702 Update - And so it begins

702 E 12, Homestead

Earlier this week, we purchased this beauty of a home. It's a 3 story brick home, built in 1900.  Our plan is to resurrect this home to its former beauty, in a way of reinvesting in this community.  It's in pretty rough shape, and for more info on the house, here's the link to the listing on Zillow.

A History Lesson

The home is technically in the borough of Munhall, but has a Homestead address. There was a strike at the Carnegie Homestead Steel Mill, the largest in the nation at the time, and 11 people were killed because of the heavy-handed management response to bust the unions and disband the strike. The homes nearest the Mill were originally predominantly filled with immigrant steel workers, mostly Eastern European. At some point, the Eastern Europeans gave way to African American workers, and Homestead today has a population of 3,200, a median household income of $26,500 and is 63% African American, according to CensusReporter.org. 

Meanwhile, the steel company wanted a place where the superintendents could live, away from the muck and dust of the mill. And Munhall was born.  Carnegie Land Company owned the land where this home is situated, along with my current residence. The Land Company required that homes be built with a minimum construction value, and they detailed precisely which types of homes were allowed to be built. According to the Borough of Munhall webpage, "Visitors will note the area's homes' substantial construction, the large lot sizes, the tree-lined streets, and the small Park Square Commons Area. There is a marked difference in this neighborhood compared to the nearby Homestead, just a block away; where older, frame homes and small closer set lots predominate."  Contrasted to Homestead, Munhall has a population of 11,000, a median household income of $42,400, and is 84% caucasian, according to CensusReporter.org. 

There's a steep hill up from the river and former steel plants. Munhall's area goes up the hill, and over to the other side. While these houses are both technically in Munhall, I've been told by a few Munhall and Homestead residents we actually should consider it, "Lower Munhall", you know, closer to the mills, less wealthy, less white.  So If the Post Office says its Homestead, and Munhall wants to wash their hands of lower Munhall, I'm happy to claim Homestead. It's vastly more diverse than Munhall and looks much more like Homestead - ethnically and socio-economically.  But this are has Munhall housing - big, 3 story brick, beauties that need some TLC to resurrect.

How we got here

We were supposed to close on this house back in May. But apparently, there was a 'mortgage lien' on the property. One major bank had a lien on the house because the mortgage hadn't been paid. The had never foreclosed, so it sat in limbo for years. The former owner was living in the home, and clearly was overwhelmed with her illness, and she was a caretaker for a grown child with disabilities. The mortgage was in the name and social security number of a former husband who'd long since left the scene. The bank wouldn't give the title company any info on the lien without the permission of the owner, and no one could find the owner. At some point Big Bank A sold the lien to Big Bank B.  After several extensions, the liens were finally cleared and we closed on the house. I have nothing but sympathy for the previous owner; as a caretaker of an adult disabled child, I can't imagine doing that work if I was facing serious illness, and faced it all alone.  

Today's Work

Today, we went to the house at 702 E 12 to begin the process of cleaning out. We took down the broken, dingy plastic mini-blinds on the front door, to discover a full pane of beautiful beveled glass. And when I say 'beautiful', I mean it will be, eventually.

Then I tackled the pile of mail by the front door. It included unopened bills, and magazines from 2019. 

After about 2 hours, we'd collected from the house,

An unopened microwave and  unopened mini blinds to use
 at the house while we're rehabbing. 

A box of lightly worn Nike shoes and 
a dozen new-ish Pittsburgh sports hats 
to try to sell

A Steelers/Seahawks Super Bowl framed photo,
mirrors, sand weight belt, game cube, crystal bells, 
a Turtle Wax buffer, and stuffed animals to contribute to a community garage sale in late July

A pile of clothes to donate

And 10 construction sized garbage bags of trash. 

All of this came from the front hall and living room.  Tomorrow we'll return to tackle the dining room, which includes a broken up dining set, small kitchen appliances, and lots of unopened food. 

We'll bring another box of construction garbage bags,  a wireless speaker, and a new lock for the front door. 

Max and Mary's wedding sermon

Uwala-Mary and Max – Thank you for inviting us all to share with today with you. It is a deep honor to be here with you.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has been known to say that if what you’re doing, if what you’re saying, if what you’re believing isn’t about Love, it isn’t about God. Looking at the two of you, today is absolutely about God, because it is unquestionably about Love. 

The readings too are all about love. From Genesis, we hear that man leaves his mother and father and embraces his wife and becomes one. That is love In Ephesians, the prayer is that you, being rooted in love may have the power to know how deep and wide and long and high Christ’s love is. Max read that man has committed that he is taking the woman out of honest integrity, or in other translations, sincere love.

Uwala-Mary reminded us all that if we don’t have love, we don’t have anything. We can be generous, kind, prophetic, and even have faith to move mountains, but without love, it is nothing. Love.

The Gospel reading is packed full of love language. God loves Christ, Christ loves us, and we are commanded to love each other.

And the miracle of your marriage? It is a way we can all see what that illogical love looks like. Your marriage is a visible sign to everyone of God’s love in this world, so on behalf of everyone who is bolstered by your love, thank you.

You two are choosing to make a life-time commitment to each other, to create a new family – the Uwala-Mary and Max family. You’re busy, independent rational people, and getting married is a sign of a love that defies all of that. And yet here we are. We are here because you two are so rooted in and flooded by God’s love, that it’s spilling over. First to each other, and there’s so much, it’s filling us all too.

God’s love is unwarranted, unearned, illogical, unending. God is so big and incomprehensible it’s hard to understand God’s love. So God became human in Jesus, and through Jesus, we got a foretaste of what God’s love actually looks like. Jesus loved everyone, despite language and nation, despite religion or tradition. He was hospitable to strangers and “sinners”. Through Jesus, we were able to see what love looks like, to see what God looks like.

So what makes a good marriage? I’ll give you a hint. It’s the word of the day. Love. Uwala-Mary told us about some of the key attributes of love. I think they’re primarily describing God’s love, or since God is love, they are describing God. But if you model your relationship after that, you’re solid.

Love is patient, love is kind. God will wait for us as long as it takes to learn whatever it is we’re supposed to. God will not seek revenge. God will wait for us to return for the tenth or 100th time to God’s love. In your relationship, be patient and kind, like God’s love. Wait for the other one who’s late. Don’t assume bad intentions. Do the kind, surprising thing. Hold hands. Laugh often.

Love does not envy, does not boast, is not proud. Love is not self seeking, easily angered, and it does not keep score of who’s wrong. God is not jealous of how we spend our time, even when we spend it away from God. Do not be envious of each other, of each other’s skills or strengths, or friends. Be honest, and don’t get angry.

Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes and always perseveres. How awesome is it that we have a god who is all of that. And how awesome that love, your love, is that. Try never to go to bed angry. Always say I love you at least once a day, and assume the best of each other. Always. If you aim to do these things, to be these things, your relationship – rooted in God’s love, will be spectacular.

I can’t think of a better way to conclude than to repeat the lyrics of the first song from today. The Lord bless you and keep you. May God’s favor be upon you, and your family and your children and their children and their children.

Amen

[Mary's mother, from Sierra Leone calls Mary by her birth name, Uwala, hence the hyphenated first name]