Brattle Street Elegy: Not the Building

I made my husband repeat the news three times and show me the pictures before I could believe him. I joined the Church a few months before leaving for college in 1995, and the University Ward became the place where I really learned about the gospel and developed a testimony. (And learned how not to cook tacos for two hundred people!) 

I, too, spent countless moments pondering the symbolism of the beautiful round window. Enough years have passed that the exact layout of the building has faded somewhat from my mind, but the feeling of the window, the light, and the amazing souls that shared that sacred space with me still lingers. 

I’ve met in a variety of buildings as a member of the Church, including converted warehouse space in the branch where I first joined in Connecticut, a farm house/barn in Guatemala, the historic Twentieth Ward chapel in the Avenues of Salt Lake complete with the only stained-glass windows I’ve ever seen in an LDS cha pel, and more than a few of the cookie-cutter 1970s brick eyesores that seem to pepper the growing stakes of this country. I’ve worshipped in enough different buildings to know that it is not the building that makes the place special, it is a combination of the Spirit, the gospel, and the amazing people who share the space. 

Even knowing that, I still deeply mourn the loss of the Cambridge chapel. I have so many wonderful memories. My life has been forever touched by my experiences there. 

My prayers are with those of you who currently worship there. I hope the hearts of your neighbors in Cambridge will be touched and that somehow you will find a way to worship together while the building is being repaired/rebuilt.