Today 27,000 New Yorkers will lose their rent subsidies

6/1

When I get to the church after my lectionary study, Dave is hard at work trying to make a functional lighting set up out of what we’ve got left. Danielle and I are trying to come  up with text for Norm’s archival display. We’re skyping with Amanda working on the concert series. Then Andre arrives ready to rehearse with Jed. 

Jed arrives and they begin to rehearse. The sounds from the sanctuary are truly amazing. Dave is trying to explain the whole lighting arrangement he’s come up with and I’m pretending to act like I actually understand what he’s telling  me. He’s also found the skeletal remains of our sound system.  We might actually be able to make something of this. 

I point out to Danielle how amazing this is, the details of lighting systems and Andre and Jed in the sanctuary. This can be a truly special concert. Willa anybody come? Will anybody even  know? 

Outside, I move the shopping cart beside the garbage container again. Beside the basket is an inch of pasta remains. A bike is chained to the scaffolding.

I leave to go talk to my colleague Pastor Elise about money. She pioneered the model of the open church doors, the office open to the street. For me that  model has made a radical difference. 

I greet Marty but he’s not into talking. Must be one of those  days. The Prophet is back on the steps, writing in his notebook, drinking from a Ballantyne Ale 40. I tell him he can’t do that, he holds up a wicker basket looking for a contribution. I put a dollar in his basket, remind him about the Ballantyne. 

Danielle and I press on to finish our work. She hasn’t met the Prophet before. We go outside, he’s got another 40. I remind him again. He mutters incomprehensible words. I still think he may have written the Amharic placard we found.

There’s a work crew coming to prepare for Friday’s concert. I’ve got to go be with the Interfaith Assembly on Housing and Homelessness, their service, their overnight vigil in City Hall Park. Today 27,000 New Yorkers will lose their rent subsidies. Tent cities in five boroughs. Cuomovilles. Will the Governor come through?  Got to be there.

Danielle calls me while I’m in the service. When she got back to the church, the deadbolt was unlocked and the light were on. When I had left I’d turned everything off and bolted the door. Weird. And a little scary. I tell her to have Luis do a complete walk through before leaving.