Two weeks ago, I left the house early and caught a less-crowded-than-usual train, arriving in Harvard Square well before I had to be at work. I walked across Harvard Yard to Memorial Church, which hosts Morning Prayers every weekday during term-time from 8:45 to 9 a.m. (I had been wanting to try it out, but hadn’t yet managed to arrive early enough.)
I stepped inside, almost holding my breath, and slipped into a pew as the strains of the opening hymn rolled around me.
Golden sunlight spilled through the high, clear glass window behind the chapel, paneled in richly carved dark wood, and through the larger windows to my left, falling across the high-walled box pews. I listened as a graduating senior gave a brief, brave speech about navigating an unexpected pregnancy during her time at Harvard, and the ways in which it has made her a stronger, more compassionate person.
I bowed my head and recited the Lord’s Prayer along with the two dozen or so others present, then stood to sing the final hymn (“God Moves in a Mysterious Way”). The minister gave a familiar benediction from Jude, the favorite of a minister friend back in Texas. I watched the choir, fourteen lanky undergraduates in black robes, process out, then made my way to my office, three blocks away.
The whole experience, bathed in light and music, felt like a gift, like a windfall of grace.
In some ways, every workday of the last three months – since I started my new job at the Harvard Graduate School of Education – has felt like that.
I had a nodding acquaintance with Harvard Square (thanks in large part to its lovely cafes and bookstores) before I started work at the Ed School, as it’s known around here. But I did not know it intimately, the way I knew my downtown neighborhood after working there for two years. Three months in, I am still discovering all sorts of new pleasures.
The morning walk to the office from the Red Line, down Church Street (if I want to stop at Starbucks) or down Garden Street by Cambridge Common (if I want to smell the lilacs blooming along the fence). Lunchtime treats from Darwin’s or Crema; occasional trips to Lizzy’s for ice cream. Browsing sessions at the Harvard Book Store or Raven Used Books. Long walks, wherever my feet take me, or quiet moments in the small sunken garden next to my building. The light through the two large windows in our office suite on the “garden level,” and the cheery camaraderie and frequent laughter of my colleagues.
It all feels like a gift, like a windfall of grace.
I have struggled at times to feel at home in Boston, to feel safe, to relax and exhale. But this green, quietly bustling corner of the Harvard campus already feels like a home. Like a place to belong. A community to settle into (especially as we celebrate our graduates this week). It feels like a neighborhood to keep exploring and making my own. And I am so deeply grateful.
I love this. Beautiful way to give grace an adequate description.
I’m sitting in Panera on a rainy Miami morning enjoying my oatmeal and coffee and your post was a lovely warm fuzzy to start off my day. Thank you.
Home is where your heart is, they say. And this little corner of Boston seems to be a perfect fit for you, for now. Love your spirit of adventure and openness.
Reblogged this on Adithya Entertainment.
Beautiful.
… and book readings at Harvard Bookstore!! Boston is lovely.
So true, Tess! The reading last night was so much fun.
So happy to read this report. Work we love is a gift! Also, so proud of you!
Wonderful post, Katie. It is a joy to my heart to know that you are so happy.
Simply lovely, Katie!
Great post, Katie! I was at the Graduate School of Education in July 1994 for the Institute for Educational Management and attended the Memorial Church each Sunday. Reading your words reminded me of pleasant times and wonderful memories. I hope your work is truly fulfilling. Keep writing!
And, I think Joe Zollner is still there. Please give him my regards. That should send him back to the archives to try to remember who I am. 🙂
Blessings!
Thank you for sharing your moment of grace so that I could read it on a morning when I am desperately in need of grace myself. It came to me through your writing.
I love this post and the sneak peek at Harvard.
More please!
I’ve never been but I love these little looks at how it is.
This is lovely! And I, too, love the peaks at the pretty, fun spots around Harvard!
I’ll join the chorus thanking you for sharing these windfalls of grace. I almost felt myself settling into the pew beside you.
Gorgeous post!
I love that sitting in a church makes you feel grateful too. Sometimes I feel like I’m the only girl out there (under 35) who does!
Boston sounds grand. I live in a university town too. It’s a storybook backdrop, like yours!
[…] church community that challenges and deepens my faith. (Katie, as she writes in her most recent blog post, recently began experiencing this collection for the first time in New […]