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Church parking near stadiums scores big in win-win for congregations and sports fans_我的网站

一 |     CHESTER, Pa. -- The Eagles and the NFL might still be the sports favorites at Calvary Baptist Church, just outside Philadelphia. But many here are also rooting for a neighboring team which last year reached the championship game of Major League Soccer.Their new-found fandom is all about location — and revenue from parking. The Philadelphia Union plays at Subaru Park, a stadium beside the Delaware River just a few blocks from Calvary in the economically challenged city of Chester. Its poverty rate is among the highest in the metro area.As the Union continues to attract loyal fans and reach new heights, so have the blessings bestowed on this historic church where Martin Luther King Jr. attended as a seminarian.It has been crucial. Like many other Black Protestant churches, Calvary Baptist struggled financially during the coronavirus pandemic. Attendance fell, and along with it, funding. But the church has transformed its parking lot to accommodate game-day fundraisers, with volunteers from the congregation staffing the lots and selling spaces for $15 per vehicle.These days, the church raises up to $3,000 per game — about half of what goes into the collection plate on Sundays, said its pastor, Keith Dickens. The welcome influx of extra money is being used to pay for utilities, ministries and a new speaker system that will allow Calvary to reach a broader audience by broadcasting its services online.“It’s been a blessing,” said Dickens, who on a recent game day proudly sported a Philadelphia Union hat. "Not only just to generate funding, but also to meet and minister to new people.”Across the nation, houses of worship located near stadiums — from Boston’s Fenway Park to the Green Bay Packers’ Lambeau Field — have opened their parking lots to legions of fans.For churches offering parking near pro-soccer stadiums, their coffers recently received an assist from the world’s best active player, Lionel Messi who joined an MLS roster this year. All 250 parking spaces at the Calvary lot were full when Messi’s Inter Miami played the Union.Jeffrey Scholes, co-author of “Religion and Sports in American Culture,” said churches like Calvary show a growing willingness to use “secular entities like sport for religious purposes” including, “continuing a ministry, feeding the poor, keeping the lights on, things that ideally churches do."In the past, Scholes said clergy might have preferred the “old-fashioned way” of getting churchgoers to donate while shunning the sports-fan parking business as too “worldly."“There’s just much more openness to different kinds of nonreligious tactics to perform the necessary functions of a church or synagogue or mosque,” Scholes said. It also offers an opportunity to share with fans the history of congregations like Calvary, which was founded in 1879 by a group of formerly enslaved Africans seeking freedom to worship.On a recent game day, fans decked in the Union's navy, signal blue and gold colors pulled into parking spots in front of Calvary's colorful mural that pays homage to King. The civil rights leader worshipped at the church from 1948-1951, when he attended Chester’s Crozer Theological Seminary. Chester has a notable cultural and industrial history, but now has economic difficulties that make Calvary's new parking revenue all the more appreciated.“For us, if it gives back to a cause, it makes it all the better,” Abe Gitterman, age 37 and Jewish, said before he paid the parking fee. Next to him, his 6-and 7-year-old sons pointed to the mural and asked parking attendant and church member Lisa Lewis if this was the same man they had learned about in school. “Yes,” she replied, smiling. “It feels good,” she later said, “to tell them the history about the church.”It can also be fun. In Lubbock, Texas, Leslie Cranford, a parishioner at St. John’s United Methodist Church, said Texas Tech football fans have tailgated with RVs — taking up to four spots ($10 each) — in the church parking lot, near the Red Raiders' Jones AT&T Stadium. Sometimes, rival fans park at the church. “We tell them: we got to charge you extra!” Cranford said, laughing. She introduced the parking program at her congregation two decades ago. On a good season, they make up to $2,000 per game. “Dwindling attendance is a problem," Cranford said. "So, this helps us maintain our ministries.” In Boston, the Christian Science Church opened its parking garage to the public in 2014. That includes Red Sox fans who can park for $30 — a lower rate than closer to Fenway Park. Kevin Ness, manager of the Christian Science Committees on Publication, said the revenue helps cover the operating expenses of Christian Science Plaza, a popular tourist attraction which sits on top of the garage in the Fenway neighborhood. “This in turn allows the contributions from members to directly support the worldwide healing mission of the church,” he said. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, Bethany Church began its Packers parking program in 2010.“We thought it would be a great avenue for outreach, and a way to get funds to help support the growing ministries,” Bethany’s administrative assistant, Jill Connerym said via email. The church doesn’t have a set charge, and instead asks for donation, Connery said, adding that “many people are very generous.”Packers parking helps fund programs, including youth ministries, small group learning and building facility upgrades, Connery said. The church parking lot is often full on game days.“We are known for our hospitality,” she said. “We had a volunteer who began giving rides to Lambeau from our parking lot, free of charge to whoever didn’t want to walk the .5 miles to the stadium. So, now we are known for our shuttle service, and friendly volunteers.”Churches also have embraced other fans. Nashville First Church of the Nazarene offered their parking lots for three shows attended by thousands at nearby Nissan Stadium during the Nashville leg of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. The parking program ($30 a spot) also is popular during Tennessee Titans games and has helped fund ministries in Nashville and missions in Haiti and Kenya.“Every one of these dollars comes right back in to help people,” said its senior pastor, Kevin Ulmet. “When people hear that, they love that, they say ‘we want to be a part of that.’ And that, to me, is the classic definition of win-win.”__Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.。    对这句话的刻板印象早就该改改了     很多人提起这句话，第一反应就是传统孝道对年轻人的束缚，觉得它是在要求我们守在父母身边，放弃出去闯的机会。

二 |     真的是这样吗？我们都只记住了前半句，忘了后半句“游必有方”。这里的“方”从来不是刻板的方向，而是让父母安心的底气啊。         现在的游，早就不是过去的远游了     放在古代，出一趟远门可能大半年都回不来，音信全无都是常事。父母在家牵肠挂肚，连孩子是死是活都不知道，自然是放心不下。    现在呢？早上从广州出发，晚上就能到北京落地。

三 | 想父母了随时随地能弹个视频通话，连你今天吃了什么火锅都能给父母拍个照片看看。    现在的远游，早就不会再让父母陷入长久的等待和不安了。

四 |     我们这代人，多少人是从小县城考出来，留在大城市工作，别说远游，有些人干脆就在工作的城市安了家。要是真按老刻板印象说，那这些人都不算孝顺吗？当然不是。    真正让父母难过的从来不是你走得远，而是你走了之后，连句准信都不给，连个让他们安心的着落都没有。你说走就走，一年半载不联系，父母在家天天对着空房子掉眼泪，这才是真的不孝。    “游必有方”的新内涵，其实是让我们学会让父母安心     方是什么？放在今天，它不是你必须给父母留一个固定的地址那么简单。

五 |     你每个星期固定给父母打个电话，说说你最近的生活，哪怕只是吐槽一下公司的盒饭不好吃，他们都能开心好久。你换工作换住处，第一时间告诉他们新的联系方式，不让他们瞎担心。你在外面攒了积蓄，给自己买了医保社保，让他们知道你就算遇到事也能扛得住。         这些就是现在的“游必有方”啊。    我身边有个朋友，在北京工作了五年，父母一直在老家。

六 | 她每天不管多晚，都会给妈妈发一条晚安，哪怕只是一个表情。

七 | 逢年过节一定会回家，实在回不去，也会提前把给父母买的礼物寄回去，还约好邻居家的姐姐多帮着照应。    她父母从来不会天天催她回老家结婚，反而逢人就说我女儿在北京干得好，我们很放心。你看，这不就是对这句话最好的诠释吗？     哪怕你走得再远，你心里装着父母，不让他们悬着一颗心，这就够了。    真正的孝道，从来不是绑着你留在父母身边     现在很多人批判这句话，说它耽误年轻人发展，其实错怪了老祖宗的智慧。    孔子从来没说过不让年轻人出门闯荡，他自己带着弟子周游列国，不也是远游吗？他想说的从来不是“你必须留在父母身边”，而是“你要是出门，一定要想着让父母安心”。         现在很多人的矛盾，从来不是远游不对，而是只想着自己远游，忘了身后的父母。    有些人出去打拼，几年都不回一次家，电话也不打几个，父母问起近况就嫌烦，说他们不懂自己的理想。可你的理想再大，也不该让生你养你的人，天天对着月亮盼你回信啊。    也有些人，明明自己想去外面闯，就因为这句话，硬生生留在小地方，天天抱怨自己被家庭耽误了，对着父母甩脸子。这也不是孝道，这是扭曲了这句话本来的意思。    父母在，也能远游，只要你带着心安回家     现在交通这么方便，通讯这么发达，距离早就不是什么问题了。    你在大城市打拼，每年抽两次假期带父母出去旅游，或者接父母过来住一段时间，让他们看看你生活的地方，知道你过得好不好，比你天天守在家里跟他们吵架强多了。    你哪怕一个月回一次家，每次回去都开开心心陪他们吃顿饭，聊聊天，比你天天住在一起，却对着手机不理他们强多了。         这句话放到今天，从来不是束缚年轻人的枷锁，而是提醒我们的一句箴言。

八 | 不管我们走得有多远，飞的有多高，都别忘了身后还有牵挂我们的人。    别让你的远游，变成父母望眼欲穿的等待。

九 | 别把你的任性，当成追求自由的借口。    父母在，人生尚有来处。只要你让父母知道你的归处，远游又有什么关系呢？     这份刻在骨子里的牵挂，才是这句话留到今天，最珍贵的新内涵。

十 | 返回，查看更多。

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