UnSpace

This is my personal blog; nothing in here should be construed as official from the Pleasant Hills Community Presbyterian Church. Sometimes, like when I'm being sarcastic or trying to think something through, this blog doesn't even represent my own opinions. As the Acting Director of Communications, I need to be careful about how the things I do are interpreted.

One of the wonderful things about the Presbyterian Church USA is that there is plenty of room for differing opinions. For example, some people at the church do not have any problem with celebrating Halloween, others do. I don't, but in my work as Director of Communications, I am careful to not alienate anyone. Mostly this was accomplished by not even using the word "Halloween." I can write creatively when I need to.

I suspect I'm one of the few who believe whole-heartedly in predestination. I know that sounds strange for a Presbyterian church. But remember that there are far more crucial points being dealt with by our congregation: feeding the poor, caring for the sick, studying the Bible, glorifying the Name of Jesus Christ, etc. There simply isn't much time for the more theoretical considerations. So I cannot speak with a definitive voice for my church on many things simply because there is no definitive voice or no one really cares enough to make a definitive pronouncement. For example, if someone wishes to celebrate Halloween, they can, as long as they don't rub it in the faces of those who don't wish to celebrate it. I don't know of anyone who asks at the grocery store if the meat has been sacrificed to idols, either.

I do not blog from work for three reasons. One, I don't want there to be any possible confusion between work and this blog. Two, I don't have time to fly my radio-controlled helicopter (that's pronounced "STRESS RELIEF") at church (a large, usually empty gym is a definite work perk), let alone blog. Three, I've forgotten the password I used for this blog and can't log on from any computer but the home computers — I couldn't blog from work if I wanted to!

Yeah, I could fix that last problem, but remember #2 and the lack of time.

Given what I'm thinking about posting here on UnSpace, I decided there was a significant need to clarify the relationship of this blog to my church.

Here are a couple of photos of the church Sanctuary just after the Altar Guild finished decorating. I wish I could have gotten some photos that night, but timing prevented me from doing so. Enjoy!

I've had a lot of fun these last couple months working at my church as the Acting Director of Communications. As I've said many times, the pastors, staff, volunteers and church members are a joy to work with.

If anything, it's been too much fun. I added some special flourishes here and there that resulted in me spending more time at the job than I needed to.  In the summer, that wouldn't have been to bad. During the past two months, though, I wound up working a bit harder than I should have. Although as jobs go, saying "I'm having too much fun at my job" is a wonderful situation to be in!

With the exception of the bulletin for the 30th, everything is done through the end of the year and I can relax a bit.

Of course, about 3 weeks ago, I got the first "Lenten" catalog. When work starts again January 2nd, I will be wise enough to begin work on the special things for Lent and Easter.

I'll have a bit more time for blogging, which is nice! I wonder if anyone still reads this blog.

That brings up the strange thing. I have blogged very little in the past months and, as a result, my hits have gone up to about 250 a day — about double or more my previous hits!

Go figure.

It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. — Hebrews 9:23-28 (NIV)

Today, our minister, Dr. Thwaite, pointed out that we Christians are an Advent people, celebrating the first Advent of Christ's birth at Christmas, as well as awaiting His second Advent, His return. We are to be witnesses to the world of Jesus' sacrifice and the salvation He brings.

I took the above photo for the bulletin cover for our church. In case you haven't guessed, there will be 3 more covers for Advent each with an additional lit candle. The Christmas bulletin cover will be the scene with 5 lit candles — and something more!

Why yes, I love my job! I'm having way too much fun.

Because my depression is gone (still, thank God![literally, I might add]), I'm getting things done better and more efficiently than before — but I'm also doing more! This "Acting Communications Director" gig at my church has me working harder than I expected. I'm having fun doing it, which means a lot of my energy is going toward the newsletter, bulletin, and all the other things the job entails.

I don't have the time to blog that I once did. I do hope to do a couple posts this weekend, but in the meantime, here's an update or three:

1. I asked the question about "church marketing," knowing I'd be attending a seminar on church marketing by Yvon Prehn. She answered my questions, including some I didn't know I had, and a follow-up post will discuss that. But now that I think about it, the answer is the same as the answer for the standard technology question "Is ______________ evil?" Are computers evil? Is biochemistry evil? Is church marketing evil? The technology is neutral; the question is, what are you doing with that technology? If you're using it to send out computer viruses, neurotoxins, or stuff designed to manipulate people, then what you are doing with the technology is evil. But if you're using the computer to turn data from a CT scanner into images a doctor can use to save a life, medicines to cure HIV or diabetes, or let people know who Jesus is or when the collection of goods for the needy is, then of course it's good. Yvon pointed out some Biblical answers. Yeah, I was impressed. If you're involved in church communications, you should take one of her seminars! More than one, actually! Her web site is a great resource. I'm not just saying that because she wants me to send her the link to this blog.
2. Speaking of links to this blog, I need to get up a statement that points out all of the opinions expressed here are either mine or me playing with ideas. This blog is not sponsored by my church, my church does not even have imprimaturs to give out, and I know some of the opinions expressed here are part of big discussions in my church. This is my blog.
3. I was talking with someone about Mother Theresa, and before I even got to my theory about her, the person said "You know a lot about depression. Did she strike you as terribly depressed?" It's the whole "microexpressions" and body language thing (c.f. Blink). I'm beginning to realize just how much I operate on intuition — trained experience on a subconscious level. So yeah, I have no doubt Mother Theresa was depressed. If anything, watching her when she speaks in a language I don't know improves my ability to catch it. No, it's not a DSM-4 level of diagnosis — I can think of other things that present as depression. As a rough analysis goes, though, she was depressed. And yes, I blame the Catholic church for being in denial about her depression. There are very few churches out there that aren't in denial about psychological problems among their members. If you think I'm picking on the Catholic church, remember that they're just the most public current example.

More later.

I've been on a new anti-depressant for two weeks.

Depression comes in two forms: typical and atypical. Typical, in addition to the other symptoms, is associated with weight loss. Atypical, in addition to other symptoms, is associated with weight gain. In one of "those" occurrences in science, atypical depression is far more common than typical. Alas, I've got atypical.

Most anti-depressants make you want to eat too much. The problem is severe enough that doctors are supposed to watch  patients on antidepressants to make sure they don't become diabetic. Just to make things even happier, even after weight, exercise levels, and everything else is accounted for, a new study shows that depression is a risk factor for diabetes in and of itself. Nice little vicious circle, huh? I'm a diabetic, for those of you who haven't been following along playing the home game.

Well, the anti-depressants would work on me for a while and then stop. So, all the anti-depressants were doing was resulting in mighty expensive urine and causing me to gain weight — a bad thing for diabetics, since weight gain makes diabetes worse. The last time I went into the doctor I told him "Look, nothing is working. Why don't we try Bupropion?" This isn't an anti-depressant that should work on me, but it causes weight loss. It also has "fewer sexual side effects." I'm sure you've seen the commercial. Even if Bupropion did nothing for my depression, I'd take the weight loss and probably be happier overall. Not dying tends to make me happier. I'm weird that way. The psychiatrist shrugged and wrote the script. It was one of those cynical "risk benefit" trade-off times medicine and "House, MD" are so fond of.

Fast forward two weeks. Yesterday was the first day I took two pills of Bupropion. After the first pill, my mouth went dry and my eyes went…wrong. Why the doctor had to ramp up the dosage seemed apparent. Then I tried to get to sleep at 11 o'clock. Usually, I climb into bed, read about a page of a book and have trouble putting the book down before I fall asleep. The book wasn't that interesting, so I put it down after a chapter and tried to force sleep. Bzzzz! Wrong answer. Finally around 3:30 a.m., I fell asleep — and then woke up at 6:30 a.m. so I could go to the church and finish printing the church newsletter so the volunteers could fold and label it. The printer broke yesterday, so we didn't finish printing it in time.

By noon, the newsletter was printed, folded, labeled, sorted into the bulk mail groups, taken to the North Side and mailed at the bulk mail facility. I skipped coffee, because I didn't need it. Let me take that back. I didn't dare drink coffee.

Well, the newsletter was done a day early, despite my setting an ambitious time schedule for myself. It was done well enough, although I can tell you about 300 things that are wrong with it. But I don't look at the newsletter and start mumbling how "All I can do is crank out crap." There was no drama, no major crisis. I got the newsletter finished early. Changing the saddle staple cartridges was about as dangerous as it got. Granted, if I were to break the new Cannon networked copier, there would be some excitement, but the copier walks you through changing the cartridges! Don't tell anyone the copier explains how to fix itself. They think I'm some sort of genius. It's all P.R.!

I'm down a pound, with no effort. Not much, but it's a start.

I don't feel depressed, but that happens with every anti-depressant at the start. Ask me mid- to late August how I'm feeling and we'll see how well Bupropion is working. That's one of the three "crashes" of the year, up there with Christmas and taxes. I wish I'd started the Bupropion before taxes. Now there was some drama!

For right now, I'll take it. I do hope I get more than three hours of sleep tonight. I don't feel sleepy, but I do feel something that feels like an all-nighter, only without the lack of sleep.

So tell me. If obesity is a moral problem, then why does diabetes cause weight gain? If it's a question of will, how could I run three marathons and not lose any weight? Do most anti-depressants make me less of a moral person? Does Bupropion make me more moral?

Well, that last one is a hope. One pound lost does not a weight loss program make; it's only a start.

The communications director at my church left for another job, and I've stepped in to do the newsletter. I'm having fun, although it's a lot of work. I'll post more when things slow down!

Because of the rain, the middle school kids at youth group skated in a section of the gym. They got a lot of air and I got a lot of great photographs, and they hardly ever ran into me in the process.

If you wish to see the first seven stations, as well as other information about the Stations of the Cross at Pleasant Hills Community Presbyterian Church, see the first post, "Stations of the Cross: Stations 1-7." As before, the title for each photograph is a link taking you to the meditation on that photograph. The photographs can be clicked to get a larger version of the image.

Eighth Station

Ninth Station

Tenth Station

[Note: To avoid interrupting worshipers, I took these photographs while the stations were still being set up. Yes, there is a sign at the base of Station 10 that says IX. The sign was placed there while someone went to look for something to hang it with at the 9th Station. As I said, these are preliminary photos. I did get more today, but they're not processed — or even downloaded from the camera.]

Eleventh Station

Twelfth Station

Thirteenth Station

Fourteenth Station

The Artists

Last night, as a part of Lent, the youth group ministry (CrossOver) of Pleasant Hills Community Presbyterian Church set up 14 stations of the cross for meditation before or after the Ash Wednesday service. They chose 14 stations from the gospel accounts of Christ's last hours.

Here are the preliminary photographs of the stations. The title of each photograph is a link that will take you to a meditation that accompanies the following photograph. If you click on a photograph, you will be taken to a larger version of the photograph, sometimes necessary to read text on the artwork or to get a better view. Please note that the photographs are crude approximations of experiencing the art live.

Program cover
History of the stations of the cross
Practice of the stations of the cross

The First Station

The Second Station

Third Station of the Cross

Fourth Station

Fifth Station

Sixth Station

Seventh Station

Stations 8-14 can be found at "Stations of the Cross: Stations 8-14."

Yesterday was the last day for the Minister of Music at my church, Jim Lueers. Jim will be heading "up north" to Memorial Park Presbyterian Church in Allison Park. Our church has a tradition of "sending" people to where they are going next to serve God; always in prayer and often with a celebration.

Jim Lueers has been a blessing to our church as a musician, songwriter, and even youth musical director. How many organists do you know that can rock out? But Jim's time with us had come to an end.

Yesterday began with two worship services. The choir, praise team, and bell choir combined (surprisingly well, I might add) to provide a range of music for the service. Jim Lueers always has subtle "sermons" in the music he picks out, but yesterday, he preached for his first and only time in his 16+ years at Pleasant Hills Community Presbyterian Church. When Jim handed in his resignation, Rev. Paul Thwaite looked at the schedule: February 18th was in the middle of a series on the book of Exodus, just after the whole "golden calf" bit, with Moshe begging God to go with the Hebrews as they moved on in their travels. You can't make this stuff up!

Jim's sermon was not a standard sermon, but included a Middle School dramatization of Moshe going back to talk to the (no longer) burning bush, a song, and of course personal words by Jim.

In the evening, there was a dinner and a celebration of Jim's ministry at our church. There was a photo show during dinner, with music, skits, and stuff I couldn't explain in a blog post if I wanted to! The best, perhaps, was when the choir, complete with robes and fake nose glasses and mustaches, sang of their experiences with Jim. Jim later pointed out that it was the only time the choir ever memorized something.

The original church band, "All of the Above" (the answer to "Which of these names should we use fo the band?") reunited to perform two of their songs with Jim.

Finally, with Jim, Cathy, and their children seated in a circle, the entire room came forward to lay hands on them in a blessing as we sent them on to their new church. "Sendings" are a way to ask God's grace on people; they're also a good excuse to finally have that cry you've wanted over losing the close contact with those you've come to love.

I met Jim Lueers recently, only a couple years ago. In a short time, he had me singing with the church band, working me into keyboard, bass, and even guitar. When people mention "Christian mercy," I think of all the effort Jim put into finding some use for my limited musical skills and lack of experience with a band.

But when I think if Jim, what I think of most was someone who, when something came up in my life, would not say "I'll pray about it." He wouldn't say that; instead he'd ask to pray right then and there — often on the phone. God knows I gave him enough chances to pray! Jim went beyond praying. One day, I was scheduled for a 3 mile walk, but feeling good, I went three miles out on the trail at Piney Fork. Only on the way back did I notice that instead of locking my house key in the car and keeping the car key with the phone, I'd kept the house key. I'd locked myself out of the car. Jim rescued me, bringing Nancy and car keys to the Piney Fork parking lot.

Jim lived his faith in Jesus Christ, and I'm better for having known him.

Pleasant Hills Community Presbyterian Church Illumination Night

Tonight was the Pleasant Hills Community Presbyterian Church Illumination Night. I'll post more photos tomorrow, but this one turned out so pretty I had to post it tonight!

I was surprised and glad to receive an e-mail message from Bonnie Veraldi. She chose to respond to me, commenting on my article Help "Those in Housing Crisis: Just Not in Pleasant Hills." I had hoped to respond with a thoughtful analysis. Further communication with Ms. Veraldi led me to understand that she was sincere and of a good heart. This seemed the perfect opportunity to engage in the very sort of dialogue that my pastor had encouraged me toward, and away from the vituperativeness that I felt following the meeting.

Unfortunately, following my posting of Ms. Veraldi's e-mail were several comments and e-mails from anonymous people, none of whom were of a good heart.

The messages were profane and racist. The agents I passed them on to have recommended I not publish the messages and that any other such messages be forwarded to them. I was told that none of the messages contained "actionable" content, but that I should be prudent in my behavior for my own safety. One question that was answered for me was that none of the messages appeared to originate in Pleasant Hills, although nothing could be said for certain. Instead, I got a lecture reminding me of one of the sadder things western Pennsylvania is noted for, and some instruction on some fun features my hosting site provides that I was unaware of.

At a younger age, I might have ignored this advice and attempted to take on these people. In the process, I would have almost certainly destroyed any chance of clearing up the misinformation and misunderstandings around the church's proposed programs.

With age, though, comes the knowledge that there are certain battles that simply can't be won, and there's no point in even trying. Part of me hopes that's simply old age talking and not the truth.

The baser part of me hopes that, at some time in the future, those people of Pleasant Hills and elsewhere who opposed the proposed program will find themselves in need of some form of aid — and be unable to find it. Logic has its place, but nothing clears the mind like personal experience. The better part of me always hopes for mercy instead of justice. Mercy is always better; it's just not as humorous.

No part of me would wish that fate on Bonnie Veraldi. Like I said. I've learned that, while we disagree, she means well. Once she came to truly understand what was being suggested (and the scientific realities regarding the spread of infectious diseases), I think she would change her mind.

BTW: The quote that I used as the title of this article is from Die Jungfrau von Orleans beim Friedrich Schiller, Dritter Aufzug, Sechster Auftritt. I had no idea that one of my favorite quotes was from a play about one of my favorite historical characters. Amazingly appropriate, though.

I received the following e-mail about the post "Help Those in Housing Crisis: Just Not in Pleasant Hills." The following is a direct copy from the e-mail; no changes have been made other than to place it in a blockquote:

Rob, I am e -mailing you because I am SO low- tech, I don't know how to blog.You may publish this as a blog or not, whatever.But since you can publish yours in it's entirety, I would appreciate the same courtesy. A neighbor gave me a copy of your piece re: above subject and I felt I had to respond. While I DO appreciate your follow -up piece, may I speak for our group and tell you that we are un-apologetic about our stand on this. I was the woman in the front row that did some research on the area through a realtor and a police officer. Do you and your followers live near this church? How would you feel if something was trying to come into YOUR neighborhood that would affect your home, safety, health, etc? How would you like YOUR taxes to go up to pay for this? Children not immunized coming in contact with your children?Mrs. Donnan- IHN director, has not been honest from the beginning, her story changed constantly, and she in fact denied the police reports until I called her on it! My husband does back-ground checks on people and it can take WEEKS, but according to her, she has a magic wand.Our MAIN concern is that once something is re-zoned, that opens the door to ANYTHING.How would you and your supporters like a methadone clinic in your neighborhood, or a halfway house for child molesters ,etc. They're all GOD'S people to you, right? This is a ZONED residential neighborhood and we intend for it to stay that way.Tell "Stewie" he can threaten all he wants with RLUIPA- it does'nt apply here. And the LONE vote at the meeting for this should have re-cused himself because he was not impartial, being a member of the church. And lastly, when you were saying your piece, the grumbling was'nt about your views, it was - 1. that you were constantly taking pictures, which was distracting, and -2. you were going on and on about yourself. Even the commision told you to wrap it up. This has been interesting to see the fervor this has created on both sides, and maybe the church finally sees that in their arrogance they have turned the people against them that they tried to control. Bonnie Veraldi

I will leave this up for a day or two and then publish my own response. All commenters are welcome.

Note: The follow-up post that is referred to is this one: I Was Wrong

Our senior pastor for the past 18 years was a chemical engineer before entering the ministry. I happened to mention how fortunate we have been: we had someone who knew both what T.U.L.I.P. and RPN are!

BTW: the "Polish" in RPN is not an insult.

I was wrong.

I got chewed out by the associate pastor. He may not even know that he chewed me out. He was just explaining to me that the church will re-evaluate its approach to implementing this program. No law suits, no political threats, no calling in the ACLU, ACLJ, and NAACP. The goal would be to educate and change hearts. The approach would be Christian.

I can make excuses, of course. At that meeting, I was being told my community doesn't want me here, either. Once again, I was being reminded that I do not belong anywhere. I should have come to terms with that years ago. While I might think of myself as a "Lone Stranger," I'm not. There are people in my life that I trust more than myself. That will simply have to be sufficient.

So no excuses. I screwed up. Paul said to be angry but sin not.¹ I only got the anger part.

There's a story about one of the apostles. I forget which one. As I remember, the apostle wound up getting crucified for preaching about Jesus. As he's hanging there on the cross, he calls for hellfire to rain down on everyone. An angel appears to him in a vision and…well, you can write the story from there, especially since there's no record of some place getting nuked for crucifying an apostle. Same concept.

Approaching this problem from a Christian perspective is not be what I consider entertaining. Well, you know what? The world isn't here to entertain me. That it does with supernovas and volcanos and Rick Santorum acting like a slimeball and doing his best to lose the election is merely my good fortune. And honestly, I shouldn't even enjoy Santorum screwing up, but rather pray that he repent of his anti-Christ politics. I'm already working on being more mature on one topic; Santorum can wait.

I'm the guy who scares myself by taking a subtle approach to solving problems that borders on Machiavellian. A rant pointing out the most ridiculous of my opponent's complaints does nothing to get the Day Center approved. Sure, jamming the center down everyone's throats might bring a smile to my face, but more likely it just results in someone burning a cross on my front lawn and Driving While Rob being added to the other reason for getting pulled over on Route 51. And, as we all know, while I don't look it, DWR would actually be redundant.

I thought I'd calmed down when I wrote that post. That I felt the need to put such a large disclaimer at the end indicates that some part of me knew what calm was, and that I wasn't.

If anyone deserves to be ranted at, it would be me.

As if to drive the point home further, some Black Republicans are claiming Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican. Even the other Republicans are horrified at their tactic and are calling for them to pull their advertisement. The reverend went out of his way to be apolitical, to not support individual candidates and parties. His approach was non-violent, trying to change people's hearts. His death unleashed the riots and the non-Christian way of solving the racial problems in our country, and that violence might well be part of the reason our racial problems in the USA are so severe. The Black Republicans are following in the footsteps of those who rioted. They have forgotten the very things the man they claim to admire preached.

Gee, that sounds familiar.

Like I said, I was wrong. If you think I'm embarassed about not having exercised in the last week, think how this one burns for me to admit.

Sorry about that. I'll try to do better.

1. Eph. 4:26 [back]

Church's Day Program presented to Planning Board and public.

Last night the Borough of Pleasant Hills Planning Commission rejected 5-1 a proposal to rezone a property owned by the Pleasant Hills Community Presbyterian Church (USA). The requested zoning change, from R-1 to P-1 would have permitted the church to open a day program to assist those who have experienced a housing crisis — loss of a home due to fire, death in the family, abuse, and so on. The Planning Commission rejection will be passed on to the Borough council, which next meets October 16th, 2006. At that time, a final decision will be made on the zoning change.

The Interfaith Hospitality Network has a day program in Washington, PA. This would have been the second location for a day program, and much more convenient for the other churches that would be participating. An already existing home, owned by the church, was proposed for the site of the day program. The only change to the house would be an added bathroom and whatever additional fire code changes requested by the Pleasant Hills Fire Marshall.

From the beginning, it was obvious that most of the Planning Commission were opposed to the program. Mr. Moony pointed out that the church (already zoned P-1) and the house did not meet the set-back requirements for P-1. There was also a concern about the small size of the house, even though it borders on the much larger church property. Mrs. Haley suggested that she, as a member of the Planning Commission, felt the church should direct it's ministry toward people who lived closer to the Pleasant Hills church. Several people on the Planning Commission board voiced the opinion that the proposed use was not suitable for a P-1 zoned area; in fact, there would be no possible zoning designation for the property that would permit this activity.

Most of those in attendance were from the area near the church, and most of them were opposed to the program as well. Interestingly, many were members of the Pleasant Hills Community Presbyterian Church. There were complaints that the Interfaith Hospitality Network web site did not provide a full statistical breakdown on outcomes for the people they cared for. Others objected to the additional traffic generated by the one 14-passenger vehicle that would come to the day center once in the morning and leave once at night. Concerns were voiced about what would be done with regard to medical emergencies, although the ambulance service that covers Pleasant Hills is excellent. Ms. Surace, the principal of the nearby McClellan grade school objected to the expense the West Jefferson School District would incur if children of parents in the program either attended local schools or needed to be transported to other schools. Others voiced concerns over the behavior problems these children would have and how they would disrupt the schools they attend. Another question was whether church activities could be held at the house, since the house is not contiguous with the rest of the church. This individual stated that church could not be held in a house. Interestingly, Pleasant Hills Presbyterian Church began as a house church in the home of Mrs. Hubb, but no one mentioned that.

Concerns were also voiced about problems the day program would create. Several people voiced concerns about property values going down because of the presence of the program. The possibility of a day-program-related crime wave was also discussed. One individual pointed out that the people in the program might be carrying infectious diseases that would be spread to the congregation of the Pleasant Hills church, the pre-school program, and the neighborhood. Even though the Interfaith Hospitality Network runs background checks on the social security numbers of the individuals helped and checks with police about these individuals, this was not deemed sufficient for most present at the meeting.

A few people did speak in favor of the progam, including the pastors Dr. Ott and Dr. Thwaite from the Pleasant Hills church. Some concerns were voiced that Rev. Stahle did not attend; it is worth pointing out she does not live in Pleasant Hills. A representative for the nearby Beth Israel synagogue spoke in favor of the proposal, stating that their board voted unanimously to support the Pleasant Hills church's efforts and that they would wish to become involved in the program as well. The Beth Israel synagogue got it's start at the Pleasant Hills church, holding services there until their own building could be built outside of Pleasant Hills.

I spoke up as well. I questioned the wisdom and legality of the Planning Commission dictating to the Pleasant Hills church what ministries it could and could not engage in. I pointed out that the church engages in ministry as it feels directed by God; that there is local ministry and even a sister church that we work with in Malawi. I made the mistake of sitting on the "opposed side" (not that the other side had many people in favor of the program. When I mentioned Africa, several of the people near me voiced some displeasure.

I also mentioned my experience in dealing with crises, and how easy it can be for a normal family to suddenly find themselves homeless. I pointed out that any one in the room might find themselves in need of this program. Again, my statements were met with grumbling.

After much discussion, the board took a vote. One of the members of the board is a member of the Pleasant Hills church. His was the lone dissenting vote; although this was a hand vote, that his was the dissenting vote was requested to be included in the minutes. I would have thought the meeting proved that membership in the church meant nothing with regard to whether people approved of the rezoning.

At the grocery store, I saw one of the people I was sitting near at the meeting. I get the idea I'm not very popular right now.

Note: I am writing this article as an individual involved in this program. I do not pretend to be unbiased, and in fact I spent most of the day attempting to calm down. I suspect this is all the better it gets. Back when I was a deacon and elder at Riverview Presbyterian Church on Pittsburgh's North Side, someone from the Interfaith Hospitality Network attempted to get our church involved. As our church was simply attempting to survive at the time, we did not pursue this further, though we wish we could have.

Yes, in the past I have complained about how conservative my church is. Perhaps I should reconsider my options, shut up, and be grateful for what I've got.

The title to this post is strange. Hang with me, and I think everything will become clearer. Today, when I got up, I found an amazing number of things to blog about. Let me list them, in a sort of "Quick Links" format:

• My own dear Pittsburgh Presbytery is putting Rev. Janet Edwards on trial for officiating at a lesbian wedding. We all know my position (beginning at Deb 1) on this, after decades of struggle. I'd obviously stand by Rev. Edwards.
• A little more hopeful is the MSNBC article about Rev. Joe Beam, who's saying married Christians aren't having enough hot sex with their spouses. We'll skip the inability of some Christians to be married, or his position on sex at certain times of the month and just be grateful that he's adding some greatly needed sanity to the discussion.
• Today's "Dear Prudence," in it's first letter, gives an example of the other extreme. The couple waited for marriage, and the woman decided to just keep waiting. Now, this isn't necessarily a result of the "Just Say No To Any Physical Contact Before Marriage" crowd. I Am Not A Psychologist, but I'd be asking some serious questions about this woman's upbringing, focusing on possible abuse. The thing is, though, a lot of Christians who wait do wind up struggling with the idea that sex is bad, even in marriage. I've joked about my own fear a year or two ago when my father-in-law found out Nancy and I were having sex.¹ Yet, when given a chance last year to teach Christians on antidepressants how to cope with the sexual side effects, I chickened out. I didn't want to wind up crucified. Some part of my brain thinks sex is bad. Thank God I mostly ignore it.
• The whole "sex is bad" thing came up recently over at Dubious Wonder's discussion about "Slut." I don't like the word, simply because the same actions by a man tend to be approved while by a woman they get labeled. But there's also this whole "sex is bad" thing again. And if enjoying sex, being good at it, and experimenting with different things is "slutty," well, someone just insulted my wife, who studied very hard for her Human Sexuality class. I don't take well to my wife being insulted. ²
• I should not have deleted the comment on this blog where someone objected to Nancy and I having sex because we were supposed to be "mature Christians." Ridiculing mercilessly the person who wrote that would have been fun, although I'm trying to be better than that. Same with the post objecting to Nancy and I holding hands and kissing before marriage. Apparently, we should have just always said "No."
• Speaking of ridicule, anyone know where I can get my hands on a burka and someone willing to model it? I've got a great idea for a poster [warning: PDF] similar to the one at Pure Freedom.

Ok, so where's this tirade going?

Last night, we handed out contact information to the kids in our chatroom. Mine used my gmail address, which is a mess and happens to include my paramedic con-ed number. Like I said, a mess. Not something easy to remember. I realized I dare not mention my blog to my 7th and 8th graders.

I'm not hiding it because of the copious amounts of profanity on this blog, or all the photos of sexual organs (some of those insect shots had to include sexual organs). For crying out loud, kids in this age group have seen harder pornography than I have. Given that I regularly do medical searches, that frightens me. But that's not why I dare not mention this blog.

I am afraid a parent or someone at the church will find this blog. See, I say what I believe. Ok, so maybe I'll soften it a bit and put some spin on it or explain it in subtle ways to get past watchful dragons. But I say things that are the truth, even if they will get me in trouble. ³

The church I go to is mostly conservative. In the 2004 election, the whole "Christians vote for Bush, because we're selling our soul to the Republican Party" schtick got on my nerves. I'm actually not the most liberal person in the church. But can you imagine what happens to the head of the youth group if someone goes screaming to the head minister with the URL for this blog?

I'm not Hugo Schwyzer. God bless him. It's his youth group; if he wants to get screamed at by the parents, that's his choice. The parents apparently don't; they realize they'd be hard pressed to find someone better than Hugo.

I am not the head of my youth group. Someone else is, someone who is a God-fearing, amazing man whom I admire. I'm just one of the "Adult Leaders," and the term "Leader" is rather misleading. I lead the kids based on what the youth group head tells us to.

Honestly, I should either give up this blog or give up working with the kids. Already, they don't have enough Adult Leaders. If I bail on them, there's that much less influence in the kids lives. For some reason, God has given me a heart to work with these children. Given what's going on lately in our own extended family, I think you can appreciate that I'm not willing to give up on these kids.

I've tried to keep this blog non-controversial. It doesn't work. I can't sit by and let injustice go unchallenged. I mouth off. I should give up UnSpace, maybe come back with some blog that can't possibly be connected to me (like that would work) or just stop blogging altogether.

There is one assumption, though. I'm assuming someone I know will read this blog. I can't even get my wife to read it. Floyd tries to read it occasionally, but he gets too depressed and gives up. Based on my referal logs, I'm not even sure I have any regular readers: mostly it's people looking for spoilers for the Illusionist, the Wicker Man (?!), Inside Man (most popular post ever, bar none!) or black and yellow spiders.

Maybe there's something to be said for being a crawly amphibian. If a blog falls in the blogoverse and no one hears it, does it affect the real world?

1. We've just celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary. [back]
2. She kindly folded over the up-close-and-personal photograph pages of various full-blown STDs in her textbook, for my benefit. Ew. [back]
3. I told you that if there was a conspiracy involving 9/11, I'd have spilled the beans. [back]

Our contemporary worship service is at 11 o'clock. Lately, I've been playing bass (one note at a time!), but they were short of singers this week, so I asked to sing instead. That was the plan, until the bass player couldn't make it. Guess who was back on bass?

I had one day to practice, and I worked at it. I like 2 weeks to practice, and usually get one. Even then, it's a race to see if I'll learn it in time. Did I mention I picked up bass fairly recently as my "midlife crisis?" It was cheaper than a sports car.

One day meant late night and early wakeup.

Now, over at Ales Rarus, there's been complaints about contemporary music — defined, I suspect, as anything after Gregorian chants. [unfair snark] They especially don't like the 7-11 songs: seven words sung 11 times. Everything we did today was not anywhere near a 7-11…well, except "Love the Lord." Hey, at least it helps folks memorize the Greatest Commandment.

"Love the Lord" was actually the perfect song. Dr. Stan Ott was beginning a new series, this one on the book of Colossians. At Pleasant Hills Community Presbyterian Church, there's the concept of "covenenting" to pray for someone each day for 30 days — often someone you don't know, but wind up getting to know. He had us do that today. As a beginning for your prayer (or the whole prayer, if you're not too good at praying yet), we use some verses from Colossians:

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

– Colossians 1:9-12, NIV

There's something strengthening to know someone is praying that for you. Comforting, too.

In combination with this, Dr. Ott is introducing the congregation to the book My Utmost for His Highest. So you put it all together, and the song "Love the Lord" was almost the outline for the sermon. Add to that the Minister of Music teaching all the children hand motions, and the song was a perfect teaching tool.

"Love the Lord" rocked. We are talking drums and electirc guitars for the praise band. There's this absolutely cool bass part at the beginning, and as I was practicing, I knew I'd better learn it. Bass solo!

Now, for any bass player but me, this would have been great. But I'm not the world's greatest bassist. In fact, I'm not really sure bass is easier than keyboard. I've been playing keyboard since I was 5. I also have a wierd problem. Sometimes, I'll forget a rhythm pattern. So I listened to the song over and over and over, playing along each time on the bass, burning it into my brain. I seven-elevened a 7-11 song. I tapped it out in the shower. I brushed