Sad news from the Diocese of Washington Verna Dozier, teacher and prophet, has died.
Verna Dozier, author, teacher and theologian, died Friday afternoon at the age of 88. Dozier, a parishioner at St. Mark's Church on Capitol Hill, taught in the District of Columbia's public schools for 34 years before retiring in 1975 to devote herself exclusively to a ministry of writing and religious education.
A popular lecturer and workshop presenter, her most influential book was The Dream of God: A Call toReturn (1991.) Earlier this year, Seabury Press published Confronted by God: The Essential Verna Dozier, a collection of her writings.
Dozier lived at Collington Episcopal Life Care Community in Mitchellville, Md. for 14 years. In 1992, she preached at the consecration of the Rt. Rev. Jane Holmes Dixon as bishop suffragan of the Diocese of Washington. In 1999, St. Mark's installed a stained glass window in honor of Dozier and her sister Lois, who had died a year earlier. The window features the prophet Amos, Dozier's favorite, and figures of the two Dozier sisters.
In 2003, Dozier won the first Bishop's Award from the Diocese of Washington.Funeral arrangements are not yet complete. The Washington Post is preparing an obituary which may be published on Sunday, September 3.
4 comments:
My favorite Verna quotes:
"Doubt is not the opposite of faith: fear is. Fear will not risk that even if I am wrong, I will trust that if I move today by the light that is given me, knowing it is only finite and partial, I will know more and different things tomorrow than I know today, and I can be open to the new possibility
I cannot even imagine today." -- The Dream of God
"Don't tell me what you believe: tell me what difference it makes that you believe."
I'll probably write more about Verna's prophetic voice and influence when it isn't Labor Day Weekend but didn't want to miss this chance to at least begin to celebrate the life and prophetic witness of this amazing woman.
Rest eternal, grant to her, with all your saints.
My favorite -- we are all going to heaven - some of us will just like it better than others.
My favorite -- we are all going to heaven - some of us will just like it better than others.
I suspect that God and Jesus, having met Verna in heaven 'face to face' and by the power of the Holy Spirit, will quickly recognize that they will have to send three female prophets to fill this void and bring the cosmos into balance again.
Post a Comment