Livin’ in Liverpool: A bench, a box and a benediction

For more than a year, I’d spied the florally framed park bench and its mysterious accompanying rostrum sitting on the eighth-of-an-acre V-shaped park where Third Street forks off Oswego Street smack dab in the center of the village.

The wooden box sitting to the right of the bench which faces Route 57 resembles a lectern or a small podium or pulpit. It is none of those.

A few weeks ago, I took a closer look. The fact that Liverpool’s First Presbyterian Church stands directly across Oswego Street should have tipped me off.

The humble, hand-made rostrum is actually a prayer box.

‘Do not be anxious’

Unhook it, and the box top opens to reveal an invitation in the form of a quote from the Epistle of Paul to the Phillipians:

“Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

The purple geraniums that grow to the left of the rostrum have multiplied and grown rather wild, even poking up through the bench slats. Red perennials brighten up the right side of the prayer box, which includes a handful of printed invocations and plenty of blank cards on which the supplicant is encouraged to jot down his or her own personal plea and/or words of praise.

The prayer box stands as a simple yet stately mini-monument, an oasis of peace and tranquility in the midst of tumultuous traffic and busy businesses.

Primal rhythms

From the fluttering of birds’ wings to the quiet beating of a human heart, rhythm is a primal force of nature.

It can be logical, strictly counted and rigid. And rhythm can be irrational as well, as when it’s creatively contorted into something sweet as syncopation or bittersweet as a slow waltz.

Sandra Sabene, who operated the Liverpool Art Center, at 101 Lake Drive, in the village, finds that through rhythm, she “has found community, connection and self-awareness.”

Several years ago, Sandy established Creative Rhythms, and since 2005 she has been staging drum circles at LAC, a mix of drum, sound, song, dance and meditation.

“Our drummers love the welcoming and open experience at LAC drum circles,” she said, “and now we have more drums and we’re training 20 new facilitators.”

Relax and rejuvenate

Anyone can join and no skills are required. “Everyone can make music for community connection and wellness,” Sandy says. “We love to relax, rejuvenate and ride the rhythm.”

Drum Time continues at LAC from 7 to 9 p.m. this Friday, Sept. 13, and next Friday, Sept. 20. Participants pay $10 at the door.

Toward the end of the month the Liverpool percussionists will take their sound public by staging a drum circle in Hanover Square, down city, from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 27. “It’s going to be epic,” Sandy says.

BTW, LAC is also starting up a schedule of Youth and ’Tweens Classes on Sept. 18, featuring art instruction, music making, storytelling and social creative social adventures.

For drum circle info, visit creativerhythmsevents.com or check out what’s new at LAC at liverpoolartcenter.com; 315-234-9333.

Storm relief in works

Operation Northern Comfort is planning SC61, a working relief and rehabilitation trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The trip will take place Oct. 13-19.

Two hurricanes have hit the area in the last two years and much more work will be needed, according to Operation Southern Comfort and Operation Northern Comfort founder Norm Andrzejewski (pronounced An-drew-JEW-ski), who lives in Liverpool.

“We expect our tasks to include mucking out, again, and a lot of fix-up work, like sheet-rocking and painting,” Norm said.

The trip costs $200 per person, which includes round-trip transportation, meals and lodging. Those interested can sign up at operationnc.org, or email Dave Robinson at [email protected], or call Norm Andrzejewski at 315-559-9413.