ROSS TAYLOR

photo stories: Prayers and Processions

An ongoing photographic essay on faith and it's expression in America.

"I know I've been called to preach the gospel to those here in Virginia," said Matt Randall. Randall is a missionary with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-DaySaints. He's affable and quick to smile.
   
Shelly Pope's, 33, prepares to take a shower before returning as the resurrected Jesus Christ after his "crucifixion." Pope, 33, is the key character in the Passion 2010 “My Redeemer Lives!” musical drama, which recounts the life of Jesus Christ at West Park Church of Christ in Portsmouth. He is a recent born-again Christian who, not too long ago, only attended church on Easter and Christmas. “I used to make fun of people who would act or sing or anything like that. I considered it effeminate. I was always a sports kid - so it was always football, basketball – certainly nothing to do with church.” But he adds, “Now that I'm one of them, I really quite enjoy it.”
   
     
  
Tim Kirkpatrick bows his head and slips off his cowboy hat. He begins to pray. Below him, a small terrier mix named Sheriff Woody wags his tail and scampers in the dirt. Kirkpatrick, 40, is a part-time pastor of the Hickory Ridge Cowboy Church. “We started it so we could reach people with an outdoors mind,” he explains. “There's a lot of farmers, horse people and animal people around here. This is the avenue that we use to reach them.” Members meet Saturday nights in a large tent set up on the grounds of Hickory Ridge Community Church in Chesapeake. Kirkpatrick says he caters to Christians who aren’t comfortable with traditional services. He recalls one uneasy congregant who told him, “If I can come with manure on my boots, wear my blue jeans and if I don't have to put my teeth in, then I'll come.” “It's God leading it, I'm just along for the ride, said Kirkpatrick. “These are my people, and it's a great way to reach them for Christ.”
   
Randall, 20, drapes a towel over his shoulder and picks up a comb. He tends to his tightly cropped hair and eyes the finishing touches before leaving the bathroom and heading out the door. Above him hangs a picture. Three men - three symbols - of his inspiration.“When I look at the picture, I feel empowered,” said Randall. Randall's a missionary with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, also known as a Mormon Missionary. The men are key figures in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, including the current and past president. “These are men that we look up to,” said Randall. “When I look at them, I can tell they're called of God.”Randall looks to the picture, especially in times of difficulty.
   
     
  
   
"I pray every night that God will hold him, because I can't," weeps Ozawa Skipper-Coleman, whose son is an Iraqi War veteran. Her son, Daryl, tried to kill his wife and is now in jail in Alaska.Ozawa alleges that his son was suffering from post-traumatic stress and that the military didn't offer any mental support for him once he returned home from the war after an 18-month tour."Sometimes all I can do is just pray," said Ozawa. "I just want to hold my son one more time."
  
A line of pies are spread out during a Thanksgiving dinner at the Union Mission Ministries in Norfolk. The mission serves the needs of homeless and those in financial distress in the area."Everyone goes through difficult times at some point," said Angela Brown, one of volunteers who was serving the meal. "You just don't know what road you're going to go down."
     
  
   
Teammates tether to a line that serves as their bench, and they bow below an American flag. It's spirit Night at Holy Trinity School in Ocean View. After a few moments the athletic director, Dan Holmes, gathers a microphone and strings it out onto the court.It's time to pray.“One of the really unique things about this program, is that you don't necessarily have to go to the school to participate in basketball” said Holmes, of Norfolk. “The basketball team is open to all members of the parish. You can send your kids to public school and still have a faith-based athletic program. That's one of the things we're really proud of.”The school, which is in it's 85th year, combines expressions of faith along with its athletics; and on this night, their winter sports season is kicked off with the Lord's Prayer.Moments later, the children bolt from the line and smiles split across their faces.It's time to play.
   
Jeff Klein's eyes open slightly, and he whispers that it's okay to come in.Strings of lights wave across a monitor - a record of his heartbeat - and lines of oxygen thread through his nose to aid his breathing. His wife Kathy rests against his bed rails to the left, and her downward gaze is filled with concern.The Rev. Jill Kundtz gently smiles at both, steps up to the right and gathers her hand. Their arms drape over him like a curtain. Kundtz is the hospital chaplain for Chesapeake Regional Medical Center. Kundtz is a Christian, but she supports anyone, regardless of their faith. “We don't put God in a box.”Klein, 52, who was admitted earlier due to chest pains, is grateful for her prayers.“You feel like God is all around you, it's almost like you're immersed in his presence,” said the Great Bridge resident. “You feel like God is next to you, you feel his touch.”
     
  
His heaven is almost done, but his hell is up next.Leo Alvarado has more than 10 tattoos, but his most meaningful is in the works. “Right now I'm working on getting a big piece done called “heaven vs. hell,” said Alvarado who plans on getting the "hell" section finished this summer.Alvarado also says he hopes the tattoo will be a good reminder of how to lead a moral life.“The tattoo plays a big role in my faith,” said the 24-year-old. “When I look in the mirror I can always ask myself, 'Am I drifting towards the good side, or am I drifting towards the bad side?'”
   
(l-r)Arynne Grove, 13, Jean Albertson, 58, Tori Albertson, 12 and Leahann Holloway, 13, wait before their turn to take the stage at West Park Church of Christ on Wednesday, March 24, 2010 during the Passion 2010 "My Redeemer Lives!". The four were playing the part of angels.
  
Pauliasi Wolfgramm reads the Bible in his Virginia Beach apartment as morning light sifts through the shades. He reads the bible each morning to start his day. Orginally from Tonga, he is learning to speak and read English. "No matter what the language is, the message is the same," said Wolfgramm of the Bible.
     
  
Monday nights they gather to the gospel – not in a book but a in a beat.It's a beat led by Alexis Rogers, 34, who started Gospel Aerobics seven years ago at First Baptist Church in Norfolk. Each week a group of mostly women meets in the activity room. “It's really taken off,” says Rogers. “They yell and scream like they're at Bally's.”
   
Riley Petersen starts each day with a workout to help him stay fit to perform his duties as a Mormon missionary.Petersen said that the missionaries are required to workout 30 minutes each morning.
   
A soft afternoon light spills into the living room and Keiyana Vincent, 18, leans into her sister, Tara, 21.The two just finished their weekly family bible study and closed with a prayer.The final days are coming, and the family is bracing for a new reality.Their father, Ralph Vincent, is about to lose his job of more than 30 years in Franklin, Va. International Paper, the town's primary employer, is slated to close and Ralph's last day is soon. He is the family's main source of income and the sisters still live with their parents.The family knows they'll have to move, but the two daughters rely on each other, and their faith, for strength in these trying times.
     
  
Just inside a wooden shack, next to the plastic playground, Leah Dickerson, 15, cuddles Jasmine Reyes. Leah's brother, Zach Dickerson, 17, picks up a pacifier and hands it to Jasmine's little sprouts of fingers. The siblings play Mary and Joseph - and Jasmine, an African-American girl, plays Jesus Christ - during the Bethlehem Walk at King's Grant Presbyterian Church in Virginia Beach. It's an unconventional approach to the timeless Christian tradition, but one that draws nothing but admiration by those in attendance.“I think it's important to share our faith with other people,” said Zack. “Even though it's like a walk-through play, it may change someone's faith in what Christmas really is about. The bible commands us to share our faith with other people and to spread the good news of the gospel, of Jesus.” “It's an honorable experience,” said Leah. “You have this feeling that people care for you and they want to see baby Jesus and his mother.”
   
Sulaiman Banwal, 24, opens the door to his bedroom and slips on his white prayer cap. He unfurls a prayer rug and bends bedside to the floor. He's wearing in a black perahan tunban, the traditional garb of Afghan men. He faces a wall draped with inspirational Islamic sayings.The silence is broken by the rustle of his clothing as he bows prostrate. Somewhere in the distance is Mecca.“Praying is a responsibility for every Muslim,” said Banwal, who, despite living 7,000 miles from home, still prays five times a day. He is a Fulbright Scholar from Kabul, Afghanistan. He attends Old Dominion University and is earning a master's degree in civil engineering.He believes that praying to Allah helps him with his daily life. “In our religion you never lose hope, because losing hope means you're not believing in God anymore.""You feel like home, you don't feel alone,” he said of the call to prayer. “You're never alone, because God is with you.”
   
John St. John quietly stands and prepares to slips a small wafer into Massel's palms.Massel is a member of the Eastern Shore Chapel Episcopal Church in Virginia Beach. She's unable to attend church, and communion, because of knee replacement surgery.“To have someone come to the house when I can't come to the church – it's the greatest thing,” said Massel, of Virginia Beach. “I just feel empty if I don't get to communicate with people at church and commune with God.”St. John is one of several church members who bring communion into the home. “When they can't go to church, the church can go to them,” said St. John. “It's a good thing to do. It's not much more complicated than that.”
     
  
Jacob Kendrick, 2, pounces in his padded dinosaur pajamas onto his father, Mike Kendrick, as his other son, Dylan, 3, drapes over his back. His daughter Lily, 5, laughs.It's all under the watchful eye of a Jesus Christ poster that proclaims "I Am."The poster hangs as a centerpiece of their living room. “It's important for our kids to constantly see that he is our solid rock,” said Mike. “It's like having a picture of a loved one in your office.”It's a prelude to a nightly worship time for the Virginia Beach family. On this evening, the kids are wound up and needed to bounce out some energy before prayer.“I think it's what holds us together, having the altar time,” said Nereida, Mike's wife. “It's important for them to know that we're there for them, and that Christ is there for them as well.”
   
  
Stephanie Goetsch clamps the cloth between her teeth and curls her newborn tight.A scattering of circular tables dots the gym floor and four basketball goals frame the sidelines. It's almost time for church.“We started the church in September and he (Luke) was born in October,” Goetsch says. “He's the first lifetime member. In fact, he's automatically a member because we are.”The 26-year-old attends The Gathering United Methodist Church, a burgeoning congregation that meets in the gym of Courthouse Community United Methodist Church in Virginia Beach. It holds two services a week and targets young adults."We like it because it's more family oriented,” Goetsch says. “Because it's a new church, we have more input into how things are.”
     
  
Udom Budsriphoom steps behind the desk and takes his seat in front of a bucolic woodland scene. He's wrapped in saffron orange, save his right shoulder, which is bare.He peers over one of the monitors and takes a breath. A red light indicates that the DV recorder is on. The sound-proof room sucks up his words as they spill over the silver microphone.Welcome to Dhamma Talk, a nightly installment of the teachings of Buddha at Wat Pasantidhamma in Carrollton, Va. Each night for about an hour the head monk records teachings of the Buddha to be posted on the temple's Web site. “It's a way for us to tell the teachings of the Buddha.” says Budsriphoom, the head monk and a native of Thailand. “It's also a chance for us to give spiritual advice to people.”“Sometimes you feel lonely,” Budsriphoom says. “Sometimes we feel shy – you don't feel comfortable when you talk alone.“You try to imagine many people listening to you around the world.”
   
The holes tell a story - a story of almost two years of travels. And while Riley Petersen can afford another pair of shoes, he choses not to. The Mormon missionary is almost at the end of his two-year stint."They're a symbol of the past two years," said Petersen, who smiles as he recounts the thousands of miles he has walked, biked and driven in an effort to spread the Mormon mission.
   
Julie Burks slips off her shoes and exhales softly.She pulls her coat over her purse – her pillow for the night - then lays down and stares into the distance.“It feels good that I'm not out in the cold,” says Burks, who is homeless. “When I was out there, the first thing I would do is drink. I would shiver all night - I didn't sleep. At least drinking keeps me warm.”Burks is trying to kick the habit and has been clean for the past few days.On this night, she and other homeless people are sleeping at Lynnhaven United Methodist Church in Virginia Beach. Burks is one of dozens assisted by Volunteers of America, which works in partnership with area faith communities to provide shelter throughout the winter.“I can handle it out there, but it's very difficult, especially when you're trying to stay sober and get your life back in order."
     
  
Joe Tursi waits. His hands clasp, except for his thumbs, which part back and forth like wiper blades. It's a little after 7pm, and no one has come. Yet. It's been a tough few months for Tursi, a handyman whose work has dropped in the economic downturn. “Mentally I'm keeping faith and hoping things will get better,” said the Virginia Beach resident. “People have been helping us, and now I'm trying to give back,” remarked Tursi, who decided to dress as Santa. For just two dollars children can get their picture taken with him at his home along Mill Oak Drive. Tursi's pledged to give profits from his venture to St. Mark's Catholic Church. It's his way of giving back. Later, small children gather outside and stare in awe as he apprears. “They have faith in Santa,” said Tursi. “They believe in him.”His wife echoes those sentiments and draws a comparison to their belief in Jesus Christ, said Tabatha Tursi. “You know he's going to come one day, like Jesus. We prepare for Santa to come just like we prepare for Jesus.”