Notes from a Frequent Flier: Soup Kitchen Miracles....

Notes from a Frequent Flier: Soup Kitchen Miracles....: For over twenty-five years I have been a Saturday volunteer at the Trinity Lutheran Soup Kitchen.  Now, I am not myself a Lutheran, but was ...

Soup Kitchen Miracles....

For over twenty-five years I have been a Saturday volunteer at the Trinity Lutheran Soup Kitchen.  Now, I am not myself a Lutheran, but was married to one, and taught at two different Lutheran schools over the course of my 28 year teaching career.  I also know the difference between the Lutheran Church in America and both the Missouri and Wisconsin Synods.  I have sat thorough many family discussions of why the old red hymnal/prayer book was superior to the current green one; I know all the words and verses to "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" (which I call the Lutheran anthem) and "Beautiful Savior". I also admit that I like Luther's theology around the aspect of "grace freely given". My children have been known to call themselves "Lutherpalians"; my youngest child attended a Lutheran college. I know what a narthex is, and, with my Scandinavian married name, could probably successfully "pass" for Lutheran anywhere.  But I digress...

Interior Trinity Lutheran SI,NY

Most Saturday mornings you will find me at the Soup Kitchen/Pantry in Stapleton at Trinity, and we have a system going on.  We have a rotating rota of cooks that prepare the meal; we have a rotating list of volunteer groups that serve the meal; we have a rotating group of folks who clean up after the meal, or actually during the meal so we're not there until midnight. It usually goes like clockwork.  Until it doesn't....and that is when, as my friend and fellow soup kitchen volunteer Nina says: " A soup kitchen miracle happens."

Waiting for lunch

Sometimes we may not have enough servers, but at the last minute five more people show up to help;  sometimes the frozen mac and cheese is not heating up as quickly as we wish, but then the ovens get pushed up to 500 degrees and we are ready on time.  Sometimes we run out of the main course, but then someone begins boiling water and we serve spaghetti and meatballs from the "reserve" and extra apple sauce cups come from the pantry, and we have a hot meal for all.


Now, normally I am the calm one.  I have faith that, in the words of Julian of Norwich, "All will be well".  Well, today I almost lost it!


One of our rotating kitchen coordinators, Mary Cicc (the names have been abbreviated to protect the innocent) had a pleasant encounter with a local restaurateur who told her he was interested in providing a meal for our clients.  She happily agreed to provide a date for him to come and, after he visited us at the Soup Kitchen, a date and a menu of chicken/sausage paella were picked out. He would provide this week's lunch.  It made us happy!  But then we waited, and waited and waited.


The dessert was doled out; the bread was cut; the plates were counted; the forks, knives and spoons were set in place; the napkins, salt and pepper were readied, but no paella in sight. 11:00, 11:30, 12:00, 12:15....We began to seat our guests, explained the problem, gave out desserts...twice, gave everyone an appetizer of French bread and American cheese.  And we waited....and waited.  And we prayed...and prayed that everything was really going to be well. 


Chicken and sausage paella

And finally at12:35 the food arrived!  The van they wanted to use to transport the food would not start in the cold weather and they took cabs to get to the Soup Kitchen!  We gave all of our guests two plate-fulls because we were sorry to "put them out".  They LOVED the meal. We were able to feed 60 people a healthy meal today, a little late, but it happened.

So, Nina...thank you for what you always say to me: "It will happen. It is the Soup Kitchen miracle."

 Amen and amen, again.

Notes from a Frequent Flier: Musings after the storm...

Notes from a Frequent Flier: Musings after the storm...: Here in the Northeast we are, figuratively speaking, climbing out from under a horrendous blanket of ice crystalized snow that is  the culmi...

Musings after the storm...

Here in the Northeast we are, figuratively speaking, climbing out from under a horrendous blanket of ice crystalized snow that is the culmination of a series of three winter storm systems that dropped a record breaking 52 inches of snow in New York City over the course of a month and a half.




Azaleas in Manhattan

Autumn in New York

Now, I realize that by choosing to live in this part of North America automatically means you get to enjoy...well sort of enjoy...maybe endure is a better word..four different seasons.  And I am the first to admit there is nothing that compares to New York State in spring or in autumn. The flowers and other foliage during those two seasons are glorious to behold.  And the seasonal aromas of blooming hyacinths, forsythia, crocus, daffodils and azaleas make springtime a joy.  The brilliant reds, oranges and flaming yellows of the fall foliage make us the envy of many and a trip up along the Hudson to view the changing fall colors is a wonderful way to spend an autumn weekend. But this snow has got to go!


After the Storm from the deck

Not that I hate snow.  I am the first to admit that watching the snow fall on a dark winter's evening from the comfort of a warm room gazing out an expansive window is a lovely thing.  Watching the children romp through the snow, making "snow angels" and sledding down the hill at the local golf course or park is exhilarating and just too much fun and will warm the cockles of anyone's cold heart. But it is the clean up and logistics of getting around that can make grown men cry...and has.

By even the most conservative accounts, we have accumulated a good two to three feet of still cold and somewhat frozen snow and ice pushed up on sidewalks, lawns, parkland, parking lots, the shore line and against still parked cars and trucks across the metropolitan area.




Plowing the streets

Alternate side of the street parking regulations, normally the bane of New Yorkers who own cars, has been suspended for about three weeks.  This means those lucky enough to have parked their cars in a legal spot when these series of snow storms began, have not moved them, and unless they have been less than diligent at  removing snow from the roof and body of the car, are now in the predicament of actually locating the car since many are just covered over and plowed in by the New York City Sanitation Department. Several cars have had their roofs crushed in due to the weight of this wet and heavy snow compacted down by rain and sleet turned to ice.

Back in my misspent youth, the City of New York had no reservations about dumping the collected snow into the harbor, and did so for perhaps over a hundred years.  My Grandmother told us kids that in her day, they would open the sewer covers and shovel the snow into the sewer system that eventually, in those days, went into the river and ocean that surrounds this city.  Due to the use of chemical ice melters, most of them chloride based, this is no longer done. Our local Environmental Protection Agency would not allow this, and rightly so.




So, the garbage has not been collected since the Sanitation Department is charged with snow removal as a priority...as it should be.  For now, at least, the garbage and trash ( there is a difference) is bagged, contained and sitting around in the snow and cold, and it is mostly frozen...at least for now.






I know that spring is coming...and I am flying off to Mexico on Monday....Please, when I come back, can the snow be gone?

Diversity Sunday 2014



I have been thinking about how very blessed I am to be serving as Deacon at Christ Episcopal Church in New Brighton.  In 1997 I was ordained to the Sacred Order of Deacons in the Episcopal Diocese of New York by the then Bishop, Richard Grein.  My late Mother, Florence Mary Conkling Redden, had always prayed that one of her five children would be ordained, but she figured, as most devote Irish-American mothers, that it would be her only boy-o.  She got what she prayed for, but not what she expected...sorry, Flo...stuff happens.

In the years that followed my ordination, I have served in five congregations in New York City.  I am currently assigned to Christ Church in the New Brighton section of Staten Island, a church with a long history here.  The church is  wonderful stone gothic edifice with several Tiffany stained glass windows.

Interior Christ Church/New Brighton

But this wonderful structure and its lovely accoutrements do not make a congregation.  They are the shells in which we hold our worship, but they are not the heart of our congregation. That heart can be found in the care and fellowship we share with each other. And there was no more poignant example of this then at last Sunday's "Diversity Sunday" celebration.
February is "Black History Month" in the USA.

Fredrick Douglass

  Back in the day, this was a new concept that grew of out a week in which schools did special programs and lessons around the achievements of African-Americans in our shared history. The congregant who has been doing the arrangements for "Diversity Sunday" explained that at first they would have  outside folks come in to give talks about famous African-Americans in the New York area.  That would, of course, include Fredrick Douglas, Harriet Tubman  and Sojourner Truth who all had connections to New York State.  Over the years he found people were less and less interested in these "talks" since they had all heard it before.  So, he decided to mix it up.

Thus was born "Diversity Sunday".  Members of the congregation from differing cultures came together to share food and talents with each other.  Christ Church has a great mix of folks: Waspish cradle Episcopalians, West Indian Anglicans, Liberian immigrants, recent Eastern European exiles, former Roman Catholics who might have felt disenfranchised due to divorce or sexual preferences, young families looking for a place to raise their children, African Americans living in the neighborhood, people from the nearby adult home who suffer from personal demons, all of these people have found a place in which they worship together.

And this past Sunday we celebrated our life together. We were serenaded by our Godly Play children singing "This Little Light of Mine"; we listened to a member of the congregation speak about his passion for educational equality based on his early years in the Civil Rights movement; we watched  and admired their clarity as our Rite-13 group shared their exegesis of the  banishment of Adam and Eve. We marveled at the musical talent of our young people as they played steel drums, played piano, sang solos and duets and generally amazed us with their shining smiles and sweet voices. And we sang together that wonderful Pete Seeger song,"Turn, Turn, Turn" in tribute to his work, and we realized that there is a season for everything, and for us, at this moment, it is a time for joy and celebration.

How much news is too much news.

                                                            

This morning I awoke before 6am...early for me as I am now retired; I had thought I would get up early and go to the gym across the street from my condo. However, as I gazed out the window, I saw that snow was already falling, and I just did not feel like going out in it.  So, I turned on the radio and began listening to the news.  Now I usually listen to NPR...National Public Radio, out of New York, WNYC.  Thus began my day  with the news.

I was working on a grant and spend most of the morning completing it.  I turned off the radio and turned on the television to keep me company as I finished grant number one for 2014...and began looking at grant number two and three.  These are funds for programs at my church, and this is the third year I have been submitting these requests, so it becomes repetitive, but draining, so I like to have another human voice behind me to keep me company. But, boy, today I really over did spending time with various news outlets.

The winter storm that dropped eight and a half inches of wet, heavy snow on Staten Island caused many regular programs to be pre-empted by storm reporting.  I was actually amazed at the absolutely inane nonsense that newscasters and pundits were sharing with the public as it was "news worthy". Let me share with you the drivel that passed muster and was shared with the viewing public.

1. A report about a documentary on NPR included the fact that the film would be aired tonight on PBS.  Kind of like calling attention to yourself .

2. A report done by a research group that discovered two amazing facts.  Are you ready: don't eat after 9pm; your metabolism is slower when you sleep, and you'll put on weight.  If you want to get better service at the department store, go earlier in the day.  Less people do, and the sales staff is more attentive.                  

                 

3. Kathy Lee invited Regis and Joy to a Super Bowl party at her house.  Her dog chased a flock of Canada Geese off the front lawn.  Oh, Hoda was there also and had her picture taken with a dog.

4. Alternate side of the street parking regulations in New York City were suspended due to the snow.  But you still had to feed the meter. So how can you do that if you take the mayor's advice and ride public transportation to your job with your car sitting in front of your building in Brooklyn?  This information was repeated  every hour.

5. Every station posted snow photos sent in by viewers. Dogs in the snow were a favorite of the viewing public. Anchors also said "way more" when referring to the amount of snow "way more" than necessary.

6. Reporters out in the field all had rulers to measure snow and did so every time that were on screen.
Reporters in cars were out driving around and reporting about the bad conditions on the road....perhaps they should have NOT been on the roads.


7. People who wanted to get home to Seattle and Denver were stuck with everyone else at the local airports.  The Bronco fans and the Sea Hawk fans were surprisingly polite to each other.  They were basically in the same boat.


8. Many kids stayed home today from school because of the inclement weather and then went out to play in the snow.   And we saw many, many pictures of them making snowmen and sledding down hills.

9. Sportscasters all made the same remarks about the Super Bowl game....blah, blah, blah.

10. Too many people have too many opinions about too much stuff. Hey, Al Roker, I don't need to know what the top ten "searches" on Google were this weekend, and neither do you.