Yesterday, I attended a monthly gathering of clergy colleagues from the Episcopal Churches in the greater Charlotte region. This month, we gathered for worship and fellowship at the lovely St. Luke’s Church in Salisbury, where we were surrounded by a colorful and beautiful cloud of witnesses.
This was my first time at St. Luke’s, but I’ve been wanting to visit for a while. The parish has become known across the Diocese for their dedication to “Becoming Beloved Community” and anti-racism. The lay leaders and the rector, The Rev. Robert Black, have worked together in recent years on a noteworthy project that exemplifies their commitment to reconciliation and healing.
The project began with the recognition that the nave’s historic stained-glass windows, while gorgeous, do not fully capture the truth of the biblical stories they depict, because all of the characters from scripture in them are shown as being of European descent. While this may have accurately reflected the membership of St. Luke’s at the time the windows were installed, the parish today strives to be a community that welcomes and embraces all races and ethnicities, just as we do here at St. Alban’s. So they began to explore ways to diversify the images that surround them as they worship.
St. Luke’s clergy and parishioners had no desire to remove or replace the historic stained-glass windows. For one, it would be extremely expensive and troublesome. But even more importantly, the windows, for better or worse, serve as a reminder of the parish’s origins, and they did not wish to ignore or hide their history. So they embarked on a process of commissioning some modern icons to add to their walls, offering a more accurate and diverse portrayal of the saints of our faith.
Over time, St. Luke’s has added ten different icons to their walls. Some of the icons depict the same biblical figures as the stained-glass windows, but with darker skin, hair, and eyes. Other icons include more modern saints from American history, North Carolina history, and even St. Luke’s history. You can see images and descriptions of all the icons on their website.
The iconography is even more striking in person. Even our own Alban is among the saints pictured in the icons, alongside others like Harriet Tubman, Jonathan Daniels, Julian of Norwich, Desmond Tutu, Patrick, and Phoebe. The icons of St. Luke’s are Black, European, Native American, and Middle Eastern. They are men and women, ancient and more recent.
Together, the images in both the older windows and the newer icons tell a much deeper, richer story of Christianity than what we often see in our churches, children’s bibles and art museums. In particular, the Pentecost icon reminded me that diversity is God’s original intention and dream for the Church—just re-read Chapter 2 of Acts to see for yourselves.
To be surrounded by so many magnificent multicultural saints yesterday was a true gift and balm for my soul. If you ever find yourself near Salisbury, be sure to pop by St. Luke’ and take in the diverse beauty.
Yours in Christ,
Carmen
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