11/22
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| Work Center and Open Choir |
Today is the last day of the
residency of our Work Center friends at West-Park. And today they will be joining us in worship
once more. They are joining us for the Sunday that has traditionally been the
last Sunday of the church year, Christ the King Sunday, or Reign of Christ
Sunday. As well as the Sunday before Thanksgiving.
Before the service, Felicita stops
by to see me. She had not been able to be part of our shared vision
conversation. She’s aware that changes are taking place at West-Park. That the
building is greatly improved. And
improving. And that financial needs are great. One thing you must never lose,
she says, this can never just become a
rental space. You cannot lose the spirit
that has been here. This place is holy. Every time before we perform here, we
sweep and mop the floors. We clean the pews, the cushions. It connects us with
the space, like our home. It upsets me when I see people who just rent. Who
come in, use, pay their money and leave. I can’t imagine this in a church in
Italy. (I say something about government support…) She says, No, that is not what I mean. I am an
ex-Catholic, I don’t know what I believe but I know the holiness of this space.
What if all your renters, long term I mean, would take turns cleaning different
spaces? Would that change how they feel? What if you gathered for a once a
month meal, after working together? Is that too crazy? To care for the house
you live in together and to share together. Like a community? OK, those are my thoughts…
Mario knows that I am opening the
service with these words from Revelation:
4bGrace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to
come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5and from Jesus Christ, the
faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the
earth.
To him who
loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, 6and made us to be a
kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. Amen.
7Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even
those who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will
wail. So it is to be. Amen.
8"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, who
is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.
And has chosen their songs accordingly, songs from the
American South, African-American work songs,field songs, call and response,
spiritual, early gospel. Weaving their
bodies in a circling motion as they sing.
When its my turn, I ask everyone to sing Come Ye Thankful People Come, and
We Gather Together, traditional American Thanksgiving songs.
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| The singing begins |
Then we reads the gospel, JOHN 18:33-37 and shared this reflection:
Do you know what a Caliphate is? The group we know as ISIS calls the territory they already control the caliphate, a geographic territory. Under their control in which Islamic law in
its most extreme form. There are maps on the internet that show a territory
that runs from Spain and Portugal all
the way across the Balkans, North Africa, the Middle East and into China. All
the territory the Muslims once controlled reunited. After that the Mahdi will arrive and the Messianic age will be ushered in with
Jesus’ help. That is the dream. Bear
with me. This is not another anti-Muslim rant.
Next we get Greater
Israel…all the land promised to Israel by God. The first, found in Genesis 15:18–21, seems
to define the land that was given to all of the children of Abraham, including
Ishmael, Zimran, Jokshan, Midian, etc. It describes a large territory, from the brook of Egypt to the Euphrates,
comprising all of modern-day Israel,
the Palestinian Territories, Lebanon,Syria, Jordan,
and Iraq, as
well as Kuwait, Saudi
Arabia, U.A.E, Oman, Yemen, most
of Turkey, and
all the land east of the Nile river.
Seems crazy. Obviously in direct conflict with the ISIS vision. But…for now,
all of mandate Palestine seems to enough of a first step.
We’ll take a brief detour for the crusaders’ campaign to recapture all
the territory that had once been Christian.
They actually did create the empire of Jerusalem ruling over 350,000 Jews,
Muslims and Eastern Christians…
And how can we forget the Holy Roman Empire? That
lasted almost 1000 years and ran from the Baltic and North Seas to the Mediterranean?
Prague, Rome, Budapest? The last remaining gasps of the original Roman Empire
now under the sign of the cross? The emperor elected but needing the sign off
of the pope to be official.
Or the Treaty of Tordesillas
where the pope divided up the world between Portugal and Spain? The Spanish
arriving with la cruz y la espada…the
cross and the sword….it’s not a far leap from that Philippians passage…..
10 that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth,
and of those under the earth, 11 and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
And before I stop, let’s throw in the plan
supported by US and Australian fundamentalist Christians to blow up the dome of the rock in Jerusalem so that the Third Temple can be built.
Empires. Kingdoms. How can we even talk about Christ the King in 2015? Years ago, I
wanted to explore this from a feminist
perspective which is how Katherine Kurs came here to work with us for 10 years.
Now it’s the kingdom part that
worries me.
Those who have been in our Bible Study know that
Wes Howard-Brook in his Come Out my
People….says that there are two religions in the Bible…not Judaism and Christianity
but that of Creation and Covenant and
that of Empire. They are in constant
tension from beginning Genesis to Revelation’s end.
And that’s the conflict we look at today in the storyof Jesus’
conversation with Pilot. The emperor asks of Jesus, "Are you the King of the Jews?" 34Jesus answered, "Do
you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?" 35Pilate replied, "I
am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over
to me. What have you done?"36Jesus answered, "My kingdom
is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would
be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my
kingdom is not from here." 37Pilate
asked him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I
am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify
to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."
Bottom line…Jesus says his kingdom is not of this world…if it were armed rebels would be in the house…
So what
does he mean? More and more, I’m thinking he’s asking us not to sign up for
rebel armies..but to create communities
of resistance….what does that mean? Like the African- American communities
that created the music our friends sing, communities of liberated space where the kingdom, no kindom, already exists. A
community in, but not of the world…
What would that look like? Feel like?
I’m not completely sure but I know that anyone walking in would immediately
feel so that’s what this place is…
How would we build that? Create that? It would begin by believing it was possible and by beginning to act as if
it already existed..
So how then would we relate to the kingdom of this world, this empire? I’m not exactly sure…..to black lives matter and refugees and migrants and income inequality?
Still working on that…I suppose if we got the
first part going, the second part would follow…and I know this…it means not
allowing any other power or authority to command our ultimate allegiance.. it’s a way of life, not assent to a
theological proposition…knowing you don’t get to the empty cross of
resurrection without the embodied cross of the crucifixion.. it is ultimately
that act of solidarity that welcomes in
new reality, it is humility, not triumph…
AMEN
The Work Center Open Choir leads us in more
songs, singing, weaving, …
and as I watch Jenna, I understand that at it’s
highest level, several of the choir members are creating and embodying characters, that character allowing
for a deeper level of experience than even the singing and dancing. Having them
with us again has been as always a moving experience. In more ways than one.
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| Felicita, Bob, Mario, Jeremy and Myrto |
We stand together in a circle. Make our blessings
and sing Amen. Until the next time….
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| Mario, Rachel and John |
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