Be the church

Tonight the Open Door didn't have a service. Instead we helped out and attended an outdoor jazz concert at the Resevoir at Highland Park. It was nice. I got to see some folks I hadn't seen all summer. I got to meet a friend's new girlfriend (aww). I also got a lemon ice from the Italian Ice guy. Joe Negri played (from Mr. Rogers, Handiman Negri) and the music was amazing. So, since I knew I wouldn't have "church" in the evening, I went to church at the Hot Metal Faith Community, which is on the South Side of Pittsburgh, across the Mon river. I had to take the tenth street bridge, which reminded me of when I dated a guy who lived on the South Side and we would walk from where we worked (Barnes and Noble Downtown) to his house, across the bridge. I am a very geographically oriented person when it comes to nostalgia...it gets easier to cross the tenth street bridge each time I do it. Actually, speaking of nostalgia, on my morning walk I walked by some community gardens near my house. It reminded me of the community gardens in Warsaw, Poland, where I spent some time when I was in college. And all of a sudden, I was crying, wishing I was at Wasenki park, where the palace is surrounded by water, and peacocks walk the grounds. On Sundays, there are piano concerts at the huge statue of Chopin. They play Chopin, of course. I haven't been in Warsaw for over ten years, but it all flooded back and I wondered when I'd ever get to go back. I'm doing research for a 5 minute talk on why Christians should at least be educated about Harry Potter for the Open Door on Sunday, and so I spent a ton of time doing Internet research yesterday. Not being a child that fancied she was magical, it never occured to me that kids would imagine themselves doing the things Harry does--but for the first time, on my walk this morning, I wished I could apparate to Warsaw. I wished I could use a wand and clean up the litter. And today, when I was snubbed, I wished I could create a weather disturbance (like a rain shower) to cascade on the person who snubbed me.

So I've been thinking about magic and miracles--the sermon I listened to on the way to church was about how in this age we dismiss miracles...a kid was describing the parting of the red sea to his parents and described it as a military exercise--the air force took care of the Egyptians and then Moses got the Israeli's over the sea in a pontoon boat. The parents were like, really? We need to talk to your Sunday school teacher...then the kid said, if I told you what my teacher really told me, you wouldn't believe it! I thought about an episode of Friends, where Ross dresses up as an armadillo (they ran out of Santa costumes...) for his son and said, "I'm the Holiday Armadillo, Santa's part-Jewish friend." Monica says, "Because armadillos also wandered in the desert?" But it was so cool, because Ross told the story of the Maccabees, who had oil only for one night but it lasted eight. So it got me thinking about miracles and magic--do we really believe in them? I mean, was it the wonder of technology and science and engineering that got the nine miners out safely of the mines three years ago, or was it a miracle? Can we explain it away? Augustine once said, If you understand it, it is not God. I was talking with a friend tonight who is in a very "I don't get it!" place and that quote came to mind. But sometimes when we can't do anything, when our hands are tied behind our backs, so to speak, that's when God works. Because we can't explain how it came to be. And I have noticed that God's timing is impeccable.

I started this entry by talking about going to Hot Metal Bridge...then I got sidetracked. So the HMBFC meets in the Goodwill building third floor cafeteria. I have never seen so many pierced and tatooed people at church! It was cool, and I was glad I had eschewed my conservative Old Navy khaki's for a black skirt and a tank top and t-shirt layered over it. I'm all wrote out right now, but maybe later I'll tell you more about the service, which was pretty cool. Hey, comment on whether you are interested in seeing more posts like this. I never know what people's reactions are when I share my faith experiences.

As BJ (my pastor at the Open Door) would say, Peace Out!