Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Summer 2014 Issue | Page 24

Spirit,

Mind –

and
Kendall Martin

Body

A Legacy of Health and Wellness
St. James the Less, Ashland, is a
church with a dedication to health and
wellness. Since 2006, its free clinic has
provided those in need with health care,
medications and more. And in March
2014, the congregation introduced a
new event, “Designing Wellness: An
Integrative Approach to Health.”

Today, that event serves as the
lasting legacy of the Rev. Dr. David T.
Anderson, the rector of St. James the
Less, who died of cancer in May 2014.
Inspired by Anderson’s time at the
Commonweal Retreat, a nonprofit health
and environmental research institute in
Bolinas, Calif., the Designing Wellness
event made connections between faith,
spirit and wellness.

In a Spring 2014 interview, Anderson
explained the inspiration behind the
wellness event. “The Commonweal
Retreat experience for my wife and me
was so very important for our continuing
to understand how we can maximize
the potential for healing,” he said. “It
included specific attention to the body,
mind and spirit by exploring in areas
of specialized yoga practices, dietary
adjustments, emotional support in
small groups, tapping into intuition and
imagination as fields of play and release,
and being in the company of those who
‘get’ living with chronic illness and stay on
the cutting edge of what is out there to
pursue for healing and for cure.”

So as the congregation constructed
the wellness event at St. James the

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Less, “we recognized the many different
aspects within a human being that
are essential for living with intentional
attention to wholeness and seeking
wellness,” Anderson said. “Our
workshops pulled in some, but certainly
not all, of those areas.”

The event attracted over 60
from the parish and the community
of Ashland. The Very Rev. David Mark
Cooper, priest associate at St. James’s,
Richmond, gave the keynote address on
the meaning of health. Workshops were
offered on yoga breathing, cultivating
energy as we age, journaling and more.
The day concluded with a sermon by
the Rev. Charles Joy, supply priest
at St. James the Less, who drew the
connection between health and life.

Bobbie Street is a St. James
the Less parishioner, and one of the
planners of the event. “David seeded
many new ministries at St. James
the Less,” said Street. “The wellness
ministry took shape and became a solid
entity with his strong support.”

She added, “David didn’t like being
thought of as a man with an illness. He
went forth each day with the mission
of celebrating life. He lived fully and
vigorously, preaching his last sermon
just days before his death. The wellness
ministry at St. James the Less will go
forth and flourish, honoring David’s
commitment to the sacred integration of
body, mind and spirit.” The congregation
has a second Defining Wellness event
planned for Oct. 18. t

Designing Wellness is a lasting legacy of the Rev. Dr. David T. Anderson, rector of
St. James the Less, Ashland, who died in May 2014.

Virginia Episcopalian / Summer 2014