Last Sunday after Pentecost: Man in the Mirror..what do you see?

1/31

The Open Choir worshipped with us....

Today we have our friends from the Seed group/Open Choir as special guests. They open our service. Jeremy has been working on JEREMIAH 1:4-10 and does a dramatic presentation of the text.

Soon enough, we get to the reflection.

I’ve been thinking about mirrors…do you know when you look, what you see is reversed? Or that our faces are not symmetrical? I look at kids on the subway…using their cell phones instead of compact mirrors….you know , the selfie app?

I’m thinking about Paul…as through a glass darkly….all we ever  see is a  glimpse…an almost…in part…but to be seen face to face…we want to, need to be seen…

When we first moved to the city, we didn’t know how  to respond to the many who asked us for money. So I asked Marc Greenberg…he said it’s not sop important to give money as to recognize the other’s humanity ..the need to be seen….not being seen takes your life away..makes you disappear…if we’re invisible, we’re not really here…we have to be seen, have to be heard, have to be  known… and we all deserve that…..

So when we look in the mirror, what do we see?

1 Corinthians 13 is a classic passage about love…I associate it with weddings…almost every one I do requests this passage..…

What does it ask of us?

What if it’s reference is not just for couples, but in community?

Back to Jesus. The hometown boy is back…and looking good..…people are loving it…Is not this Joseph’s son?  Wow….

Jesus can’t leave it at happy… But then... but then.... Jesus opens his mouth and gets to meddling. He starts interpreting the Scripture he has just read and he talks about Sidon and Syria, Zarephath and Naaman. He says, "God went to them, not the Israelites." And then he drops the mic. And the hometown crowd gets the point. They know those stories from 1 and 2 Kings. They get the context. They understand that Jesus isn't just talking about including outsiders in the circle of God's care; he is pronouncing judgment on the insiders who have done the excluding.

And people want to push him off the cliff…And How did he pass though the midst of them? Were they looking for someone else and didn’t recognize him? Or was it like a mirror,they saw themselves and like wow, what are we doing?

My friend Arik Ascherman of rabbis for Human Rights..was attacked by a knife wielding settler kid..inches from his chest..the kid could have killed him..Arick though maybe he had a change of heart..yet when interviewed, the young man said that he wished he would have killed Arick..

Our motivation must always  be LOVE

Abraham Joshua Heschel said that a prophet must always be motivated by love. Prophets can only speak  to a people they love.

And of course, Che said,“At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality.” 

So let us take that with us to the  primaries…

And let us look look forward to the day we see in full…

Amen…

All this  put me in mind of Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror…so I played the video..

                                                                     Man in the Mirror

We finish with more songs from the Open Choir. It has been a good morning….

My son's friends Tom and Anne from Berlin were with us…they went first to the LGBTQ Pentecostal service in our sanctuary,,,(yes you read that right…there’s a documentary film group doing a film about them…) Then our service. Then the big production Korean service.  Later that night, they tell me they are amazed at the panoply of religious experience that exists at West-Park. (Robert Orsi would be proud..[1]) But at the end of the day, they liked our service with the Open Choir best of all, even of the smallest. That made me feel good. Because they meant it.

·       [1] Robert A. Orsi, ed. (1999). Gods of the City: Religion and the American Urban Landscape. Indiana University Press.ISBN 978-0-253-21276-4.

FIRST READING JEREMIAH 1:4-10

⁴Now the word of the LORD came to me saying,

⁵"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

and before you were born I consecrated you;

I appointed you a prophet to the nations."

⁶Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy." ⁷But the LORD said to me,

"Do not say, 'I am only a boy';

for you shall go to all to whom I send you,

and you shall speak whatever I command you,

⁸Do not be afraid of them,

for I am with you to deliver you,

says the LORD."

⁹Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me,

"Now I have put my words in your mouth.

¹⁰See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,

to pluck up and to pull down,

to destroy and to overthrow,

to build and to plant."

PSALM PSALM 71:1-6

¹In you, O LORD, I take refuge;

let me never be put to shame.

²In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;

incline your ear to me and save me.

³Be to me a rock of refuge,

a strong fortress, to save me,

for you are my rock and my fortress.

⁴Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,

from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.

⁵For you, O Lord, are my hope,

my trust, O LORD, from my youth.

⁶Upon you I have leaned from my birth;

it was you who took me from my mother's womb.

My praise is continually of you.

SECOND READING 1 CORINTHIANS 13:1-13

¹If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ²And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant ⁵or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. ⁷It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. ⁹For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; ¹⁰but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. ¹¹When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. ¹²For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.¹³And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

GOSPEL LUKE 4:21-30

²¹Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." ²²All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, "Is not this Joseph's son?"²³He said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Doctor, cure yourself!' And you will say, 'Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.'" ²⁴And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown. ²⁵But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; ²⁶yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. ²⁷There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." ²⁸When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. ²⁹They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.³⁰But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

I'm Gonna Make A Change,
For Once In My Life
It's Gonna Feel Real Good,
Gonna Make A Difference
Gonna Make It Right . . .

As I, Turn Up The Collar On My
Favourite Winter Coat
This Wind Is Blowin' My Mind
I See The Kids In The Street,
With Not Enough To Eat
Who Am I, To Be Blind?
Pretending Not To See
Their Needs
A Summer's Disregard,
A Broken Bottle Top
And A One Man's Soul
They Follow Each Other On
The Wind Ya' Know
'Cause They Got Nowhere
To Go
That's Why I Want You To
Know

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change)
(Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,
Na Nah)

I've Been A Victim Of A Selfish
Kind Of Love
It's Time That I Realize
That There Are Some With No
Home, Not A Nickel To Loan
Could It Be Really Me,
Pretending That They're Not
Alone?

A Widow Deeply Scarred,
Somebody's Broken Heart
And A Washed-Out Dream
(Washed-Out Dream)
They Follow The Pattern Of
The Wind, Ya' See
Cause They Got No Place
To Be
That's Why I'm Starting With
Me
(Starting With Me!)

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
(Ooh!)
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
(Ooh!)
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change)

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
(Ooh!)
I'm Asking Him To Change His
Ways
(Change His Ways-Ooh!)
And No Message Could've
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make That . . .
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make That . . .)
Change!

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror,
(Man In The Mirror-Oh
Yeah!)
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
(Better Change!)
No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make The Change)
(You Gotta Get It Right, While
You Got The Time)
('Cause When You Close Your
Heart)
You Can't Close Your . . .Your
Mind!
(Then You Close Your . . .
Mind!)
That Man, That Man, That
Man, That Man
With That Man In The Mirror
(Man In The Mirror, Oh Yeah!)
That Man, That Man, That Man
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
(Better Change!)
You Know . . .That Man
No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change)
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!
Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,
Na Nah
(Oh Yeah!)
Gonna Feel Real Good Now!
Yeah Yeah! Yeah Yeah!
Yeah Yeah!
Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,
Na Nah
(Ooooh . . .)
Oh No, No No . . .
I'm Gonna Make A Change
It's Gonna Feel Real Good!
Come On!
(Change . . .)
Just Lift Yourself
You Know
You've Got To Stop It.
Yourself!
(Yeah!-Make That Change!)
I've Got To Make That Change,
Today!
Hoo!
(Man In The Mirror)
You Got To
You Got To Not Let Yourself . . .
Brother . . .
Hoo!
(Yeah!-Make That Change!)
You Know-I've Got To Get
That Man, That Man . . .
(Man In The Mirror)
You've Got To
You've Got To Move! Come
On! Come On!
You Got To . . .
Stand Up! Stand Up!
Stand Up!
(Yeah-Make That Change)
Stand Up And Lift
Yourself, Now!
(Man In The Mirror)
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!
Aaow!
(Yeah-Make That Change)
Gonna Make That Change . . .
Come On!
(Man In The Mirror)
You Know It!
You Know It!
You Know It!
You Know . . .
(Change . . .)
Make That Change.

How far is what people see from who we really are?

8/30

A little after church fellowship

It is a struggle getting to church. Trying to avoid at all costs a cough or sneeze either of which result in serious pain. Very happy to see the smiling face of Dion walking down the street to help me out. I won’t be alone. Walk up Amsterdam to go into Barney Greengrass and pick up an iced coffee. The steps are a mess. One of the sisters is there with all their worldlies.  And there’s a sleeping figure in a wheel chair. After I look closer, I know it can’t be Sean because he has one leg while Sean has none. Forgive me for saying this, but my first feeling is,the way I feel right now,  I’m leaving this for the Koreans to deal with.

Soon enough Leila and Pat K have arrived as well . And John R has arrived for one more Sunday of music. So we will have church. Back in the Sanctuary for the first time since Antigona.

I discover hitting high notes hurts as well. The congregation will need to take charge of its own singing.

Much on my mind today.

It’s the 60^th anniversary of the death of Emmet Till…lynched at age 14. And it is the 10^th anniversary of Katrina.

So what’s at stake today in our scriptures? Jesus is in conflict with the Pharisees again. Much to do about hand washing. We know all about hand washing. Sanitizers are everywhere. We carry mini-sanitizers in our purses and pockets. We worry about germs. Think about even one subway pole on a hot summer day…I remember Good Shepherd Faith’s Maundy Thursday hand washing  ritual in place of foot washing.  So much more in tune with our present urban reality. Some of us won’t shake hands. Prefer fist bumps. Some churches have stopped praticing intinction. (The way we do communion…)We take our shoes off at peoples’ doors. But sanitation is not what is being discussed here. It’s ritual purity. Holiness.

We don’t talk much or think much about that. But what are our holiness codes? The unwritten rules of NYC liberal upper west side culture? Our equivalent of handwashing? What boxes do we check off?  Political correctness? Do we carry righteous bags to Whole Foods?

More importantly, how do we define unclean? As the Presbyterian Outlook asked this week, more than who hasn’t washed their hands, the question is  who would we not want to bold our hands? Or our children’s? And what do we do with that information?

Jesus, in language more graphic than our NRSV, says that it’s what comes out from us that matters more than what comes into us and that it is the content of our heart that determines that.

James has his word to say as well.

We should be….quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger …(and we might add slow to hit the send/post/tweet button… email and social media, the devil’s tool….)

We are to be doers….not just hearers… of the WORD. how to say that and not sound obvious or didactic? Again he gets specific…. to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world….

Who are our widows and orphans? What does it really mean to care for them?  And how do we remain unstained by the world?

James compares us to those who look in a mirror and then forget what they see…although I’m not so sure that’s us…I feel for many of us, we look in the mirror and struggle…and wonder how we measure up…I don’t detect much selfrightouesness when I look out here at our gathered community…

But it does get to the question  I posed earlier in the week…what do others see when they see us? If Christian or righteous or holy were defined by what others see in us, what would that definition be? And I believe that the honest answer would be something mixed, good and bad…ultimately human…

So how far is what people see from who we really are? And as we sit here today, are there 3 things you could do to narrow the gap? I think one of the greatest compliments paid is when someone says he/she is who the appear to be…authentic.

(Later my friend Pastor Steve will call me out on that one..Donald Trump is authentic, he will say, but is that enough? Where do values, community values, fit in? What good is it if you’re authentic….and a jerk?...And I will respond by recalling how when my son Nate went to Seattle U, a Jesuit school, they said to us parents that their goal was not that their students be  Catholics or even Christian but that they be authentic…in the context of a community committed to building a more just, humane and sustainable world.. and Steve nodded, we agreed…authentic is not enough…)

Doers of the word…another anniversary…50 years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr. visited the southern Presbyterian conference center Montreat…his visit made some traditional southern Presbyterians nervous, if not outright offended. I’m pleased that this week over 1000 people gathered at Montreat to talk about “the unfinished agenda”….and I enjoyed the steady stream of tweets I received …and the wrestling going on…certainly to be righteous today requires us to seriously wrestle with the unfinished agenda, the racial divide in our country…

And last Wednesday there was an eclectic gathering in my neighborhood… at First Corinthian Baptist Church… speakers included Christian Cornell West and communist Carl Dix, ….parents of children who have died by police violence and activists and Baptists …all trying to make a plan to raise a voice that cannot be ignored..and our own Presbyterian friend Stephen who ‘s with us this morning boldly declared that God is angriest when we’re told to wake up and we roll over….(well, that was my version..pretty close, Steve?)

I actually find myself thinking of Michael Jackson…yes, really, do you remember this?

I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you want to make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change

Amen….

And when I ask John to play something for our offertory, John immediately responds with, of course, the man jn the mirror…

Later, as we lift up our prayers, my son Dan asks for prayers for his high school friend Kyle Jean-Baptiste.  The first African-American and youngest actor to star as the lead Jean Vajean in les Miz on Broadway, in rehearsals for the Color Purple, dead at 21. Fell off the fires escape athios mother’s in Brooklyn. (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/01/theater/mourning-kyle-jean-baptiste-les-miserables-actor-who-plunged-to-his-death.html)

There was a cool young couple fresh from California. Set to move to Grteenpoint. I share my experiences of Greenpoint with them, the confluence of old Polish and young and hip, Café Edna and my singer-songwriter-dancer friend, truly one of a kind, Liana.

Session meets to discuss a proposal for rental of our sanctuary on Sunday mornings. Are we ready to make that move? Jamie has visions of how sacred the chapel could be. If it were reserved for sacred use only.  And there will be budget issues to face,  not only practical but philosophical. Missional, to use a term I generally don’t like.

The meeting ends as the pain begins to set in once more. I’ve made it through.

and one with Dion....

EPISTLE JAMES 1:17-27

¹⁷Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. ¹⁸In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

¹⁹You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; ²⁰for your anger does not produce God's righteousness. ²¹Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.

²²But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. ²³For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; ²⁴for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. ²⁵But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act-they will be blessed in their doing.

²⁶If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. ²⁷Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

GOSPEL MARK 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

¹Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him,²they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. ³(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; ⁴and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) ⁵So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?"⁶He said to them, "Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; ⁷in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.'⁸You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition."

¹⁴Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile."

²¹"For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder,²²adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. ²³All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."