On the far side of the parking lot, adjacent the steeply pitched roof of the parish hall rested a bucket truck with its hydraulic boom resting on the pavement. In the bucket stood an operator and Rt. Reverend Glenda Curry, the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama. Dressed in ceremonial garb, the bishop sported a full-length red-velvet cope, and on her head sat a tall bishop’s hat, or miter. As the bucket was hoisted skyward the bishop waved joyfully at the crowd below, then extended her right arm and pointed her index finger toward the large cluster of solar panels that covered the parish roof. Equipped with holy water, olive branch, pastoral staff, and prayer book, Bishop Curry hovered above the solar array. Then, with a nod and a prayer, the bishop in the bucket sprinkled holy water and blessed the solar panels. – from Bishop in a Bucket: Southerners Bless Solar Energy by James B. McClintock, Endowed University Professor of Polar and Marine Biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, in al.com
In opting for a bucket truck, Bishop Curry eschewed more biblically based modes as mountain climbing, ladders and sycamore trees.
We held a caption contest for the photo last night on Facebook. Among the most liked entries:
- Debra Stone – Wow! This High Church thing is getting out of hand.
- Benjamin Hopkins – Episcopal Church deploys new “Flying Bishops.”
- Rosemary Vey Jacqueline Hannah – Moving the red bishop to C4 was daring and the audience gave their full attention to Fischer
- Thomas Alexander – “And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the man lay.”
- Samuel Nathan DePetris – Time to bless the giraffes.