Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Winter 2015 Issue | Page 24

Serving a Campus in Need
By the Rev. James Richardson

The fall semester at the University
of Virginia this year started out like
so many others. But in the early hours
before dawn on Sept. 13, an 18-year-old
second-year student, Hannah Graham,
disappeared. Within days, police mobilized
a massive search. Students organized
a candlelight vigil and thousands came.
Hannah became the subject of national
news coverage.

A month after her disappearance,
Hannah’s remains were found in a
wooded area about five miles south of
Charlottesville. Police arrested a man
who may have been connected to the

disappearances of not just Hannah but
other young women.

What could we do?

We opened the doors of the
church, turned on the lights, and kept
the doors open and the lights on 24
hours a day. Students came in at all
hours to pray. We talked with our
students. We listened. We learned once
again what it means to be church.
Soon after Hannah disappeared, the Rev.
James Richardson, rector of St. Paul’s
Memorial Church, preached this sermon.
St. Paul’s Memorial Church, Charlottesville

In recent days, with the very disturbing disappearance of
university student Hannah Graham, I have been reminded
once again why the Church exists.

We exist to pray.

A few days after her disappearance became known, we
opened our doors – and I mean physically opened the doors
and turned on the lights – for people to come in and pray, 24
hours a day.

And they have been coming every day, at all hours,
especially our university students.

Those who come to pray may not know about our
doctrine or creeds, and they might not know anything about
our way of worship or that this is an Episcopal Church, or care
anything else about this church.

But they know this is a sacred place where it is safe to
come, to be silent, to pray. Many people, especially students,
have been here in these pews praying at noon and at
midnight, and at 3 a.m.

I am very grateful to our staff members who have also
been here at very odd hours so that we can keep the doors
open. We are scaling back the hours, and will close the doors
at 10 p.m. But know this:

We are here to pray.
We are here to pray in times of joy and times of sorrow. We
are here to pray in times of comfort and times of uncertainty
and danger. We exist on this corner especially to pray when it
is hardest to pray.

Many of you have asked me in the last week what we can
do about the disappearance of Hannah Graham, or about the
many troubling conflicts in our world.

Pray, and take the risk of keeping these doors open to
our community for prayer. Prayer is a very powerful thing.

22

Virginia Episcopalian / WINTER 2015

Praying together here sharpens our awareness of God’s
holy presence within us and around us, and can strengthen us
especially when we need it most.

Yes, God is everywhere. Yes, you can pray in your
workplace or your home or at the grocery store.

But there is something about praying here, in this
holy place, on this corner – in our church building – that is
extraordinary and sacred, and cannot be replicated anywhere
else on this planet.

We exist as a church so that anyone can come here to
pray. William Temple, the archbishop of Canterbury during the
darkest moments of World War II, once put it: “The Church is
the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are
not its members.”

The last few days, I believe I know what he meant by that.
I’ve felt keenly that keeping our doors open for all people is
exactly why we were put here on this earth.

Praying is the most important thing we do …

The most important thing we do is pray, and the center
of the Church is right there – the Lord’s Table – and that is no
accident. This is where we gather all of our prayers and the
longings of our hearts in the central act of our worship, our
Holy Eucharist. t
Read more at spmrector.blogspot.com.