Rev. David W. Good, Minister Emeritus of the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme, who will speak Sunday at Saint Ann’s in their inaugural 2021 Griswold Forum.
OLD LYME — Saint Ann’s of Old Lyme has announced the return of the popular “Griswold Forums” on the first Sunday of the month, beginning Oct. 3, at 9:30 a.m. in the Griswold Room. All are welcome.
The first speaker for this relaunched series is the Rev. David W. Good, Minister Emeritus for the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme, founder and chairperson for the Tree of Life Educational Fund and founder of Public Art for Racial Justice Education (PARJE.)
As an outgrowth of the Marches for Racial Justice, he helped to found “Public Art for Racial Justice Education” (PARJE) earlier this year, whose first project was a Diptych showing the Edmund Pettus Bridge, as it was and as one can hope it will be someday.
Now, PARJE is hard at work on a “Sister Mural” project with plans for murals in Old Lyme, New London, Norwich and East Lyme. He continues his love of philosophy (Heidegger) and poetry (T.S. Eliot, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, William Blake, Theodore Roethke).
He will speak about the Edmund Pettus Bridge Diptych, which will be on site for his presentation. Commissioned by PARJE, the Edmund Pettus Bridge Diptych is a two-paneled painting connected by hinges and enclosed in a wooden box. The work reflects on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, which played a pivotal part in our country’s Civil and Voting Rights history. The diptych is rooted in the ancient ecclesiastical tradition of traveling icons.
Nancy Gladwell’s painting on one side shows the Edmund Pettus Bridge as it was on Bloody Sunday in 1965. Jasmine Oyola, a graduate and one of Nancy’s former students at the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts created the painting on the other side, a more impressionistic image of how she hopes the bridge will look sometime in the future.
As Good reflects, “It’s important that the two paintings not be seen as “before” and “after” images. The hinge is a type of lever, and so even as we contemplate the paintings on the left and on the right, we can ask ourselves, how we can be the “hinge,” … how we can provide the leverage so necessary at this time?”
Good concludes, “As the Greek philosopher Archimedes said, “Give me a lever, and I can move the world!” May we live in that hope and that confidence!”
Born in Indianapolis, Ind., Good grew up in the United Methodist Church, and studied philosophy and English literature in college.
Choosing the ministry as a profession, Good went to Yale Divinity School, and since graduation he served as the Senior Minister of the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme, CT. for 37 years until his retirement in 2012.
Now he devotes his time as a volunteer for the Tree of Life ministry that was established by the Old Lyme church. Good writes: “After 9/11, our church intensified its efforts to be in community with those of other faith traditions, which led to my first interfaith journey to Israel and Palestine.”
Under Good’s leadership, the Old Lyme church established a number of cross-cultural partnerships, including the Storefront School in Harlem, NY, Koinonia Farm where he chaired the Board of Directors, the Crosby Fund for Haitian Education, the Green Grass community on the Cheyenne River (Lakota) Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota, Central Methodist Mission in Johannesburg, South Africa, and a 18-year partnership with the community of Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem in the Holy Land.
Good has led 17 interfaith journeys to Israel and the West Bank.
Good is married to Corinne of Liverpool, England, and when not building fences for his Irish Setter, Sophie, he loves to kayak the lakes and rivers of Connecticut.
Editor’s Note: Saint Ann’s is an Episcopal parish in Old Lyme, CT that invites and welcomes all visitors. Saint Ann’s is located at 82 Shore Road (Rt. 156), two miles off I95, Exit 70. Parking is adjacent to the church. For information about the parish, contact Kathy Rowe at 860-434-1621, via email at office@saintannsoldlyme.org, or visit Saint Ann’s online at www.sain tannsoldlyme.org.