Bicycle blessings in Charleston

The City of Charleston held its first Blessing of the Bikes on Saturday, May 12, and several Episcopal clergy spent the morning in Hampton Park offering blessings for bicycles and those who ride them.

A brief service was led by the Rev. Laura Everett, the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches and author of the recent book, Holy Spokes: The Search for Urban Spirituality on Two Wheels. (Read about it here)

A minister in the United Church of Christ, Rev. Everett was a classmate of the Rev. Adam Shoemaker, who is rector of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Charleston. St. Stephen's co-sponsored the event with Charleston Mayor John Tecklenberg, the Charleston Recreation Department, and the Mayor's Clergy Advisory Council.

Rev. Everett exchanged a bike helmet given by Boston's Mayor Marty Walsh with Charleston's Mayor Tecklenburg. The two mayors are hoping to bike together in Boston during the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting there in June, Fr. Shoemaker said.

From 10:00 am until noon, the clergy offered blessings on bicycles in the park, a popular biking spot with a paved loop that is closed to traffic every Saturday morning. Other Episcopal clergy participating included the Rev. Bill Coyne of the East Cooper Episcopal Church (who formerly served at St. Stephens), the Rev. Rob Dewey of Lowcountry Community Chaplaincy, and the Rev. Greg Smith, a deacon who will be serving at St. Stephen's soon after several years at St. Francis Episcopal Church in West Ashley.

Rev. Everett also preached at St. Stephen's on Sunday, May 13. Fr. Shoemaker said organizers of the bike blessing are hoping to make it an annual event. May is National Bike Month.