Just as we were starting to feel good about New York up comes this, the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine overlooking Harlem, all lit up for Pride. Go figure, this is the, ahem, church which hosted Elton John's 60th birthday bacchanal.
What a celebration, featuring an $18K floral arrangement and a High Altar set up as a stage for the Scissor Sisters, what?, Sting and Paul McCartney. But that was then, 2007, today the cathedral's simply celebrating the deadly sin of pride with a gay Evensong, an ice cream social, a panel discussion and a specially crafted rainbow celebration of Pauli Murray.
Who is this Pauli Murray? you ask in bemused wonder. Just a regular Communist, lesbian, civil rights activist and the first woman of color (WOC) to be ordained as a priestess in the Episcopal Church (TEC).
She died in 1985 from cancer and TEC's made her a "saint," which says something about this catastrophically declining denom's idea of sanctity. That in mind, reflect on the sepulchral hue of the cathedral's pride driven lightshow. Does it suggest heaven or the other place?
LSP
