During the pandemic, I subscribed to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to keep myself close to “home.” Kind of comforting somehow. It comes online around 2:30 AM.Perfect for those middle of the night wake ups.A week or so ago I saw an article saying that we were reaching the peak of paczky season.. That time between Three Kings Day (January 6th ) and Ash Wednesday when Polish bakeries turn out doughnuts stuffed with rose hip or other jelly or even Boston creme.
The culmination is traditionally Fat Thursday…the Thursday before Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday.(Though nowhere can I find an explanation of how that happened!). And it seems the epicenter of paczky celebration is the Hamtramck, Michigan annual parade the Saturday before. Sadly, Fat Thursday sees to be getting folded into Fat Tuesday leading old school Poles to say, “Americans just can’t get it right.”
So I was determined to find some paczky. Exhaustive research led me to conclude there are no paczky to be found in Manhattan. So there was no choice but a field trip to Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The best Polish neighborhood in New York City.I first encountered it running the New York City Marathon which passes right through on Manhattan Avenue on the way to the halfway point tin the Pulaski bridge.
Later, I would come back on the “Great Open Mic Tour of 2015” toCafe Edna and then bring my Home (Away) Band back to do a feature. The host, singer-songwriter-tapdancerLiana Gabel would later become a collaborator in several concerts. I would also come back for a few shows with my friend Steve at the Jungle Cafe. I had come to experience Greenpoint, like many a gentrifying neighborhood, as a typical urban confluence of hipsters and old Poles, hipster bars and cafes next to bakeries and butchers and stores with Polish signs.
I took the subway and found the Old Poland Bakery just down the street from the G line.
the bakery
I walked in, asked for paczky, even pronouncing it right, and found a wonderful variety. They also also had the almost light as air angel wings dusted in powdered sugar.
paczki, angel wings...
I took my paczky and coffee and went out to sit in the sun on a wonderful warm day.Midday workweek found mainly old Poles, mostly women, a few men, and no hipsters. I enjoyed the rich dough of my paczky and the vibe of Greenpoint.
I share this story with my Wednesday morning group. I’m wearing a red “Polish Night” t-shirt from a Tigers game in 2014 along with a hat as souvenier of that night with a friend. Neither worn since then. Also to honor my good friend Russ in our group who grew up in that part of the world.
So hat’s off to Fat Thursday and paczki and hats on Detroit…
This week for Black History month we’ve got the New York Cubans of the Negro Leagues. One of may favorite jerseys with classic Depression era graphics and adoption of the New York Giants cap logo. The Cubans were to the Giants as the Black Yankees were to the Bronx Bombers. And are one of the two teams the Mets throw back to, the other being the Brooklyn Royal Giants.
The Cubans were born in 1899 as a barnstorming Hispanic team traveling cross country and playing mainly against Negro League teams. In 1905 they were invited to join organized Negro League baseball and played consistently through 1930 when they folded. Internal squabbles also led to a split between East and West traveling squads.
TheCubans were reborn in 1935 sharing Hinchcliffe Stadium in Paterson, New Jersey with the Black Yankees. So for a time in the ’30’s, Paterson was at the epicenter of Black baseball. They would ultimately joint the Giants at the Polo Grounds. In 1941, Petrucho Cepeda, father of San Francisco Giant great Orlando Cepeda, became the first Puerto Rican to join the Cubans.
In 1947, with a roster with the likes of Luis Tiant Sr, Martin Dihigo and Minnie Minoso the Cubans won their only championship against the Cleveland Buckeyes. My jersey is number 17, Martin Dihigo’s number. Dihigo was nicknamed El Inmortal, the Immortal, and starred as both a hitter and a pitcher. He fled Cuba during the Batista era and returned after the triumph of the revolution serving as Cuba’s Minister of Sport for decades. Dihigo is just one of two players to be inducted to the American, Cuban, Mexican, Dominican Republic and Venezuelan Baseball Halls of Fame.
I remember Minnie Minoso from my childhood. He was the first latino in the major leagues and the first Black player signed by the Chicago White Sox. He was to the Sox what Ernie Banks was to the Cubs and is honored by a statue at the White Sox stadium. He was the third player to get a major league hit after age 50 and only the second to play in five decades making one last appearance in 1980. Minoso has been elected to the US, Mexican and Cuban baseball halls of fame.
So, today, hats off …and on…to the New York Cubans…
After two warm days, the cold has come back. Snow is falling. I enjoy seeing Monkey Cup Cafe'a Venezuelan cabana in the snow. And I meet the people of Good Shepherd Faith once more for virtual worship....here is my reflection...
We’ve got quite a convergence here this morning. Today is the great American midwinter celebration of football, appetizers and friends, Super Bowl Sunday.We’re also deep into the Olympics. And tomorrow is Valentine’s Day.
As for the Super Bowl, without my hometown Steelers, I have no dog in that fight, as they say. Althoughthat samefactor makes rooting for the Bengals not an option. Maybe the Lions because their quarterback Matt Stafford, had to labor for so many fruitless years in Detroit. To be honest with you, the only jersey I feel comfortable wearing is Colin Kaepernick’s. As someone said recently, Aaron Rogers lies and gets named Most Valuable Player. Colin Kaepernick told the truth and lost his job. Fact: until Friday, in a league with 70% black players, there was only one black coach, Mike Tomlin, in Pittsburgh, now joinedbyLovie Smith with Houston.
One more fun fact:in 1990, the youth group of the Spring Valley PresbyterianChurch of Columbia, South Carolina was reminded bytheirthen seminary intern that as we celebrate with our abundance, many don’t even have a bowl of soup to eat. The youth group responded by starting the Souper Bowl of Caring, selling soup and collecting dollars in soup bowls. The idea spread like wild fire and since then over 170 million dollars has been raised by churches in all 50 states. (I’m happy that for many years, West Park was one of them.)
The Olympics, as always,have been a wonderful celebration, although this morning’s Times sadly reports the experiences of antiAsian hate experienced by so many of theathletes, especially women, here in the US. Especially Eileen Gu, who chose to ski for China instead of the US, berated by Tucker Carlson and Will Cain on FOX for “betraying her country.”For me the only connection between the Super Bowl and Olympics is that a Super Bowl without the Patriots or Tom Brady to root against is like the Olympics without the Soviet Union…just not as much fun.
So what is Jesus up to today? He’s just finished putting his band together and has been drawing big crowds. Today he’s preaching his sermon on the mount, or is it the plain? Or is it like many preachers, he just used the same basic material twice? When you are there by Capernaum, at the Mount of the Beatitudes, they say that he either preached from the top of the hill facing down , or at the bottom facing up. Either way, same place.
What’s critical is the difference between the Luke and Matthew version of this sermon. Matthew tends to be more nuanced, poor…in spirit..hunger and thirst... for righteousness. The first part of Matthew’s sermon is all thirdperson, blessed are they…
Luke is more direct…it’s all blessed are you…and it’s just poor, just hungry, hated, reviled, excluded… and Luke does something Matthew does not…he adds a series of curses…yes curses…the word woe is supposed to be the sound made by condemned souls from eternal damnation. In Greek, Jesus is basically saying damn you who are rich, who are full, who are laughing , who all speak well of.
And you might say Blessed are you when Tucker Carlson calls you out.
It doesn’t get more direct than that. No nuance there.An echo of Mary’s Magnificat. And Jesus’ first hometown sermon.
It’s good to remember that Jesus was talking to his disciples who had left everything, jobs, homes, families…to follow him.Many in the crowd came from the poor, the hungry, the homeless, the excluded.And Jesus tells them to leap for joy.
Thomas Merton reminded us that when we have nothing, we are most reliant on God. Perhaps we appreciate God more. Our connection to God no longer clouded by distractions.I’ve come to begin to understand that joy is as important as hope in our faith journey. Who can forget Archbishop Tutu, may he rest in peace, and that radiant world lighting smile of his, even in the darkest days of apartheid? Or the joy of African American gospel music?
As I listen to Jesus’ sermon today, here’s what I think…
We need to be creative like that Presbyterian youth group and find ways to turn excess into largesse.
We need to pay attention when brothers and sisters are excluded or reviled by racist language or acts of hatred and stand with them.
Not all of us have Valentines. But all of us who bear the name of Christian have love within us to share, especially for those named explicitly by Jesus. Like the song says, they will know we are Christians by our love.
Those of us of a certain age may remember these words sung by Simon and Garfunkel…
Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit
Blessed is the lamb whose blood flows
Blessed are the sat upon, spat upon, ratted on
Oh, Lord, why have you forsaken me?
I got no place to go
I've walked around Soho for the last night or so
Ah, but it doesn't matter, no
Blessed is the land and the kingdom
Blessed is the man whose soul belongs to
Blessed are the meth drinkers, pot sellers, illusion dwellers
Oh, Lord, why have you forsaken me?
My words trickle down
From a wound that I have no intention to heal
Blessed are the stained glass, window pane glass
Blessed is the church service, makes me nervous
Blessed are the penny rookers, cheap hookers, groovy lookers
Oh, Lord, why have you forsaken me?
I, I have tended my own garden much too long
"Blessed"
So let’s get out of our own gardens…
As they say in my neighborhood, be blessed and Let us be a blessing…
Amen
In the after conversation, people spoke of the importance of recognizing how much we have, ir abundance. When we spoke of our trouble with "the woes," I said that for me they are not so much a promised future punishment as they are the current reality of separation from brothers and sisters, and the true richness of life...we had the joy if a 102 year old member in worship with us,,, and so on to the Super Bowl....
Gospel Luke 6:17-26
17He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. 18They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.
20Then he looked up at his disciples and said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
21"Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.
"Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
22"Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. 23Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.
24"But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
25"Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.
"Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.
26"Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.
This week we find the convergence of two events…the Olympics and the Super Bowl. I have a hat from the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics….and also the official USA team beret …controversial because it was made by ROOTS, a Canadian company. Twenty years ago....
The 2002 Olympics were the first after 9-11 so security was very high. There were a number of firsts. Janica Kostelic won 3 golds and a silver for the first medals for a Croatian woman. It was the first Winter Olympics for “extreme” sports…snowboarding, etc. Sarah Hughes and Michelle Kwan were the prominent USA figure skaters. China won its first winter medal.Australia was the first southern hemisphere country to winter medal and Canada won the gold in hockey for the first time in 50 years.
As for the Super Bowl, it is of course the annual midwinter day of excess and indulgence and ubiquitous Super Bowl parties. In 1990, Spring Valley Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina created the Souper Bowl of Caring as a way to encourage excess into largesse, selling bowls of Soup to raise money for hunger. In my church, West Park in New York City, we participated for many years. When my Steelers played in1996, I announced soup for $1, unless you root for theCowboys, in which case $2.
If the Steelers are not in the Super Bowl, the only jersey I can wear is Colin Kaepernick’s. For al the declarations of new awareness, as long as Kaepernick is not part of the sport, it remains a sham. Brian Flores’ suit against the NFL over discrimination in hiring practices despite the “Rooney Rule” (named for late Steelers owners Dan Rooney) requiring interviews of minority candidates highlights the ongoing racism. Until Love Smith was hired last week, in a league where 70% of then players are black, only one of the 32 teams, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Mike Tomlin, have a Black coach. So I wear Kap’s 7 as a reminder.
This year with Rams and Bengals, I’m pretty much no dog in this fight. Except as a Steelers fan I just can’t root for the Bengals despite a cool young quarterback, Joe Burrow, who led LSU to a title. (Where they had jerseys with his name spelled Bureaux for fun…) And the Rams quarterback Matt Stafford is an older guy who labored long unrewarding years in Detroit, so the older guy gets my vote.
The connector between the Olympics and Super Bowl is this… a Super Bowl without the Patriots or Tom Brady to root against is like the Olympics whiteout the Soviet Union…just not as much fun…
So hats off to Colin Kaepernick and on for the Olympics,,,,
Sunday reflections with Beverley.....on the 5th Sunday after Epiphany....
So we have begun the Lunar New Year…Happy Year of the Tiger!... Andthe groundhog saw his shadow and we’re looked at six more weeks of winter…and it IS cold…omicron seems to be receding but we’re still virtual and still anxious…the Olympics are on from China…and Russian troops are poised on the border with the Ukraine. And we’re more anxious than we would normally be because our brother Eugene isback at home ( a member of Beverley) and we want him here safe with us…and our prayers are with him..
So what is Jesus up to to day?Seems he’s been doing some teaching and some healing and some casting out of demons and is starting to attract bugger and bigger crowds..so much so that he has to go out a ways in a boat to speak to the people. Even though they’re done after a long night of fishing, Simon Peter agrees to take him on board and lets him teach his lesson.
But when he’s finished, Jesus tells him to let down his nets again. Now
remember, they have fished all night and caught nothing, They have already washed their nets, cleaned them and put them away. To get them out again would be a demanding job. I can imagine Peter thinking what does this carpenter’s son know about fishing? I’m tired, I’m done, I’m hungry, it’s time to go home..but because it’s Jesus, he does it anyways.
Remember, it was just a few days ago that Simon had invited Jesus home for dinner, And while there, Jesus had healed his mother in law of a fever. So they have a relationship. It is on the basis of that relationship that he decides to go against his better judgment and do what Jesus asks.And lo and behold, this time he’s catching so many fish that the nets are straining.So many that he calls out to his partners to get their boats on the water too. And they too are catching a net busting amount of fish. Seems almost too much for their boats.
For Peter it’s all a bit overwhelming.Who is this guy?So aware of his own shortcomings, it’s too much,he asks Jesus to just leave. So like the angelsaid to Mary and the angels to the shepherds, Jesus says to the men do not fear…and tells them they will be fishing for people. SO they bring the boats to shore and leave and follow him.
We’ll leave aside for the moment that someone had to store the nets and what about all thosefish?I understand about leaving, but ultimately someone has todeal with it..
So what’s going on here? There’s a few things you might not catch,When Simon calls himself a sinner, it’s an interesting word. It’s ἁμαρτωλός.In those days, to be a faithful Jew one had to go to the Temple in Jerusalem and buy something forritual sacrifices. People who did not do so were considered ἁμαρτωλός, sinful. For fisher folk like Simon, Jerusalem was a long ways away. About 76 miles. Not a quick trip. You’d have to miss work to get there, And once there, not have enough money to buy something to sacrifice. So common fisherfolk like Peter were considered to be “sinful.”
Secondly, when old Testament prophets like Amos (4:2), Jeremiah (16:16) or Ezekiel (29:4) spoke of “fishers of men,” it was is reference to judgment against rich and powerful or censure of Israel for injustice. Jesus has already announced his mission to preach “good news to the poor” and “release to the captives,” and "proclaiming the acceptable year of the Lord.” That is the work he is calling these fishers to do. It’s not about saving individual souls.And what is their response? They follow him…It does not say they believed in him.What Simon saw in Jesus was enough to lead him to say, “Not sure what this is about, but I’m going with him..”
Notice what Simon’s model is;
He listens
He obeys evenif reluctantly)
He recognized his own shortcomings but also his own value
He follows
Those nets are a sign…that Jesus’ ministry is about abundance..that Jesus desires for us to have life abundantly….and that abundance is not for the rich and powerful but for those brave enough to face their own reality, to repent, to turn from anythingthat distracts us from God’s way and go a new way.
This is the work to which Jesus invites us. And see this… Jesus , even as the son of God, begins to see he can’t do it alone so he beginsto ask for help. Simon can’t haul all the fish in so he asks for help. We can’t do this alone…we need each other. And relationships makes helpingone another easier.We will answer the call to help people we trust.I have about six people who if they call me, and ask me to be somewhere or do something,I will say yes, even without explanation because Itrust them to respect me and my time and only call when they need me.And the same in reverse .And that does feel good.
Throughout this season, we look for epiphanies. Those moments where in an instant of clarity all of sudden we get it.
Who are we in this story, and what do we get?
Well, maybe this…the fisher folk are tired…we are tired….of covid and masks and social distance and virtual reality and the stress and strain and everythingelse from the last couple of years.
It is precisely then that Jesus asks for our help. And he doesn’t ask us to do it ourselves. And we do it with each other,And we don’thave to worry aboutfiguring it all out or knowing all the right answers…we just follow him…together…and the rest follows…..and whatfollows is abundance…like overflowingwinejars at a wedding or fishnets in the morning,,,,life abundant….
May we follow Jesus together, May we experience God’s abundance together, May we rejoice and be glad together. Let those with earsto hear hear….
Gospel Luke 5:1-11
1Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." 5Simon answered, "Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets." 6When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!" 9For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people." 11When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
Well, even though yesterday was Ground Hog Day, I don’t really have anything to match up with that so for this week's meeting of my conversation group, I decide to honor Black History Month. And having covered other teams, today I want to look at the New York Black Yankees.
Born in 1931as the Harlem Stars, one of their two main owners was the great entertainer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. While they would ultimately follow their white namesakes to the Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium, they played their home games at a number of other interesting places including the Dyckman Oval in northern Manhattan and Hinchcliff Stadium in Paterson, New Jersey.Recently there has been a major fund drive to restore Hinchcliff as a landmark of the Negro Leagues era. In the waning years of the Negro Leagues, post integration, they played their final years at RedWings Stadium in Rochester.
Their most intriguing home was the Hebrew Orphan Asylum on 138th and Amsterdam, across from the City College of New York, once known as the Harvard of the Working Class. In the early 20’s, a deal was struck whereby the New York Yankees would buy the Asylum to build their new stadium on the grounds and the Asylum would move to the Bronx.The deal however, fell through . The Yankees instead moved to the Bronx to create the House that Ruth built and the rest is history.The Asylum closed in 1941.
Only once did the Black Yankees come close to winning a title losing to the Philadelphia Stars. Their most famous player was pitcher Satchel Paige who played for most of the famous Negro teams at one point or another.
Their logo bore a striking similarity to the white Yankees logo, though with no flourishes.The Brooklyn Eagles, playing at Ebbets Field, would oddly wear the same hat logo. Thehat is paired with a 1935 era Back Yankees “utility” shirt.
So for todays, hats off and hats on to the New York Black Yankees.
