1021 sins and the family

Liz picked me up for the Biola seminar and we were on our way. We arrived a little early so we stopped by the Common Grounds cafe so that she could grab a mocha. I didn’t have one as I needed a plausible alibi, in case I nodded off during the speaker, since I don't have a column to hide behind, like the one at SBCC.

She gave me a brief tour of the visible campus (mainly the buildings we saw between the auditorium and the cafe) and I shared a story, which I would like to share with you now.

Years ago (okay, early 80s) I attended Cal Poly Pomona. About fifteen years later, I returned there for a two-day conference. On the second day, I ran into a guy who instructed several of my classes. When I was a student, he was a part-time lecturer. But now he was a full-time professor.

He asked me if I had a chance to look at the campus. I told him I did, but nothing changed much except for a new building in the quad. He smiled and told me that was the faculty office building, and his office was in there. I asked him if he liked it. He replied “yes and no”.

Yes and no? I asked for clarification. He said that the building was much nicer than the trailer he had been in for seven years. Then, he smiled and told me the rest.

Apparently, Cal Poly wanted it known that they were on the cutting edge of environmental design, so they had an open design competition for an “environmentally-friendly” building. At the time, that was a new concept.

The winning design used a lot of “new” ideas to incorporate solar energy, natural lighting, natural heating and recycled building materials. The result was a building that was tall and sat on a square base.

During the initial phase of the construction, the administration didn’t like the way the building was orientated, so they had the contractor turn the building around 180 degrees. This was possible because the base was square. But they didn’t consult the architect or the design team.

That’s why the solar panels were facing north. The completed building had to be retrofitted with heating, lighting, and standard electrical power. The end-cost was higher than the original budget and the building could not be used by the Cal Poly publicity office. It was the joke of the environmental design community for many years.

Tonight’s guest speaker was Judy TenElshof, PhD, a Professor of Spirituality and Marriage and Family, and she spoke on “Transforming Family Experience In The Family Of God”. One of the concepts she raised was that the problem today in family relationships is not only that we are tempted by sins in the same way that Eve was, rather where she was tempted, we now live. She concluded her talk with the four characteristics of a spiritually disciplined family: covenant commitment, grace, empowerment, and intimacy.

I found it interesting that Judy and her husband founded the Hilltop Renewal Center for Christian Leaders.