Hoping we are inscribed in the Book of Life....

9/24

Inside Barney Greengrass on the day before Yom Kippur

Luisa comes in for a visit. Her theology is as inclusive as her smile is warm. I discover that one of her grandparents was Jewish and she has always had a sensitivity to the persecutions of the Jewish people, and the influence of Nietzsche and yes, Christianity on antisemitic ideology.  She understands enough history to find a triumphalist theology impossible, beginning with the Inquisition. And ultimately she understands Jesus more as un camino, a path, a way to walk, more than a doctrine. She brings to us beauty, a full heart and grace whether its the flowers she brings, her sensitive heart or her vision of a garden. More than anything, she wants to be of service. 

RL has arrived early and is hard at work with Teddy on the ongoing construction of his studio/office. More items to buy at the hardware store.

Two workers continue to refine Martin’s studio, silent while his troupe is in residence at the Joyce. (And on the taxi TV screens and the New York Times and...)

The Greengrass truck getting loaded

I stop in to see Gary Greengrass. He’s in his Yom Kippur avalanche mode. This year due to the calendar, he’s only got one day to get his shipments out across the country, the sturgeon that reminds people of home. He appreciates the tables he borrowed from us to set up an assembly line. The truck is waiting to be loaded. 

There’s a man with a sandwich board in front if the church advertising eyebrow threading weaves...trying to pass out cards, too...

Steeler  nation on 86th Street and Amsterdam

At the end of the block, the Con Ed crew is wrapping up their seemingly endless work where the manhole fire happened. A construction worker is wearing a Steeler decorated helmet. As I pass, he looks up, I point to the P on my gold and black hat and he smiles. For some people its sturgeon. For me and the Con Ed guy, its Steelers that connects me to home. Like being a part of an ethnic group. Almost half the city in diaspora since the steel industry crashed.  We all need that connection to home. To where we came from.

Con Ed construction worker

9/25

An anxiety filled day. We learned late yesterday that yet another almost done deal isn’t going to happen. At least not on our schedule.  And now all our work from Sunday seems to have been cancelled out and I feel like I’m playing poker with an empty hand. It will take Jamie to remind me how much of our report is still in place. The meeting  with our Presbytery contacts looms ahead. Hard to rally my/our spirits one more time. 

Zeljko appears in my office via Skype from Serbia. He and family are arriving Friday and housing plans have fallen through. The pressure of these realities is giving me a headache.  

Maria and Katrine have a vision of a trilingual school, IE, English, French and Mandarin. Want to start small. This could work. Yet anther road to start down. 

Need to go down to RL’s office at the Gate to see if we can finalize our agreement. And a Spanish/Portuguese/English wedding to rehearse after that. And much, too much on my mind.

It's Erev Yom Kippur, Kol Nidre, the holiest night of the Jewish year.

Did we make it? Are we inscribed in the Book of Life, or.... I think of our friends, Mim, Ted, Alice, Asya, Alice and Jon...hope that these days have been meaningful for them..and that their tireless support in thought word and deed will not go unrewarded. May it be a sweeter year for us all.