The Great Spaces Music & Art Series sponsored by Grace Episcopal Cathedral Topeka Kansas has been bringing cultural events to Topeka for several years now. On Monday Jan. 31st they hosted the St. Olaf Choir. Despite a heavy snowfall that day the event was extremely well attended. Two of the members of the St. Olaf choir are also members of Grace Cathedral and are attending St. Olaf College in Minnesota.
The next event in the series will be held this Friday evening when the Washburn Percussion Collective (Everything but drums) will perform at 7pm. Tickets are $10/each and at this time are still available. Contact Steve Burk at Grace Episcopal Cathedral Topeka (785) 235-3457 for more information.
The presents are wrapped, Wanamaker is quiet, most of the stores are now closed, even Walmart! The hectic pace of the secular world of the hoped for Christmas buying frenzy is now done. As I sit here writing this at 2:20 AM Christmas morning there is time to reflect a bit and drink a warm cup of hot green tea.
I’ve attended Grace Cathedral located at 801 SW Polk here in Topeka to some degree all of my life. I say to some degree because there were years that it would be a big stretch to say I was regular in attendance. But even in the lean years I was a Christmas/Easter Episcopalian. Sitting there tonight listening to the carols and the words from the bible I had a bit of time to reflect on Christmas’ past. It is always a beautiful service but it is a great gift to be able to be comfortable with the service to the degree of being able to sit and reflect and to appreciate the beauty of it all but also comfortable enough to daydream a bit.
I remembered:
The years I was a acolyte and participated in the service.
The people that were also always there every year but are now gone like Joe Thompson, Dorothy Burgess and other people that I lost track of.
Years I felt as an outsider sitting on the periphery and years that I wanted to be in the very middle of it all.
When I was a child and Midnight was very very late but I knew it was close to morning which meant presents!
There have been years I was bored and years I soaked in every minute
Family that are with me and those that aren’t able to be there
The year my father passed on 12/23
Times in my life when my faith was strong and times it has been weak
Christmas’ that have been at stressful times and those that have been relatively carefree
The smell of incense and Silent Night being played with the lights dimmed
Snow falling some years when church let out
Getting coffee at the Truck Stop (Ihop) with friends and family after the service
Years where we get up and go also to Christmas morning services
The old church before the fire.
Years that I document the service with photographs and years that I just show up and soak it all in
Being thankful that I have a church home where I know most everyone and they know me. It’s a very warm feeling
Merry Christmas to all may all your memories be treasured!
Seems like each time we’ve been to Sam’s Club this Christmas season we’ve run into Eddie Boyd ringing the bell for the Salvation Army. The first thing that my wife and I do when we pull into the Sam’s parking lot, other that watching out for other cars, is to see if Eddie is “working” that day. Eddie has helped make this Christmas season fun! I have to admit that I usually pass up the Salvation Army bell ringers but not Eddie! It’s not that Eddie is pushing or demanding; quite the contrary! Eddie looks each person in the eye and with the warmth of being the first person he has seen today wishes each person entering or leaving Sam’s Club a Merry Christmas!
I have watched Eddie working and it is not uncommon for someone to walk away to only see that person reaching deep down into their pocket just to walk back and put money in Eddie’s kettle. Putting money in Eddies kettle isn’t always easy though, sometimes you really have to stuff it in because it is full!
You can read more about Eddie and his Christmas mission for the Salvation Army by clicking here and here. Eddie is currently looking for a call as a Baptist Minister. It says on Eddie’s Facebook page that he studied at American Baptist University. Some congregation needs to take a strong look at this man as their preacher!
Let’s Help of Topeka is a great Topeka organization serving the underprivileged. Let’s Help provides meals during the week. They also have a clothing bank. Each day of the month a organization of Topeka volunteers to cook, prepare, serve and cleanup during lunch. On this particular day was the people of Grace Episcopal Cathedral (8th & Polk) preparing their specialty of “Taco Salad”.
Let’s Help provides some of the food, in particular the meat I believe, but it is up to the organizations to add the “extras”. On this particular day there were 451 meals served.
One of the serendipities of volunteering to help with a job like this is getting to know the person much better that sits in the pew next to you every Sunday morning. You can greet each other for years but a bond doesn’t attach nearly as well as if you work with that person. You learn very quickly what they like and what they don’t. Out of this type of relationship real lasting friendships are formed. What starts out as a desire to help others ends up helping you!
I remember reading somewhere once Dr. Menninger was asked what the first thing someone should do if they felt they were having a coping challenge if I remember correctly his response was “leave your house go across the tracks and help someone else!
Easter Morning 4/4/2010 was a beautiful morning after a long cold winter this year here in Topeka. I was invited to attend the Easter Morning Sunrise Service and Breakfast at the First Church of God In Christ located at 619 California Ave, here in Topeka.
I got to see some old friends and to meet some new friends. The service was great, the fellowship was great and the food was fantastic. For breakfast they served Grits, sausage, ham, eggs, hashbrowns, pancakes, biscuits & gravy, coffee, juice and there may have even been some fresh fruit but I never got that far!
Thanks again to the wonderful people at First COGIC Church for inviting me in and making me feel so welcome. I am looking forward to many visits in the future!
