Great and Small

9/29

Back to Good Shepherd Faith in the shadows of Lincoln Center....

My other text for the day is ...
"You who choose to lead must follow..." that's actually the Grateful Dead...'

Where to begin? So many moments from this past week floating around...it was Yom Kippur...you ever notice that even with Labor Day, the fall really doesn't begin in New York City until after the High Holy Days? I loved seeing the boxes plied to the roof high in front  of Barney Greengrass, delivery trucks fired up and ready to go..

Ready for BreakFast

.their biggest day of the year...supplying lox and bagels to the world...the last  couple of years, they've rented out the West Park Chapel as an extra work space...something about their night long marathon makes me smile..

Yom Kippur morning my rabbi friend Steve invited me to preach at his Yom Kippur service at the Bitter End.

Yom Kippur at the Bitter End

..he does his usual services online but on High Holy days gathers a real live crowd at the iconic night club with a jazz band. Now that was a pretty good sermon, BUT, ah not quite right for today..

Friday night two West Park members, including one from Kazakhstan had an international music festival including American singer song writers, a rock singer from Malaysia, Central Asian pop singers, rappers form Queens a heavy metal guitar player from Moscow and a Tazhiki wedding singer. Leaving aside the occasional SNL feel to the night, I'm willing to bet there was not a more diverse audience in the Upper West Side. (Or beyond)

Yesterday I studied the beauty of Goergia O'Keefe's Hawaiian paintings  at the Botanical gardens.

Georgia O'Keefe in Hawaii

Georgia O'Keefe in Hawaii 

And last night, again at West Park, a concert for Nicaragua...with a singer who took me back to the 80's and all my time there. FYI, the country's leader has become a despot and over 400 have been killed and 23000 fled into neighboring Costa Rica. "It feels like we've been at war most of my life" the singer says. And when the tour is done, mother and daughter will go to Europe because they can't go back. Our Presbyterian mission workers have left too. 

Katia Cardenal at West PArk

All these in my mind when I think about my "prompting"..but here's where I want to go. I went to Louisville this  week to do a memorial service. For a friend who worked for the PCUSA for 35 years following the circle  from NYC to Louisville. With one year to go before 65, she turned down an opportunity for early retirement out of dedication and wound up being cut in a reduction of staff move. After 35 years....

Remembering Susan

She was not one of our church's visible faces. Stated Clerk or CEO or Division Head with portfolio or tall steeple preacher. Not featured in church magazines or webinars or....she was an administrative person. One who answered the phones. And for hundreds, thousands of presbyterians across the country, she was voice that people heard who called with problems from AIDS to mental illness to healthcare issue to addictions to domestic violence....she was a rolodex, no a Siri, better than Siri...she knew who was doing what where around the country and where to connect someone and would stay with them as long as it took. Far more than any "leader" or "face,"  she was the voice of our church and the loving heart that helped people feel loved, cared for and valued. And when she died, she could not be listed in the church's necrology because she was not an elder. Or even Presbyterian. Her name was Susan. And she is representative of 100's of others across this church who spend their lives, literally, making church real for people.

"Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." See?

Jesus had tried to tell the disciples something important. But they just didn't get it. At all. And didn't even bother to to ask. Instead they fell into bickering about who was greatest. (And where was Martha during this debate?) Jesus sets them straight. Keep that in mind. 

Then he takes it further...
Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37"Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."
Children...I'm not going to go too long on this one, but two things come to mind...
ONE...the morning I woke up and realized "I live in a country that separates parents from children and puts children in cages. I'll say that again...I live in a country that separates parents from children and puts children in cages. Let that sink in.

And I thought of the horrible revelations about the Catholic church that broke while I was in Pittsburgh. Numbers so staggering ...300 priests and over 1000 victims in just ONE state. I'm always uncomfortable about talking about another tradition, but sure feels like something's seriously broken...friends in deep pain over now discovered broken trust... 

And responses to the Kavanagh accusations that sound like "boys will be boys, girls you're on your own..."

7"Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."

and the opposite equally true...

Jesus was trying to tell them about where his path would lead. And when they didn't get it, he responded with a model of what is called in some circles "servant leadership..."  It is the Susans of this church, this world, that keep it going but more so give witness to what the ministry, the reality of the living Christ is.

So as we conclude, take a minute and see if you can think of one who has been that in your life, who's quiet, unassuming work has lived out the gospel...

Thank God for their lives among us...

Amen


It was interesting to hear the responses...one person picked himself...







Psalm 1

1Happy are those

who do not follow the advice of the wicked,

or take the path that sinners tread,

or sit in the seat of scoffers;

2but their delight is in the law of the LORD,

and on his law they meditate day and night.

3They are like trees

planted by streams of water,

which yield their fruit in its season,

and their leaves do not wither.

In all that they do, they prosper.


4The wicked are not so,

but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

5Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

6for the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish.

Second Reading James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a

13Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. 14But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. 15Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. 16For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. 17But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. 18And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

4:1Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? 2You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.

7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

Gospel Mark 9:30-37

30They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; 31for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again." 32But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.

33Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the way?" 34But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. 35He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." 36Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37"Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."

Like
Tweet
G+
Pin It

Yom Kippur: Day of Atonement

9/19

with Rabbi Steve on Yom Kippur

My friend Rabbi Steve Blane's Sim Shalom synagogue lives most of it's life online. (http://www.rabbi.net/sim-shalom-online-synagogue ) But come the High Holy Days, it comes to life at the  Bitter End, perhaps Greenwich Village's most iconic nightclub. (Video of service here...https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=sim%20shalom%20online%20synagogue). Once again, he asked me to share a sermon...and afterward, a song....here's what I had to say....

It is good to be back here with you again this year. Since last year I have actually performed on this stage twice...with Rabbi Steve and Liz...so I feel at home.

It's Yom Kippur which means that most of you are fasting. I'm thinking that's a strange word. Because I did this for many years... in an  interfaith family...and you know what, when you are fasting, time goes  really slooooowly....

Yom Kippur....the holiest day of the year. It means literally Day of Atonement. I've been thinking about that word.  I mean we all know that to atone is something you do to make up for something you did. 

But I want to go a little deeper. In English, it is what looks like, at ... one.....the word emerged in the 16th century from the Latin word adunamentum  or ‘unity.' ....and carried with it the sense of reconciliation.

It reminds me that in my tradition, after our corporate prayer of confession, I would say...It is good as we seek forgiveness from God that we seek forgiveness from one another, as we seek oneness with God we seek oneness with one another and as we seek peace with God, we seek peace with one another...the peace of the Lord be always with you...and they respond and with your spirit...and then we all exchange greetings of peace.  As I think about it, it's a reminder of something I learned from my Jewish friends...that repentance is never just personal, it has a social aspect. As a rabbi friend of mine once said, Judaism is  a team  sport.

You can't ask God to forgive what you did to another person without going to that person first. It also says, as Simon Wiesthenthal made clear in his beautiful book the Sunflower, neither can you forgive what wasn't done to you. Your being here as a community says that you can't  be one with God without being one with one another. It begins with relationship.

I  need to  say a word here about forgiveness and reconciliation. They are not the same thing....forgiveness is something one does for oneself. To stop being controlled by another. To break the power of victimhood. To let go. As one friend once said, to give up for all time the hope for a different past. It frees oneself. Last year in Berlin, I met a man from Rwanda who after years of searching found the man who had murdered his father. He had intended for years to take revenge. Take his life. Get even. But confronting the man, he thought about what had been controlling his heart all these years and forgave the man. He said he had learned that we become what we do not forgive. 

Forgiveness however, does nothing for the relationship. As a friend of mine once said, there is no reconciliation without reconstruction.  It is a process. Sometimes a long process to reconstruct a relationship step by careful step. But what else can atonement be about?

Well, I know these are the final hours of the days of awe....what was written down last week in pencil is now going down in ink, close to being sealed. Book closed and locked. As we used to sing when I was a kid, making a list, checking it twice,gonna make sure who's naughty and nice..

But think about this afternoon in the waning hours. Find a quiet place. To sit for a few moments. Let the faces of people who are important to you pass in front of you. Those who have made you happy, who have been there for you. Those who have hurt you. And perhaps those you have hurt. Even inadvertently. Where a relationship is broken. And ask yourself if there is just one step, just one that you might make to break the ice, the iciness of brokenness.

There is a lot of brokenness around us these days. When we think about how hard it is between two people, sometimes even family members, how can we even  imagine that there might be reconciliation between those who believe Donald Trump is the answer and those who don't? Between blacks and whites? And yes Palestinians and Israelis? 

But in that first scary step, that is where life is. The closing words of the Torah portion for this morning say:

 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days,

May your fast go well. And your  breakfast joyous, L'chaim.

Let those with ears to hear DO

9/2 

Welcome back Mark

It's Labor Day weekend . The unofficial end to summer. And I am back to Beverly Church on a hot and humid Sunday. Walking through the streets with the English names and Victorian homes. And occasional gardens.

a home garden

And Pakistani restaurants...and Mexican panaderias...Still flyers up from last week's church flea market and barbecue...


Mark, who is in the Navy,  as he does whenever he is home on leave has come. And brought an old friend.  Here is the reflection....

It's good to see you again. As always, there's a lot on my mind. I spent a week back home in Pittsburgh. And many of my friends were struggling with a grand jury report that came out and said that in Pennsylvania, there was testimony of  300 priests abusing over1000 victims. And they believe those figures are conservative. Everyone was checking  the list. One of the musicians from my old church found the priest who  had married him, baptized his first child. Beloved parish priests . Men I used to work with. Some friends wanted to know where to turn. Because they could not go back. Can you imagine how that would feel? 

I continue to wrestle with that. Thinking of all the victims. 

I'm also thinking about the death of John McCain. When I was at the ballpark yesterday afternoon, the flags at Yankee Stadium were at half mast. In his honor. And so all the other flags were lower as well so as to not be higher than the US flag. His body lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda, rare for a Senator. And everything from invited speakers to pall bearers had symbolic value and meaning. 

Of course some can argue about some of his decisions, his positions. But at the end of the day, I think we want to have someone who symbolizes for us a different way of being than we are living out right now. Where personal integrity is important and valuing and respecting others, especially our opponents, is honored. And I believe our desire to lift up those values says something good about us. 

I think both these stories relate to our scripture passages today. In the Gospel, the religious leaders are very upset at Jesus' disciples' failure to wash before eating. (Not a bad idea..) Jesus is very clear that no ritual of what to do before eating or even what we eat is as important as righteous behavior.  You've heard of clean hands, pure heart? He's saying clean hands don't count when your heart isn't pure....

Part of what's going on here is opening up the doors of the community so more can come in. Jesus is saying no ritual, no tradition, is more important than the living, moving spirit of God.

Let me clear though. Jesus is not saying that tradition has no value. Think about it....Jesus went to worship regularly. He prayed.  He was going to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. In our communion service today we'll recall Jesus following the traditions of his faith.

I've spent enough time with you to know that you have your special traditions, your  ways of doing things that are different from what any other church does. If I asked you, what would you say you'd most want to hold on to? Or miss the most if it were gone? 

This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; 7in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.' 

We take our human prejudices and make them doctrines. 

Certainly, our Roman Catholic church knows about tradition. They've been at it longer than we have. But I wonder if some of those traditions may not be contribute to their problems. Maybe it's time to have women priests. And allow priests to marry. 

Certainly we Presbyterians have had to move beyond tradition.  We divided over slavery in the 1860's and didn't reunite until 1983. We hesitated to ordain women and when we made it mandatory, some of our churches got angry and left. And when we finally allowed LGBTQ folk to have their God-given ministries officially recognized, more couldn't abide that and left. 

Traditions keep us and imprison us. We have a President who seems to be telling people things can go back to the way they used to be. No uppity women or scary black people or other languages on our phones. 

So OK. What makes us us? What is distinctive? We don't dress like the Amish people I saw in the Philadelphia Greyhound station. Or wear yarmulkes like Jewish men or hijabs like Muslim women or turbans like Sikhs. 

I think it should be in our practice...in James' words, caring for widows and orphans. 

In James' words, being doers, not just hearers. And he's got some wonderfully specific advice...

: Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20for your anger does not produce God's righteousness. 

Is that true of us? Of you? Of the church?

I had a preacher who used to end his sermons with Let those with ears to hear, hear...

But maybe today what I want to say is Let those with ears to hear, do....

And once again we pray for each other. And share bread and cup together before sharing a meal. I remind them that just being here...just choosing to spend Sunday morning in worship is a witness. Is important. Has value. There is still tomorrow left before we go back to our regular lives...
   
                                                             ****




Second Reading James 1:17-27

17Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

19You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20for your anger does not produce God's righteousness. 21Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.

22But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. 23For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; 24for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. 25But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act-they will be blessed in their doing.

26If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. 27Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Gospel Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

1Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. 3(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; 4and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) 5So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?" 6He said to them, "Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; 7in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.' 8You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition."

14Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile."

21"For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."