On the list....

This summer my niece, Lydia spent some time visiting...it was grand! I created a scavenger hunt of Pittsburgh for her and her friend.  (If anyone has an interest in doing said scavenger hunt...let me know; clues, photos, food stops...... ) 

Part of the successful completion of the scavenger hunt involved asking persons in our fair city what made Pittsburgh great.  To a person the overwhelming response was, "The people."  I could not agree more.  Ours is a wonderful mix of blue collar real-ness mixed with kindness mixed with loyalty mixed with black and gold everything.

Today, October 27, is the third anniversary of the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill. It was a Saturday morning, rainy and cold. I knew that synagogue and had spoken there for community gatherings several times. The shock of yet another mass shooting numbs and angers, yet, when it hits this close, in one's city, a neighborhood known, that is a deeper kind of horror.  Pittsburgh is now on the list of locations of mass shootings.  It stings to hear us included in this litany of sadness and brokenness. 

Two weeks after the tragedy, clergy from a variety of faith traditions gathered together in support and to discuss how best to respond, how to help in the healing of our community. You understand how it is at those events, you enter the large room and look to sit at table with persons you know. I sat at a table with seven other persons, friends whom I knew and some persons who were strangers to me.  Being my expressive, verbose self, I was chatting away with two clergy friends and finally turned to introduce myself to the woman sitting on my left. She was quiet, sullen, her head down. "Hello," she said, "I'm Rabbi Cheryl Klein of Dor Hadash. Members of my synagogue were murdered two weeks ago at services at the Tree of Life."

In the days, weeks, months and now years following there have been articles, columns and books written. Monday evening I participated in an event with an author reading from her collection of essays.  A personal favorite was a woman who moved to Pittsburgh and prior to moving researched our city. "Sports teams," she told her husband, "we need to learn about their teams and wear their gear. We'll be part of the city then.  They're sports obsessed."  The woman went on to write that her husband chose the Penguins and she chose the Pirates (bless her....).   

Every essay read, shared a common thread regarding the people of Pittsburgh.  Though not knowing the meaning of yinz nor understanding exactly what it means to "red up" a room...each remarked on the friendliness and kindness of Pittsburghers. 

The Tree of Life synagogue is literally in Mr. Rogers neighborhood. We like to claim him as one of our own. He will always be the most famous graduate of the seminary I attended. As we pause to re-member and to heal our communities, congregations and country, I share this quote from Fred Rogers, "Love is at the root at everything, all learning, all relationships, love or the lack of it."   Hmmmm....someone else I know said and taught something similar.....

Fair or foul

All four years that I played softball for Freeport High School (go Jackets!), our rivals were the Sabres of Ford City. Seemingly every season, the results of our head-to-head matchups determined the section winner. 

What I remember about our opponents, was they had purple pin-stripe uniforms, they presented themselve with an aura of hard-ass-ness right down to some of the players carrying cans of snuff in the back pocket of their uniforms. If tattoos were "a thing" then these lovely ladies would've had full sleeves and one catcher with whom I had a brief altercation would've sported a Mike Tyson-like face tattoo. Charming.

The other thing I remember about the Ford City High School softball team was....they were cheaters.
I'm not suggesting it....they cheated. Their home field had a distinct advantage: the first and third base lines were trenches with the baseline strateigcally placed so that the ball would stop rolling nestled into the side of the moat on the baseline. Of course, everyone on the team would bunt.  Upon being bunted the ball would just stop dead while the fielder ran to dig it out of the baseline gutter.

Recent news stories lead me to think about those Sabre cheats (grudges held long over thirty years stick).  Of course, there are the Houston Astros who are notorious in the world of sports cheats.  They are the team who had an elaborate system of stealing signs between catcher and pitcher and by banging on a garbage can (I'm not making this up) would convey to the batter if the next pitch was going to be a fastball or something off speed.  The quality of a big league hitter is such that knowing what pitch was coming could nearly guarantee a hit.  The Astros won the Series in 2017. A couple of years after the fact news of their scheme was revealed, they got busted, the manager fired and not one player was suspended nor fined.  Grrrrrr..........

To squeeze a lot of lemon juice into that paper cut, the Astros are currently playing for the American League Championsip and the team they are contesting, the Boston Red Sox, are managed by Joey Cora, who was instruemntal in creation and execution of the cheating effort when he was the bench coach for the Astros....sigh... At least my beloved Buccos suck honestly.

In the passing on of General Colin Powell an article in the Washington Post shared a recent interview Bob Woodward had with Powell. Woodward shared that a student in a journalism class asked him, "What does the truth accomplish?"  Powell replied to Woodward, "This is scary. You just scared the hell ouf of me if this is what our kids are saying and thinking."

A trench where a baseline should be on a softball field for a high school that no longer exists is one thing.  Yet, questioning the power of truth....yikes!

As our institutions weaken and facts become as random as the political leanings of whomever is posting or tweeting them, we are in serious trouble. 

Worship has gone to the dogs......

 

Recently, while in the long line at PAGES ICE CREAM (rated as one of the 100 Best Ice Cream places in the country!) a young woman stepped out of line, knelt down, removed a business card from her pocket and enticed a bug to crawl upon it and then, took the card with the bug, walked over to a flower pot and delivered the bug safely into the security of the flower pot. 

I was gob-smacked.  I wanted to ask if she was a Buddhist. I wanted to know more about what drove her actions.

This month many congregations will have a "Blessing of the Animals" service as a shout-out to and celebration of St. Francis.  Pictured in the above photo, he is nearly always drawn, painted, or sculpted surrounded by animals. 

At the center of this celebration is inlcusion and welcome so I'm all for it! It may be part of the proving ground for clergy, yet, I've had several children ask me if all dogs go to heaven?  I've always answered in the affirmative.  Funny, I've never had the inquiry be about cats. Must be that nine lives thing.....

Kids love their pets; like to talk about them, show them off. A "Blessing of the Animals" service is a perfect vehicle for kids and their pets to garner attention.  

With the unseasonably warm temperatures this October many congregations have held the service outside. Honestly, I never thought so to do. We held ours inside, in the sanctuary.

Also, I was idiotic enough to have it be a part of the regular worship service. Live and learn. I admit it was quite a challenge with all the chirping and barking and collective shushing of the congregants gathered. 

It made me think that for Christmas Eve worship it might be fun to hold it in an actual stable, make it more experiential and offer another version of "smells and bells."