ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINA – The Rev. William Blake Rider (VTS ’04), Canon Residentiary at Christ Church Cathedral in Houston, Texas, and the Venerable Patricia “Patti” R. Davis, Archdeacon of the Diocese of Southern Virginia, and Chaplain, Beacon Shores Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Virginia Beach, have been named as the recipients of Virginia Theological Seminary’s John Hines Preaching Award for 2006. 

Established in 1998, the John Hines Preaching Award is named after a former Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church and 1933 graduate of Virginia Theological Seminary.  The award is given yearly by the Seminary to the outstanding sermon entry “where prophetic voice is central within the sermon.”  The award celebrates the ministry of preaching and its importance in our Church by recognizing outstanding sermons that are deeply grounded in scripture and focused on the seen and unseen needs of the worshipping community, the nation and the world.

Blake Rider

Mr. Rider, originally from Nowata, Oklahoma, received degrees in Business Administration and History from Oral Roberts University; it was while a student at ORU that he joined the Episcopal Church.  Rider has worked in the oil and gas industry and has lived in places such as Karachi, Pakistan, and Tunis, Tunisia where he served as Resident Manager of his firm's operations in North Africa.  A graduate of Virginia Theological Seminary (’04), Rider was ordained to the priesthood at the Cathedral in 2005.

Mr. Rider focused his award-winning sermon on the story of the Canaanite woman found in the Gospel of Matthew asking, who is entitled to mercy?  He writes, "There are strong voices in our city today that are saying that there are some who are not entitled to mercy. Who gets medical care? Who gets mental health assistance? Who gets a place to live, or something to eat?  In the past few weeks, I’ve heard the [homeless people] referred to as cattle, rats, and most recently, as worthless human beings.  We need to remember the Canaanite woman… her cry for help may have been rejected two times… but finally she and her child were seen for the children of God that they are.”  Real people with real lives.  

Patti Davis

Patti Davis, originally from Savannah, Georgia, was ordained June, 1999 and serves as Deacon at Episcopal Church of the Advent, Norfolk, VA; Archdeacon for the Diocese of Southern Virginia, and Chaplain at a Virginia Beach nursing home.  She is also the author of Reflections of Jesus; a poem in Prisms of the Soul, and co-author (with the Rev. John J. Capellaro) of Searching the Heart of God: Deacon and Priest in Conversation, a book of sermons.

Preaching on the 35th Chapter of Isaiah and the 11th Chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, Davis followed the theme of searching for the presence of God.  “But O, how hard it is for us to understand,” she writes, “that God works in ways wonderful and mysterious; that God will not be bound by our ideas of what is seemly and right for God to do… and it isn’t about power and prestige… it’s about enabling the deaf to hear and the lame to walk. It’s about enabling the dead to rise and about good news for the poor.”

Both sermons are available at www.vts.edu/news/awards. Virginia Seminary invites all preachers – bishops, priests, deacons and laity of the Episcopal Church in America – to submit sermons.  Sermons preached outside the United States by clergy who are canonically resident in a diocese of the Episcopal Church USA and by lay people who are parishioners in an Episcopal Church USA congregation are acceptable as well. The deadline for submission is December 15.

Virginia Theological Seminary is the largest of the 11 accredited seminaries of the Episcopal Church and was founded in 1823. The school prepares men and women for service in the Church, both as ordained and lay ministers, and offers a number of professional degree programs and diplomas.