Drenching rain, freezing cold

11/17

Steady drenching, chilling rain.

The Revcoms are hard at work cleaning up. Before they go everything will be spic’n’span. Cleaner than when they arrived. Like the Scouts. They worked very hard and succeeded in drawing betweenn1500-1900 people to Riverside Church as well as the sponsorship of notable people like Don Shriver, former President of Union Seminary. There is clearly a hunger and thirst for something better out there. I will save a critical analysis of the dialogue itself for another time. For now, the volunteer workers deserve serious props for getting people out and creating a spotlight moment.

Someone comes into my office, tells me there’s a man in a wheel chair outside. Sean.  He tells me he’s hooked up with housing again It will happen tomorrow. Stuff going out, too. I hope so. I hope he follows through on accepting housing. Tells me they’ll give him a single again.

Jeremy comes in, ready to rehearse with Hindi popsinger Purnash. Our itinerant and eclectic global resident musician Jeremy has yet another gig that stretches boundaries.  He tells me his friend Stephanie, a church conscientious objector, told him being here Sunday was her most positive church experience in 20 years.

As I get ready to leave the church, on my way to an event with the Andrew Goodman Foundation,

I find Alex at the Beckstein, a broad smile on her face as she explores the keys and begins to test her rich voice. Happy to see her.

The Goodmans are bringing to a close the 50^th anniversary year of Freedom Summer and the murder of Goodman, Cheney and Schwerner. Proud we could be part of it last June. (http://west-parkpress.blogspot.com/2014/06/freedom-summer-next-generation-not-about.html) And be partners in their ongoing work.  It will be a reunion of old Civil Rights hands. But more important, a vehicle to keep the work going with a younger generation.

11/18

Freezing cold.

Working in the chapel, I hear the sounds of Hindi pop and Purnash making their way down through the thin floor.

Midafternoon, Chris comes in and tells me Sean’s social worker and ready it take him on. I show her his stuff in the corner of the sanctuary. Oh, I didn’t know about that. We’ll have to come back later. Looking again, you know there’ s very limited storage.

Anna reports Sonny has died. Pancreatic cancer. I remember him asking Danielle to record him singing so they’d have something to remember his voice by. A year ago, he sang in church the same day as Bread and Puppet. 

Off to Presbytery. Way out in Jamaica , Queens. Freezing cold.