Requiem for a Heavyweight

As I approach another birthday this coming Sunday, I'm unusually nostalgic this year. I'm not really old yet and this isn't one of those landmark birthdays ending on a "0" or "5." That said, this year a large chunk of my youth has has been sold on the real estate pages.

As one of several generations of kids who grew up in southwestern Queens, birthdays always meant one thing year after year: The Kitchen Sink at Jahn's Ice Cream Parlor.

You see, the Kitchen Sink was the largest serving of ice cream known to man (or at least to kid).... eighteen scoops of home-made ice cream topped with a flaming sugar cube and all kinds of syrups, whipped cream, and sprinkles. Nothing thirlled me more on my birthday than to see the waitstaff emerge from the kitchen, past the nickelodeon and march this mountain of ice cream to your table singing an often off-key rendition of "Happy Birthday to You."

But alas, that memory of childhood will always be but a memory for me and everyone else. Yes, the legendary Jahn's has closed its doors.

I found out second hand as I was planning a Christmas ice cream party for the Ascension youth group this week and my fears were realized by a story in the newspaper and a drive down Hillside Avenue.

Other landmarks have gon the way of Jahn's in the two-and-a-half years since I returned to my Queens roots after three years in Mississippi, but this one stings a little more.

Sold along with Jahn's (which everyone always Americanized as "Jan's") were nearly a century's worth of sweetheart carvings all along the wall moldings, a fully functional, authentic nickelodeon (It actually cost a Quarter the last time I was there), the Kitchen Sink, and one more place where you could get an authentic New York egg cream.

I guess the moral of the story is the story of Queens itself. As settled as some things seem here, there's never any telling when they'll go away. If something as established here as Jahn's can go, anything (or anyone for that matter) can too.

Bridges of Inspiration

In blog posts past I've shown various New York City bridges, most notably, the Queensborough bridge. In this post, I thought I'd take the bridge theme to a different level.

This is the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Sydney, NSW, Australia, one of the most recognizable bridges in the world. Officially opened on March 19, 1932 it was the crowning achievement of Chief Engineer John Bradfield who had been heading up the project to bridge the harbour since 1912.

What is lesser known is the source of inspiration for this major work. During his travels, Bradfield spent some time in New York City and apparently a light went on when he saw the Hell Gate Bridge, a single-arch railroad bridge connecting Queens with Manhattan, the Bronx and points north.

The Hell Gate Bridge, opened in 1916 and is considerably more narrower and shorter than the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but given the time he had to work on the project (lengthened as the plans halted for World War I), Bradfield was able to improve on the design.

The point of this is that a railroad bridge in Queens became the inspiration for something greater in another place. As I've said in this blog before, Gospel work here tends to have international repercussions. My hope is that this simple guy from Queens can be used for bigger things as God directs. That's all I'm saying.

Dr. Livingstone, I presume.

Before she married my grandfather, Dorothy Raplee's maiden name was Livingstone. As long as I can remember, Raplee family legend had it that our Scottish roots were somehow connected to the legendary missionary to Africa, Dr. David Livingstone. If course, I couldn't begin to draw the family tree linking me to the good doctor, though my grandmother had a cousin named David. Truth be told, however, although he obtained a PhD. (making him, in fact, Dr. Livingstone), he's still alive and living in Pittsburgh.

My mother's father, Warren Buchholtz, was an ordained evangelist at the Bowery Mission, a "skid row" ministry established at the time of the Fulton Street Revival of the late 19th Century, now one of the country's oldest continually operating Christian ministries in the United States.

Then, of course, there's me. I've been working second string at a church plant in central Queens for more than two years now and still wondering which side of my ministry pedigree will emerge in my work.

To that end, I'm heading down to Atlanta this weekend to attend a denominational missions conference. I've always said, and it's true, people from all over the world come to Queens, making this a most unique place for Gospel ministry. It will be interesting to see what cross-cultural ministry looks like when people go to other countries to preach rather than have the other countries come to them the way they do here.

I expect it to be a most enlightening weekend. Watch for my next blog entry to see if I learn anything useful at this conference.

Past Memories, Present Joy, Future Hopes
Over the last two years, I've skipped my blog, maybe two or three times. Last week was one of them. I suppose I'm entitled to have a Thursday evening where time doesn't allow me to blog. I'll try not to let that happen too frequently.
In any event, last weekend was a busy one as I was reminded of the passing of time venturing out to Stony Brook, Long Island for my 20th high school reunion. It's hard to believe it's been that long, especially considering that I wasn't even 20 years old when I graduated. A fair representation of my class managed to come from all over the globe to be there. I'm in the second row, fourth from the left in th epicture.
It was great to catch up with old friends, particularly one of my closest friends from High School, Jim (pictured here). I was a generally reputible student at the Stony Brook School back then, but I did find myself dabbling in a fair share of mischief and in most of those cases, Jim was right there with me. I'm not sure who instigated everything (we both played a role, I guess), but through everything, over the course of four years, there was always Jim.
Reunions conjure up interesting things. There's always the sense of a return to the lost community of high school. The reuniting of friendships that had been lost. Maybe I'm a bit strange, but there's a Gospel connection here that I can't ignore. On the cross, Jesus restored the lost relationship between God and man brought about by sin. The joy we find in our reunion with God in the Gospel, however doesn't draw to a close with an exchange of phone numbers and e-mail addresses the way a high school reunion does. Not at all. When Jesus restores the relationship, it's a permanent restoration. In a sense, it's like a high school reunion that never ends, though that's not the best way to put it. Forgive me.
The following day was my niece's dedication at my sister's Baptist church, elsewhere in Queens. Dorothy (pictured with a specially commemorative cake, and in her father, Alex's arms below) was born back in June and in the Baptist tradition, she was dedicated. Family and friends came, there was cake, there was food and there was conversation, and of course, the guest of honor, my adorable niece, Dorothy.
While it was a great moment, I couldn't help but think what a wonderful plan God has for her life. In His sovereignty, he brought her into a home with Believing parents who attend a strongly supportive church. I have no idea what kinds of things she'll see in her life, but I know God is good, so it's most exciting to consider.

Ya Gotta Believe!... Really

You didn't think that I could avoid mention of baseball at this stage in the season... especially given the nail-biting position of my beloved Mets.

After sitting comfortably in first place in the National League east division since May, the Mets have lost 10 of their last 14 games and have blown a 7 game lead finding themselves in a tie for 1st place with the Philadelphia Philies with three games left to play and are on the verge of one of the biggest chokes in baseball history.

But, hey, as a lifelong Mets fan, I know this is New York Mets baseball. Unlike the Devil's team in the Bronx who steamroll to championship after championship, the Miracle Mets tend to make winning much harder than it needs to be.

In 1969 (I don't remember this, by the way), the Chicago Cubs were the best team in the National League and choked in the second half of the season to send the Mets to the World Series as heavy underdogs. After losing the first game, most sports writers had them written off. For the first time, it became clear, writing off the Mets is not always the best idea.

In 1986 the Mets were in first place from day one of the season, but the World Series presented a challenge. Down by a run in game six, the pitch count ran full to Mookie Wilson, a player not known to hit well in the clutch, the Mets proved again that writing them off would be a mistake. When a wild pitch tied the game, a routine bloop hit by Wilson through the legs of Bill Buckner of the Red Sox (who actually became something of a hero to me), the Mets scratched out one of the most unlikely wins in baseball and went on to win the World Series.

I'm not predicting a Mets World Championship. I kind of did that last year. What I'm saying is that people should be careful before writing the Mets off despite this monumental collapse.

Why am I talking about this kind of stuff in a blog about church planting in Queens. Like Baseball in Queens, church planting is not a steamroller. Instead it's often a nail-biting struggle, but don't write us off. The church is a winning team despite any struggles we have faced in the past and any struggles we will face in the future.

Looking to the East

A number of years ago, the Doobie Brothers sang about a place around San Antonio, Texas called China Grove and sang of people "...looking to the East."

I've always found the East/West distinctions fascinating. When you're in India, China or Japan you are considered "in the East." If you're from any of those places, you're "from the East," or "Eastern."

If you're American, British, French, Italian etc., you're considered "Western."

If you're from Kansas or Nebraska, you're from the Midwest, while if you're from Saudi Arabia or Lebanon, you're from the Middle East.

All of these considerations taken for their value, no matter how far east you travel, there is more East to cover and when Horace Greely said, "Go west young man," where was the intended stopping point?

My senseless musings aside, Ascension Church, located in the northeastern region of a western country will have a bit of an Eastern flavor this week when the sitar and tabla will be a part of our musical ensemble this week in worship service.

A group of musicians will be visiting us this week who perform Indian music in the Hindi language known as Yeshu Bhakti (devotion to Jesus). They will be performing a special concert this Sunday evening and the musicians will be participating in our morning worship. While we expect it to be a great experience to have these instruments during the worship service (how often do you here a sitar and/or tabla on Sunday morning services?), we are more excited about the outreach opportunity these musicians present in their evening concert. Given the multicultural complexion of Queens, these kinds of events are of great significance in the life of the church. Please pray that God brings a wonderful variety of people to us this week and speaks to their hearts with the Gospel through the music.

Mission to the World

Once a year, during the last week of August and the first week of September, the eyes of the sporting world are gazing on Queens. Of course, whe I say "world," I mean world. Tennis is one of the most international of all professional sports, partly due to the individual nature of tennis, and partly due to the worldwide appeal of the sport.
During this period, the New York Mets always schedule a road trip to keep traffic and transit congestion under control. Shea Stadium is literally across the street from the USTA Tennis Center and share the same station on the subway.

While the entire world descending on Queens is not generally remarkable, as this happens every day here as the most diverse single county in the United States, I alwals like the fact that so many people visiting from all over get the chance to discover that there's more to New York City than Manhattan.

Queens represents an alternate view of foreign missions. Typically the approach taken by many is to leave American soil to venture out into the world with the Gospel. In Queens, you remain on American soil and the world comes to you. It's an interesting twist on the traditional model.
As a young church plant, Ascension Church is classified a "mission church" until it is financially solvent and has its own elected officers. From where I stand, Ascension, as a church planted in Queens will always be a "Missions" church by virtue of it's location. Pray that this church always remain true to its evangelistic placement and opportunity.

One other newsworthy item worth noting. For the last few days there has been a taxi strike going on in New York City. While one of the reasons for the strike is the cost of installing credit card readers for passenger use, the other is the Taxi and Limousine Commission's plan to install GPS navigation devices in the cars. Drivers complain that they will be tracked and watched as in a "Big Brother" secnario. I've been a passenger in a NYC cab before and found myself wondering how great it would be if the driver actually knew where he was going. I say, install the GPS so I can hail a cab in Midtown without having to convince the driver that he doesn't need a passport or visa to get to Queens! Maybe it's just me.