Church Damaged by Arson Fires : Crime: Authorities have no suspects in Santa Monica blaze. An $18,000 piano and Christmas pageant costumes are destroyed.

Some parishioners have been praying for the soul of whoever drove through the front door of their Santa Monica church early Sunday, setting half a dozen fires and destroying an $18,000 Steinway piano.

But Ardys Lobitz, a 38-year member of Mt. Olive Lutheran Church, said she isn’t quite ready for that.

“I think it was Satan himself,” said Lobitz, whose family donated the piano to the parish five years ago. “It’s a real test of Christianity. I’m sick in my heart and I’m sick in my stomach. However, I’m so grateful nobody was hurt.”

Authorities had no suspects or motive.

Pastor James Kallas said he was baffled by the attack, which included the torching of church banners, the American flag, two Christmas trees and a rack full of Christmas pageant costumes in the adjacent parish hall.

As word of the blaze spread, members hurried to the Ocean Park Boulevard church, fearing loss of their sanctuary. Some came dressed in jeans, jackets and sweaters, ready to pray in the parking lot.

But the fire, reported at 4:39 a.m., caused little structural damage. After a few hours of cleanup, parishioners deposited bags full of sooty debris on the sidewalk and filed in for 10:30 a.m. services as scheduled.

There were hugs and some tears, and Kallas had to update his sermon, taking as his text a verse from 2 Corinthians: “We . . . are struck down but not destroyed.”

“Some people have joked that we ought to rename our congregation the Phoenix Lutheran Church, because we have come back out of the ashes,” he said. “We try to make light of it, but most of us feel violated.”

The lectern was scorched when the heavy cloth cover on the piano went up in flames, but the broad white marble altar was not desecrated and there were no graffiti.

An expensive sound-mixing board, part of the church loudspeaker system, apparently was stolen. But parishioner Dean Theodos, an electrical engineer, replaced it with some old equipment from his garage.

Church members gave credit to two Santa Monica police officers, David Rynski and Robert Almada, for quenching the flames with fire extinguishers from their squad car, preventing greater damage.

“The officers were driving down the street and saw smoke coming out of the church, and noticed that the doors were knocked down,” said Santa Monica Police Sgt. Russ Martin.

No dollar figure for the damage was available.