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A New Day is Dawning at Old South (photo montage
by Lise Beane)
Boston Globe
FACES
IN THE CROWD
Fans of all kinds find their prayers answered
Excerpt from February 9, 2005 edition
The Rev. Nancy Taylor, new senior minister at the Old South Church on Boylston Street, closed the historic stone building at 11 a.m. yesterday and joined fellow clergy on the front lawn. They, like the thousands of frenzied fans outside, were there to give thanks.As confetti flew and Duck Tour boats came by, the church staff did its part, though their cheers were slightly different. ''Amen," read the signs they carried as they gleefully yelled from beneath a Gothic arch.
''God loves a joyful game and people celebrating," said Taylor, displaying a red-white-and-blue stole around her neck.
Last year, about 15 church staff members watched the Patriots parade, and a message on the church's corner marquee praised the team. But yesterday was the church's first organized hourlong gathering for a victory parade, and it came with its own soundtrack: 200 rings from the church's 110-year-old bronze bell.
''We're all big sports fans," said Jennifer Mills-Knutsen, an assistant minister.
Though a devoted Green Bay Packers fan, Jeff Makholm, the church moderator, climbed into the bell tower yesterday to ring the 1-ton bell. Fans ultimately drowned out his tolling, but Makholm said early on, it was the bell drawing cheers.
''It's hard to top the Red Sox, but this was close," he said.
Tadd Allman-Morton, a ministerial intern, said the event provided a good lesson in church outreach. But the site of clergymen holding football placards at a victory parade, he acknowledged, did draw strange looks from passersby.
''There were people who laughed out loud," Allman-Morton said. ''Others just looked confused."
BENJAMIN GEDAN - Boston Globe
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