It must have seemed odd that a bespectacled man was lying prone in the grass of the Cathedral on a Sunday morning. If you know anything about the Cathedral, this is perhaps the least odd thing that you would imagine, but if you are from Boca Raton and are up on vacay, you might find this a little odd. And if that were the case, you may not feel quite so inhibited about asking the bespectacled man about the building, seeing as how he has now risen and you can see that he is wearing a tie and a camera strap which is attached to a camera. With which he was most likely taking pictures.
“Was this the church for the estate?” you might ask. The easiest answer is probably “yes” although that answer is wrong. It was never proprietary to the estate. But it was more or less proprietary to the owner of the estate which is more or less the same thing. Almost. And that was a long time ago, the bespectacled man would like to tell you. That is just the beginning. He built a building, and over 110 years it has become a church.
There was the school for african-american children before there was public education for african-american children. There was the hospital which grew and built a building down the street, and then it grew and was absorbed by a hospital across town. And then the hospital moved up the street, and sometimes parents bring their kids here to play on the playground because it’s the closest place to come when someone is in the hospital.
Other kids and grown ups come and play basketball on the court where the old rectory used to be. The rectory, which was also build by the estate owner, fell down because the congregation failed to take responsibility for its maintenance. Not that the congregation was failing. The congregation was doing what it was supposed to do: reaching out. Reaching out to the AIDS patient at a time when the disease was more reviled than leprosy. Reaching out to the gay couple who might not have another place to go to services.
But all of that reaching out would be pointless if there were not a place to welcome them into. So yes, the bespectacled man would like you to know how wonderfully the current congregation has stepped up to preserve this great gift the estate owner made. But instead he can’t help letting it slip that the gift was made coincident with the owner’s daughter’s wedding. Because he was born snarky, that’s why. So you might say “Can you imagine building a church for your daughter?” and the bespectacled man will return to the service and Tallulah will sit on his lap again and he will think “Yes, yes I can.”