Brattle Street Elegy: Wonderful Small Things

My mother sent me the link to this blog site and she has posted here as well. Linda Hoffman Kimball and Chris Kimball met in the Longfellow Park building that fell yesterday. I am the baby who was blessed there some twenty-nine or so years ago.

I remember wonderful small things from that time. My dad and one of the congregants designed a physically beautiful program for worship. I remember one Easter or perhaps Palm Sunday (not a commonly recognized Sunday in Mormon circles) when the program included hand-made, gauze-like, orange paper and a poem about the balm of Gilead.

My most powerful memories, however, are from the late ’90s when my dad, Chris, was bishop of the Longfellow Park Ward. During his tenure, the ward first split by ages; but before that, I had the luxury of spending quite some time as a high-schooler in the company of friends years older than myself. It was great for me to make connections with those who attended at that time, some of whom I stay in touch with even now.

And of course, I remember the window. Complete with all of its multiple meanings and ever-changing colors as the seasons passed. I remember marking it as a sure sign of spring when the tree outside unfurled leaves enough to partially cover the lower left quadrant.

I find myself once again back in Cambridge but attending a church that feels very strongly like home to me about a block away, the United Church of Christ on Garden Street. It was an emotionally charged but powerful Sunday for me to be asked by my senior minister, who knows me well, to try to reach out on behalf of my UCC church community to offer our prayers and our meeting space to the LDS community.

I’m very pleased to learn that First Church will be hosting some of the congregants who were attending Longfellow Park while the new building is worked out. I feel certain that there is a silver lining pending in the form of new friendships, the opportunity to show support, and the chance to build up the interfaith community in Cambridge, as I think Christ would have us do.