New Priorities

This morning I spent some time at City Hall talking with a number of people connected with the New Priorities Network, and the Bay Area New Priorities Campaign. The hope is to encourage local communities across the country to collectively speak up for a shift of resources away from war-making towards jobs, healthcare, and education.  As one person said of this effort, “This is an opportunity to bring a policy issue that represents the 99% before an elected body."

Poster from http://www.afsc.org/resource/occupy-signs

Below, is what I plan to say to our Board of Supervisors in the coming weeks. Wherever you are, consider connecting with this effort. Join folks all over the country asking our elected officials, at every level, to speak up for funding the priorities we share.

Members of the Board of Supervisors,

My name is Will Scott, I am the Vicar of St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church in the Western Addition of San Francisco and live in Bernal Heights. Faith communities in the city of San Francisco as in every part of this country share the challenge of caring for those Jesus called “the least of these” --- we are one of the places people go to seek support in times of economic stress.  A few examples:

• In my faith community, congregation members are struggling to keep their homes.  Young families are leaving because they can’t afford to stay.
• In our neighborhoods the lines at food pantries are getting longer and longer. 
• The already far too lean budgets of non-profits serving the vulnerable, youth,  elders, veterans, the working poor, those who are homeless, mentally ill, and addicted are being cut --- in a time when there are more and more people who rely on these services.
• Many people with valuable skills are unemployed or underemployed and have been for years now ---  isolation, depression and hopelessness have become daily struggles.

Sometimes our church is able to provide some alleviation, counsel, comfort and advice to those who are feeling the deep pain of this economic crisis, the most severe since the Great Depression, and we aspire to do more --- but the reality is that the struggles so many are facing demand more than charity, or attentive pastoral care.  Communities of all shapes and sizes are crying out for justice. 

Holy Scripture from the Book of Isaiah paints a hopeful picture of the future when there will be judgment between the nations,

the nations, shall beat their swords into ploughshares,

   and their spears into pruning-hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

   neither shall they learn war any more.

The resolution before you calling for cuts in war spending & redirection of those funds to domestic needs is an important step toward that hopeful vision of the future expressed by the Prophet Isaiah.

On Sunday mornings at St. Cyprian’s new and longtime members are speaking up and out clearly and passionately about the need for a reevaluation of our national priorities. There’s a shared recognition that we need our government to invest in the fabric of this country, we need a new New Deal. I believe strongly that we must stop spending trillions of tax dollars a year on the instruments of war and redirect those funds towards “the things that make for peace. “ I say all this as the grandson of a WW2 veteran, and my maternal grandfather spent his entire career at the Pentagon serving there through three wars--- but his heart broke during the Vietnam War, and he suffered a nervous breakdown. During his long retirement his children and grandchildren witnessed not a defeated old military man but one passionate about education, the arts, empathy for the suffering and the beauty of nature. I believe our country is going through its own nervous breakdown --- we need to regain our passion, as my grandfather did, for education, the arts, care for the vulnerable and creation.

Thank you.

yearning & groaning continues...

Dear Yearning & Groaning Readers,

You may have noticed for some time now that I'm just not posting much here anymore. That's not because I've stopped yearning and groaning. In fact, I'm yearning and groaning more than ever, focusing my energies at St. Cyprian's Episcopal Church in San Francisco. I'm not planning on closing this blog down, but do want to encourage you out there in cyber space to stay connected through the weekly e-news I put together for St. Cyp's and our related websites. Light a candle, say a prayer for us every once in a while, and if you are in the Bay Area stop by Turk & Lyon.

Peace,
Will

on being in the paper

A little over a week or so ago I got a phone call from a lovely person, Reyhan Harmanci, at The Bay Citizen (a great local non-profit news site that partners with the New York Times). I later learned she grew up in the same area as my Mennonite grandmother in Mifflin County, PA. I think Nana from her hammock in heaven sent her my way, she always loved surprises.

Reyhan said she was working on a story collecting quotes from different parts of the gay community, on the gay community for Pride. My first reaction was, how come there aren't ever any articles on the "straight" community --- is there such a thing? Then I went on and on talking to her like the opinionated blabber mouth I am (don't worry, I'm getting myself signed up for some real media training some time soon). After that the friendly reporter said she'd be in touch next week, "we'd like you to come downtown to our offices so we can take your picture." Let me tell you that was fun, it is not often that a poor urban priest gets treated like a celebrity. The gifted photographer Annie Tritt was so sweet, hilarious and taught me that my left side is my best side (according to her some really famous people actually never let the other sides of their faces get taken pictures of).

You can check out the article here & here. Just for the record, Matt and I got married in October 2008 at City Hall & had a wedding/blessing of the marriage at Grace Cathedral (my former employer) in October 2009. Thank you to everyone at the Bay Citizen for including me in your story, along with such interesting and inspiring other queer people I'd really like to get to know some day. Hopefully, a little attention like this will inspire a few more folks to peek in the door of St. Cyprian's, God knows we've got lots of good reasons for one to do so. Reyhan, coincidentally did a fabulous story on St. Cyprian's friend Damon Styer owner of New Bohemia Signs, who made our hot new sign.

Letter to SFMTA about Masonic & Turk Streets

Below is a letter I sent to the SFMTA recently about changes to Masonic & Turk Streets. You can read all about the plans to make this street safer for everyone over at Bike NOPA. This is not an official church endorsement of the plan, but written as an active member of the neighborhood. This was written before the most current collisions and fatality.  If you are inclined to write a letter/email as well send them to : sustainable.streets@sfmta.com, with "PUBLIC HEARING" in the subject line.

Jesus walked. That's not just a song by Kanye West, it's true. 

As a priest at St. Cyprian's Episcopal Church on the corner of Turk & Lyon Streets, my congregation and I are particularly sensitive to those who walk, bike, run, drive and park on the roads, sidewalks and bike paths near our church building. Their safety is often compromised because of speeding motorists on streets that look and function like freeways.

I choose not to drive regularly but walk, bus, and occasionally bike to get around the city. I am keenly aware of just how vulnerable pedestrians and cyclists can be on Masonic and Turk Streets. Both are excessively wide and cars, trucks, and buses often move far too fast through our residential neighborhood.   My congregants feel they often risk their lives getting to the church.  I regularly witness elderly members dodge speeding vehicles on Turk Street, and I see the same on Masonic. Not long ago one of our members was hit by a vehicle outside our doors following Sunday service. 

Last fall my congregation and I joined community members in a vigil to mourn the loss of a 22-year-old man, a visitor to the city, who was struck and killed by a motorist on Masonic at Turk, just two blocks from our church. In our grief for this terrible loss, we also resolved to work harder for safer streets, especially Masonic and Turk streets.

This tragecy on Masonic brought back the difficult memories of my mother being hit just three years ago at a dangerous intersection in downtown Washington, DC, My family’s lives have not been the same since. Though we are lucky she is alive, my mother's life as an avid dancer, cyclist and hiker is dramatically different since her accident. 

I have reviewed the city’s plan for a safer, more livable Masonic as outlined in the Boulevard design. I support, along with many members of my congregation, this bold reworking of a dangerous street. We understand that parking will be removed to make these changes possible. For some this will be an inconvenience, but we believe the city has a responsibility to design streets that are safe for all users.

The Boulevard plan also proposes to add parking along Turk street between Central and Baker streets, and we very much support this action as a traffic calming measure badly needed on Turk Street.

Remembering that Jesus, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. walked --- as do City College and USF students, children and parents on their way to the SF Day School or to Pacific Primary School, donors to the Blood Centers of the Pacific,  and church goers -- I encourage you to make everyone safer, by implementing the proposed improvements to Turk & Masonic Streets.

Faithfully,

The Reverend Will Scott
Pastor
St. Cyprian's Episcopal Church

2097 Turk Street

San Francisco, CA 94115