I am walking out the door of 303 East 8th street. Where we gather to share our songs. In the name, spirit and we hope, ethos ("shut up and sing the song") of its founder, Jack Hardy. Never a megastar himself, but mentor to a generation of singer-songwriters. That's where I was.
I notice colored chalk marks on the sidewalk outside the door. My first thought is neighborhood children in this newly family friendly East Village. But I look closer. It is a name. "Sonia Wisotsky. Age 17. Russia. Died in the Triangle Shirt Waist fire March 25, 1911." (Two doors down is the name of Golda Shput, age 19. Also from Russia.)
She worked 52 hours a week. Nine hours on weekdays, seven on Saturday. For 7-12 dollars a week. The fire broke out at the end of the Saturday work day. The exit doors were locked, by the sweatshop owners, to prevent any unwarranted 'breaks" by the workers. Or "theft", they said. By the time it was over, 146 people were dead. All but 23 women. Most of them teen agers. The youngest 14, the oldest 45. The owners escaped to the roof. And the man with the key just went home.
On the way up Avenue B, I'm thinking about Sonia, this Russian immigrant teenage Jewish girl. What floor did she live on? Was she thin, or zaftig? Was there a brightness to her or did she seem tired and worn? Did she speak English? Did she have a boyfriend? Did they dance? Did she sing? To herself on the way to work or at her sewing machine? Did she ever write a song?
And was she one of the ones who feeling trapped, jumped to her death from the windows? Bodies tearing through the firemen's nets? Did she fall through the open elevator door down the shaft to where the weight of bodies prevented the elevator from rising one more time? Or simply died in the smoke and fire?
In various ways those flames still burn.
The East Village once teemed with working class immigrants. Having passed through various stages of urban evolution, it's fast gentrifying. A high rise "luxury" condo just a few blocks north of 8th street. But immigrants still come. Sweatshops still oppress. And owners still find ways to lock doors, even if metaphorically.
Sonia will be buried in Mount Richmond Cemetery on Staten Island. Along with 21 of her coworkers, courtesy of the Hebrew Free Burial Association.
Walking up Avenue B, I see Sonia exit the door. Go down the three steps. Wait for her friend Golda. Together on this gray, cold and raw day, they will make the twenty minute walk down St. Mark's to the factory. Maybe sharing gossip. Or sharing plans for their day off tomorrow. Or maybe just in silence.
It's officially spring now. Ona sunny mild afternoon I make my way to Marcus Garvey Park where the Sunday afternoon Ecclesia Congregation is gathering. Along with volunteers from Riverside Church and the Interfaith Center. There's anew friend from the Dominican Republic. And old friends. And new. This was my reflection: I can't tell you how many times as a Pastor I have had someone, often from a hospital bed, say to me " I just don't know what I have done Pastor, that God would cause me to suffer like this."It's a common question. I think that behind that question is a desire to have everything make sense, even if it means having to be guilty of something you can't figure out. Somehow that idea is easier to live with than the thought that what happens is random. People come to Jesus with a report of a political atrocity committed by Pilate, mixing the blood of some Galileans with "their sacrifices." And the other "news of the day" includes a non-political disaster of the Siloam tower falling on people. He takes the opportunity to challenge the idea that what happens in this life has anything to do with how much of a sinner you are. He's pretty clear...there's no connection. I used to have a friend that would say, "Time wounds all heels"....if only it were true. And the reverse of that is equally true. We live in a time when there is a popular idea called the Prosperity Gospel. The idea is if you believe the right thing, God will bless you. Or worse, that if you have material wealth, it must mean that God has blessed you and you deserve it and if you don't have material wealth, it's your own fault, a sign of your own sinfulness. The whole language of the world being divided into "makers and takers" is just a variant of that idea. Jesus is very clear about that..."NO, I tell you...." But he uses this to go another direction, to talk about repentance. We are three weeks deep in the season of Lent, in the midst of our 40 day journey of reflection in preparation for Easter. A time when we are called upon to think about our lives, to think about what might need changing. To think about what we might need to change in order to become the person Jesus has created us to be. To repent, turn around, go a new direction. SO he tells us a story about a fig tree that is barren. The gardener asks for one more year to tend it, care for it, fertilize it and see what might happen. I guess there's a few ideas here...one is that not all doors are always open. Ultimately we do have to decide. But the truth is, it is never up to us to pass that judgment on another. That privilege is God's alone. They say that in any parable, we are ALL the characters...so...we are the man who is fed up with the tree...how often do we feel that way about someone else? Or ourselves? And certainly we can be the fig tree, in need of another chance, one more opportunity to turn things around. Of course, Jesus is the gardener. But as part of the living body of the risen Christ, we too are called to participate in creating those opportunities for others, even those who people have given up on. I suspect that at the end of the year, this gardener might say again, "OK, give me just one more year..." Maybe one more thought. It takes manure to fertilize. I'm wondering if there might be something in, well, the crap of our lives that can be used to help us grow to be fruitful, you know, even helpful to others, like I can see what you're going through, I've been there, maybe I can help...like that. May be with you in journey to repentance and new life. May we be with one another. In the name of this gardener, this Jesus, Amen. During prayers, many concerns are lifted up about missing friends. People continue to arrive. On foot. And in wheel chair. Eucharist is shared, one by one. And then we share the meal prepared by Riverside. And the circle begins to disperse. As we walk out fo the park, using the portable altar, Father Clyde sees one of the missing friends and immediately goes over to her. And we share our left over sandwiches with her and her friends.... **** Luke 13: 1-9 At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2He asked them, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 3No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. 4Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them — do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did." 6Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7So he said to the gardener, 'See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?' 8He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. 9If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"
Back in New York City.....cold morning walk to Beverley. Snow on the ground. On the edge of Lent. Today's reflection....
A week ago, I left New York City at 7:30 AM...it was 40' and steady cold rain. At 12 noon I was at a ball park in Florida in 80' sunny weather. Late yesterday afternoon, it was 80' and sunny when I got to the airport and when I landed here...well, you know...
Its a little hard keeping up with the changes. A couple of days ago, in Florida, I forgot what month it was. .Felt like spring was over already.
Time. Seasons. The cycles by which we pass through a year. Our liturgy of time, we might say. And I've always been fascinated by the church year. It begins in Advent, preparing for Christmas. Goes through Christmastide and passes into Epiphany, then Lent, then Easter, then the long season of Pentecost til we've arrived at Advent once again.
There are some special gateway days that open a door to a new season like Reign of Christ Sunday (Christ the King) into Advent or today, Transfiguration Sunday, the Sunday that opens the door to Lent...
We've been in the season of light...of epiphany, the season of light...so we need one more burst of light before we enter into the quiet, darker season of Lent...
So what's going on in this story? What does it mean for us? Today?
SO Jesus goes up the mountain, to pray, with his 3 man crew, his besties, Peter, James and John...and all of a sudden they see Jesus transfigured....interesting word...not just changed ... that would be transformed...but changed into something more special, more beautiful, more spiritual, more holy....
...and he's with Moses and Elijah..for us like a Biblical Abraham, Martin and John..and the imagery recalls Moses trip up the mountain to bring us back the law..so he's there...but also Elijah...if Moses is the law, Elijah is the prophets ...Jesus' job description is to bring the two of the together...to fulfill ALL of scripture...to embody BOTH...
...and it was sooo beautiful Peter didn't want to leave...He wants to build 3 booths.. I love Peter, like no impulse control whatsoever..can you blame him? Have you ever had your own mountain top experience? You just don't want it to end...Hey, it was no mountaintop, but I didn't want to leave Florida..just build me a booth on the beach...
And then that voice appears again...that voice from the Baptism..this is my son, my beloved, do what he tells you to..and then, there is ONLY Jesus....and they head back down...and IMMEDIATELY Jesus has to confront the power of evil ...you just can't stay on the mountaintop..Now that he's got his job description, it's time to get to work..and all they see is Jesus because he now, like I said, embodies it all...
And what does any of that mean for us?
Well, we could use a blast of light, that's for sure....I don't need to tell you these are troubling times, disturbing times...it feels like it's late and getting darker everyday...and so we need to be transfigured ourselves ... to look up and see only Jesus shining on and be transfigured ourselves..
nice as it feels, we can't stay in the church...we've got to get back to the world....
and? the other place I remember transfigured from is from Juliet Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" ...In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, With a glory in His bosom That transfigures you and me; As He died to make men holy, Let us die to make men free; While God is marching on.....
Written in the dark days of the civil war...she is says that Jesus has a glory that transfigures US...I would change one word... As He died to make men holy, Let us LIVE to make all free;
That helps me understand how we make transfiguration real...
I mentioned Abraham, Martin and John at the beginning...each of them was transfigured...
Lincoln had to see ending slavery not as a political problem to be solved but as a moral calling to which he was responsible...(ultimately this is what saved him from his bouts of melancholia, what we now call depression..)
All Martin King wanted to do was be a scholar...he figured there were a lot of black preachers...he wanted to be respected for his intellect...well, God had other plans...
And John? Like Abraham before him he had to see the Civil Rights movement as not representing a political problem but a moral calling...it would take Lyndon Johnson to finish the job..even at the consequence ending the support of the south for Democrats for at least a generation..
We have to, like the voice says, Listen to Jesus, do what he says...listen for the work that is our work and be about doing it..
and that's good reflection material for Lent...
what is my calling? what so yours? how can we help each other?
That's transfiguration..
Like the old song says.... Shine on me, yes shine on me...shine on me, shine on me, let the light of the light house shine . on me..
We share our communion, Make our prayers. In the social hall, Eugene has set out the good china. Geraldine tells me the story of the beloved pastor Kissoon, immigrant from the Indies, who gave over 20 years of his life to the church. Most of them "unofficial" while Presbytery's gatekeepers struggled over his status. Sometimes institutions just have to recognize what God had already done....
****
First Reading Exodus 34:29-35
29Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. 30When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. 31But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. 32Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; 34but whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
Gospel Luke 9:28-36 (37-43)
28Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. 29And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. 30Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. 31They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" — not knowing what he said. 34While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. 35Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" 36When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
37On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. 38Just then a man from the crowd shouted, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child. 39Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him. 40I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not." 41Jesus answered, "You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here." 42While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. 43And all were astounded at the greatness of God.
