Kissing The Monitor
The lady was obviously distraught. She moved uneasily from left to right on her stool. As she did she looked down from the monitor of the machine that she was sitting in front of… then slowly raised her right hand to her mouth. She kissed each of her knuckles on her right hand. Then she leaned forward and gently rubbed the kissed knuckles over the monitor screen in three places. The action took place directly over the three areas that showed the various fruit, objects and the words “BAR”. The three areas were frozen in this place until she then pulled the lever on the right side… then began the next rapid monitor change by pushing the buttons below the monitor.
It is hard to explain the actions and reactions of the hundreds of people that flooded the Casino floor in Casino Windsor. Each sat at different machines and each was conjuring up a different “luck” as they concentrated on a moving screen. Some were Zombie like in their approach to their chosen machine. Others were animated as they pushed a button over and over and over again. No one was smiling and no one was talking…except for an odd, “Come ON!”
Are you nuts…?
What an odd thing to write about on a church blog? Imagine a minister in a Casino and close enough to machines to see and hear people? What will this world come to next? Where is the church doing anyway? What has this got to do with anything spiritual?
If you have read the Blog yesterday (November 6, 2007) – you will remember that Alida and I were in Windsor to minister at the New Song Church. New Song is just down the road from the glamour and glitz of Casino Windsor. In fact it may be a mile away.
New Song is not far from the Detroit River. Casino Windsor is at the edge of the Detroit River. But that only other thing that they share in Windsor is the fact that they both “minister” to people.
On Friday night Alida and I arrived at New Song Church for the Friday night outreach to people on Drouillard Road and the community nearby. People were eating good food, searching through clothing and enjoying the evening at church. Many were broken people that had little or nothing of this world’s material. For that reason they were in the New Song Church to receive help.
We left the building deeply moved by what we had witnessed. Such compassion offered by loving Teens from the Kingsville Church – a few miles down the road to the west of New Song Church. The teens were there to serve and clean the tables as the folk of the community came in and left their messes behind. This was a brand of Christianity that I only hope my own grandkids will experience some day.
Now it was time for the hotel…
We drove along the Detroit River and followed the winding road to our hotel. As we drove along the river we got the first glance at the spectacular Windsor Casino on our left. The lights were dancing from the roof top – Hollywood style. The bright lights of the ground lit the glamorous place. Wow – was all you could say. Something was happening in this building and with the cars and people pouring into the site – you knew that it was the place to be.
We drove a short distance further and arrived at the front door of the Travel Lodge hotel – our new home for two nights. It was nice too… but not quite a Casino Hotel. It was at that moment that I had a funny thought, New Song Church would likely have little hassle putting up their guest speaker in the Travel Lodge – but may have to answer questions if they paid the bill at the Casino. (To shorten this part of the story – the room was wonderful – with a view that was simply WOW!)
After we were settled we decided to go for some food. It was past 10 PM. I asked Alida is she was willing to go to the Casino and see if they had a restaurant open. No problem there… off we went for a short walk down the street to Casino Windsor.
As we entered the building I can only tell you that the spectacular presentation of what was about to be out night out – was something else. DOUBLE WOW! This place was designed to take your breath away…big, bold, glitzy, and simply a not in this world experience. Once through the door, you thought little about what was for supper last night or if you had enough money to buy groceries next week. This was to be an experience that would not be forgotten. We stood for a while and just starred at the ceiling and the furniture and the colours and the lightening and the walls…..and…
I’ll admit it… I am a hick that has never been to a Casino before. Sure I watch “Las Vegas” on TV. But TV can’t tell you what you see when you come through the doors from the cool outside… to this absolutely cool inside.
We walked around for another hour at least before eating. What we saw was over powering. The banks and banks, row upon row of slots that were filled to capacity with patrons working the handles and pushing the buttons was staggering. Mixed with the machines were the table games – each with a different group sitting their waiting for their turn to hit it big with a live table operator and some flashing cards that spilled out over the table cover.
The crap table was without a doubt the most fascinating. The players around the tables were mesmerized with the action in the pit area. They watched as their fellow player threw the red dice looking for the right numbers to stop on the top.
At one table a man dressed in a neat suit, no expression on his face, placed the three one hundred dollar bills over the slot in the table…then he forced the thin metal bar over the money and pushed it into the table top to the vault below. The sullen man across from him has just given the man the hundred dollar bills in exchange for some round plastic chips that he had now stacked on a lucky spot on the table. The dice danced their way to the other end of the table… there was a loud “YES!” and the crap table worker slid more round plastic chips his way. We just saw him win maybe twice of what the man slid into the slot on the table.
Immediately beside us was a woman that was apparently learning how to work the bet at the crap table. She laid her chips on an area and waited. The dice danced and the casino man scooped up her chips over to his pile. She bought more chips laying down a number of twenty dollar bills… and then selected a different spot on the table top to sit her stack of chips. The dice danced and the Casino man scooped her stack of chips again… and she bought more….
As Alida and I walked away she whispered to me… “She lost more than I spend on groceries in a month!” And then Alida shook her head slowly as she considered the plight of the woman that was still trying to hit it with the next dance of the dice.
We sat quietly in the Casino Restaurant and ate a burger. Neither of us said much until Alida mentioned the grocery money again. It had stunned her – and me to watch. My thoughts kept returning to the woman that was kissing her knuckles over and over again as she played on.
My thoughts also went back to the Casino worker that was repairing a machine in the slot machine row. She had the machine open and was trying to adjust the mechanism that dispensed the winning tokens. Lights inside flashed out the code she asked for. It was a machine responding to the technician’s touch – nothing at all to do with any random push of a button… or kissing of knuckles. It was a real fancy ATM Machine that was out to receive a big and steady deposit with little or no dispensing.
As we looked up at the ceiling there were literally hundreds of black bubbles hanging down. In the bubbles were cameras watching everyone. I had my camera in my pocket but instinctively knew that I would have immediate visitors if I took photos of this place. Gamblers are uneasy with someone taking their photos – especially if their spouse doesn’t know they are in the building…
It was as the restaurant table that I looked at Alida and said slowly… “This place and these people are so far from Drouillard Road and New Song Church.” The food smelled great at New Song – here in the Casino it tasted okay but something was missing.
No we didn’t gamble. Not we didn’t try the slots either. The grocery money remained in Alida’s bank account and my tool money stayed in the hopeful account.
New Song Church is a cathedral of hope. Casino Windsor is a cathedral too…but offers little hope.
I am mulling over what we saw and felt even today – even five days later.
With my New Song Church friends looking over my shoulder I say, “Keep up the great work… you are given the hopeless help…you are in my prayers.
~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~
It is hard to explain the actions and reactions of the hundreds of people that flooded the Casino floor in Casino Windsor. Each sat at different machines and each was conjuring up a different “luck” as they concentrated on a moving screen. Some were Zombie like in their approach to their chosen machine. Others were animated as they pushed a button over and over and over again. No one was smiling and no one was talking…except for an odd, “Come ON!”Are you nuts…?
What an odd thing to write about on a church blog? Imagine a minister in a Casino and close enough to machines to see and hear people? What will this world come to next? Where is the church doing anyway? What has this got to do with anything spiritual?
If you have read the Blog yesterday (November 6, 2007) – you will remember that Alida and I were in Windsor to minister at the New Song Church. New Song is just down the road from the glamour and glitz of Casino Windsor. In fact it may be a mile away.
New Song is not far from the Detroit River. Casino Windsor is at the edge of the Detroit River. But that only other thing that they share in Windsor is the fact that they both “minister” to people.
On Friday night Alida and I arrived at New Song Church for the Friday night outreach to people on Drouillard Road and the community nearby. People were eating good food, searching through clothing and enjoying the evening at church. Many were broken people that had little or nothing of this world’s material. For that reason they were in the New Song Church to receive help.
We left the building deeply moved by what we had witnessed. Such compassion offered by loving Teens from the Kingsville Church – a few miles down the road to the west of New Song Church. The teens were there to serve and clean the tables as the folk of the community came in and left their messes behind. This was a brand of Christianity that I only hope my own grandkids will experience some day.
Now it was time for the hotel…
We drove along the Detroit River and followed the winding road to our hotel. As we drove along the river we got the first glance at the spectacular Windsor Casino on our left. The lights were dancing from the roof top – Hollywood style. The bright lights of the ground lit the glamorous place. Wow – was all you could say. Something was happening in this building and with the cars and people pouring into the site – you knew that it was the place to be.
We drove a short distance further and arrived at the front door of the Travel Lodge hotel – our new home for two nights. It was nice too… but not quite a Casino Hotel. It was at that moment that I had a funny thought, New Song Church would likely have little hassle putting up their guest speaker in the Travel Lodge – but may have to answer questions if they paid the bill at the Casino. (To shorten this part of the story – the room was wonderful – with a view that was simply WOW!)
After we were settled we decided to go for some food. It was past 10 PM. I asked Alida is she was willing to go to the Casino and see if they had a restaurant open. No problem there… off we went for a short walk down the street to Casino Windsor.
As we entered the building I can only tell you that the spectacular presentation of what was about to be out night out – was something else. DOUBLE WOW! This place was designed to take your breath away…big, bold, glitzy, and simply a not in this world experience. Once through the door, you thought little about what was for supper last night or if you had enough money to buy groceries next week. This was to be an experience that would not be forgotten. We stood for a while and just starred at the ceiling and the furniture and the colours and the lightening and the walls…..and…I’ll admit it… I am a hick that has never been to a Casino before. Sure I watch “Las Vegas” on TV. But TV can’t tell you what you see when you come through the doors from the cool outside… to this absolutely cool inside.
We walked around for another hour at least before eating. What we saw was over powering. The banks and banks, row upon row of slots that were filled to capacity with patrons working the handles and pushing the buttons was staggering. Mixed with the machines were the table games – each with a different group sitting their waiting for their turn to hit it big with a live table operator and some flashing cards that spilled out over the table cover.
The crap table was without a doubt the most fascinating. The players around the tables were mesmerized with the action in the pit area. They watched as their fellow player threw the red dice looking for the right numbers to stop on the top.
At one table a man dressed in a neat suit, no expression on his face, placed the three one hundred dollar bills over the slot in the table…then he forced the thin metal bar over the money and pushed it into the table top to the vault below. The sullen man across from him has just given the man the hundred dollar bills in exchange for some round plastic chips that he had now stacked on a lucky spot on the table. The dice danced their way to the other end of the table… there was a loud “YES!” and the crap table worker slid more round plastic chips his way. We just saw him win maybe twice of what the man slid into the slot on the table.
Immediately beside us was a woman that was apparently learning how to work the bet at the crap table. She laid her chips on an area and waited. The dice danced and the casino man scooped up her chips over to his pile. She bought more chips laying down a number of twenty dollar bills… and then selected a different spot on the table top to sit her stack of chips. The dice danced and the Casino man scooped her stack of chips again… and she bought more….
As Alida and I walked away she whispered to me… “She lost more than I spend on groceries in a month!” And then Alida shook her head slowly as she considered the plight of the woman that was still trying to hit it with the next dance of the dice.
We sat quietly in the Casino Restaurant and ate a burger. Neither of us said much until Alida mentioned the grocery money again. It had stunned her – and me to watch. My thoughts kept returning to the woman that was kissing her knuckles over and over again as she played on.
My thoughts also went back to the Casino worker that was repairing a machine in the slot machine row. She had the machine open and was trying to adjust the mechanism that dispensed the winning tokens. Lights inside flashed out the code she asked for. It was a machine responding to the technician’s touch – nothing at all to do with any random push of a button… or kissing of knuckles. It was a real fancy ATM Machine that was out to receive a big and steady deposit with little or no dispensing.
As we looked up at the ceiling there were literally hundreds of black bubbles hanging down. In the bubbles were cameras watching everyone. I had my camera in my pocket but instinctively knew that I would have immediate visitors if I took photos of this place. Gamblers are uneasy with someone taking their photos – especially if their spouse doesn’t know they are in the building…
It was as the restaurant table that I looked at Alida and said slowly… “This place and these people are so far from Drouillard Road and New Song Church.” The food smelled great at New Song – here in the Casino it tasted okay but something was missing.
No we didn’t gamble. Not we didn’t try the slots either. The grocery money remained in Alida’s bank account and my tool money stayed in the hopeful account.
New Song Church is a cathedral of hope. Casino Windsor is a cathedral too…but offers little hope.
I am mulling over what we saw and felt even today – even five days later.With my New Song Church friends looking over my shoulder I say, “Keep up the great work… you are given the hopeless help…you are in my prayers.
~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~
Detroit by Day
and Detroit by Night
- across from our hotel...
posted by Murray Lincoln at
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
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