9/13/17
Just a brief word from the author...greetings from Denmark...they say the happiest country in the world...but more of that later...
It's now official...after a few glitches, thanks to the hard work of Sam Gibbs, what was 'West Park Press" has become "Just Enough for the City." What began as the daily reporting on the story of West Park Church as it sought its renewal and rebirth by West Park Pastor Robert Brashear now becomes an ongoing reflection on the role of the church in the global city and of followers of Jesus in our day.
There are still pieces of reflection and analysis related to West Park that will be part of this blog, but in a larger context. All the history remains available on the blog as well.... I look forward to continuing our conversation!
Yours on the journey
Pastor Robert Brashear
P.S.....Now that I am officially emeritus from West Park, I am free to explore the world and open to invitations! Feel free to contact me at rlbrashear@gmail.com to explore possibilities...
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Lord I want to be a Christian
9/3
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| Pastor Bob and Elder Geraldine Herrin |
On a cold and rainy morning, I walk down Beverly Road in the Kensington neighborhood In Brooklyn to the Beverly Presbyterian Church. A pleasant neighborhood with old Victorian houses. Later l learn that it is also a culturally mixed community with many folks from the islands. And that later today, the streets will be filled with children chasing away the devil as part of the Jouvier West Indies celebration….I am met by Elder Geraldine Herrin, a very active lay leader, who will work with me in the service…Here is my reflection:
Lord, I want to be a Christian…
Someone once said to me that there were two kinds of Christians…the ones who heard Jesus say, ‘Pick up your cross and follow me” and those who heard him say, “ I came that you might have life and have it abundantly” and that the two really didn’t understand each other. I’ve been thinking that there’s more to it than that. That in order to have it abundantly, we need to pick up our crosses…while not forgetting joy…
Well, Lord I want to be a Christian…
Our brother Paul has a pretty good list of what it takes…let’s go over that again….you could almost do a sermon series with a sermon about each one of these..as I read them, think back over the last week to anything that may relate to any of these…
9Let love be genuine;
hate what is evil,
hold fast to what is good;
10love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.
11Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.
12Rejoice in hope,
be patient in suffering,
persevere in prayer.
13Contribute to the needs of the saints;
`extend hospitality to strangers.
14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
15Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
16Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are.
17Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.
18If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
19Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
20No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Are there particular traits of a Christian listed in this passage that you find particularly difficult? How might you practice them this week?
But we have to live these things out in the real world…
Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. Really?
What does that mean strategically in our own time?…
Let me be personal a minute…a few weeks ago I came to the Roulette here in Brooklyn…there were over 500 people came out..a choir of over 50 people from three generations singing protest songs from three generations…black, brown white, Asian, gay, straight, bi, trans, young, old….it was moving …and they had information tables up from all kinds of partner groups doing good things..like urban gardening and community organizing…one of the groups was Gathering for Justice started by Harry Belafonte and concerned with child incarceration…
But right now, they’re asking people to turn off the National Football League because Colin Kaepernick cannot get a job….last year, he decided not to stand for the nation anthem because of the ongoing crisis of African-Americans killed by police…and the fact that police are never indicted…so now no team will hire him…
I grew up in Pittsburgh, rooting for the Steelers was a way of connecting with my hometown. Something my family would do every weekend. SO now next Sunday, what will I do? I have to think about this…See, we have to make these things real in the world we live in…
Like we all can get behind hospitality for strangers, right? Write our letters of protest related to our President’s wanting to ban immigrants and build a wall… we all have immigrants in our lives…it only gets REAL when we get to hard ones like “blessing those who persecute us..”
I mean really? How do we do that? Jill Duffield of Presbyterian Outlook writes of being at the Charlottesville protests and a colleague of hers looked over to the other side…with the neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan guys…and her colleague said, there’s a lot of pain over there….and Jill felt ashamed that she had not felt any compassion for them….
Who persecutes you? How do you bless them? Do you pray for them? And what do you pray? Do I really want our President to change? What’s going on inside you?
Also note the conditional in the peaceful living part…
If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
Vengeance is mine, says the Lord, leave room for the Lord’s vengeance….
If you really want to be a Christian…if you really want to follow Jesus, it’s going to hurt…this is how much…when Jesus tells Peter what’s going to happen, and note that his greatest enemy is not the occupying Roman army, it’s the religious establishment that has sold out to the Romans…
Charles Sykes in Sunday Times…in reference Paul Ryan quoted…Sir Thomas More in Robert Bolt’s play “ A Man for All Seasons” : what profit a man to gain the whole world, but for Wales?
And Peter’s responds to Jesus, O No Lord, not you…and Jesus responds get thee behind me Satan..
(In Jesus ‘ day, Satan was basically the accuser and tempter…not so much the devil and punisher…)
Why did he say that? Because as a vulnerable human being he would just as soon avoid the whole thing…
The passage concludes with …there are those in this generation that will not taste death before Jesus’ kingdom comes…what?
I’m not completely sure…but I think here is where we get back to abundant living,…here we are back to JOY…
Rubem Alves said that he was tired of the politics (theology) of heart burn…that we can’t just project images of suffering … that numbs people…(or they numb themselves…) In the end, If you want people to believe in a better world, they need to see it, imagine it…we need images of beauty..and to be able to celebrate, in his words, Life in all its perplexity, paradox and most of all profound beauty…
In all this I see the smiling face of Archishop Tutu…who long before apartheid fell declared we have already won…and lived as if it were true until it became the truth…life abundant….
Lord I want to be a Christian…in my heart….
Friday, September 8, 2017
My NFL Dilemma
9/8
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| The Steelers Diaspora knows no bounds... |
A new NFL season is upon us. Usually I would be breathless with excitement about another season of following the Pittsburgh Steelers. But this year, I have a dilemma.
Some context is necessary. Rooting for the Steelers is not just being a sports fan, even a passionate one. For someone from Pittsburgh, it's more like being part of an ethnic group or religion, even with it's own rituals and liturgies. It's part of who you are.
The Steelers rise to football prominence and power coincided with the city of Pittsburgh reaching its nadir as the steel industry collapsed. Mills that lined the banks of the three rivers and supported the nation's war effort and post war boom employed workers by the tens of thousands. These mills shaped a region's identity and ethos. As the furnace fires were banked and doors shuttered, hearts and spirits broke. Even more, desperate workers fled the city in an ever flowing stream seeking economic survival creating a Pittsburgh diaspora across the country.
The Steel Curtain Steelers gave the city a sense of dignity and pride. Franco Harris' "Italian Army" bridged the gap between August Wilson's Hill and Italian Bloomfield. When you arrive at the Pittsburgh Airport, you're met by two life size figures: George Washington in his French and Indian War era uniform and Franco stretching for the "Immaculate Reception".
The Rooney family never forgot it's immigrant Irish roots and kept the family home on the north side. The modestly appointed owner's suite always kept room for neighborhood kids every Sunday. The Rooneys, like the Maras in New York, were throw backs to a different era where football was a family game. (Actor Rooney Mara is a daughter of that era.) Steeler alumni tend to stay in the city and remain part of the city. It's all one fabric. And of course they play at Heinz field.
Sunday afternoons are a form of liturgy. (Not to mention that some Pittsburgh congregations have created black and gold liturgical stoles for their clergy for use during the ecclesiastical season of playoffs...). We gather in homes or in Steeler bars or those multi-screen sports bars carrying our "Terrible Towels" ( thank you Myron Cope of blessed memory) and seeking others wearing black and gold and for the next 3 hours feel like we're home again.
Throughout many changes in my own family, those Sunday afternoons were the one time we came back together. When we got two new cats, black and white and gold and white, we named them Troy and Casey. (True Yunzers will get that.)
It transcends class and politics. I remember visiting a nursing home during playoffs and seeing the beds festooned with black and gold. When my courageous pastor friend was brought up on ecclesiastical charges for celebrating the marriage of two women, all out of town trial guests found a "Terrible Towel" in their welcome basket. Look, it just IS.
BUT....there are realities I can no longer ignore. First, there is the no longer deniable evidence of what the game does to the human brain. And the NFL has continued to go Big Tobacco on that one. I'm haunted by the image of Mike Webster's later years, to name only one. The anchor of the Steelers' Super Bowl offensive line and perhaps the epitome of its character reduced to paranoid dementia and homelessness from a damaged brain. That's hard to ignore.
Then there's the reality that was pointed out to me by my sports management graduate son. That even though the NFL is the richest of the big 4 sports, it's players share the LEAST in its profits, have the shortest careers and fewest guaranteed contracts and most life changing injuries and weakest union. Randy Newman's use of the "plantation" image is not far off. The fact that players are voluntary employees doesn't change the basic justice issues involved here.
And as if that were not enough, we now have the situation of Colin Kaepernick.
 |
| Repping Kaep |
Look, I know all the qualifications. Yes, he turned down an offer. But yes, the 49ers would have released him had he signed. Would they have resigned him with a different contract? Who knows. And yes, he has sometimes been unwise and immature. Piggy socks? Uh, no...Castro t-shirt? Not so smart, but....Not voting? Well, not strategic but I actually understand. .Most importantly, Kaepernick has shown a passionate desire to learn and grow and study his heritage and yes, put his money where his mouth is devoting millions of his own money to at risk youth. In essence, a responsible young man seeking to do what he can to better the world. One might think that admirable.
But when recent quarterback signings include second tier arena league journeymen, it can no longer be denied that there's a black ball, literally, for Kaepernick. The league has welcomed back countless domestic abusers and one notable perpetrator of animal cruelty. But somehow a dignified protect against injustice is too much.
 |
| Wearing Kaep at Maggie's |
Family members have forwarded the call by group of black pastors to "black out the NFL". ((https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuEY9imwkfU) Hundreds rallied in front of NFL headquarters to call for a meeting. Folks I stand with in the city, like Gathering for Justice (https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?shva=1#search/primer+failed+superpower/15e16c4604b581ad), have made this their action for the fall.
As a side note, the NFL may be facing a bigger problem ultimately. While one of my sons will continue to participate in fantasy football for professional reasons, there is no passion there. Among my boys friends, many have turned off on the NFL. They still back their particular baseball teams in season. They are passionate about the NBA ...the whole league, not just teams. And not a few of their friends have season tickets for the NYCFC soccer team, which seems to have connected with millennials.
So here's my problem...how can I stay connected to the Steelers and my roots without supporting the NFL? Is it possible? How long should the boycott last? Until Kapernick gets a job? Goodall meets with the ministers? My one son compared it to do convincing his fraternity brothers to give up hazing. Just because it's tradition doesn't make it right. But the Steelers thing is more than tradition. It runs deeper. So this Sunday, what do I do?
I actually for the first time chose to miss a Steelers game in NewYork this preseason when it would have cost $225 to take my boys to a meaningless game the guys they want to see no longer appear in any ways. $75 ahead to cheer for the laundry, as Seinfeld put it.
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