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"It was kinda boring," said 12-year-old Darrin Reid, an eighth-grader at Edgar Fahs Smith Middle School and a regular at The Matt's youth center.
Now the stairwell could serve as the backdrop for a film set in a Brooklyn subway station.
Except for a religious twist. The walls, splashed with color, tell the story of a down-and-out teen in hip-hop attire who finds acceptance and Jesus after visiting The Matt's.
The urban-inspired mural by graffiti artist Ramon Trevino of Lower Windsor Township is accented by jumbles of bubble letters shadowed and angled for a 3-D dimension. They spell Redeemed, Faith,
Hope and Jesus.
Arrows emerge at angles in the lettering, pointing downstairs toward the youth center.
The lettering can be difficult to decipher if you're not used to reading graffiti, said Charlie Bollinger, the center's director, who commissioned Trevino to decorate the entryway.
"The congregation comes through these doors all the time, and they don't know what this says. But they think it's really beautiful," Bollinger said.
Some members suggested Bollinger mount explanatory plaques next to each large-scale word, "but that kind of takes the fun out of it," he said.
Indeed, it's part of graffiti's personality and style, Trevino said.
"Some artists take pride in your not being able to read it," he said.
Trevino's work also graces the Reid Menzer Memorial Skatepark and the walls of Crossroads Youth Center in York.
Trevino first experimented with graffiti (illegally) at age 13. After he became a Christian, he got back into graffiti eight years ago, hoping to use the art form for the benefit of the community.
He changed his graffiti name from Wasted One to Redeemed One, or Red1, which he signs on all of his work.
"It means to be brought back from something that was negative, or to be made new," he said.
Three years ago, he helped start the 3-year-old Writers' Block program at Crossroads to give young, local graffiti artists a legal venue to pursue their art, share ideas and improve their technique.
The Matt's youth center reminded Trevino of similar places he encountered on his journey out of the drug-laced graffiti lifestyle he used to lead growing up in Lancaster.
"I had places like that, places where I could go and be encouraged and get affirmation," he said.
"The (message of the mural) is you don't have to clean yourself up or anything for Jesus. Just like the youth center -- he accepts kids just as they are."
In other religion news around the region:
Pastor's passing: The
Crouse received degrees from Lycoming College and Crozer Theological Seminary and also attended Temple University. He served a number of congregations, including Fourth United Methodist Church in York from 1989 until his retirement in 1994.
He was evangelist and manager for 14 years at Crystal Springs Camp Meeting in Breezewood. In retirement, he served churches on an interim basis and as associate pastor of lay ministry at Bethlehem United Methodist in Dallastown and as visitation pastor at Stewartstown United Methodist Church.
A tenor, he organized and directed many choirs and often performed with wife Torus or as a soloist.
History bound: A local Mormon couple will spend the next year serving in a family-history center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Jackson Sonneborn, 65, and wife Sylvia, 67, members of a York Township congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, begin training Monday for their year-long mission at FamilySearch Support.
The Sonneborns will teach family history Sunday school classes and man communication lines for FamilySearch Support service, answering genealogy questions by phone and e-mail for English-speaking people around the world.
The LDS church maintains the largest repository of family history records in the world. The records are being indexed by volunteers and added to the Web site, labs.familysearch.org, which can be searched for free.
Jackson is a retired project manager for Penn Crest Construction in Lancaster. Sylvia retired from teaching English in Dallastown Area and Eastern York high schools. She had been the local spokeswoman for the church for five years.
Philanthropic award: Scholars at the University of California at Irvine recently honored the family of the late Rev. Samuel M. Jordan, a Hopewell Township native who founded a school in Iran that later became Alborz College.
Jordan worked as a missionary in Iran in the early 1900s. Earlier this month, his niece, Kathryn Jordan of Hopewell Township, accepted a medal on the family's behalf at a ceremony at the university in Irvine.
The presenter, engineer Fariborz Maseeh, attended Alborz College and, in 2005, founded the Samuel Jordan Center for Persian Studies at the UC-Irvine.
Past and present simultaneously: Asbury United Methodist Church in York is offering contemporary- and traditional-style worship services running simultaneously at 9 and 11 a.m. Sundays.
The Rev. Phil Covert, pastor, preaches at all four services: At the beginning of the "come-as-you-are" contemporary services (with a more up-tempo worship style and praise music) and toward the end of the traditional services (featuring hymns and responsive readings).
Between services, the church has a fellowship time in its social hall. The church is at 340 E. Market St. For details, call 843-0733.
Creation theology and science: The physicist and theologian Robert Russell will give three lectures at Messiah College 10 a.m., 1 and 3 p.m. Nov. 14 about the interaction between Christian theology and the natural sciences.
Russell, a professor of theology and science at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif., founded and directs the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences.
His public lectures in Hostetter Chapel are part of a science and theology symposium sponsored by the Central Pennsylvania Forum for Religion and Science. Tickets are $25 before Sunday and $35 after. For details, call 691-6036 or visit www.messiah.edu/tickets.
Word origin
The word "graffiti" comes from the Greek word "graphein," which means "to write." The word "graffiti" is plural of the Italian word "graffito."
Glossary
Writer: Someone who does graffiti
Toy: A novice or inexperienced writer
Crew: A group of people who write graffiti together
Tag: A graffiti vandal's moniker applied quickly and repetitively
Throw-up: A more elaborate tag, usually done in two or more colors, often done in balloon letters that are filled in or left as outlines.
Piece: Short for masterpieces, these are large, detailed drawings
Bombing: Saturating an area with one's tag
Online
The Graffiti Fineart of Ramon Trevino, redgraff.com
