Living in Cornavirusworld 235: Christmas 2020

 12/24

from the Gate

the grocery line

a Harlem 

It’s a big mistake waiting until Christmas Eve day to do your grocery shopping. I get to the market, walk in, pick up my basket and realize I don’t have my wallet. By the time I go home and turn around and come back, the line to get in goes all the way up the block and around the corner. And inside, the check out line snakes through several departments. After I get my groceries, I go across the street to Double Dutch to sit in one of the tiny plastic houses for a coffee and croissant. 

The US Mail seems to have been overwhelmed by people who can’t see others in person mailing everything. One order I paid for “expedited shipping” has yet to arrive a month later. It was too be 2-3 days. Other Christmas items have not arrived. 

I meet a friend for a Christmas Eve drink only to find the Gate is closed. We walk the street to another place that has erected a series of small tents with ground level heaters. It’s warm enough without  the heaters today.

I have one last thought of getting a Christmas tree and then realize the stand up the street from me is already sold out, packed up and gone., On reflection, I realize that the pop-up urban forest I look forward to every year, where you walk block after block of tree lined streets, air filled with the aromatic smells of pine, balsam and fir. It appears the day after Thanksgiving and is gone by early Christmas morning. There were stands  around this year, but not like  before. The  stand across the street from the church never appeared. And then I understand, all those trees and their sellers came from French Canada, Quebec. The US-Canada border is closed. Our only trees this year were from Pennsylvania and North Carolina. The forest and les Quebecois who came with it, another victim of Covid. I have to think about the impact of that. 

we light our candles

West Park tree

and Merry Christmas to all....

Due to covid, there was no service planned at West Park. But at Bible Study, we knew we had to do something since there had been a service there every year since 1889.  So we gathered on the steps. We sang O Come All Ye Faithful. I reminded them that it was also the 110th Christmas of West Park. And my personal 25th. We read the Lucan birth narrative. (2: 1-20)Talk about how the darkest day is past, but still dark days to come. Our need to be light for one another. Thinking about the people of Bethlehem on this night. We light candles. Sing Silent Night. Have a long Christmas prayer and then sing Joy to the World. We go inside the church. Share Marsha’s empanadas and cookies and some wine. Feeling the presence of God in our midst. Covid and all. For this year, this Christmas Eve, it was perfect. 

12/25

our feast

No extended family. No large gatherings. Just the “core four” of us at our boys apartment in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Spent the morning cooking..an apple pie, cranberry marshmallow salad, Nate and his mom made cookies, Dan a roast and cheesy potatoes. For us, a feast. For this year, this Christmas, perfect. 

We end the night with the new Disney film “Soul” about embracing life in every moment, Well, more complicate than that, but..

The President golfs in Florida, relief package left unsigned. Unemployed benefits for millions due to end. A car bomb goes off in Nashville for unknown reasons. We are all creating our own Christmases.2020.

Living in coronavirusworld 234: almost here

 12/23

Central Park Harlem Meer

ready for Christmas

As our underground gathers, I’m taken by the fact that our friend Norm, venerated and erstwhile Old Testament scholar,  is wearing what is classically known as an ugly Sweater, complete with Christmas lights, at least a few of which still do light. I’m wearing a red and green Yankees hat, the only time I will ever wear a baseball cap that has not been part of an on-field game hat. (Well, about 90-95% true.) And a Uni Watch (The Obsessive Study of Athletic Aesthetics) ugly sweater sweatshirt. (Uni-watch.com)

Norm starts with a tribute to his friend John (Jack)  Elliott, who just died. Another cofounder with Norm of the Center and Library for the Study of  Bible and Social Justice at Stony Point Center. (CLPJ.org) Jack’s groundbreaking work was the study of 1Peter, argues that the community of scattered  “Stangers, pilgrims…” was in fact the 1st Century Christian Community of Asia Minor pushed to the margins of society in his book “Home for the Homeless.” Part of our work is organizing strangers. Jack by the way, led the efforts to organize the faculty at San Franciso University. 

Russ is talking about the one true Christmas Miracle, the Christmas Truce of 1914, as celebrated in the film Joyeux Noel and John McCutchen’s song, “Christmas in the Trenches.” When soldiers from both sides met in no-man’s land and refused to fight for one day, played soccer and shared songs and candy, brandy and tobacco. Of course those who participated were punished by their superiors. More disturbingly, SteveP talks about how it only took one more world war for white people to agree they weren’t going to kill each other anymore. And indeed, the wars of battle lines with their codes and rituals are no more. Most of recent wars have been  those of imperial powers against colored peoples of the  colonized world. Christmas truces can’t happen in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq. It’s different.

Norm asks us to consider first violence as opposed to second violence., As drawn as we are to pacifism and non-violence, who do we deal with the challenge of Franz Fanon and his arguments in “the  Wretched of the earth” that violence may be necessary to restore dignity. Norm talks of the Haitian Revolution of Toussaint L’Ouverture, the first successful anti-colonial revolution of Black people. And how Haiti has suffered since. Even evangelical Haitians say that God punished Haiti for selling its soul to the devil.

We talk about Dre’s difficulties in getting people to join him in his “ Patterson Beautiful” project. And we talk of the issue of getting acceptance of the importance  of the vaccine in Black neighborhoods, given the horrendous history of Black Americans and the medical research  establishment with its horrendous imposed scientific experiments , etc. There is every reason to be suspicious. And yet this community disproportionately suffers from the virus. Someone says we need a “supply line of love.”

Lastly we talk about where songs from. Both Joel and I agree that they tend to organically appear. But then there’s the issue of writing as craft, and how hard that is for me. Until Steve P reminds me that as pastors, we wrote a song a week called sermons, And I realize he’s right. And how it’s only when you have put in hours of hard work that the  Holy Spirit can enter and take you to surprising new places. Sometime you don’t find them until  3am the night before your 11 am service. And we talk about boredom. And dead ends, And what to do with this dead end of a year. We’ve done a lot of hard work. Time for the Holy Spirit to step in. 

Christmas is almost here.

Living in Coronavirusworld 233: Nunc Dimittis and another view from Palestine

 

12/21

Harelm Meer

The winter solstice. The darkest day of the year. From here on out it gets a little more light every day. And it’s officially winter.

Tonight we look at the  last infancy story in the gospels, Luke 2:22-40. And the 3rd day of Christmas.  Traditionally known as the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. Found only in Luke.  Had we read 21, we would have read of the circumcision of  Jesus. Years ago, I remember the Met had an exhibit, Art Treasures of the Vatican. It contained a  very ornate reliquary for the icon of Jesus’ circumcision, the only part of him he left behind. 

The ceremony being described is the redemption of the first born. Since the story of Abraham and Isaac, the first born male child, the one who breaks the womb, must be redeemed by a sacrifice. Traditionally a sheep or lamb. But poorer families like Joseph and Mary could substitute two pigeons or turtle doves.  This ultimately leads to a discussion of God sacrificing God’s only son to redeem the world for its sins and a whole hard conversation about substitutionary atonement which is built on a theological structure and logic I’ve never been able to accept. As in, Jesus died for our sins.   ( Marsha males reference to z scent debate in the New York Times ver what eg minimum belief required to be a Christian are. )

Joseph and Mary take Jesus to the  Temple and encounter two elderly people. One is Simeon, whose credentials are that he is  righteous and devout. He has been waiting for the “consolation of Israel,” namely its liberation and independence. He is guided by the spirit to recognize that this child is the one and responds with his first oracle, known as the nunc dimittis: now let your servant depart in peace. His purpose is to praise God and declare God’s saving power.In the logic of Isaiah 49:6, namely that Israel’s glory  is to be a light to the nations. 

His second oracle is that this one comes for the “rising  and falling “ of the nation. Foreseen in  the conflict between God’s avowing purpose, God’s liberation project and human opposition.That here will eb resistance Ean rejection. And Mary’s side will be pierce with a sword. (As her son ultimately is) She will have to live through his rejection, suffering and execution.

The other elderly person is Anna, said to be from the tribe of Asher. She is a widow and a woman prophet. Luke is unique in his frequent paring of male and female witnesses. She too I looking for th redemption of the people, their liberation. (How odd that he parents let the child be taken up by these  strangers, old and hanging out in the Temple….…)

It is important for Luke to show that they had fulfill all the law before departing. This is  the last if Jesus’ infancy. Next wile the brief story of him in the Temple, his only childhood story, on the cup of his bar mitzvah. Thus the story begins and ends with the law. 

The “falling and rising” can also seen as an “all or nothing” situation. 

Luke does a very neat circle of (H)Anna being Samuel’s mother and giving Mary the words to her song, Anna being John the Baptist’s mother and now another Anna is a prophet. 

One message is that God’s love is not limited status, gender or geography. More important, these two elderly people see not the present but the certain future an san now “depart” the earth. How do we see with their eyes? We can see the beginning and have to imagine it’s completion. As it always is . As Dr. King said, the arc of history maybe long, but it bends towards justice. We need to keep that vision  in our eyer as we  take up the struggle in our own days.          

12/22

Today I join again with our friends from Sabeel in Jerusalem in an Advent Bible study with Naim Ateek. We are discussing the Annunciation passage in Luke. Elizabeth will bring John the Baptist, the miracle child. And Mary will bing the Messiah. Mary embodies total obedience, trusting and surrendering to God. It raises the question, are we also bearers of God? Do w know the who do the impossible? Can we be partners with God? God needs us to be instruments of God’s peace.

Naim points out that the angel describes the Messiah’s work in parochial terms, exclusive to Israelites,  while Mary’ s song will extend to all poor lowly, excluded and marginalized.  Quoting Ephesias 3:6 and Galatians 3: 26-29, God’s purpose begins with one group but extends in love for all the world. 

A question so raised as to why Mary’s doubt is tolerated but Zechariah’s not. (He was struck speechless until he recognized Jesus as Messiah.) Niim suggest that because eZechiah was a priest , he should have known better. And that trained theologian and scholars may bit be ion ot mystery. 

Why Mary? A sign of God’s special love for the simple, the lowly, the poor, the oppressed. Women in the group see this as well as a call to lift the role of women un teh vvvv                   church. 

As we contemplate the coming celebration of Christmas, it is necessary to look at the existential reality of Bethlehem. Today, 4400 Palestinians are underway detention by Israelis, including 41 women and 170 children. And due to Covid, in Bethlehem where income depends on tourism, especially this time of year, over 7000 Palestinians out of work. We can only truly understnsd the reality if Christmas if we undersea dht reality of Bethlehem. 

AS we are engaged in our discussion, rh Israeli sure court is hearing 15 challenges of the 2018 “Law of the Nation State” which reserves national rights in Israel to Jesus only. Paslesreinass and Druze this fin themselves excluded form citizens’ rights. Critics maintain that the amounts to apartheid in all but name.                                                        

Living in coronavirusworld 232: Advent 4

 

12/20

Home Communion

I stop in to the West Park worship service because my friend Russ is leading it. Right in the middle of his sharing a video of John McCutchen’s moving song, “Christmas in the Trenches,” about the Christmas Truce  of 1917, I experience my first ZOOM bomb as a crude penis appears on the screen followed by the word “fuck” and then scribbling all over as demonic cackling fills the sound. Amazed at how violated you feel. It takes a few minutes to straighten all that  out. You just can’t  have ZOOM meetings without a waiting room.  

                                               "Christmas in the Trenches"

Leading a Christmas service for my Beverley friends this morning.  Here’s what I had to say:

Luke 1: 26-38

26In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

Here we are…the final Sunday of Advent. Our journey is almost at an end. Just 4 more days until Christmas Eve in the most strange of Christmas seasons.  As I've walked the city streets, everything seems subdued, toned down, quiet. There are still lights, the midtown shop windows, but it all seems, you know? The parties we’d normally be going to aren’t happening. The extended family visits also curtailed. We’re all shopping on line and the mail is slower than ever.  We all wonder what’s up with this virus even as the vaccine begins to make its way around. 

Can you see in your mind’s eye the inside of Beverley Church? Decorated for Christmas? And we walk down the stairs and see what Eugene’s been up to and share in the food we all have brought and enjoy the transforming decorations and fellowship with one another? That’s where we see each other today….in our mind’s eye. 

Try to see in your  mind’s eye a young woman. All we know when she enters the scene is that she is nobody famous. Who lives in a town, not a city, just a town, a non important town, Nazareth in the upstate region of Galilee. (As Nathanel says in John ,”Can anything good come out of Galilee?”) Tradition tells us she’s a teenager. Luke tells us she’s a virgin. And out of nowhere, an angel appears! And says “Greetings!” But this is where I like the King Jame version better…where the angel says

Hail Mary! 

I’m sure Gabriel never imagined he’d become famous in football which didn’t even exist then…Of course  that started at Notre Dame, but get this, it was a Presbyterian player who suggested they pray!  He tells her Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

Which coming out of nowhere would shake anyone up…can you see the  look on her face? Luke tells us she was “perplexed” and “pondering”…but it gets better..she’s going to “conceive” and “have a son.” Let that sink in..The angel goes on. But I’m sure Mary is still struggling with that pregnant part. Because her first words are,  “How can this be, since I am a virgin' ….and for anyone who wants to bring up the fact that in her Hebrew of Isaiah that informs this passage, the word is just young woman, Mary makes it clear. He literal words in Greek are.. " I have never known a man”…which is to say, “ I have never had sex..”And Gabriel tells her ““The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.” Okay then, how does the  work?  And earlier he had said, 2He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”  That’s a lot to take in.  

And if you’re Mary, what do you think? Well, maybe the first thing you think is, hmmm, most favored? Here I am engaged to a good man from a good family, yeah, he hasn’t done so well, but he’s a good man. And I’m going to be an unmarried pregnant woman? In this town? At best I’ll be a scandalized woman and maybe even taken out and stoned…doesn’t sound so blessed to me..

And the angel’s not done. Her cousin Elizabeth, an old woman, is now six months pregnant. Elizabeth is married to Zechariah, a priest in theTemple. They live in the fancy suburb of Judah just north of Jerusalem. Think Associate Pastor of 5th Avenue or Madison Avenue Presbyterian living in oh, say, Chappaqua. So that makes Mary the poor relative. Elizabeth’s late in life pregnancy os like that of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.  SO making barren women pregnant is a standard Biblical event…a virgin is just one step beyond. Did you know around the world how common that Is ? Found at least 10 famous virgin births including Krishna, Bacchus, Hercules and down in Mexico, Quetzalcotel.  The Muslims say, if God could created humans out of nothing, hey with a woman you’re halfway there!

Bottom line: with God, anything is possible.

So how long does Mary ponder? How along was she perplexed? Did she hesitate? She says, resolutely, , “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” 

So Mary goes off to visit her cousin, and when she arrives, the baby leaps in her cousin’s womb, Elizabeth confirms for Mary what the angel has told her and Mary sings this amazing song:

46b My soul magnifies the Lord,
47       and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48  for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
          Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49  for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
          and holy is his name.
50  His mercy is for those who fear him
          from generation to generation.
51  He has shown strength with his arm;
          he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52  He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
          and lifted up the lowly;
53  he has filled the hungry with good things,
          and sent the rich away empty.
54  He has helped his servant Israel,
          in remembrance of his mercy,
55  according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
          to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

It’s amazing because the baby isn’t even born yet and she sings as if all these things have already been accomplished. Like Desmond Tutu saying long before apartheit fell, We have already won. The others just haven’t figured it out yet. It’s that knowing, deep inside, at the heart of creation, that it is God’s will that the lowly will be lifted up, the hungry filled. (Mary’s song is a riff on Hannah’ song (1 Samuel 2: 1-10), the mother of Samuel.) It is the already and not yet.

In Nicaragua, in the 1980’s, I heard a woman who had just learned to read in their literacy  campaign read this passage and then say that this had come true in her lifetime. 

When I was growing up, we were taught that all this Mary business the Catholics do is at best idolatrous. But through my life I’ve come to understand that this song is the reason poor people around the earth venerate Mary as one of them and proof that God wants their concrete life circumstances changed now, not just in the sweet by and by.  If you come to think  about it, this is what Jesus was talking about in his sermon on the mount, the Beatitudes. 

Hear this :Gabriel’s message to Mary and Mary’s song are at the very center of the meaning of the child who’s birth we will celebrate next Friday. This is the why and what of who this child, this Jesus is….

And see this…Mary’s been given  limited information….it’s heavy, yes, but limited. She says yes to the risk of what many happen to her and without any idea of what will come next. And no idea that this most beloved son of  hers will wind up executed by the imperial Roman oppressors as an insurrectionist, condemned by the religious leaders, abandoned by his friends. In spite of all she does not know, Mary says , Let it be, to me according to thy word. 

We have lived through dark days. And they are not over yet. It will take courage to keep walking with one another to the other side. 

So here’s the point…just as the angel had a message for Mary, God has a message for us…this Christmas, there is something waiting to be born inside of us. God has something ready to be born in each and every one of us. What we need is to have the courage, like Mary, to say, Here am I…let it be to me according to thy word. And more…if God has something to be born inside each of us, God has something to be born inside your community, inside Beverley Church. I can’t tell you what it is. You just have to listen together and let it be. 

Remember …Nothing is impossible for God. 

On last word, just like Mary riffed on Hannah’s sing, Paul McCartney and the Beatles riffed on Mary’s song. The words of Let it Be come straight from Luke. NO matter how  dark the days, there will be an answer, Let it Be. 

                              ****

our concert

In the late afternoon, my friend Steve and I do a virtual holiday concert. Last year at this time we did a pop up concert at the Bethesda fountain in Central Park. Drew a crowd of a 100 or so.Sang harmonies.  Not this years. Solos on ZOOM and a team up on White Christmas. Hopefully brought some cheer in the darkest days of this pandemic. 

Living in coronavirusworld 231: To better days

 12/18

Reindeer in the snow

Chanukah lights on the sidewalk

The last day of Hanukah.  And one week until Christmas. In the freezing cold, I walk from Harlem to the Upper West Side. Walking down 86th Street, I see dancing Chanukah lights projected on the sidewalk. As I walk down Amsterdam, I see that while Harlem may be quiet, the Upper West Side is jumping. The bars where  young adults hang out, that is their outside tables, are pretty full. Several restaurants are also full outside, even in this weather. Some have overhead or street level heaters. I meet a friend at our regular place, the Gate.Which has neither. Hot toddies help. And hot chicken wings. 

the Gate's Christmas tree

For awhile I’m excited that New Yorkers are not letting 30 degree weather shut them down. We talk about great outdoor winter experiences in Oslo and Amsterdam. But after an hour, I’m beginning to feel it, especially my feet wet from street corner  slush puddles now way too cold. Time to head home and host the Open Mic. The digital gremlins are at work again, but I open up  my iPad and it works. Our last Open Mic of the year. 

Today it was revealed that a top Trump health adviser basically argued we should let people get infected and die so as to achieve herd immunity. Sort of the human sacrifice strategy. Our current death totals are a 9-11 every 24 hours. 

12/19

ready for Christmas at the Farmer's Market

Freezing cold, but the Farmer’s Market is still happening. Even though some booths have had to change their usual place because of piled snow,  most have shown up. The last two days, I’ve switched from glasses to contacts, tired of my glasses constantly fogging over when wearing my mask and unable to see. So I’m happy to see everything in the market clearly. Since it’s the last market before Christmas, I’m also looking for presents. I get some preserves from upstate  and fresh honey gathered from rooftop hives in Harlem. I like that. Before heading home, I sit on a bench surrounded by snow with a fresh baked  cinnamon bun and a Colombian coffee. 

we made latkes

To our family Channukah gathering, I bring fresh apple cider and apple pear sauce  from an upstate farm for the latkes.  We’ve made them old school style by hand grating potatoes and also the OreIda home fries hack style. While waiting for the lakes to get done, we talk with my mom on ZOOM, back from one more visit to the hospital emergency room from another fall from her chair. Covid will keep her isolated over Christmas. We enjoy our brunch, as it extends into early evening. 

On my way hime, I notice two small, lonely  tables open outside my neighborhood pub. I decide to stop by. The manager is happy to see me. No tiny plastic houses here. Seems Stella Artois didn’t want to  go south of 116th Street. Representatives of the city  came by to strictly enforce the mayor’s latest constantly changing decrees. One block up the street, every table is full in  the Harlem Tavern’s heated, enclosed “outdoor” beer garden. For managers like my friend it all seems random and arbitrary. We all acknowledge the peril of this time. But the overall policy never seems consistent or even coherent. And some beloved businesses may not make it.Many already gone.  We’ve known this for some time. As congress bickers and squabbles over what kind of relief package to offer. I tell my friend I’m just stopping by, not hungry having just had  a great meal. He shakers his head, says not to  worry about the mandatory food sales requirements for buying  a drink. Besides, he says, if I share a shot with you, you’re not buying anything…So he brings out a whiskey bottle, pours two shot. We drink a toast to better days.  

Living in coronavirusworld 230: Blowin in the Wind

 

12/16

Channukah lights

It’s the seventh night of Channukah. 

I meet my friend Steve for coffee in one of the tiny Stella Artois plastic houses. No heat, but being out of the wind helps. This ongoing plague has taken its toll. There is this realization, that even with the vaccine, there’s a numbers issue of how many will need to take it and how many need to have antibodies for how long that it could be quite some time before we’re out of the  woods. Anything like normal still far away. We talk some about a not often talked about question, namely how the children of Israel worshipped while in exile. I’ve heard a recent talk suggesting that the beginning of rabbinic Judaism began in the Exile and the first century conflict between temple and synagogue reflected in the Bible may actually have had its roots in the Exile. And that the gospels' conflict  between Jesus and the pharisees is anachronistic in actually depicting a struggle over leadership after the fall of Temple Judaism. In the early first century, they were essentially on the same side. Steve also reflects how different movements begin as responses to what has become established, eg, Reform to orthodox, Conservative to reform, etc. 

on 86th Street

As I finish my afternoon errands, the snow begins to fall. Walking in the dark streets, I’m cheered by an unexpected Channukah menorah. 

Later in the night, our super Nicky and a helper are shoveling out the sidewalks. Kids are coming home with sleds and snowboards having been out playing in the snow. I look for the perfect snow scene. And don’t find it.

12/17

Maybe six inches. Nowhere near the predicted 18. Still no in person school for kids. But there will be “remote instruction.” The pandemic inspired “remote learning” has ended the always cherished snow days when school would be cancelled and we’d all head out for a day of sled riding, snow man building and snow ball fights. Those days of unexpected freedom from the routine and almost innocent celebration of the short lived respite a snow can bring are yet another victim of covid. Hey, we’ll just do remote. Just like always. 

The Center …and church..both heavily impacted by Covid, are struggling to balance out the demands of money versus mission. And how to potentially conflicting demands in the relationship. This will not be easy. 

Spend all day working on my concert and then have to deal with unexpected tech issues which ultimately threw me off. Both Facebook and ZOOM found their own ways to defy expected and manageable results as if possessed of a will other own, or perhaps demons. I struggle to the finish line of what I had planned as a unique response to our current reality in this season. I feel defeated. My son says, Blame it on 2020.

Part of my disappointment was wanting to do a solid tribute to my friend Dan who died recently of Covid.  Play a video of him singing. Just couldn't make it happen.

I sing “Blowin in the wind”, as Dan and I did in 1994 Christmas concert, in its original form recalling Peter,Paul and Mary at their 1987 Carnegie Hall Holiday concert. It’s final words, “…how many deaths will it take til we know that too many people have died?” ring painfully truer than ever and with all that’s uncertain, the answer is indeed "Blowin’ in the wind..” We finish with “Let it Be” “…there will be an answer, Let it be.”

                                                   "Blowin in the Wind"