I like Facebook's new Terms of Service

After following a careful process in developing new Terms of Service, Facebook gave its users an opportunity to vote on the new document. A strong majority (around 74%) of the small sample who looked at the documents approved of them. Facebook is still going to take some time to verify the accuracy of the data from the voting process.

Stan Schroeder raised some questions about whether Facebook needs to be a democracy, and if so what process it should have followed.

My opinion:

I don't think this is democracy at work, nor does it have to be. It is a business gathering marketing data before restating or changing its contract with users. I appreciate that Facebook took the time to do this.

I was one of those who initially joined the Facebook protest back in February, until I realized that it was based on an odd and inaccurate interpretation of what Facebook was trying to do. If people want to complain about the new documents that were in fact well-publicized and for which the users did have an opportunity to respond, I am one user who does not want to hear about it.

File under : Facebook, business, internet

Panel on Youth and Violence

Yesterday before the meeting of Pittsburgh Presbytery, the Peacemaking Ministry Team sponsored a panel discussion on Youth and Violence. Panelists were ministers and elders from five diverse congregations of the presbytery: Bethesda United Presbyterian Church (in Pittsburgh), East Liberty Presbyterian Church, Grace Memorial Presbyterian Church, Southminster Presbyterian Church, and Verona United Presbyterian Church.

The Rev. Dr. Ron Peters of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary moderated the panel discussion, inviting the panelists to respond to various questions. How have youth in your church and community been affected by violence? How has your church responded to violence among youth? How is your church uniquely gifted to help? Where is God leading your congregation in regard to the problem of violence among our youth?

One of the common themes that emerged is that there will be "push-back" from within the congregation, i.e. that when we are dealing with genuine spiritual problems we should not be surprised that resistance conducting such a ministry will appear even from within the congregation.

The Peacemaking Ministry Team has prepared resources for churches who want to deal with the problem of youth and violence. Download links for three published resources are going to be made available to all who were in attendance at the panel discussion.

The walls in the lecture hall where the panel discussion was held were decorated with various mandalas made by young people at the Shuman Juvenile Detention Center.

File under : Pittsburgh Presbytery, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, peacemaking, violence, youth

Good Friday at TUPCNK

Last night I attended the memorable and meaningful Good Friday service at the United Presbyterian Church of New Kensington. The service was organized by the youth group, included leaders of all ages, and was well-attended by a broad spectrum of people from the church.

When I arrived at the church I immediately saw yellow police tape blocking off the entrance to the church. It was an eye-catching reminder that something special was supposed to happen, and that it wasn't going to start in the sanctuary. Posters directed anyone who hadn't heard about the starting place for the service to go around back of the church.

In back of the church a crowd was milling around on the patio, some warming their hands over a fire. Others were sitting inside the fellowship hall with a view of the activity that was going to take place outside.

We sang a praise song from newsprint being held out of upper windows overlooking the courtyard. Then the drama began.

Young people in the crowd were asking questions. Checking whether anyone had heard about Jesus, and what had happened to him.

An unmarked police car drove up, lights flashing. Judas (played by Colin Yuckman, the pastor) identified Jesus (played by one of the young people)to the officer. The officer arrested Jesus, who went along peacefully. Meanwhile the crowd made comments about how it was about time somebody did something about Jesus.

Some people in the crowd recognized Peter as one people standing around the fire. Peter denied he knew Jesus when challenged by the crowd and the police officer; after the third denial he ran off.

Then we all moved inside to the fellowship hall where scripture was read and we sang more hymns. We were invited to complete a statement on a piece of paper: "I denied Jesus when I ..." The unsigned sheets were collected and pinned to a wall. Kathy Davis spoke to us about our denials and our forgiveness.

We turned our chairs to the side and Colin Yuckman offered a dramatic first-person monologue portraying Judas as he defended his choices and contemplated what he had done and was about to do.

We then moved ourselves upstairs to the vestibule where we joined in a litany posted on newsprint on the walls, committing ourselves to follow Jesus.

After singing another praise song we proceeded into the back of the sanctuary, where we watched Pilate conduct the trial of Jesus. At the conclusion of the trial we moved to the front of the sanctuary where we watched the crucifixion.

The young people did a great job in organizing this service. I am sure that everyone walked away from the experience with insights to ponder.

File under : Good Friday, New Kensington, United Presbyterian Church, drama, worship

The pariahs of the Presbytery Mission Fair

Pittsburgh Presbytery had a mission fair at its meeting yesterday at the Pleasant Hills Community Presbyterian Church. The theme was "Showcasing the Presbytery" and all of the committees and entities that related dirctly to Pittsburgh Presbytery were invited to have a display. Unlike other committees that were present, the Permanent Judicial Commission was in the enviable position of not needing to lobby for budget money and not looking for work. Although I had never heard of a PJC having a display at such an event, it seemed to me that it would be appropriate for the PJC to make itself available — in a limited way — to the rest of the presbytery community.

I put together the display shown above, and a brochure that had the same information but in some greater detail. Two other members of the PJC (Dave Carver and Jeff Tindall) made themselves available to staff the table along with me.

I am not surprised that there was a low level of interest in our display, but the fascinating part of this experience was that so many people at the mission fair would glance at the display from a distance and then hurry past as if they were afraid of catching something if they lingered too long.

A couple of our brief visitors indicated that they had served on the PJC in the past. One person asked about how someone gets on a PJC and I directed her to the presbytery's nominating committee.

Even though the display met with a low level of interest, I was glad to have had the experience of putting it together. I hope that the display's existence will make it easier for the presbytery to explain this part of its work to people who have questions in the future.

File under : Pittsburgh Presbytery, Pleasant Hills Community Presbyterian Church, judicial

Nice weather for birds

I am suspending judgment on whether this storm will turn out to be all that the forecasters have predicted. I can tell that there is poor visibility, but I didn't expect to see this cardinal in the apple tree outside my window on such a gray day.

File under : Lower Burrell, picture

Can there be common ground in the midst of our differences?

On Saturday I attended a listening session sponsored by Pittsburgh Presbytery at the Cross Roads Presbyterian Church in Monroeville. The 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) sent a number of proposed amendments of the church constitution, along with four ecumenical statements, to all of the presbyteries for their votes. The Assembly recommended that presbyteries use a listening process in voting on these amendments.

Pittsburgh Presbytery has formed a task force to prepare recommendations to the Presbytery on each of these matters. That task force scheduled six listening sessions in order to hear from ministers and elders about each of the issues. I decided that I would try to get to the three that were closest to me in order to hear from people in the presbytery.

Saturday's session was held on a cold day, but the temperatures did not stop 21 people from coming out to listen and be heard. The Rev. Tom Moore led the session that morning.

Those in attendance identified proposed Amendments 08-B, 08-E, and 08-F, and ecumenical statement 08-K as the ones about which they wanted to speak.

The majority of our time was spent discussing proposed amendment 08-B, "Ordained Officers: On Amending G-6.0106b, G-14.0240, G-14.0450." The energy expressed around 08-B primarily had to do with the amendment of G-6.0106b. The thrust of the amendment is to replace a reference to a specific standard with a more general, but specifically Christ-centered, standard for officers "to live lives obedient to Jesus Christ the Head of the Church ...."

As I listened to the statements people wanted to make both in opposition to this amendment and in support of it, it seemed to me that the major division we were experiencing had to do with our differing interpretations of Scripture. For some the proposed constitutional change seemed like a relaxing of clear teachings of Scripture; for others the same change seemed like a move towards greater faithfulness to Jesus Christ as revealed in Scripture. With such great differences of perspective, is it possible for us to find common ground? I continue to hope so.

When we discussed Ecumenical Statement 08-K "Ecumenical Statement with the Roman Catholic Church on Ratifying a Common Agreement on Baptism" many were pleased at the prospect of formalizing agreements that that some of us had assumed were already in existence. Yet even as we looked with favor on this statement, there were some who were still concerned about the fact that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Roman Catholic Church have different understandings of justification. Should a disagreement on justification (not addressed in this ecumenical statement) be a sufficient reason for disapproving an agreement on eight points where there is no dispute? I don't think so.

I plan to attend other listening sessions that are reasonably close to me, to continue to hear the thoughts of others in Pittsburgh Presbytery. I need to know how these potential changes affect them. The people with whom I may have disagreements are all recipients of the same grace that God has shown to me in Jesus Christ.

File under : Bible, Christian unity, PCUSA, Pittsburgh Presbytery, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), discernment

Happy New Year everybody!

Last night I rang in the new year at 'Celebrate Westmoreland 2009' - a free set of events held in and around the campus of the Westmoreland Museum of American Art. The falling snow and the frigid temperatures did not deter a large crowd from participating in the festivities.

There were many activities for all ages - and more than anybody could possibly attend in one evening. A synthetic ice skating rink was set up on Academy Hill Place, and it seemed that there was a constant crowd of people skating on it.

Inside the museum there were art activities for children (sponsored by such groups as Greenlight Engage) as well as interactive science activities sponsored by the Discovery & Interactive Science Center. (I liked the percussion demonstration.)

A smorgasbord of musical performances were happening inside the museum, in the auditorium of the Greensburg-Salem Middle School, and at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral. I enjoyed two performances by young people from Stage Right. The first was a somewhat impromptu set of audition songs that various students had been working on; they put this together when they learned that another group was not going to show up. The second was a medley of songs performed by the Stage Right Sensations.

The galleries in the Museum were open for anyone who wanted to browse the exhibits. I made a promise to myself to come back and explore the exhibits further when there was not a karaoke contest happening in the next room. 2009 will be a good year for further visits because this is the fiftieth anniversary for the museum.

File under : art, children, holiday, music, science