing to be interviewed by Rev. Canon Pat McCaughan of “The Episcopal News.” I knew she’d ask about theme and vision. I’m a big Bruce Springsteen fan. He has a song called “Hungry Hearts” on his 1980 album, “The River.”
The song proposes that everyone has a hungry heart. In the church, our ministry is to satisfy the heart’s hunger by encouraging the people of God to glorify God and care for one another and their neighbors. So my theme and hashtag became “feeding hungry hearts.” Bob and his artistic team took that and designed a logo that was unintentionally reminiscent of the cover of Stevie Wonder’s album “Songs in the Key of Life” – as is, as a matter of fact, the name of our exhibit.
Which means that we probably owe both Bruce and Stevie royalties. We’ll leave that for the eighth bishop of Los Angeles to sort out.
Conversations are continuing between curator Bob and Bruce’s curator in New Jersey about adding a piece to the exhibit. We ran out of time to make opening day, because it appears Bruce’s curator went on the road in Europe with Bruce and the E Steet Band, where he has been making a considerable amount of political news.
I think we’re all conscious of the heart’s resilience as well as its tenderness and vulnerability. The human heart is one of the marvels of the universe, surely one of God’s masterpieces. For most of us, between two and a half and three billion heartbeats will get us from our Alpha to our Omega. And yet the heart can be so easily damaged – – by disease, of course, and also an unkind word, or an act of injustice or inhumanity. Loneliness, isolation, alienation, and hatred – these and other sicknesses can strain and break our hearts.
If we’re here today, it probably means we are spiritual cardiologists, helping the people we serve contend with the stress test of life. Most of all, we pray this moment of fellowship will feed our hearts just a little for the peacemaking, love-spreading ministry we share in these stressful times.
Geoffrey Rusack and Alison Wrigley Rusack are cocurators of this moment. Alison is a famed philanthropist and leader in the conservation for all generations to come of Catalina Island. Geoff is a philanthropist, municipal executive, and winemaker. As our fourth bishop diocesan, and before then bishop suffragan, Geoff’s father, Robert, served Los Angeles for 22 years – more than a third of his life – and yet he died so young, in his prime, an event that of course left a wound on the heart of his devoted son. He was a champion of women’s ordination and multicultural and polylingual ministry.
It is easy to see Geoff’s work as an extension of his father’s, albeit in the secular world, building community and taking care of people, his beloved Alison as his partner. When Kathy and Geoff put their heads together on the idea of my portrait, it became inevitable, thanks to his encouragement as well as his and Alison’s generous gift supporting the entire project.
[A portion of my remarks at this morning’s opening of “In the Key of Heart,” an exhibition at St. Paul’s Commons, Echo Park that includes my just unveiled official portrait, the work of Juan Fernando Bastos. The Rev. Canon Melissa McCarthy served as minister of ceremonies.]
