EACH STONE - GRACE EPISCOPAL CHURCH

Words and Photos by F LoBuono

Whenever I need a little extra dose of peace and quiet, I usually find myself at Grace Episcopal Church in Nyack, NY. Despite my Catholic grammar school upbringing, I am not particularly religious. In fact, I consider myself iconoclastic when it comes to most formal spirituality. So, I rarely actually go INTO the church. Still, I find something very comforting just by being on the grounds. So, on a soft summer day, I made my way there.

Incorporated in October of 1861 and consecrated in May of 1882, Grace Episcopal has been a place of peace of solace for thousands of Nyackers for over 160 years. I particularly enjoy their memorial garden, a small, square, green space lined with a low brick wall bearing the names of notable Nyackers who have passed. One of the plaques bears the name of the legendary "Man in The Red Bandana", Welles Crowther, a young Nyack firefighter who gave his own life while saving many others on 911. If you tarry in silence, you can feel the spirits. I am ALWAYS moved.

I also often find myself simply standing in front of the church itself and staring at it as if we are greeting one another. It's a massive, Gothic stone structure with a huge stained glass circular window crowning the massive wooden door entrance. As with the garden, I generally stand in silence and then let the spirits come as they may.

Well, while I looked up at this magnificent edifice, I noticed something VERY telling that I had never noticed before. The church is composed of thousands of hand-cut stones. I'm assuming they are granite. It's a remarkable feat of skill and engineering in and of itself. But then I noticed something even more remarkable: I looked and looked but in ALL of those stones making up the church, I could not find a single match. Not one. Thousands of blocks, all different sizes, were laid together to create a single, magnificent structure.

The more I thought about it, the more I grasped the metaphor. I started to realize that the serenity I felt at this place was no accident. It all fit together, each stone, different and unique creating a single, imposing structure, i.e. a place that has withstood the test of time and stands as a testament to the power of love and acceptance - each stone, no matter the size, has its place. 

Beautiful.