The Seventh Day

Saturday morning.
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As you can see the view from my back yard is the Seventh Day Adventist church across the street. It was once a Lutheran church - many years ago. The congregation is largely African now - real African Americans, comprised of immigrants from Ethiopia and someplace else in Africa - some of the women continue to dress in colorful extravagant caftans with matching headdresses. The white elders continue to lead the congregation, and many white families attend, although a majority of whites seem to have have moved to a suburban church.
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No one is ever at this church during the week - just on Saturdays when services are conducted - other days the church is non-functional. As they worship they sing many of the same hymns Novus Ordo Catholics do. Of course Catholics adopted the hymns from the Protestants. I mention this because the congregation across the street considers the Pope to be the Anti-Christ, and the Catholic Church the whore of Babylon - which may explain why they are not friendly to me, although being a single male may have something to do with it too.
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I've always been very nice to them, waving, saying hello, helping to clean snow off the cars during winter, calling police when vandals TP the place, not mowing when services are in session, and so on. Yes I called the police once when a congregant parked blocking my drive-way a year or so ago. And yes, I blew off a couple of old guys who were too friendly and were obviously trying to convert me explaining that homosexuals were going to hell. "Yes, yes," I answered, "I know that. I'm a Roman Catholic, you should be too." That always worked - we still wave to one another. I think the guy with the wig may have died however.

Anyway, talk about discrimination and passing judgement: Extremely handsome (and masculine) single white male, living in a beautiful house with a stunning garden seems to equal gay in many people's eyes. Although one of my neighbors explained to me that gay people did once live in this house and evidently they always left the windows uncovered... no shutters or drapes. (Which also explains all the traffic by the front of the house after I first moved in.)
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But I digress.
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So anyway - on Tuesday of last week the skaters were at the church again. They tape themselves riding the handrails of the staircase. They use a large piece of particle board as a ramp at the first set of stair leading to the main door. To make a long story short one of the guys hurt himself and his buddy got him into his car and drove off, leaving the 4' x 6' panel behind. The deacon who does the gardening was there on Wednesday and ignored the panel. On Thursday another deacon came to mow the grounds - he left the panel there as well. It is still there this morning as all the people arrive, in their Saturday best, filing into church, climbing the now narrow stairway, looking curiously at the panel. The preacher came out to look at it, as did several other guys, only to go back into church to begin the service. Isn't that interesting?
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Yes, I could walk across the street and explain it to them, but they are so good at figuring things out, I'm sure they will know what to do.