Sweet Mike and the Acolytes
By Beth Fultz, Director of Christian Education
Since our tickets were purchased weeks ahead of the Acolyte Festival in D.C, there was no turning back for our gang of nine. The National Cathedral cancelled their Annual Acolyte Festival, 10 days before our trip, due to extensive damage from the August earthquake. We couldn’t back out now, so we continued with our plans to Washington and added a side trip to Baltimore to visit St. Stephen guest organist Michael Britt. Michael lives in Baltimore and invited us to tour historic churches there and experience the Inner Harbor for food and seaside views. After a Saturday of free-wheeling around Washington D.C., we headed to Baltimore on Sunday for religious histories.
The car ride to Baltimore is a story in itself as usual routes out of D.C. were blocked, so we took the switchback method out of our Nation’s Capitol. We arrived halfway through the worship service at Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church. It was filled with Tiffany windows, grand ceilings, and a friendly pastor and tour guide. Michael Britt had arranged for us to visit more historic churches after worship, so off we went to Lovely Lane Methodist Church. Our tour guide treated us to stories of the start of Methodism in America, the renovation of each sacred space and old organs refurbished. This was followed by a tour of an Episcopal Church and the rectory and school.
“Just a few blocks away” (to a Texan, this means maybe 200 feet) was the First Unitarian Church in America. After a mile walk from the Episcopal Church to the Unitarian Church through historic Colonial Baltimore, we arrived to hear another guide tell us the wonderful history of his church. Each guide espoused names of their movements’ leaders, used language key to their denominational understanding, and spent 30 – 60 minutes sharing their place in history, and how each church spent millions restoring the buildings to their past glory.
For the first three tours, our acolytes and sponsors were interested in the particular history we were reliving. As we were walking to our fifth tour of the day, the first Roman Catholic Cathedral in the Colonies, at 2:30 in the afternoon with no lunch, we entered the Cathedral with anxiety about eating. The Priest greeted us and then passed us over to Mike, the volunteer tour guide. Sweet Mike was a proud senior Catholic citizen, with bright blue eyes, and a penchant for minor, inconsequential details of architecture, plaques, and a misunderstanding of body language. We paced like convicts in the Cathedral; the acolytes’ shoulders sank as Sweet Mike began his 15 minute discourse on the Church Seal, the first stop in the tour. He shuffled his way around the perimeter showcasing each feature of the ceiling, paintings, statues, umbrella, bell, and bishop’s hat. After one hour, Sweet Mike finally breathed and said, “Now, we’ll go down to the Basement as we tour…” without thinking, I stated, “NO! We are starving, we haven’t had lunch”. I apologized to Sweet Mike thanking him for his graciousness, as all the acolytes did at every church, and we shot out the front door like a dozen clowns climbing out of a cramped car at a circus.
We finally arrived at the Inner Harbor and walked another “couple of blocks” (clearly a mile and a half, wondering how Texans and Marylanders calculate distance) to our restaurant where we regaled in memories and laughed heartily about our long day of church tours. We swallowed our dinners whole before taking in the seaside scenery and shopping opportunities. Michael Britt was so gracious to host us and show us his Baltimore. We enjoyed his presence, the supper, even our religious tours and the meandering back to our cars at dusk. Michael Britt, we love you.
Sweet Mike and the Acolytes, I’ll miss you… “Now, for a tour of the basement….” Heart stop… We gotta go – seek food and fun. And we did.
My story is just one chapter of the trip. See the others listed for their highlights and versions of the 2011 Acolyte Trip! The trip was made possible by the financial backing and organizational leadership of these: Dirk Maney, Arlene Small, Chuck Hoffman, John Davis, Beth Futz, and St. Stephen. Acolytes were: Sam Sanchez, Lauren Johnson, Bennie Ritsch, Noah Fergus, and Gabe Ngeny. Tag-a-longs were: Dawn Edwards and son, Morgan, new transplants to the state of Maryland, from Fort Worth and St. Stephen.