Broad Street Ministry

Hannibal Lokumbe attended a service at Broad Street Ministry on a cold Sunday in December.  The Broad Street ministry practices “radical hospitality” and provides social services such as legal aid, mail service and medical care. The ministry serves over two-thousand meals a week to the city’s vulnerable population.

Every Sunday evening, the ministry’s worship service is place of calm — an inviting atmosphere that an array of people, from all social levels and races, attend for music and reflection.

Lokumbe closed his eyes in reflection throughout the candlelit service and joined the ministry’s group of musicians during their songs of worship.

While standing in one of the ministry’s wood-paneled and stained-glass rooms after the service, Lokumbe reflected on one of his experiences in the same room where, after a performance of one of his compositions, a woman — who recently lost most of her eyesight— approached him. She told Lokumbe that she was being evicted from her apartment because her landlord did not want her seeing-eye dog in the building. While sitting in the audience as his piece played, she said the inspiration to fight the eviction came over her.

After learning from the building’s facility manager that the woman was still in her apartment, Lokumbe clapped his hands and smiled: “Now that is what the music is for,” he said.

Photos: Zenovia Gallagher