Scenes from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s Pilgrimage for Reconciliation, Healing and Evangelism in Southwestern Pennsylvania

Posted Feb 6, 2017

[Episcopal News Service – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania] Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s Pilgrimage for Reconciliation, Healing and Evangelism in Southwestern Pennsylvania was the first of six revivals being planned with diocesan teams in different cities around the country and the world this year and in 2018. Here are some scenes from the Feb. 3-5 event.

Members of the Rodman Street Missionary Baptist Church Choir sing Feb. 3 in Pittsburgh Theological Seminary’s Hicks Chapel during the ecumenical service of repentance and reconciliation that kicked off the Episcopal Church’s first modern-day revival. Photo: Mary Frances Schjonberg/Episcopal News Service

Judi Rogers, right, and Patrice Walters pray together Feb. 3 in Pittsburgh Theological Seminary’s Hicks Chapel after a sermon in which Presiding Bishop Michael Curry called for Episcopalians to help heal the world’s divides. Photo: Mary Frances Schjonberg/Episcopal News Service

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry prepares to shoot a video on his cell phone of an altar frontal with some Diocese of Pittsburgh youth. The youth put paint and glitter on their feet and walked across a piece of material to make an altar frontal symbolizing the Jesus Movement. Photo: Mary Frances Schjonberg/Episcopal News Service

The Jesus Movement frontal adorned the altar at Church of the Holy Cross in Pittsburgh for the Feb. 4 Eucharist. Photo: Mary Frances Schjonberg/Episcopal News Service

Detail of the Jesus Movement frontal on the altar at Church of the Holy Cross in Pittsburgh for the Feb. 4 Eucharist. Photo: Mary Frances Schjonberg/Episcopal News Service

Diocese of Pittsburgh Bishop Dorsey McConnell, right, embraces Presiding Bishop Michael Curry as he introduces him to a Feb. 4 breakfast meeting with youth of the diocese at Church of the Holy Cross in Pittsburgh. “This house has been waiting for you,” McConnell later told Curry. “In some way, this house has been waiting 300 years for you.” Absalom Jones, whose ministry was celebrated during Eucharist that day, became the first black American priest when he was ordained in the Episcopal Church in 1804. Photo: Mary Frances Schjonberg/Episcopal News Service

Important African-Americans inside and outside of the Episcopal Church surrounding a black Jesus are in a mural that forms the reredos of a side chapel at Church of the Holy Cross in the Homewood West section of Pittsburgh. Photo: Mary Frances Schjonberg/Episcopal News Service

“If it doesn’t walk and talk and look and smell like Jesus, it’s not Christian … and if it’s going to look like Jesus, it’s got to look like love,” Presiding Bishop Michael Curry says in his sermon Feb. 4 at Church of the Holy Cross in the Homewood West section of Pittsburgh. Photo: Mary Frances Schjonberg/Episcopal News Service

The congregation at Calvary Episcopal Church in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh listens to Presiding Bishop Michael Curry during Eucharist on Feb 5. Diocese of Pittsburgh Bishop Dorsey McConnell, right, sat in the pews for the sermon. Photo: Mary Frances Schjonberg/Episcopal News Service

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry makes a point during his sermon Feb. 5 at Calvary Episcopal Church in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Photo: Mary Frances Schjonberg/Episcopal News Service

Diocese of Pittsburgh Bishop Dorsey McConnell, far left; the Rev. Lorena Ringle; Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and the Rev. Stephanie Spellers, canon to the presiding bishop for evangelism, reconciliation and creation, helped close out the revival with Eucharist at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in McKeesport. Photo: Mary Frances Schjonberg/Episcopal News Service

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Comments (8)

  1. Louise and John Bower says:
    February 6, 2017 at 5:13 pm

    You Go, Michael!!

    Love is the answer!!

    1. John farlow says:
      February 6, 2017 at 7:01 pm

      The term “revival” brings up many negative connotations. Revival meant being feeling guilty if you didn’t go down to the altar to be “saved;” revival meant being pressured by others to accept Jesus; revival meant having to “testify” even when you didn’t want to; revival meant scorn to those who didn’t buy into a belief of a charismatic church. “Revival” in the South meant conforming to the norms…it was repressive and against what the Bible says…”to love thy neighbor as thyself.” I came to the Episcopal Church because I could be me and love our Lord without all the pressure and guilt that “revival” meant. Having Episcopal “revivals” to me means going down a slippery slope. A slope that has divided and caused anguish to many churches.

      1. Bob Johnston says:
        February 6, 2017 at 8:33 pm

        This Episcopal Revival was nothing like those you describe. It was envigorating and no one was guilted into anything. Praise God for PB Michael Curry.

      2. Lisa Brown says:
        February 7, 2017 at 12:19 pm

        At the “Evangelism Matters” conference in Dallas these exact concerns were addressed. Canon Stephanie Spellers in particular addressed the ways that “revivals” and “evangelism” have been done in ways that have been harmful and disrespectful at both an individual and societal level, and yet as Bishop Curry says, “If it isn’t about love, it isn’t about God. And that evangelism is just helping people to find their way home.” I tell you, the revival and the understanding of evangelism that is espoused by Bishop Curry and as happened in Pittsburgh this past weekend was all about love and inclusivity and respect for all. Not guilt. Not pressure. We have a lot of bridges in Pittsburgh, literal and figurative bridges that divide us: race, religion, ethnicity, politics, geography, economics. This revival was about doing more listening than talking. It was about finding common ground and sharing stories. It was about worship and breaking bread. It was incredibly powerful and affirming of all the things I love in the Episcopal church and lead me to believe we can be a powerful force for good in the world.

  2. +Ken Price says:
    February 6, 2017 at 7:38 pm

    Great pictures, Mary Frances and thank you ++Michael for giving a great spiritual boost to the reveval of Pittsburgh with Dirsey McConnel.

  3. nathan baxter says:
    February 7, 2017 at 9:04 am

    Thank God for the message & spirit of our PB. Holy boldness witnessed with grace & agape. Also thankfull for Bp. McConnell & his diocese for opening doors of diocese to model one way we can locally witness our evangelical mission in The Jesus Movement.

  4. Fr. Ricardo Sheppard says:
    February 7, 2017 at 10:27 am

    John, I understand the negative feelings you may have from the word revival, however, I would challenge you to step outside your comfort zone. This is an opportunity for healing and renewal. It is an individual and collective opportunity to draw closer to God. If you must test the waters before you get in, at least test it. You may find refreshment for your soul.

  5. Wendy Steeves says:
    February 7, 2017 at 3:43 pm

    God bless and strengthen PB Curry and the bridge-builders in the Jesus Movement.

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