Walker Community Methodist Church in Minneapolis has been destroyed by fire. Five firefighters were seriously injured trying to save the church. Walker was one of the first churches in the Twin Cities to welcome openly LGBT people as full members. The rainbow flag survived the fire.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/...
Remembering Walker Community Methodist Church, my eyes fill with tears.
Walker was part of the "overground railroad." We sheltered a young woman from Guatemala who had survived the massacre of her village. Members spent the night in the church basement sleeping on couches outside of her room. Our family used to bring our cat with us. Best mouser in the whole world.
We welcomed the FBI agents (or whoever they were) into our service. We were also encouraged to bring hot chocolate and cookies to those agents parked outside of our homes. They must have had a good union contract, for they were promptly relieved for coffee and lunch breaks.
Walker was first home to community radio, some theater groups, and an open stage night. Open stage was my favorite, a warm and supportive audience for this nervous performer. One of my friends gave a lecture on pi. We had storytellers, poets, and even some stand-up comics.
Brought out my old Walker Songbook. Here are a few favorites:
We used to bring the house down with this one: