". . . little shall I grace my cause

In speaking for myself. Yet, by your gracious patience,

I will a round unvarnish'd tale deliver . . ."

(William Shakespeare's Othello, I.iii.88-90)

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

St. George's Anglican Church

Yesterday we drove into downtown St. George. One of the places we knew we wanted to see was the Anglican church, built in 1825. We worshipped at this church on our first visit to Grenada in 2002 (the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod does not have a church in Grenada). We knew it would look different--quite different--from our last visit as a result of the hurricane which devastated Grenada in 2004. But we weren't quite prepared for what we found.

The front of the building and main entrance:


The sanctuary viewed from the back. A few communion rails remain.


The altar survived the hurricane.

Efforts are underway to raise the funds for rebuilding. In the meantime, services are being held in the school.

The clock tower, viewed from the back garden of the church. The Westminster chimes still play on the hour.

Remnants of the pulpit are in the corner:


The baptismal font.

A prayer chapel to the right of the sanctuary also survived. Daily noon services are still held here.

When Phil and I attended church here in 2002, we were able to visit for a short time with the priest, who told us of the renovation project currently underway for both the building and the organ. It strikes me as one of those cosmically unfair events that the hurricane hit shortly after those repairs were completed. Yesterday when Evan, my four-year-old, was told that the church did not have a roof because a hurricane came and took it off he started to cry. Last night at bedtime he was still asking about the "broken" church. Grenada has come a long way since Ivan came wielding its fury, but there is still much to be done. Please keep this beautiful island nation in your prayers, that the work of rebuilding may continue and prosper.

5 comments:

Elephantschild said...

Argh! Ivan took the organ?

Anonymous said...

Hi there--just found your blog, what a lovely trip!

I couldn't find an email to contact you by, but would like to see if you would consider writing a guest post about Lutheran christening traditions on my blog. You can contact me at audrey(at)alliewade(dot)com.

Cheryl said...

EC, I don't know the full story of the organ--whether the winds blew all of it away or whether it was simply destroyed beyond repair. I do know the choir loft is no more and the organ is gone. Perhaps some pieces were saved and will eventually be used in a new instrument. I hope so!

Cheryl said...
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Cheryl said...
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