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| ...and light poles..... |
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| Pirates' Pride |
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| Cakes for Pride Week |
As our underground gathers, today I share my Pittsburgh Pirates “Pride Hat.”The significance was that in a city that traditionally celebrates Polish night or Italian night or Serbo-Croatian night, the first celebration of “Pride night in a Pittsburgh sports stadium marked a moment of growing acceptance for the lgbtq community in Pittsburgh.
The conversation began by thinking about what the right has done well, eg, creating a sense of a moral universe. While the left has basically been doing “virtue signaling.” On the other hand, the Poor Peoples Campaign has explicitly sought to create a moral universe.
Sam talks of her research into cults and the prominence of “red diaper babies” in them wondering if a lack of a strong belief system left people open to manipulation. The necessity of what a faith demands. Again, on the other hand, there are other faiths. My friend who’s father was the last Yugoslav ambassador always says to this day that her nationality is Yugoslav and her religion communist
After a brief conversation about money and racism, it led to a conversation about how the right offers a sense of belonging. And how objective reality offers a frame of reference. It was noted that a sense of belonging exists on the left as well, eg, then Peoples Music Network and people who show up at the Peoples Voice Cafe to sing movement songs every Saturday.
After bemoaning the lack of organization on the left, the example of the Poor Peoples Campaign came up again with its recent virtual “march on Washington,.” Steve P spoke of three great moments in America religious history, including the first and second “Great Awakenings," one result of which was the abolition movement. And then the post World War II “returns to normalcy” boom. All along, of course, the Black Church offering a counter reality and culture within the larger movement.
We talked of how the Poor Peoples Campaign has not yet gained traction enough to garner widespread attention, particularly among young people. (Maybe the revolution is not being televised? said Joel.) It was also pointed out that the PPC has been solidly committed to having the most affected speak out. More important than soaring oratory is their voice and testimony.
We concluded one again by talking about the bottom line importance of conversation. (Steve P noted that Athenian democracy lasted 20-30 years and descended into empire. It’s hard to keep going. ) It’s necessary to define terms first . We also talked about how personal experience moves issues forward. Knowing someone creates cognitive dissonance that must be resolved between person and principle. Most of us resolve in terms of person, but there are always those ready to burn the witches. How classic community organizing uses intentional conversation, not intimate friendship, but true relationships.
I believe it’s Joel who directs us to these words of Paul:
13 Beloved,[h] I do not consider that I have made it my own;[i] but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly[j] call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you. 16 Only let us hold fast to what we have attained.
Recommenced books: In the Shadow, by Michael Walzer
Henry James, the American
The Presbyterian Peace Fellowship breakfast is virtual this year. The making of peace is God’s holy mischief, and therefore peacemakers are holy mischief makers. I can only hope so. An old New York friend,Jose Luis Gonzalez, is the speaker. And he makes a connection between racism and the need for Fossil Fuel Divestment. How we treat people is how we treat creation and that has and will open doors for pandemics. The current societal distrust is ultimately a pastoral challenge. This is our kairos moment, a time of in breaking.
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| a good plan from the street |
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| walls |
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| and restaurants |
On my long walk, I read the words on the street. And walls. And light poles. Even businesses. Something is changing.
The night General Assembly Session is a Bible Study on Lamentations 5: 20-21. How lament is our moment, but how to find hope? Over 400000 dead in the world and a quarter in our own country. How the racism that began with the arrival of African slaves in 1619 is a form of virus.
Lamentations liken Psalm 137 are written by survivors. (By the rivers of Babylon..)
Be careful with new normals. We need new realities, not new normals. And to begin we must face our past. And create new realities out of that honest facing of the past . Only then does lamentation move towards hope. Only then can we learn to dance in the midst of lament. Like the joy is coming parade down Fredrick Douglas Avenue. Lamentation into hope, this year's General Assembly.
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