Osler's Razor

It was a remarkable weekend.

Sure, I met the Jelly Belly guy, but there was much more than that.

On Saturday night, I participated in our first of five death penalty events at Holy Comforter Church, which was a dual lecture where Jeanne Bishop and I talked about the death penalty. We had the discussion right in the sanctuary itself, which was a wonderful setting. I spoke first, then Jeanne, and then we took questions from the audience. It was a wonderful crowd, and we got some great questions, but I was totally unprepared for what happened.

In response to a question about the humanity of murderers (a fair question in this debate), Jeanne stepped up and did something extraordinary. In the twenty years since the murder of her pregnant sister, Nancy, and her brother-in-law, Richard, she had never publicly said the name of the murderer. This was intentional-- she wanted people not to remember the wrong-doer, but the innocent who died. However, on Saturday, she changed that and said his name, making him human in some way. It was a remarkable and undeserved act of grace, and one of the most dramatic and moving moments I have ever been present for.

On Sunday, we had two events. First, at the morning service, i was able to give the sermon (you can see the text here). I think it went well-- it felt like speaking to friends about friends, and built on the emotion of the evening before. The rest of the liturgy was a disaster for me, though; my advice if you are going to an Episcopal church is to bring along a reference librarian. They use four different hymnals, a Book of Common Prayer, a program, and some random free-floating materials people seemingly pulled from their pockets on the fly. I was constantly fumbling for the right book, only to locate it just as a hymn concluded.

The best part, though, was having four people there who have been real mentors in my life: Craig Anderson, Bill and Jane Smith, and IPLawGuy (who seemed to relish the book-fumbling part of my performance). Craig, whom I've known for 28 years, pulled the laboring oar in organizing all of this, and did a wonderful job. The Smiths were my neighbors as a child in Grosse Pointe (on the same street where Razorite Christine grew up). Among other indignities, I would often knock on their door, demand a book, and then sit on their porch and read it. Eventually, they directed me to their alma mater, William and Mary, where I met both Craig and Tom.

After the service there was an "adult forum" where Jeanne and I led a more informal discussion. As one might expect as the capstone of all that came before, it was quite emotional and wonderful. At least one person revealed that he had changed his mind about the death penalty, and the spirit of the moment was overwhelming.

Now, back in snowy Minnesota, I look forward to resuming my work at St. Thomas, and to the next step of this project-- the trial of Christ on April 15 in Minneapolis, and April 16 in Richmond.