Warm Greetings to St. James’ from Whidbey Island, WA!
On the Festival of the Burning of the Mortgage, we send you springtime greetings from Langley WA on beautiful Whidbey Island. We are the Rev. Amy Donohue and the Rev. William Seth Adams, part of the community of St. James’ Church [and School] from 1996 to 2010. We had hoped to be able to join you in person or in a video but distance and circumstances intervened. So, this remembrance will have to serve.
During our St. James’ years, Amy served as Chaplain and Manager of Spiritual Care at St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center. I taught at the Seminary. When the Rev. Bill Miller left St. James’, we served in his place until the Rev. Greg Rickel came to be our rector. It was during that time, December 1998 to March 2001, that we secured the land on which the Church and School were built.
Under Greg’s leadership, committees were appointed to see to the development of plans for both the Church and School, for finding architects and builders, for designing the new facilities and for whatever else was needed. As it turned out, I chaired each of those committees in turn. If memory serves, I think Riley Carruthers served on each of them as well.
In November 2006, work began on the property with the groundbreaking and the blessing of the land. We circled the excavated earth and prayed a prayer written for the occasion. The worship space and Founders’ Hall rose from here.
Along the way and slightly ahead of the dedication, Greg was elected to serve as the Bishop of the Diocese of Olympia, that is western Washington, and was ordained to that ministry on September 15, 2007. A month later, St. James’ Church and School were dedicated, the Rt. Rev. Dena Harrison presiding. [There is a narrative I wrote shortly after the dedication, recounting the intense activities that occurred before that wonderful day. “Eight Days in October 2007.”]
As the planning and building were underway, Amy, Diane Sandlin and several colleagues, were busy making new altar linens and vestments for the new worship space. With her typical energy and enthusiasm, Amy gathered fragments of cloth from virtually everyone in the congregation in order to make a chasuble, the poncho like garment worn by the presider. We called it the Festival Garment.
There was also a set of matching stoles. In the photograph taken of the clergy present that day, you will see Bp. Harrison and Bp. Rickel each wearing one of the stoles. When the altar/table was dressed during the dedication, Amy and Virginia Paget put the new altar vesture in place. Beautiful!
In addition, Amy oversaw the creation of furniture to be used in Godly Play. These pieces were fashioned to resemble and call to mind the new liturgical furniture built for the new worship space. She also managed the acquisition of a whole set of new dishes and such for the fine new kitchen.
When the worship space was being designed, special attention was given to certain aspects of the room. Firstly, the new space followed the floor plan of the previous building. It was essentially a square space used on the diagonal, creating a sense of roundness. We secured seating that would allow the circularity to express itself while providing easy access and sufficient comfort. We also wanted to provide an ample gathering space at the entry to the building. The words of welcome that adorn either side of the interior doors, in all those languages, were put there to express the heart of St. James’.
Secondly, care was taken to retain the stained glass from the MLK location and to display the several panels very well. The way they were mounted in the new space showed their rich color much better than had previously been the case. Next, it was important that the Stations of the Cross be indigenous to St. James’. So, Arlene Polite, a gifted artist and a member of St. James’, was asked to create them, and she did. We chose to display them as you see them now.
Of greatest importance was the placement and presentation of the baptismal font. The font, locally made of black walnut like the altar/table and the ambo, held the great shell that we had used before. What was unique was the floor. The circle under the font is composed of brick that was taken from the buildings previously occupied by St. James’. The brick was placed in the concrete floor as it was laid. The necessary scoring of the concrete floor was done such that all of the lines ran through the brick circle under the font, to suggest that the waters of baptism were at the center of the life of the parish. So we thought then, so we taught then, and so it is even now.
Amy and I left Austin in November 2010 and have lived on Whidbey Island ever since. [Ironically, until very recently, our bishop has been the very same Greg Rickel, with whom we served at St. James’ for 6 ½ years. We served a Priests in Charge before Greg came to St. James’ and after he left, until the Rev. Jeffrey Walker came to serve as our interim.] The 14 years we spent as part of St. James’ are the most formative years in ministry that we have known. That will always be so.
On a bookshelf in our living room, we have a photo taken likely 20 years ago. It is very dear to us. In the photo, as you see, Amy is kneeling inside the altar rail in the sanctuary of the MLK location, giving communion bread to beautiful children. There is something about that photo that captures and expresses the life we shared with St. James’ in those days and in some ways, even now.
Our love to you, each and all,
Amy and Bill
April 29, 2023
