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	The Christus Rex statue lies on a flatbed truck, waiting to be taken to a restoration specialist. Photo by Melodie Woerman

Good-bye, St. David's
Walls to come down; parishiones make plans to rebuild

By Melodie Woerman
Editor, The Harvest

The people of St. David’s, Topeka are getting pretty good at mastering a skill few people have to learn — coping with the loss of their church building after a devastating November arson fire. Delay after delay has left the shell of their building awaiting demolition, but members are moving forward with plans to rebuild as parish life goes on.

The wait to say good-bye to their building has been hard, but not as hard as one might imagine. “People aren’t anxious about it,” senior warden Margaret Telthorst said. “I think we have moved beyond that. I think we are in an acceptance of where we are.”

Tearing down, building new
Where they are is with a foot in two worlds, dealing with how to be the church in borrowed spaces while making plans to rebuild once the walls of the church come down. Everything inside the church has been removed, leaving only the walls and roof that were weakened by the extreme heat of the Nov. 10 fire. With the stained glass windows replaced by plywood and the pews gone, the vast nave looks more like a warehouse than a house of prayer.

By early January all that was left was the 15-foot bronze statue of Christus Rex, Christ the King, that hung above the altar and had become St. David’s signature. When it was taken from the wall, carried through a hole where a window had been and bolted to a flatbed truck, the handful of witnesses said it felt like Good Friday. As it lay on the truck to be readied for a trip to a restoration specialist, people gently touched Jesus’ outstretched arms.

Telthorst said parishioners are ready for the demolition to happen after missteps with contractors delayed it for more than a month. But there has been comfort in having the familiar façade intact, she said, and she knows it will be painful to drive by and see the building gone.

The parish hall and office area to the west of the church proper didn’t suffer much fire damage so doesn’t have to be torn down, but how it will fit into rebuilding plans hasn’t been determined yet. Telthorst said it will take time to develop the final design, based on input from members about how they want the new space to look and function.

The first step in the rebuilding process came in the weeks immediately after the fire, when parishioners met in small groups to discuss their future home. Telthorst said there had been talk in the past about moving to a new location to get more space, especially for classrooms, than the current building site provided. Those discussions always led them back to where they were, but she said this time there was a difference. “In light of the fire, it was a new question,” she said.

Members hashed out the pros and cons of staying or moving. In the end, staying won out. Many said the parish’s 50-year identity there, along with decades of involvement with the six other churches in the neighborhood, anchored the congregation to that location. Members were moved when neighbors stopped by to say they hoped the church would stay. Telthorst said the existence of the courtyard, where people’s ashes are buried, was an emotional pull for many parishioners.

While Topeka has seen substantial westward expansion, Telthorst said demographic data showed most current parishioners live in a corridor through central Topeka near the church, so relocating wouldn’t necessarily be an advantage.

She said the parish is committed to growth but decided it could do that where it was. “We have to attract new members,” she said, “but there wasn’t the evidence to say you must move.”

Committees already are in place to begin the process of selecting an architect to help them plan how a new building will look. No timetable for rebuilding has been developed yet.

Worship in the Temple
In the meantime, St. David’s conducts weekly worship in two locations. A Saturday evening Eucharist takes place in the chapel of Grace Cathedral downtown. On Sunday morning, two services, with a breakfast in between, are in the auditorium of Temple Beth Shalom, where the Jewish community meets just a few blocks from St. David’s.

All the elements of Episcopal worship are brought in each week — altar linens and communion vessels in large plastic bins, a portable keyboard, acolyte and clergy vestments. Church members donated a used minivan to house and transport all the necessary gear. The service bulletin is printed, but with no Hymnals available, words are projected from a laptop computer onto a screen. The chairs set in rows are pretty full each week, and Telthorst says attendance continues to be up.

Borrowing space from the Jewish community has been a blessing, she said, but not without a hitch or two. It wasn’t available for services on Ash Wednesday, so they will worship at noon at St. Philip’s and in the evening at the Cathedral. The Temple’s annual blintz brunch fundraiser will displace St. David’s for a week or two, and Telthorst said the parish is deciding where it wants to celebrate Easter, seeking to be sensitive to the possible concerns of their Jewish hosts. The Temple encouraged them to celebrate all their usual Christmas events there, which they did.

The Episcopalians were asked by the Temple to do only two things during their time there — refrain from serving pork at their Sunday morning breakfasts and not bring in a cross. Telthorst said beef sausage and turkey bacon are working out just fine.

There have been pluses, too. People are talking about having some joint classes so the two congregations can learn more about each other. And Beth Shalom members have joined St. David’s members in providing a monthly meal at Let’s Help, a local social service agency.

Telthorst said people are very focused on being the church in spite of the loss of their building. The challenges of rebuilding still await, but the parish’s rector, the Rev. Don Davidson, said he is confident in how the parish will respond.

“We are a creative and yet stubborn group of people,” he said. “We are creative enough to make it work, and stubborn enough not to let anyone say it won’t.”