A Desecration and an Offering

This email from Bishop Benjamin of San Francisco and the Diocese of the West, Locum Tenens of the Diocese of Alaska:

Dear Very Reverend and Reverend Clergy of the Diocese of the West:

In light of all that happened the day before yesterday in Anchorage, I have to share a little miracle of sorts. It was something small, but it brought a tiny ray of light into my day and restored my faith in the goodness of people.

I was sitting this afternoon at the airport waiting for a flight back to San Francisco. I will be serving for Fr. Kirill Hartman this weekend and next. I received a call on my cell from a priest in Anchorage and we spoke briefly about the break-in and desecration of the cathedral. It was a quiet conversation but it was apparently overheard by a gentleman sitting in the lounge. A few minutes after, as he was about to leave, he came over to me and asked if I were a priest. I indicated I was a bishop. He apologized for hearing part of my previous conversation, but he could not help but hear about the church and especially the burning of the Gospel Book. He then handed me a small roll of bills, $40 in all, smiled and turned to leave. I was stunned by the goodness of this one man. So, there are, in these dark days, still wonderful people who can appear as angels of light when we least expect it.

+Bishop Benjamin