The Boston Sun reports Old South Church in Copley Square formally honored the Boston chapter of Drag Queen Story Hour for its "exceptional contributions to our communities and the profound impact of storytelling" during a service this past Sunday.
Leaders of Old South Church in Copley Square shifted planned in-person services on Christmas Eve to online only due to rising Covid-19 numbers and the way the omicron variant spreads so easily. Read more.
Old South Church in the Back Bay will participate in the national Memorial to Lives Lost to COVID-19 this afternoon by tolling the Great Tower Bell. It's part of a national commemoration.
Old South Church member and MIT mathematician David Vogan will ring the 2,000-lb. bell, which sits at the top of the church's 246-foot tower.
Boston Magazine has a list of some interesting things about Old South Church.
Through 6 p.m., Old South Church will be broadcasting King speeches, in memorial for the 50th anniversary of his assassination. At 6, around the time King was fatally shot, the loudspeakers will fall silent and the church bells will ring in his memory.
The Globe reports that Old South Church wants the developer of the proposed tower at Back Bay station to pay the money as recompense for the potential damage shadows would cause the church by reducing the amount of sunlight that now dries out moisture on the building.
BqRally snapped a photo as Carlos Arredondo led the annual blessing of the runners at Old South Church's Easter service today.
Old South Church reports a man was found dead on a step on the Dartmouth Street side of the church this morning:
Rev. John Edgerton remained with the body to keep vigil as the ambulance was called, throughout the time the police and medical examiner were present, and until the body was removed.
We learned that his name was Michael and that he was 57 years of age.
Old South Church is working with Ecclesia Ministries - common cathedral on an outdoor memorial service at the site.
Michael Ford, 66, of Cambridge could get five years in federal prison when sentenced on an identity-theft charge related to the 2008 theft and sale of a 17th-century diary from Old South Church.
In a guilty plea on Monday, Ford acknowledged that he used somebody else's driver's license to cash a $750 check from a Harvard Square bookstore for James Hull's diary, the US Attorney's office in Boston reports.
For the past year, volunteers at Old South Church have been knitting scarves for Marathon runners. Photographynatalia watched some of them distributed today.
Copyright Photographynatalia. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.
WBUR reports on the record-setting price for the Puritan-produced book.
Watch some video of Old South Church Minister Nancy Taylor and Associate Minister Anthony Livolsi ringing the church bells after the Supreme Court released its decision overturning the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
The ruling means, among other things, that same-sex couples in Massachusetts are now eligible for the same federal benefits as other married couples.
Down at City Hall, city workers raised a Pride flag.
The Herald reports on an upcoming vote by the church congregation on whether to sell one of its two copies of the Bay Psalm Book - which could fetch up to $20 million - and a silver collection that includes a Paul Revere chalice. Supporters say the money would help pay for church repairs and work among the homeless.
Michael Paulson reports that Old South Church is readying its huge organ for a performance on Saturday - its first since December, when the church stopped using it for fears its booming sound could further damage a wall cracked by construction of an elevator shaft at the Copley Square T stop. Paulson's post has some cool video and photos of the organ being tuned.
Although the afternoon performance is still canceled, the evening performance at the Church with the Giant Crack will go on, but with a piano, not the organ, FirstNight tweets.
Since the organ can't be used thanks to the crack caused by an MBTA elevator contractor (yes, that crack). Via FirstNight tweet.
Michael Paulson reports on a wedding yesterday at the now cracked Old South Church - it went just fine, only with a piano instead of an organ (since the organ might have caused plaster to fall on people's heads).
Paulsen also provides a copy of an e-mail message from Rev. Nancy Taylor on short-term fixes and more permanent solutions, all of which will be paid for by the MBTA (including the hiring of organ and stained-glass consultants).
Earlier:
The breaking news at Old South.
The Outraged Liberal hopes the T uses its time-out on the Copley project to consider whether similar work at Arlington should be modified to protect the Arlington Street Church.
Earlier:
Breaking news at Old South.
Alecia Batson reports on a crack that starts at the foundation, goes at least 30 feet up and is large enough at some points to put your hand in. And it's on the Dartmouth Street side, right where the MBTA is doing its never-ending Copley work, which is why she's written an open letter to the T (speaking for herself, not the church) asking what it's going to do about it:
... The organ should not be played, now, as it could prompt large portions of the plaster to fall. This directly affects the Boston Secession concert that will take place there tomorrow evening, Friday, 5 December 2008, as the concert makes use of the organ. Will my friends' concert take place? We do not yet know. Tomorrow, structural engineers will determine if the sanctuary is even safe for habitation. Will church services take place this coming Sunday? Only time will tell. ...
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