Bells and Africa

This morning the sanctuary at Central Presbyterian Church was decorated in preparation for our Vacation Bible School, "Serengeti Trek, where kids are wild about God." We had a mixture of decorations: some we made locally and some we borrowed from the Vacation Bible School done jointly by the Cheswick Presbyterian Church, the Springdale United Presbyterian Church, and the Springdale United Methodist Church.

The decorations included a length of African fabric, simulated animal tracks, a simulated acacia tree, and a large (but far from life-size) painting of a giraffe eating from the tree. One of the visitors this morning tried to stump me by asking for the name of the giraffe. If she really wanted me to be at a loss, she should have asked me which part the giraffe sang.

As a special musical treat this morning, Roberta Erickson rang handbells for our prelude, anthem, and offertory. Roberta is now a member of the Oakmont Presbyterian Church, but was a child of Central Presbyterian Church.

Because our week-long Vacation Bible School begins tomorrow, we dedicated the teachers and volunteers during this worship service.

File under: Central Presbyterian Church, Tarentum, Vacation Bible School, music, worship

Tarentum Fest '05

The young people of Tarentum had an exciting concert by homegrown talent on Saturday, July 30, from 2 to 9 PM in Riverview Park. The Tarentum Fest '05 concert was free. Friends and family of the many band members were there to support and enjoy the musicians. The language was clean and the gathering was free of alcohol.

The opening act was Black Friday.

Subject of Change, a band from Springdale, was the next to play, and did not let the crowd down.

The early crowd at Tarentum Fest had people of all ages.

Filthy McNasty gave their final performance.

Some of the crowd were dancing near the stage.

The next band was XFashionVictimX.

People enjoyed dancing to their music.

It Ends Today also gave their final performance.

Drain This Blood had the crowd on its feet. I wish I had been able to stay for the remainder of the acts, which included Featherlight.

During this concert there were a number of announcements made about a petition for a skateboard park for Tarentum. The Borough Council has approved an application for a grant for a skateboard park that will provide a safe place for young people in Tarentum to skate.

File under: Tarentum, music, youth, skateboard

How much could you remove in an hour?

Take a look around the place where you are reading this blog, and ask yourself the question, "If I had one hour to remove whatever I valued here, what would I take?" Now consider the following excerpt from this.

As we marched towards the rubble of the homes my heart was pounding. I turned a corner and saw the first heap. Stone, steel, wood, all kinds of material whose purposes were now indecipherable. It was hard to tell that this had actually been a home. Three children were sitting on top of the rubble, not saying a thing, just looking. I couldn't handle it, I turned to leave. And as I was turning I saw out of the corner of my eye, under a tree with his face in his hands, the owner of the home. He must have been around 70 years old. He was sobbing. I probably do not need to tell you my reaction.
Next to this man was a pile of chairs and table, some tapestries, etc. I asked Sami what that pile was and he replied, "It's what they were able to salvage in an hour. That's how quick the notice is. The IDF shows up with the caterpillar and crane and tells them they have one hour. After that, if they aren't out of the home, the IDF claims that they cannot be held accountable."

Thanks to Adam for pointing me to this entry, and also for telling the story of the refuseniks, loyal members of the IDF who refuse to serve in the Occupied Territories.

By the way, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has gone on record to oppose the construction by Israel of the so-called "Separation Barrier."

File under: Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Israel, Palestine, peace, justice

Is it lawful to provide, food, and transport to medical aid?

Rick Ufford-Chase in this article reminds us of the arrest of Daniel Strauss and Shanti Sellz who were arrested for trying to transport three extremely ill migrants to medical care near in Arizona near the Mexican border.

This is one case where there is a higher law.

File under: border, Mexico, Arizona, migrant

Jedi Presbyterians

This picture was taken from an appallingly bad pirated version of "The Revenge of the Sith" that had been dubbed in Chinese and then translated back into English. In the process the phrase "Jedi Council" became "Presbyterian Church".

Apparently the dutiful translator also ignored the fact that the opening scroll was already in English and provided a new title for the film: "Backstroke of the West."

Excuse me, I must rush for another round of committee meetings with the local Jedi Council.

Thanks to this post, which referred to this one.

File under: Presbyterian Church, humor

Grandview Playground cleaned up

On Saturday, July 23, over fifty volunteers gathered at the Grandview Playground in Tarentum. The group included members of the Tarentum Borough Council, members of the Tarentum police force, members of the Highlands School Board, neighbors, parents, children, teenagers, and representatives of other community organizations.

They pulled weeds, swept debris, replaced gravel, repainted the playground, and built a new picnic table. This was a positive day for Tarentum with both good weather and good people cooperating to improve a playground used by many.

File under: Grandview Elementary School, playground, Tarentum

Pittsburgh Seminary has found its next president

The Rev. Dr. William J. Carl, III will be the next president of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. There are a few press releases about this news:

• From the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
• From the Presbyterian News Service
• From the Presbyterian Church (USA) website

In the short time that I have lived in Western Pennsylvania, I have come to appreciate the many benefits that the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary provides to the churches of the area. Congratulations to the seminary for finding its next president!

File under: Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)