The Rev. Kathy McAdams, rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Franklin, Massachusetts, was reading from the Gospel of Mark.
“And Jesus said, ‘I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven,’” she said, reading Mark 14:62.
She was alone in the parish sanctuary. The pews were empty, but eight people signaled their presence online through heart, like, hug, and surprise emojis.
It was around 9 p.m. on Maundy Thursday, and McAdams was an hour into what she calls a “filibuster of prayer,” an adaptation of the traditional vigil at the altar of repose. For 22 hours straight, she would read Scripture, pray, preach, sing, and reflect. The event, “Keep Awake with Me,” was livestreamed on Facebook and set to end the next day at 6 p.m., just in time for the parish choir to rehearse before the Good Friday service.
McAdams planned to deliver her sermons and read works by Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Diocese of Washington, German Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and theologian Marcus Borg throughout the vigil. In curating the readings, she focused on one question: What does it mean to keep awake with Jesus?
“I think it means keeping awake with marginalized people, whether they’re immigrants, transgender folks, people of color, or women,” McAdams said. “So I’m gearing the readings toward that idea.”
She was inspired by Sen. Cory Booker’s record-setting 25-hour speech on the Senate floor, which began the evening of March 31 and ended at 8 p.m. the next day. Although not technically a filibuster, Booker’s speech was a symbolic protest against the Trump administration’s policies.
“These are not normal times in our nation,” Booker said as he began. “The threats to the American people and American democracy are grave and urgent, and we all must do more to stand against them.”
Booker surpassed the record set by Sen. Strom Thurmond in 1967, whose filibuster opposed the landmark Civil Rights Act.
Speaking about the vigil for the Diocese of Massachusetts’s website, McAdams said she was especially moved by how Booker invoked “champions of justice, like John Lewis and Martin Luther King,” and by his willingness “to do something so extreme to call attention to the moment that we’re in right now.”
“I think it’s really important at this time that we keep awake to what’s going on in our country and in the world,” she said. Unlike Booker, McAdams isn’t bound by Senate rules that penalize breaks. She’ll sit or step away when she needs to.
“I feel like as clergy, we have a platform,” McAdams told TLC. “And it’s important to use it to stand up for people who are marginalized and oppressed, the people who Jesus would be hanging out with.”
St. John’s in Franklin does not have a tradition of keeping vigil at the altar of repose, where members of the congregation pray for a time after the Maundy Thursday service (sometimes even until the morning of Good Friday). This 22-hour livestream was her unique approach to the practice.
A part of the Triduum, or the three holy days before Easter, the liturgy for Maundy Thursdays includes celebrating the Eucharist and a ceremony for washing feet. Although not all Episcopal parishes include the latter in their liturgies, the Gospel of John, in which Jesus washed his disciples’ feet during the Last Supper, is usually read.
At the time of this writing, McAdams is about to enter the third hour of her vigil. A dog can be seen lying near her as she reads about liberation theology.
Caleb Maglaya Galaraga is The Living Church’s Episcopal Church reporter. His work has also appeared in Christianity Today, Broadview Magazine, and Presbyterian Outlook, among other publications.
