Flying High | The Rev. Dr. Anna S. Pearson, Rector

01.24.25 | Celebration, Community, International, Pulpit Posts, World

My college aged nephew was visiting from Maine last weekend. One of the stops on his tour of NYC was the Museum of Modern Art. He wanted to see Van Gough’s Starry Night (which we did, after making our way through a sea of other people with the same desire!). And as is always the case in museums, beyond the famous works there were unexpected treasures that caught our eyes.

For me, one of those treasures was a grouping of photographs from a series by photographer Aaron Siskind titled “The Pleasures and Terrors of Levitation.” One of the many images in this series is included above; singular moments of individuals caught in mid-air. Each person is posed differently against a blank backdrop. Are they rising? Falling? Suspended? The details are left to the imagination of the viewer.

The photo above was especially moving to me—I think because the subject is reaching out, as if to embrace the experience they are having or to gather in the reality surrounding them. The title of the piece, while startling, is applicable too. It is at the times when we feel we are either in free-fall or transcending that both pleasures and terrors are magnified.

There is so much happening right now, around the globe and in our nation and city and CHA community. We each have our own list of both our joys and what is frightening within that reality. Jesus, who lived among us during a time with its own pleasures and terrors, assured his followers that he did so in order that we might have abundant life. May we remember His words in the varied circumstances of that abundance, knowing that we are supported in all things by the God who lifts us up and loves us dearly.

p.s. For more information on the details of what is happening at Holy Apostles, please come to our Annual Parish Meeting this Sunday! My address will be given during the 11 am worship service, and the meeting with a light lunch will follow.

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