Episcopalians tend to be well-behaved.  We’re often referred to as the frozen chosen.  Not so much this century. We are attending rallies.  We are marching.  Sometimes silently, but in great numbers.  Our hearts and doors are open to everyone.

Pretty much all our founders were practicing Anglicans, though generally not men of faith.  But patriots? You betcha. Us too.

Our church bulletin is always a very large publication, a folded 11×17 folio in full color.  I have no idea how we afford the ink for printing that out each week.  Today, Our Lady of Liberty filled the cover:

I have stood at her feet.  I am a sentimental old fool, and in that powerful moment, tears fell.  If we could look closely today, would she be shedding tears too?  Did you know a broken chain lies at her feet?

Reading the back cover of our bulletin, I learned a great deal more about her history.  And I thought I knew it all. Emma Lazarus’s entire poem was also printed there as well.  The whole thing.

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” (Emma Lazarus November 2, 1883)

In the Prayers of the People, we read, “May we be a people at peace among ourselves and a blessing to the other nations of the earth.”  Amen

Mother of Exiles.   Our Lady of Sorrows.  Our Lady of Liberty.   Dear Lord, teach us how to wipe away her tears. Amen