No chimney sweep was necessary

2/3

Strange. Joe and La Toya kept hanging on the steps yesterday long after they should have been gone. Right before worship, I looked out and the now banished Sergeant Keith was with them. ???? I called him by name, but he didn’t look my way.

Rob stopped in. Wanted me to hear his good news. He’s received a diagnosis that should put him in line for an SRO apartment, much like Chris. There’s a lot more story telling and posturing, but that’s the only important point.

It’s a day for the boiler. We’ve finally got the guys who installed it in the first place on the case. And they have quickly figured it out. It’s all about a particular motor. Which they have replaced.  They also figured out why the CO had spread into the church. And have taken care of that. They've been at this for eight hours. They’ve taken reading to show that everything is safe. And tomorrow we’ll have the Con Ed gas people come to do a final safety inspection.

So the heat is back on. And no chimney sweep was necessary.

I’m working very late, getting ready for a trip to Lousiville tomorrow. It’s been steady snow all day. Snow filling the branches of all the trees. Almost magical. Doesn't happen often.

Vespers

2/1

I am America

Dealing with the last man standing, one man band,  here alone reality. Three things happening at once. One: the plumber called in to deal with non-flushing toilets. We’ve got a performance tonight.

Two: Martin sees the plumber and needs to tell me that if the gas is being turned back on, he’s getting out. Yesterday was truly serious. The carbon monoxide got to Soli. His friend with the FDNY said it was very dangerous. I get defensive. The plumber is staring at us. He leaves. I go outside and apologize for getting defensive. Affirm that I find carbon monoxide scary too and we’re doing our best. And the guy fixing toilets is not turning any gas back on. Not until Monday. Well, just let me know, OK? He insists. And I agree.

Three: While all this is going on, the Workcenter is now rehearsing in the dark in the balcony theatre because the lighting they put in has popped a breaker. So I call Danielle to find the breaker box and head upstairs with flashlight. Find the box. Flip the switch. Lights back on.

Yesterday, John H was telling Danielle he used to fantasize being a pastor. Reading in the morning. Theological discussions with parishioners in the afternoon. Finishing the day with evening prayer. Nothing about boilers, fuse boxes, crazy people with shopping carts and toilets. What intro to ministry really needs to have. Basic economics. And building maintenance. Like basic flushometer. That’s ministry. Well not all, but more than you ever thought or anyone ever told you.

Finally it’s evening. Time for The Workcenter’s performance of I am America. A dramatic performance of poetry by Alan Ginsburg. A look at America through the eyes of a beat poet through the eyes of a European artist in the tradition of Grotowski.

Mario actually has a rootsy rationale for the use of southern American and black work song music to accompany Ginsburg. Ginsburg was rooted in beat which was rooted in jazz which was rooted in the African-American music tradition so take it back beyond jazz to the roots and there you are.

It’s cold. The performance is in the balcony theatre. The old Papp theatre. Last used by Jeremy G and his Alivewire theatre group. And Jeremy G is here working with Mario. Yes it’s cold.  But there’s a full house. Katherine and Mim are here. And several Noche folks. We’re packed in tight. That will help keep us warm.

I give a welcome and the performance begins. It unfolds. Like the American flag. Immigrants. Slaves. All who wound  up on this shore. Translated through Ginsburg’s incantatory poetry. Venturing into Bread & Puppet territory prophetic critique but never losing the beat throughline. The audience transfixed. Not always clear. But present. So this was our evening prayer. Our vespers.

The applause is long and sustained.

In the tradition of West-Park we carry on heat or no. Back to our first rebirth beginnings in the freezing cold of winter three years ago. Wanting to be on the verge of a real rebirth. Now.

Boiler blues

1/31

Day starts with a call from Martin. He’s calling the  Fire Department. Very bad smells happening. By the time I get there, the Fire Department has been there and also Con Ed. The Fire Department cut off power and Con Ed shut off the gas. The boiler saga continues.

I review the reports of the FDNY and Con Ed. There was at least serious carbon monoxide if not gas.  Dangerous. These plumbers we have been using seem to not know what they’re doing and only making things worse. Insisting that we need a chimney sweep. That doesn’t happen like overnight. So we’re trying to track down the company that first installed the boiler. (Should have done that in the first place.) Maybe they can get here by the end of the day.

The coldness continues to seep in. Bringing back old memories. Not happy ones. 

As it nears 7, looks like the boiler people won’t be arriving.  More and more people keep arriving with instruments only to be told that there’s no open mic to night due to the weather and no heat. One woman has come in from Queens two weeks in a row. Only to be disappointed. And Abigail and Les back too. She says she’s got a surprise in store. Hopefully she’ll be back.

Danielle and I ending a slow and frustrating week. Things not falling into place the way I’d like.

Decide to catch a Leverage with RL: The rich and powerful take what they want. We steal it back for you. Not a bad job description. Amazed that perspective lasted on TV for five seasons. There’s more class anger here than we like to admit.

Chim, chimney Chim, chimney Chim, chim, cher-ee…

1/30

It’s been a long, cold, slow week. The continued frigid weather slows things down. Keeps us inside. Hunkered down, so to speak. Desiring hibernation. My own fatigue and virus doesn’t help as I just want to stay under the covers.

Tuesday there’s little time spent in the office on the way  to the Presbytery meeting in Harlem. Good to go to a meeting for once where West-Park is not at risk. Our business this time involves presenting an overture to our national General Assembly this summer on a study of  current US drug policy and how it impacts people of color and those of low income.  We also have an action on Marriage Equality. A lot of congregations have endorsed the right of a clergy person to perform marriages as their conscience allows in states where the law permits it. West-Park wanted to go further, and strike those words, where the law permits …Civil law should not determine our ecclesiastical law. It’s either right or not. My colleagues should not remain vulnerable to charges while I can perform any marriage I feel called to perform.

The ensuing debate was a bit odd. Many speakers began by saying of course they agreed, but…. Our version attracted some conservatives who liked it’s either/or and separation of church/state character. One African-American pastor reminded us of how marriage had been stolen from their historic community. Finally liberal gradualism and political expedience won out and our offering was defeated. The qualified motion passed by a large margin. (Like West-Park’s last victory…)

RL and I spend a frustrating hour trying to figure out why the boiler isn’t working. It keeps looking  like something simple.

Noche is hard at work when the boiler clearly is no longer working. Danielle puts out the call for help and boiler people soon arrive. Pat O has come by to continue work on developing a critical analysis of current options and an alternative plan. Excel spreadsheets, color coded and all.

A long and frustrating boiler day.  It’s on and off three times. Danielle reports a scary early morning flaming blow back. When it’s  working, it’s like a mechanical system on crack. Manic and hyper. Ready to do harm. New radiator leaks. Steaming pipes. The boiler people seem befuddled and each further complicated effort seems to take us further from solution. The want us to invest in a new radiator. Bring in a chimney sweep. I tell Danielle to google Chim, chimney Chim, chimney Chim, chim, cher-ee…

Session is working in seriously evaluating  options while I’m running around with boiler people. It’s like on Apple care when you start with a simple enough problem and 45 minutes later they want you uninstall everything on your computer…Something wrong here….all of this taking me back to the winter of no heat, back when we first began...the 

Meanwhile in the sanctuary, the voices of Mario’s singers conjure fields and late night gatherings down south….even as I notice so many different global accents… I notice some Dzieci have joined in. I see this emerging community and wonder again how we can interrelate, collaborate…plant something that can grow…

The sixth day of Christmas: Heat at last, heat at last, thank God almighty, heat at last...

12/30

Another day of racing against the clock. Has Chris deliverd his letter to the DOB? Yes, at 10:30. All right then, has DOB contacted Con Ed? OK, Gale’s on that one. By 2:30, still no word. The hour is getting late. I reach out to Ted who reaches out to his friend at Con Ed. Gale calls, Con Ed will be there by 3:30. 

At 3:30, Chris the plumber and his crew are there. Jane and Tia have arrived. Gale is there. But no Con Ed. It’s beginning to feel  like a local theatre production of Waiting for Godot. We decide to have a pool. Jane says 4:45, I say 4:32. And at 4:30, they arrive.

But it’s not easy. I go back to my office to find Ji Young and Miranda. Miranda is playing the wooden toy piano a young couple from the neighbrhood donated. Complications to be dealt with.  And Jason has issues to discuss. And Dan is popping in and out. And a full crew is intently engaged in the basement.  


And Joseph from England and Fabiana from Mexico have come to talk about getting married.  They bth live in Mexico City now. They're coming ti New York ot get married, midway between England and Mexico. 

Gale has to leave. We go down to check things out, watching closely. At one point, the technician looks up. You guys are literally freaking me out, he says. And I remember the sign at out garage back in Pittsburgh, Labor is $25 an hour, $50 if you help.

 So Jane and Tia and I leave and retreat to the warmth of her office. There’s a boom from below and we rush downstaors ecxpecting  the worst, but all is well. Like a car engine coming on and old pipes breathing again. The Polish plumbers are taking off. We had a good chat about New Year’s kielbasa and pierogies. And soon enough, Jane has to leave. I walk her down the street  to where she’s meeting Katherine for dinner. 

When I get back, Jason greets me at the door. It’s on, he says.At approximately 7:30 PM, December 30th, the heat was back on for the first time in nearly three years.  And I walk in, Tia is smiing, the pipes in office are getting warm. We exchange a high five. Chris the plumber needs to check every radiator. He smiles at the antique one in my office. I collect those he says, but that one  is really rare. 

In the front of the sanctuary he stops and says, The acoustics in here are great. You could do like concerts here, like small operas, like... I tell him, that’s the idea. And we do...

We walk around. There’s a lot of work still to be done. Will have to happen next week. But the pipes are warming up. I’m trying to take in the heat. Trying to take in that it is finally, finally on.