revist of abandoned places #42

 Miles Park Methodist Newburgh Cleveland Good Friday morning

The fire was yesterday morning, and almost everything but the brick walls were consumed.

The building was condemned. The demolition vehicles were there late afternoon.

The work crew was there at 8 o'clock in the morning.

I posted fotos a little over a year ago [click].

 Miles Park Methodist 1872 - 1969, then Baptist, then Pentecostal, then abandoned

Alfombras 2024

 

For several years, La Sagrada Familia on Detroit, Cleveland has observed Holy Week with Las Alfombras de Semana Santa (Carpets of Holy Week). They have 33 this year. To-morrow to begin the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) at 11am, people will trample the carpets, and travel to St. Colman, and then St. Michael.  [click for some years prior]

Semana Santa is Holy Week, and these carpets chiefly commemorate Jesus walk to Calvary.

In His Steps. IHS, first three letters of Jesus in Greek, a Christogram

Guatemala may have the greatest devotion to this sacramental practice. A Guatemalan did this alfombra, Su Amor es Infinito, His Love is Infinite. The figures surrounding the alfombra are cucuruchos (the penitents).

This was new to me. A person praying, with Jesus as Lion putting the Dark One to fear.

Every alfombra is not dedicated to Jesus. Here it is Our Lady of Guadelupe, and St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin of Mejico.

De Colores, of colors, is a favorite Mexican folk song. It is the anthem of the United Farm Workers, and is sung by many Catholic groups. Here for Holy Week, it is a reminder of the cock who crowed when Peter denied knowing Jesus.

Jesus and His Cross

There are countries in Central America where the main color in the national flag is of like blue. Eagles are often depicted in crests, and flags. Here a dove of peace is in the blue sky instead.

Jesus the Consoler

There is no Holy Water during the Triduum. Here instead of an empty stoup, there is sand. The next Holy Water comes during the Easter Vigil Mass.

photographs of abandoned places #45

Akron Baptist Temple

This decayed quickly. The main building was built from 1947 to 1949. Eventually there were seven or eight buildings on twenty-nine acres, and extensive parking spaces. I was never on campus. We were on Manchester Road earlier on the 11th of the month, and i said i want to photograph the front. We kept on driving. A few days ago, i saw on teevee, Akron's new mayor, Shammas Malik had the property fenced off, and began demolition formally on the 19th.

[24 March 2024]

The thing that really caught my attention was the quote from Matthew, "Upon this rock i will build my church". The full verse is "And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Peter is in Greek 'rock'. The presentation changed the meaning; apparently Bible literalists are very selective (not unlike constitutional originalists). With that shortened verse, i would have thought that the name of the church was Saint Peter's. Yes, i saw great incongruity; but then again...Baptists. Then there is the empty scroll, it used to read: Dr. Dallas F. Billington Founder & Pastor. It is very common among Baptist and Pentecostal churches to have this kind of citation on the building. The facade is also quite tall, and there used to be on top flashing neon letters, Akron Baptist Temple; not unlike the Firestone, and Goodyear signs in Akron.

This Independent Baptist Fundamentalist Megachurch (the three adjectives can be any order) was run by three generations of Billingtons, starting in 1934 to 2007. Dallas F. Billington left Paducah Kentucky to work in a tire factory in Akron. He was a Baptist preacher with ambition and energy, who was willing to use extensive, and then for the time, novel promotional techniques (stunts, gimmicks). The membership for many years were white southerners, and those from Appalachia, and their children. Growth, called evangelism, was paramount.

Elmer Towns. The Ten Largest Sunday Schools. 1969., listed Akron Baptist Temple as #1 with c.7,000. For some reason this was considered the criterion to gauge largest megachurches in the US of A. I could discuss this much further here, but no. It is to be remembered, this is a Protestant phenomena, and the church can have several sites simultaneously. Also these type of establishments have the chief pastor as unaccountable; it is convenient to be 'independent' or 'non-denominational'. In the US they are usually Baptists, in the rest of the world usually Pentecostalist/Charismatic.

After a time, Akron's population stopped growing. Some things happened along the way, besides demographics. A new pastor in a megachurch with different programmes/methods/agenda/style can effect the congregation greatly. Firstly, a portion of the congregation might be in disagreement and leave, and new congregants might not make up the difference.

In 2018 the new chief pastor sold the church to a black megachurch pastor. Both congregations used the campus for a time, then Akron Baptist Temple moved elsewhere under a new name. By this time the third Billington had a separate Akron church of his own. The new Word Church ownership did some remodeling, but the new congregation preferred the previous Akron location (the main site is in a Cleveland suburb). In 2019 it was up for sale. Soon thereafter, scrappers, vandals, and the homeless have used the campus, and trashed a good deal of it. The neighbours, fire department, and the police find it a continuing nuisance. Realtors wanted it to be a strip mall, but prospective buyers want the area cleared before they spend a dime. Asbestos is rumoured, does that not survive in fire and brimstone? Another chapter of church and commerce in America.

Saw similar art deco tile fringe on other Akron buildings [click]

2324 Manchester

Looks more like an abandoned theatre.

coded language of the baptistverse

I read some comments by Baptist church attendees. They have a coded language. I have noticed this before*. I was trying to find something on internet search engines, and the results were few that got to the point. First in this regard, i find Baptist, fundamentalist, evangelical, non-denominational as all equivalent terms. Using the words: lingo, jargon, vocabulary, language was fruitless.

The general community understands religious terms when they are used as the dictionary describes. Catholicism is quite fecund, and defined. It uses standard language with particular terminology that may be unfamiliar to some. But in very conservative American Protestantism, the dictionary is not helpful. It is inside group speak, somewhat like corporate business jargon. Now, Mormonism does this too, but a lot of theirs is the invented mythology of the group.

Also, this baptistverse has been successful in taking Christian as their synonym. It is not. Finally i found a person who started a thread on reddit that spoke on this. Here is an example he used:  I have been praying for you (unprompted) – You are doing something bad that I don’t approve of, or not doing something you should be doing, like attending church, and I am going to be extremely passive aggressive about it. 

• And another he used: Being Intentional Don’t waste your time making small talk with the grocery store clerk or the gas station attendant; Be Intentional by making everything you say to everyone somehow circle back to your Jesus thing.
  
• Someone else wrote: "They're a believer" A believer in what? Just another way to say "they're one of us."
• Another winner:  Witness: "We're going to go witness to folks at the county fair"   Translation: we're going to go annoy the general public telling random people how sinful and damned to hell they are.
• Another someone:  "Evangelicals bait and switch." A social interaction becomes an ambush.
  
• This insight:  this stuff doesn't appear anywhere in the New Testament.

The phrases in bold type are the ones i want to discuss. Baptists proselytise, that word they do not use. Their goal is to gain converts, or evangelise as they put it. They will use any hook, any gimmick, any trick, any verbal subterfuge to get you. They are intentional about this, everything else is fluff to them. They proclaim they are the bible believing, the true and only christians. In this they act like cultists.

Now, to a Christian that is not of this type, this is extremely off putting. To someone else this must be more confusing, and maybe worse. Now in retrospect, i understand some of the language, and am not pleased. Now, where i first encountered a heavy dose of this was in college. I was extremely unnerved, when "Navigators" surrounded me while i was sitting in a dorm; an immediate hard sell, the intentional thing. Complete strangers demanding to know my private beliefs, and wanting me to join them. (They were worse than the porch hopping Jehovah Witnesses, which are similar.)  I got up and left.

 

Another encounter with the baptistverse in college was with a 'confrontational evangelist', the infamous Jed Smock. Mentioned him in a post in 2013, went to check the almighty wiki, he died in 2022. The New Yorker had an obituary column about him. Apparently, he began using props after my time in college. He was verbally vicious. He haunted college campuses. He would find a crossroad spot where paths intersect en route to many classroom buildings, and assault passerbys with vulgar insults. He was a mean spirited bully.

__________________________________

* [click]  People of certain religious persuasions have their own parallel language. It is not terminology of specifics that do not exist elsewhere. No, it is the same words with different meanings. ... they are using internal code

more Patrick's day fotos

The Burning River Squad is 1 of 4 in the Ohio Garrison of the 501st Legion of the Empire. Star Wars Rebel Legion Apollo Base (Ohio) is their complement.

In the US, the cities with the largest parades are in order:  New York (Manhattan), Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland. Cleveland has found a record that a St. Patrick's parade (probably a procession) took place on the west side in 1842. Seemingly all Catholic and Orthodox nations have their days of celebration. Parishes, and then groups of parishes, and then with sodalities, and then social organisations were added, then labor groups (possible development of accumulation). Well, somewhere it expanded beyond Catholics and Irish. First of all, Patrick is a saint for the entire Church. So at some point, people saw this was a vehicle to join, and to be seen.

As i wrote two posts ago: always there are old cars, horses, dogs, bagpipers, high school bands. People expect and enjoy seeing them. Then there are novelty groups that are well received. The Ghostbusters, and the Star Wars costumers were there again. The comic book heroes were not there this year.

Back to the Future appeared this year. Doctor Emmet Brown retrofitted a DMC DeLorean into a time machine.

I think Biker Grinch made his first appearance. He rides an Indian.

Finnegan is on the right, he and his owner marched in the Pittsburgh parade Saturday. There was a previous Finnegan who marched in this parade, and Spooky Pooch.

All cars go for bomb testing before being allowed in the parade. There is a sniffer dog, and a pair of mine sweepers (i guess). Some of these cars have in the parade for years. Are you going to blow up your 1950 Ford Custom, or some other car you keep immaculate, that some people have fits if it is smudged or scratched, even imaginary defects?

1949 Lincoln Cosmopolitan

The Krazy Kops of the Al Koran Shrine is another of the crowd's favorites.

One of the units looks to contain various buskers. The one Indian club, the camera catches perpendicular to his mouth. Behind him is a troupe of Irish wolfhounds.

When then Vice-President Joseph Biden was in Ukraine in 2009, he saw a squad of female soldiers march. He remarked how beautiful Ukrainian women were, it caused a minor kerfuffle at the time.

a happy carpenter L.U. 435

2024 Miscellany #4

Close up of Obie, i really enjoy this figure. The Massillon mascot looks so happy and joyful.

A block away is a diner that has recreated 1959.

Polly Gas was a west coast station until Gulf swallowed them c. 1960.  So many people from Ohio went to California then, they would recognise this.

For George Washington's Birthday, the Maltz Museum (Cleveland Judaica) had a presidential actors presentation including Eleanor Roosevelt and Emma Lazarus.

Goose is a verb. Summit Lake Akron, notice the tire.

1950? Packard, w/o hood ornament

26 + 6 = 1 Tiocfaidh ár lá

Every year the parade has a theme. This is mostly for the floats of the East, and West Side Irish clubs; very few other people notice. Now, they have picked a political one, Ireland: One Island One Nation. Ireland has 32 counties, that are part of two states. The Republic of Ireland has 26 counties, and the United Kingdom (Britannia) has 6. Those that remained with Britain have been under Protestant control.

          

26 + 6 = 1    

From year to year the long list of marching units have generally the same roster as the year before. Some groups are new, and some drop out. Always there are old cars, horses, dogs, bagpipers, high school bands. People expect and enjoy seeing them. Other regular marchers are:  construction trade unions, police, fire, military, festivals, and Catholic groups; this year very few businesses, and politicians. They have had them before. This year the lone politician is Irish, and has been in the parade for years. Thank Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and all their carpenter, and fisherman friends that the repuke senator wannabees are not. The primary is on the following Tuesday. The Cleveland Columbus Day parade was infested with repuke candidates for state wide office. I wonder if any groups are not there on account of the one Ireland theme. The color for the day is green, and not orange.

 1946 Mack firetruck

We had a full Cleveland weather day: rain, snow, clouds, sun, and wind—then shuffle and repeat.

A late entry, but marching way up front as the fourth unit was the 101st Airborne Division Army Band.

 A St. Helen's unicyclist dribbling a basketball.

Ukrainian Cultural Arts & Kashtan School of Ukrainian Dance

knitting wool amongst props

Greyhound Adoption of Ohio marched. A fine lovely group of hounds, some from Ireland needing homes. I think this fellow is Oz. Many more boys in the group. We had Argos from Tipperary for six months last year, he succumbed to heart ailments.

A favorite cartoon for me as a child was Mighty Mouse.

Near the end of the parade a line of police bike riders are met with open hands and smiles of children.

I think, this was the Cultural Gardens first time. One fellow was from Juarez.

Some of the Glory Drum Team of Cleveland returning to their rides.

 

Can not control html, blogger resists mightily