In this Tuesday, March 21, 2017 photo, the Rev. Laura Everett, executive director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches, rides her bike to a meeting of clergy, in Cambridge, Mass. Everett says commuting by bike after her car died has connected her to the city, its neighborhoods and residents. Everett has turned her experiences and the connections sheâs drawn between biking and spirituality into a new book, âHoly Spokes: The Search for Urban Spirituality on Two Wheels.â (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
The Associated Press
BOSTON (AP) - The Rev. Laura Everett has found a sense of spirituality bicycling through Boston's twisting, traffic-clogged streets.
Instead of hopping on and off subway stops, the executive director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches says bicycling has connected her to the city, its neighborhoods and residents.
It's also led her to a tribe of fellow bicyclists who share the joys and terrors of city cycling.
For Everett, they've become an impromptu congregation. She's married bicycle couples and officiated at an annual "blessing of the bicycles."
She's also participated in the dedication of painted white "ghost bikes" at locations where bicyclists have been killed on the road.
Everett has turned her experiences and the connections she's drawn between biking and spirituality into a new book, "Holy Spokes: The Search for Urban Spirituality on Two Wheels."
In this Tuesday, March 21, 2017 photo a plate featuring the word "clergy" is attached to a bicycle belonging to the Rev. Laura Everett, executive director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches, in Cambridge, Mass. Everett says commuting by bike after her car died has connected her to the city, its neighborhoods and residents. Everett has turned her experiences and the connections sheâs drawn between biking and spirituality into a new book, âHoly Spokes: The Search for Urban Spirituality on Two Wheels.â (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
The Associated Press
In this Tuesday, March 21, 2017 photo, Rev. Laura Everett, executive director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches, puts on a hat before donning her helmet to ride her bicycle, in Boston. Everett says commuting by bike after her car died has connected her to the city, its neighborhoods and residents. Everett has turned her experiences and the connections sheâs drawn between biking and spirituality into a new book, âHoly Spokes: The Search for Urban Spirituality on Two Wheels.â (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
The Associated Press
HIn this Tuesday, March 21, 2017 photo a card featuring a likeness of St. Patrick is wedged into the spokes of a bicycle belonging to the Rev. Laura Everett, executive director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches, in Cambridge, Mass. Everett says commuting by bike after her car died has connected her to the city, its neighborhoods and residents. Everett has turned her experiences and the connections sheâs drawn between biking and spirituality into a new book, âHoly Spokes: The Search for Urban Spirituality on Two Wheels.â (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
The Associated Press
In this Tuesday, March 21, 2017 photo, Rev. Laura Everett, executive director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches, rides her bike to a meeting of clergy, in Cambridge, Mass. Everett says commuting by bike after her car died has connected her to the city, its neighborhoods and residents. Everett has turned her experiences and the connections sheâs drawn between biking and spirituality into a new book, âHoly Spokes: The Search for Urban Spirituality on Two Wheels.â (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
The Associated Press