just enough for the city: January 2022

Friday, January 28, 2022

Burns Night: from Fighting Scots to Dylan

1/26

Fighting Scots

It was obvious to my Wednesday morning group that something was different because I was not wearing a baseball cap but a beret. I reminded them that Tuesday night had been a very important night, Burns night, to be specific. The night to celebrate Robert Burns’ birthday with poetry, single malt scotch and if you're really serious, a haggis.

College of Wooster

The closest I could come to something Scottish was my Lengyel era beret from the College of Wooster. Historically, Wooster’s mascot had been a cute little Scotty dog sporting the school’s MacCleod tartan. When Jack Lengyel arrived as new head coach, he changed the mascot to a sword wielding highlander. He had his football players wear suits and ties to away games topped off with military style berets. When they arrived somewhere like Oberlin, it was a truly impressive, even intimidating sight.

After being the doormat of the Ohio Conference, Lengyel led the Scots to consecutive winning seasons and even contending for the OAC title in the midst of the engulfing campus turmoil of the era.

Lengyel would later coach Marshall U after their fateful plane crash, (and be played by Matthew McConaughey in the movie We Are Marshall.) He would ultimately land his dream job as Athletic Director of the US Naval Academy,

What I remember is 1970 following Kent State tragedy. Coach Lengyel invited a number of activists to his home for dinner to try and understand why students were so angry. What the antiwar movement was all about. What I remember is his graciousness, and that he listened.

That helped me return to athletics (after my hippie drop out) and the lacrosse team, which he also coached. No mandatory berets for the lacrosse guys. We were a bit more ragtag. In fact by senior year, our classmate Tom LaMonica was essentially the coach as Lengyel prepared for his departure.

But the point here is Wooster, true to its Scottish trappings, was where I learned about Burns night from my friend and fellow poet Michael Allen. I learned to appreciate Burns more. And the Scotch, too.

Years later, my New York City congregation became the home for a few years of the city’s Hibernian Club. Every St.Andrews Day we would host the kirking of the tartans and every January 25th a Burns with an actual haggis. My Brazilian Associate and myself were sights to be seen in our rented kilts (clergy tartan of course).

So with an appearance scheduled for the Inspired Word at the Parkside Lounge, I decided to look for a Burns song to share. Much to my surprise I discovered that Bob Dylan had said that the song My love is like a red, red rose t had aught him everything he needed too know about writing lyrics.

In its original form:

O my Luve is like a red, red rose

That’s newly sprung in June;

O my Luve is like the melody

That’s sweetly played in tune.

So fair art thou, my bonnie lass,

So deep in luve am I;

And I will luve thee still, my dear,

Till a’ the seas gang dry.

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,

And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;

I will love thee still, my dear,

While the sands o’ life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only luve!

And fare thee weel awhile!

And I will come again, my luve,

Though it were ten thousand mile.

So I decided to prepare …red, red rose…and Dylan’s Girl from the North Country. The Burns influence is always there in Dylan’s love songs, even his more mainstream hit, Make You Feel My Love. Surprisingly, Dylan has never recorded ….red, red, rose…

I finished my songs. Bought a scotch at the bar. Made a quiet toast to Burns.

In our meeting, one of our circle informed us that that very night he would be reading Burns’ address to the Haggis at a Burns event. He spoke of its role as a paean for the working class Scots.

So for this week, hats off to Robert Burns. And Dylan. And hats on for the College of Wooster and the Fighting Scots.

Thursday, January 20, 2022

Remembering Buck O'Neill and the Kansas City Monarchs

1/18

Buck O'Neill and the Kansas City Monarchs

I wanted to have this week’s theme for hats on(off) to reflect Martin Luther King Jr’s commemoration theme. I first looked at how the NFL teams in last weekend’s playoffs wore pullover hats declaring JUSTICE EQUITY OPPORTUNITY.

Steelers Cap

(I had tried to get a Steelers one but they were sold out…). I then related how MLK day has long been a special day for the NBA with special day games and uniforms. The Memphis Grizzlies, e.g. had a jersey with a font inspired by the 1968 sanitation workers’ strike in Memphis whee King delivers his last speech.

Grizzlies "I am a man" jersey

And the Atlanta Hawks have a jersey bearing Kings’ MLK initials.

Hawks MLK jersey

Having none of these available, I decided to honor Buck O’Neil and the Kansas City Monarchs of Negro League baseball fame. The Monarchs were the longest lasting Negro league team stretching from 1920-1965. They rosters included such legendary players as Satchel Paige snd Ernie Banks. They were Jackie Robinson’s last team before the Dodgers and the Yankees’ first Black player, Elston Howard, had been a Monarch. In fact, following integration, the Monarchs were the single greatest conduit from the Negro Leagues to Major League Baseball. And of course, the Monarchs were Buck O’ Neil’s team.

O’Neil spent his entire playing career with the Monarchs from 1938-1955. He would then go on to be baseball’s first Black coach with the Chicago Cubs and later serve the Cubs as the first MLB Black scout. He was responsible for bringing Ernie (Let’s play two, Mr.Cub) Banks to the team from the Monarchs.

On July 17, 2006, At age 94, Buck signed a one day contract with the independent American Association Kansas City (Kansas) T-Bones in an effort to be the oldest player to appear in a professional baseball game. He led off, drew an intentional walk and then “retired.” Later that year, following his death, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And in 2021, finally elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was instrumental in the creation of Kansas City’s Negro League Museum .

The T-Bones have now been renamed the Kansas City Monarchs in honor of the original Monarchs,

Today’s hat’s off to the Kansas City Monarchs. The hat (on) is a 1945 Monarch hat (Jackie Robinson’s year) paired with a Buck O’Neill number 22 Monarch jersey.

Monday, January 17, 2022

Abundance....

1/16

Monkey Cup art...

Today it is FREEZING cold. When I go out for my Sunday Times and coffee at my favorite Venezuelan cafe, the Monkey Cup, it's only 11 degrees F. (Celsius -12). Today I am preaching to a bilingual (English-Korean) joint service of the Good Shepherd -Faith congregation before taking the long journey out to St.Alban's, Queens for my first official act as Moderator, a much anticipated and long awaited ordination and installation service. Here is my reflection for the Good Shepherd- Faith people....

Well, sad to say, we are still in it. In the midst of the first year of coronavirus world, I got my covid collection. My Grateful Dead dancing bear “Grateful Distancing” t-shirt. My “We will get by, we will survive” shirt. For last year’s spring training I got my shirt with the Pirates’ logo man wearing his head bandana as a mask. And last summer I gave them all away thinking they would be just a bad memory. Little did I think..

During Covid I produced 62 virtual open mics and 10 showcase concerts on the great “Stay at home” tour of 20-21. Making my way back to live performance has been difficult. SO I was every excited to have three big performances coming up this winter. And by Friday, all three had been cancelled or postponed until fall. Yes, we’re still in it.

Later today is my first “official” act as Presbytery moderator. In a live in person service, I will ordain and install Eric Toodles as Pastor of St. Alban’s church. But in order to do that, to be a responsible moderator, I had to ask all these questions…how many people will be there? What are you protocols? Do you have ventilation? And then, how do we do the traditional laying on of hands? I mean we’re all used to the ecclesiastical liturgical mosh pit. Can’t do that in covid. I asked my colleagues. One suggested we just stand at a distance and hold up an out stretched hand. Until someone pointed out that it would look like a Nazi salute. Can’t you see that viral video….yes, we’re still in it…

Everyone seems to be making up their own rules. Younger friends just carry on and folks my age are battening down the hatches. We’re still in it.

SO in the midst of Covid, we’re invited to a wedding. At Cana of Galilee. With Jesus, his mom and disciples. So let’s see what’s going on there.

This is one of my favorite stories. And only John tells it. You know how it goes…The wine is running low. Mary points this out to Jesus. Who responds rather rudely, to be honest. And Mary doesn’t argue or engage, she just tells the servants to “do as he tells you” and low and behold six stone jars are filled to overflowing and the steward says the best wine was saved for last…By the way, you can get a kit to do this for only $8.95, though it says, warning: do not consume, for entertainment purposes only..

Okay then, what do we make of this?

From the literary criticism side, lots of parallels between this story and John’s Easter story. Three days, Mary’s presence, stone jars, stone tomb…intentional …

Jesus is concerned about revealing his identity. Mary on the other hand, is simply concerned about what running out of wine will do to the host. It is a potentially embarrassing situation. A real social faux pas. She is sensitive to and aware of this and intervenes to help someone without their even knowing it.

So let’s see what Easter eggs are here…

There are six stone jars…the number of almost, not quite, imperfection…and the jars are empty…since these are for purification rites, it’s a not so subtle critique of tradition. The religious establishment was imperfect, more than imperfect, empty. It would take Jesus to fill them to overflowing…We make a serious mistake if we see this as a comparison between Judaism and Christianity. To feel this as John’s readers first felt it, we need to read it as a criticism of our own institution. To what extent are we coming up short? To what extent are our jars empty? Over 40 of our 88 Presbytery congregations have no ordained and called pastoral leadership. Our seminaries are preparing young people for jobs that no longer exist. How do we fill these jars to overflowing again?

What we have here is a story of God’s abundance, God’s overflowing abundance. Meeting a need right where it is. Some have said we Presbyterians fall into two categories…one, those who hear Jesus say pick up your cross and follow me..and two, this who hear, I have come so that you might have life and have it abundantly …Honestly, our dour Scots DNA puts more of us in the first camp. This is a good reminder that we need both. Jesus’ first miracle, Jesus’ first sign…keeps the party going….we need joy, my friends…that spirit Desmond Tutu shared with us even in the darkest days of apartheid. Abundant life.

But look deeper. Nobody sees this “sign” except the servants who draw the water. (Though one of my Bible study companion has a day job as a server who says the servants always know where the good stuff is stashed. Just a nod from Jesus and…) Who are we at this wedding? If we are the privileged guests, what are we missing?

I’m building up to a point here…we might well ask, if our God is a font of overflowing abundance, how can so many of us, Gods creatures, be in such crushing need? How many of us are stuck outside in freezing cold weather? Hungry? Having our votes taken away? Living in the deadly oppressive chaos allowed to reign on Rikers’ Island? And what does any of this have to do with Martin Luther King, Jr. Weekend?

God’s abundance, summoned by Jesus, needs the servants to fill the jars. God’s abundance needs us to flow through…we are the servants, we are the jars, God needs us for the abundance to reach others…..and that’s what I want you to take what you on this cold January morning…abundant life flows through us…let those with ears to hear, hear…

Amen.

Gospel John 2:1-11

1On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." 4And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come" 5His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." 6Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. 8He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward." So they took it. 9When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom 10and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now." 11Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Friday, January 14, 2022

Because Steelers...

1/12

Here we go Steelers....

I had something all planned out for my Wednesday morning group but Sunday changed all that. Sunday, January 9th was one of the most engaging, entertaining, tension filled and ultimately satisfying days I have ever had in over six decades following sports. The ultimate result left me with no choice but to celebrate the Steelers.

An NBA schedule change meant I would be at the Barclays Center with my boys watching the Nets eke out an overtime victory against the Spurs while the Steelers game began.

Things did not look promising. My hometown team had a strange season of beating heavily favored teams and losing other games in embarrassing, even humiliating fashion. The Steelers Monday Night Football decisive victory over the Browns was a good final Heinz Field farewell for quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. And guaranteed at least a non-losing record.

However, in order for the Steelers to make the playoffs, three things needed to happen. First, the Steelers needs to defeat favored arch-rival Baltimore. Then the lowly dysfunctional Jacksonville Jaguars needed to upset the heavily favored Indianapolis Colts. Then the final game of the season between Raiders and Chargers would have to end up not being tied.

I made it home in time to see the final minutes as the Steelers somehow managed to kick a field goal and defeat the Ravens in overtime. That guaranteed that Big Ben would retire with never have had a losing season in 18 years. And coach Mike Tomlin no losing seasons in his first fifteen years as coach, the most successful African-American coach in NFL history, I reminded my friends that Steeler owner Dan Rooney was responsible for the "Rooney Rule” by which any team interviewing for a new head coach must include Black and/or other minority candidates. It’s a good legacy.

But low and behold, the Jaguars handily defeated the Colts! Only one piece left! And in over 270 games this season only one ended in a tie…involving, of course the Steelers. This game will involve the Chargers, who have no business in Los Angeles, and the Las Vegas Raiders who should never be anywhere other than Oakland…

So with breathless anticipation we watched the final game of the season which unbelievably ended in regulation with a tie. As overtime wound down, the announcers pointed out that if the Raiders just took a knee, both teams would move forward and the Steelers would be out. So with two seconds left the Chargers inexplicably call a time out and the Raiders kick a field goal and win as the clock passed midnight. Thank you Raiders!

here we go...

Across the country Steeler fans breathe a collective sigh of relief. In the final moments my brother in Ohio texted me “this is psycho sick…” And via What’s App, my son in Berlin told me he had set his alarm to get up at 5:45 am just to make sure the game was not tied only to find out it was and so watch until the breathtaking end. Of course ending eleven hours of anxiety.

Never have I ever, as they say… No matter what happens next week, this was worth it…..

So I wear my Steelers hat. ( I have five and wear one until there’s a loss then switch..this is my second time through the sequence). And my 1954 repro retro practice jersey with faded graphics. And my coffee mug to complete the day.

Bring on the Chiefs! Being reminded once again that anything can happen.

Saturday, January 8, 2022

Last day of Christmas....

1/5

grateful....

One last day of Christmas. As my Wednesday morning group gathers, I once again envy my friend Joel’s family sojourn in Oaxaca. Makes me wish I could convince my brother in law to create a family get together there sometime.

It is the 12th day of Christmas so I wear my Christmas hat one more time,.

santa takes a swing....

As well as my Grateful Dead “Tis the season to be grateful” shirt. Maybe that is the best thing to take forward from Christmas…gratitude. Remembering in the midst of all of this what there is to be thankful for. Walter Breuggeman said that Resistance begins with doxology….giving thanks…

I learned in community organizing that when you begin with needs assessments, people usually wind up depressed, even immobilized. On the other hand, when you begin with capacities assessments, what do you have already and what can you do with it, creativity begins to flow.

****

Tomorrow will be January 6th. The day we celebrate the visit of the Magi to Jesus. It’s also the anniversary of last year’s Capital insurrection. The Magi came to show God’s ever expanding circle of care and concern. Inclusion and embrace. The capital invaders represent a world of separation and exclusion. Magi vs. MAGA you might say.

Epiphany is the comic strip light bulb that flips on to show that suddenly, you’ve got it, you get it. We need to have the light come on so that people get that we all belong and are richer for that. I’ll take the Magi today and any day.

****

Friday is Old Christmas or Orthodox Christmas due to calendar change issues I never have fully understood. So Friday Greeks, Russians, Serbs, Syrians, Georgians will celebrate Christmas. When I was growing up, our local newspaper always had an op ed commending what it called “Russian Christmas.” I always though that was cool.

One year, I went out for a late night run on January 6th. I saw light on a side street and found myself in a Romanian Orthodox Church. Vibrant colors of wall hangings, gilt edged icons reflecting myriads of burning candles and the flow of chanting heavy on baritone and bass left me breathless with the beauty of an Orthodox Christmas.

I will continue to seek to be grateful in days to come…..

Monday, January 3, 2022

Beginning....again

1/2/22

Neapolitan tree ...Metropolitan Museum

I begin the New Year with the Beverley Congregation...still virtual...sigh...here is my reflection:

Happy 2022 to you. And may it be a better one than 2021. As happy as we are to see 2021 go, it wasn’t all bad. We got a new President. Though his election inspired the first insurrection since the Civil War. Tried to do a lot of things that most people seem to want, with not too much success. And one group is working very hard to make it even harder for many of us to vote or have our vote count…

But…on the other hand, it’s our first time not to be in a declared war since 1978 (some debate the year..) With all its problems, ending the Afghan War was a good thing. And now refugees are being welcomed around the world.

We made advances on Covid but it came roaring back and its confusing where we are now. So…may 2022 be better.

But let me also say happy eighth day of Christmas. I am a strong believer in celebrating all 12 days. Especially this year, which has been a strange one for me. My mother died one week before Christmas…she was 93, she lived a good life. And I was blessed to be with her until the end. In the middle of a very hard week for me, my rabbi friend delivered a Christmas tree to me. Said it was the first one he had ever bought and that I needed some cheer. But then my middle son got covid and then my sister’s daughter got covid so no festive family gathering meal this year. We did manage a family ZOOM where we got to remember my mom from our various places around the world. And that was good.. SO happy 8th day of Christmas…and celebrate all 12!

Our Gospel this morning is just what we need to continue our celebration of Christmas and prepare to begin again. Every New Year is an opportunity to begin again. What we have for all intents and purposes is John’s Christmas story, told in his own unique way. His version of the Jesus Christ origin story.

Each of the Gospel writers has their own way into the story. It’s kind of like when a new Spiderman series reboot comes out and the origin story gets retold…

Mark gives us the mysterious stranger who wanders in from nowhere to be baptized by John, Luke gives us shepherds and angels and a manger. Matthew gives us kings and a star. John gives us a cosmic Christ, who has been there since the beginning of time, involved in every aspect of creation.

Let me also remind you that John is a poet…not a historian or scientist or even philosopher…so read him like that.

His opening words echo the very first words of the Bible as we are literally taken back to the Beginning.

There are two key words. One is WORD. In the beginning was the word…remember how in Genesis God speaks the world into creation, The word was with God and the word was God…

And that was LIFE…..That life is a light …a light that shines in the darkness…no matter how dark it gets, that light is always there…in Genesis, God’s first words were Let there be Light…separating light from dark…and the darkness has not and will not overcome it…

That’s good to remember on Christmas Eve when we light our Christmas candles…some think the world was in darkness for eons of time then Jesus came on the scene and presto changeo light!…No, John makes clear…the light even when dim, is always there…and the beauty is …that it is true in the BIG picture and it is true in the smaller picture that is our own lives. Even in the darkest moment of our lives, that light is still there, if we allow ourselves to see it…and Jesus is that light for us…

Neil Young sings “…and still a light is shining from that lamp on down the hall..”

"Star of Bethlehem"

In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes were watching God, when the Black community gets its first streetlamp, the people gather and Mrs.Bogle sings ‘Jesus the Light of the World”….

”Shine all around us by day and by night,Jesus, the light of the world"

(hymn sung by Mrs, Bogle on 46)

and Joe who lights the lamp says

"Lift yo' eyes and gaze on it. And when Ah touch de match tuh dat lamp-wick de light penetrate inside of yuh, and let it shine, let it shine, let it shine" (45).:

I wish we could sing Jesus the Light of the World…

1 Hark! the herald angels sing.