THE PTSD GENERATION VIETNAM : BETHESDA-BY-THE-SEA

The Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the Sea began in 1889 on this site. There have been three church buildings leading up to the most recent one that you see before you. Designed and built by a New York firm incorporating both a New York and Florida flavor in the project, the first service was held in 1927.

Since 1889 there have been many rectors. The first, also from New York, was the Reverend Joseph Newton Mulford and his wife Mary Cluett Mulford from Troy. Mary gave the church it's name. The cornerstone boldly states the date 1513 commemorating the date Ponce de Leon landed in Florida. The architecture, wording, symbols, and stained glass are consistent with church doctrine. The embellishments have three basic themes. The first is healing, the second is history or origin, and the third is God's providence or kingdom.

As you enter you are treated to a world class lesson in art, carvings, classical organs, and stained glass depicting the world in a realm only seen through a deity's eyes. Works from the fifteenth century come to life as the photographery of its day. This was how it was meant to be not as it is.

I continually get the same feeling when I enter a sacred place. Peace and franquillity override the stagnant burdens of the mondane everyday thoughts of life without hope, or at least life without meaning. Yet something is missing, a piece to the puzzle or perhaps the puzzle itself. Does a puzzle exist or is the end simply that, the end. I sit quietly and think. If anything, sacred places make me take pause and think.