Troubling juxtaposition

There is something vaguely troubling in the juxtaposition on the front page of today's Valley News Dispatch of the heartwarming pictorial "feathered friend" and the article "Municipalities now winging it on bird flu."

The news story itself raises concerns about the local lack of planning for a pandemic of H5N1 - avian flu.

Why did they have to put the picture of a seven-year old playing with a friendly blue jay right above it?

File under : New Kensington, health

Failed camouflage

I came across this moth in the parking garage of a local hospital.

It looked very much like a dead leaf, but its appearance was not very effective camouflage against a white wall.

Could anybody tell me what kind of moth this is?

File under : identity

Festivity at a family wedding

I was in Cooperstown, New York for a few days to participate in the wedding of Peter and Diana. My brother Peter got married on Saturday, July 22, 2006 at the First Presbyterian Church of Cooperstown, in the same worship space where I was ordained 26 years ago. I am very grateful to the Cooperstown Presbyterian Church and its pastor, the Rev. Dr. Patricia Schick for inviting me to officiate at this service when Peter and Diana asked me to participate.

The service on Saturday was joyful, with a lot of personal touches introduced by many different people. The day started out with dreadfully torrential rains that threatened to spoil the festivities. Well in advance of the wedding the couple had selected the scripture lesson to be read: Song of Solomon 8:6-7 ("many waters cannot quench love"). That was a helpful thing to remember in the middle of the service. And by the end of the service, the rains had stopped so that family and friends could gather outside for greetings, conversation, picture-taking, rejoicing, etc.

There was an "Easy Button" from Staples at the back of the church. If you have not actually seen one, it is a big red button that does one simple thing when you push it: a voice says "that was easy." This prop was present to be pushed by any of the people leaving the service (and perhaps even by Peter and Diana).


If you know my family, you know that Peter has a thing about Godzilla. His car's license plate uses a Q in order to get the name Godzilla past the censors at the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. During the service I was surprised by a small figurine of Godzilla present to "witness" the proceedings. And before you ask -- no, I did not ask the figurine to sign the marriage license as a witness.

During the service one of Diana's daughters was to play Pachelbel's Canon on the piano. She prefaced it with a few bars from a silly song that Peter's siblings had used to tease him when we were children. (By the way, have I ever mentioned that I am convinced that the old Burger King jingle "Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce. Special orders don't upset us." stole its melody from Pachelbel? I hope that doesn't ruin your appreciation of Pachelbel's Canon next time you hear it.)


At the reception there was a basket of bubble-makers: small vials of bubble solution with a plastic loop. They were a very simple and inexpensive addition to the festivities. If you get twenty people making bubbles at one time it creates a very fun and magical feeling.

The wedding was the high point of a great weekend!

File under : Cooperstown, Presbyterian Church, wedding

Preparations in Cooperstown with Pittsburgh connections

While I am visiting in Cooperstown, New York I see preparations all around the village for the induction ceremonies for the Baseball Hall of Fame this coming weekend.

There is a huge tent set up at the site of the induction ceremonies, the Clark Sports Center just outside the village.

This will be a really big event for the Hall of Fame, with the largest class of inductees ever. Seventeten of the inductees are from the Negro leagues and pre-Negro leagues eras. Three of them have a Pittsburgh connection through the Homestead Grays: Raymond Brown; Cumberland Posey, Jr.; and Ernest "Jud" Wilson.

The class of inductees will also include the first woman ever inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame: Effa Manley, who had been the co-owner and business manager of the Newark Eagles.

The location for the induction is near a number of large athletic fields with a cornfield in the distance. I couldn't help thinking about the movie "Field of Dreams"when I noticed the corn.

File under: baseball, Cooperstown, Pittsburgh, sports

Thoughts on messages given

I am in upstate New York for a family wedding that took place on Saturday. While here I have had occcasion to drive past the church sign shown above a few times. It keeps me puzzled.

The first time I drove by it I was trying to figure out what it meant. The first meaning that came to my mind was that it was claiming that atheism causes immortality, a claim that I would not expect an atheist to make any more than I would expect a community Bible church to make.

Eventually I came upon a second possible meaning: that when any person dies they immediately meet God and know that God exists, and if they were atheists before dying they are atheists no longer. Perhaps this is what the writer had in mind. Of course, there is no way to test the truth of the statement on this side of the grave.

But that leads me to my next set of questions. Who was the intended audience for this sign, and what does it say to them?

Perhaps the intended audience is those who believe in God. What they would hear is a message that validates their own faith while putting down the opinions of those who might disagree. I guess it is comforting to many people to hear someone say things with which they already agree.

But if the intended audience is those who do not believe in God, what would they hear? I am afraid that what they would hear is a form of discourse that starts from a position of disrespect, offers no substantiating evidence or rationale, and does nothing to begin a discussion of why it might make sense to believe in God. Sloganeering does not seem to me to be an effective way of getting into a genuine, respectful conversation.

I hope that there is a better way of bearing witness to the love of God in Jesus Christ.

File under: atheism, evangelism, religion, Christianity

The offense of love: some thoughts on language used in worship

When the PCUSA General Assembly received with amendments the report "The Trinity: God's Love Overflowing" some people got worked up over some of the suggestions for language that could be used to express in worship the Church's understanding of the Trinity,

One of the silliest misreadings of the report is that it somehow gives congregations permission to experiment in worship. False. I've commented earlier on the fact that our church's constitution already gives local churches the responsibility to use language in worship that is as broad and inclusive as the Biblical witness and our traditions. The exploration of Scripture and its related experimentation with language in worship has been going on at least for decades. The Trinity report that was received gives some warnings about the consequences of some of the formulas that have been in use, and identifies many of the currently identified possibilities.

Some of the possibilities listed in the report can be made to look silly when separated from their context and the Scriptural basis for using them. Some critics took offense at the suggestion of "Lover, Beloved, and Love" as a liturgical formula that could be used to describe the Triune God. Apparently they were unaware that Augustine had suggested the same explanation of the Trinity.

Mike Geis offered his critique that this formula was "surprising since 'lover' has a very clear primary reference to someone engaged in illicit sex." If it is the case that illicit sex is the primary focus of the term "lover" then that is a sad commentary on the culture in which the PCUSA is functioning. There is the risk that our language will be misunderstood, but there is also the possibility that we might be able to help the culture understand that love and love imagery for God are good things.

I wonder if the critics of the report would have wanted to have John Donne's poetry burned for including such verses as:

BATTER my heart, three person'd God; for, you
As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow mee,'and bend
Your force, to breake, blowe, burn and make me new.
I, like an usurpt towne, to'another due,
Reason your viceroy in mee, mee should defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weake or untrue.
Yet dearely'I love you,'and would be loved faine,
But am betroth'd unto your enemie:
Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I
Except you'enthrall mee, never shall be free,
Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee. [online here]

And if that poetry is not scandalous enough, should the worshipers at Central Presbyterian Church blush with embarrassment when they sing, "Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly?" Get Fox "News" on the phone right away! Heavens, we're using a culturally dirty word to talk about Jesus, and even mentioning a bosom in the same breath!

As far as I am concerned, that hymn worked in the 18th century, and still works today as a valid, Biblically informed, expression of the relationship between the believer and Christ as experienced by the people who sing it. It is appropriate to address God in our worship as "Lover".

All that being said, there remains a problem with using the "Lover, Beloved, Love" triad as an description of the Trinity. Even in Augustine's explanation, the First and Second persons of the Trinity gave and received love, and thus were each mutually both "Lover" and "Beloved". Neither of the first two terms of that triad can refer exclusively to one person of the Trinity.

The problem is similar to the report's caution about the "Creater, Redeemer, Sanctifier" triad. The report points out that each of the persons of the Trinity are involved in creation, redemption, and sanctification.

All analogies break down eventually, but in the meantime I believe Christians do well to continue to allow the full message of Scripture to inform our worship. If we will let the culture intimidate us from celebrating the love of God in public worship, then where will we allow ourselves to do so?

File under : PCUSA, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), worship

Kromatics harmonize in Tarentum

This evening the Kromatics harmonica trio performed at the third of the 2006 Summer Concert Series in Tarentum. With beautiful weather the concert was able to take place in Riverview Memorial Park.

The trio played pieces relevant to folks of all ages. They used various harmonicas, and at one point even a wooden train whistle.

There were over 100 people in the audience enjoying the music in the open air, with temperatures that had moderated somewhat since the weekend, and with the Allegheny River flowing placidly nearby.

The food served at Captain Jacks (the concession stand raising funds for Tarentum's Recreation Board) continued to be great. In addition to the items on the menu from last week, they offered krupy. I did not try it to find out what it was; instead I went for what has now tied for the best hot sausage sandwich with peppers and onions that I have ever had.

This summer concert series is sponsored by Old Friends Guitars and the Borough of Tarentum. The next concert is to be August 2 at 7:00 PM with Curt Marino.

File under : Tarentum, food, music