Living in coronavirusworld 153: A little Bible, a little blues, a little blood

8/30

Live music with Mike

...and a pool of blood

On my way to my coffee shop, I see an ambulance. Hear sirens. See a man down on the sidewalk. Moments  before he thad been savagely beaten by some guys who left him there. A second 2 or 3 then grabbed his chain and anything else he had  of value and ran off.  A couple of witnesses have remained to tell the police what they saw. I listen for awhile then go to the Monkey Cup. On my way back, all that's left are the scattered remains of his shattered head phones and a pool of blood. 

Our family has its weekly ZOOM international gathering. One reports that with 10 day to go, the  New York City Department of Education has not yet set its calendar or even an official start date.  My oldest son wonders why when the NBA players realized what power they had they didn’t keep going and came back so soon. What else could they have achieved beyond arenas as polling places and money to defend against voter suppression?

My lead guitar player Mike’s wife is taking a course on the Bible as literature. She invited some of us to a”Bible happy hour.”As one from the Jewish community of Brazil, she’s working on making sense of Christian thought and culture. We spoke of many things, but she was most intrigued by this verse:

 21 Another of his disciples said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

The implications are that Jesus was making aa demand to a higher priority than tradition required. And violating a traditional understanding of family. She was seeing it  in terms of a  new community having higher value, the family of the Jesus circle being the more authentic family than the one of  his birth. I raise the fact that whether right before or after the fall of the temple, it was an apocalyptic time.  A “which side are  you on?” kind of time. So to this existential crisis, any traditional family values would take a back seat. I also talked about Wes Howard-Brook’s idea that the Bible was a story of two religions, not Judaism and Christianity, but  that of covenant and creation and the other of empire. (See Come Out My People.) 

I note that separating from parents has been very manipulated by cults.  The Bible can be a dangerous book. 

we played together

Mike wants to come to my gig at Bar 9 tonight. It will be great to have him. We play a couple of my blues tunes then my “Read the Room” song about open mics. Then Kristina joins us. Adding harmony to my voice, my music.  My lead guitar player and a harmony vocalist for the first  time in over 5 months! I don’t feel nearly so naked. My confidence is back. And for the second time this week and the first time here, I have a flawless set. And it feels very good.  

The evening is late August cool. The outdoor cafe lights on 9th Avenue sparkle and dance. Enjoying music and drinks with friends.  Normalish, as she says. Later, she will share the fear that just doesn't go away. That is always there. I want my old life back, she says.