A Story of Grace and Mercy

by Deborah Little Wyman, priest for street ministry, Ecclesia ministries - Common Cathedral on the Boston Common

My ordination to the priesthood was not approved for a year and a half because "we aren't sure that street ministry is priesthood."  This was a long and difficult stretch. My attention was so focused on my survival that I hadn't given much thought to how I could exercise my priesthood in this strange disorderly setting.  Two months after my ordination, it was the morning of Christmas Eve.  I woke up knowing I needed to celebrate communion in South Station where I had been spending parts of days. In winter, that's where my people were.  I called my life long and sympathetic friend, Ann, to express my terror and excitement about the vision.  All I knew was I needed a prayer book, bread, grape juice, the Christmas gospel story, and a lot more confidence than I felt.  "You can't do that without chicken soup, can you?" were Ann's first words.  

The next thing I knew, we were meeting at 4 pm under the Arrivals and Departures Board and she was bringing not only soup but Boomer, the dog.  I had more confidence in Boomer's ability to create a safe sacred place in all that holiday crush than in anything we could offer.  But within a half hour, we were ten in a circle of chairs, huddled so we could hear each other.  I asked one of the men to read the gospel and then I sat listening to our hearts beating and waiting for guidance about what to do next. I heard a man across the circle take in a smoker's breath.  "My name is Joseph," he said.  "I wish I had been so kind to my wife when she took off with my friend."  He was weeping, and soon each one was sharing something that told me they were all completely present in the Christmas story.

I felt one of the greatest lessons about why Jesus sends us to the poor to learn about God. Folks who have nothing have God.  All the layers of complexity that we consider necessities in fact put distance between us and God.  I had no idea of creating an outdoor church that day, but I knew who the preachers were.  A year later we would be nearly 100 outdoors under the trees across from the Episcopal cathedral with Bishop Tom Shaw baptizing, confirming and celebrating our Eucharist.  Our folks would name our street church "common cathedral".