This is what democracy looks like

12/6

Time to get the banners back up we took down before the hurricane. Our West Park banner and the the center banner: Dream. Real. Hard. Can Stephen and Jay handle it on their own? Do they need the St. Agnes guys?

Stop Teddy to tell him about the Occupy Faith meeting I went to this morning..my general frustration. But my satisfaction with my conversation with Amin. In a conversation where the macro is so elusive, I’ll stick with the micro.  We can put together a work team to go to Staten Island to do real work and show solidarity. And I ask if I could bring an Irish and over and he smiles. Amin is my Sandy hook up. 

Martin and I talk about my upcoming conversation. I want him to know exactly what the situation is before  any conversations move forward. He’s done what he can. I need to bring it home. The best I can.

RL is coping with life and what it brings. As we’re talking, Isis walks through on her way to rehearsal. The two shamans nod to each other. 

I will shortly meet RL at the Gate to talk to Mandola Joe. When I get there, Pat the guitar player is there, too.I tel them the story of the battle of Midland Beach. The mayor sent the cops to shut down the cafe on Olympia Avenue in Midland Beach. (Don’t ask why...strategically dumb.) Occupiers and retired cops in Emerald Society sweatshirts faced off against active duty cops. The old cops asked the active duty guys, Do you know what you’re doing? You can’t do this...Finally the active duty cops went back to their commander. Said we aren’t going to do this... The cafe and free store remain. It’s a micro story. Didn’t even make New York 1 news. Why am I so drawn to Staten Island? The real revolution begins with the working class...retired cops and Occupy turn back Bloomberg? Watch out..

I referred to them as the ragged Buskers. They liked that. or maybe ragamuffins... Mandola and Pat are ready to play. Just find a date.

Advent 1: Signs

12/2

The table is ready

Makes me feel good, coming into the sanctuary, seeing it all ready for worship. The work we did yesterday--Teddy, Jay, Stephen-- worth it. Appears that Sanctuary has added festive wreaths to the mix. And Teddy has a pot of hot mulled cider simmering...

I couldn’t find our traditional brass Advent wreath yesterday so I brought my blue ceramic one from home, made years ago by Latvian potter Valda from Pittsburgh. It was a special commission. I gave her the idea one Christmas. A longtime friend of my late Uncle Leon, she would host an annual open house with Latvian cookies and mulled wine while in the living  room you could see her tree decorated, in the Latvian tradition with real candles. Every year she would terrify her guests when she lit the candles. It’s OK, she’d say, I have a bucket of water nearby...

So I also brought the communion set she made for me. Not doing any good at home. It’s a risk, I know. Things have a disturbing way of disappearing around here, even from locked rooms. 

I should have known. We did all that work yesterday getting Rachelle’s stuff ready to be  moved out. The desk guy at Capital Hall said he hadn’t seen her in days. So of course, today, right before worship, she shows up. I can see the looks on Stephen and Teddy’s faces, their hearts sinking. 

And of course, right before worship, she’s all worked up. 

Why didn’t you tell me? 

We’ve been telling you for months.

How am I going to help people, I don’t know where anything is..

It’s all very neatly packed up.

Well.they’ve messed everything up, I knew where every item was...and some of my best things, my pretty things, my beautiful things, I showed the young lady, they’re gone pastor, they’re gone, what am I going to do?

Rachelle, Rachelle, I can’t have this conversation now.

I see the congregation gathering. She will be in there, opening boxes, rummaging through things...Rachelle, please wait until after the service,please...

I look out and see Tracy and her partner Su Young and I smile. Soon her two sisters will arrive as well. And there will be another visitor, a young woman, dragged in, it will turn out, by Rachelle.

We begin with O Come, O Come, Emmanuel... and I have Teddy light the first Advent candle. 

We say our prayers, read our scriptures. And then, with Marc’s help, Something’s coming from West Side Story comes over the sound system. 

Could be!  Who knows?  There's something due any day;  I will know right away,  Soon as it shows.  It may come cannonballing down through the sky,  Gleam in its eye,  Bright as a rose!  Who knows?  It's only just out of reach,  Down the block, on a beach,  Under a tree.  I got a feeling there's a miracle due,  Gonna come true,  Coming to me!  Could it be? Yes, it could.  Something's coming, something good,  If I can wait!  Something's coming, I don't know what it is,  But it is  Gonna be great!  With a click, with a shock,  Phone'll jingle, door'll knock,  Open the latch!  Something's coming, don't know when, but it's soon;  Catch the moon,  One-handed catch!  Around the corner,  Or whistling down the river,  Come on, deliver  To me!  Will it be? Yes, it will.  Maybe just by holding still,  It'll be there!  Come on, something, come on in, don't be shy,  Meet a guy,  Pull up a chair!  The air is humming,  And something great is coming!  Who knows?  It's only just out of reach,  Down the block, on a beach,  Maybe tonight . . .  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu7sRdRrm_w

So why did I do that? It’s Advent....and something’s....coming...something’s coming...and like 

Tony in West Side Story.....we are filled with anticipation. And not even sure what it is we are waiting for. Just that something’s coming...

Every year, we go through three Advents at the same time. First of all, we’re waiting, getting ready for this year’s  Christmas that is coming...but we also remember all the Christmases of our lives. And even  more....we’re getting ready for Jesus. His return. The coming of his kindom, his reign, his beloved community. 

We experience time chronologically but also in cycles. So every year when I see the decorations go up, I have a sinking feeling. Another year coming to an end, another year of so much left undone...where am I, where are we, on our journey? All in the hustle and bustle and stress of a holiday season. 

So we need Advent. To carve out some time. Some space in time, out of time, to prepare...to get ready...

Our Luke passage (21: 25-36) is all about signs and portents...People are always looking for that...and it’s not like we don’t see them...Any age, any time is filled with its own apocalyptic images. Enough to prove the end is near. In Bible study, we learned that the devastating earthquake in Pompeii informed some of Mark’s apocalyptic imagery.

(I shared the story of the man in Far Rockaway....the wall of water, the screaming car alarms, electric wires hitting the water, wading through floating garbage...almost losing his daughter in law...)

It doesn’t get any more apocalyptic than that...

We lit our first candle today for the Prophets..those who help us discern the times. Strikes me that today, scientists are our prophets now...They are trying to get us to see that actions have consequences....put too much carbon emission in the air, you get global warming...destroy the wetlands, you get catastrophic flooding...actions have consequences...

Like I said the first weekend after Sandy, don’t talk about natural disasters...the hurricane was weather...the disaster human made...a direct result of our policy decisions.

The call of the gospel  is to not  give in to our fears...and I always note that the worries of this world are right up there with dissipation and drunkenness...as someone said, worrying is like praying for what you don’t want.... you almost draw it to you....

And I want us also to see that the  redemption  spoken of by the prophet (Jeremiah 33: 14-16) is collective, not individual...like they said at Midland Beach in Staten Island, the problem here is individualization of crisis...

Signs...We see signs......I tell them of the story of the Occupiers and police on Staten Island....the wariness, slowly beginning to work together daily...the growing mutual respect...to see the Occupy signs and NYPD/FDNY signs side by side...that’s somewhere between hell freezing over and Jesus coming again...signs of the coming world we’re supposed to live into...signs of the alternative reality we’re called to live in now....

That’s what I have, this first Sunday in Advent...signs....

a candle for Stephen Festa

we remember

Before we gather for communion, we stop to commemorate World AIDS day. I remind the church of the deep history of the AIDS crisis at West-Park. I recall the creation of God’s Love We Deliver meals on wheels program for people with AIDS. I point to the Tiffany window restored in honor of and dedicated to Stephen Festa in 1987. And light a candle by his plaque. And we light candles in memory of those we have lost. And invite their spirits, and the spirits of all who came before us in this place to join us in our communion. 

As I lift up the bread, I recall that food justice is at every level....production, distribution, consumption...and think of all the hands involved in our loaf of bread, from seeds to store... and how grapes too must go through that process...and that in the end, it is we who are transformed into the bread of life, the risen body, to be leaven, to bring ferment to our world.  

As the people come forward for communion, I hear Tracy as she comes to Hope, a little unsure what to do...I’ve never dome this before...she says... 

We sing Come thou long expected Jesus and gather around the table. And I read the day’s Epistle lesson as a benediction:

⁹How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you? ¹⁰Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your faith.

11 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. ¹²And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. ¹³And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. 

And we sing our amens, return to Teddy’s hot mulled cider.

Stephen invites the Sanctuary NYC folks to share in our AIDS memorial candles.  Later, I’ll look and see that they did and that  all the candles are lit and glowing...

The young woman who was visiting comes forward. Tells me that she was dragged in by Rachelle. That she was raised Catholic, with serious issues with church. And that she didn’t know it could be this way.  I like the intimacy, the caring of your community she says...And I thank her for her presence. 

Ramon is preparing for his ballet. He came in as we left yesterday. Didn’t hear Jeremy when he called. Jeremy had to come down to the Gate to borrow keys. A package of bacalao in his hands. It’s a long story , he said....

Tracy and her sisters

I take a picture of Tracy and her sisters. You’re like an Asian, she said,always taking pictures...

Rachelle renews her assault. Her high pitched, staccato words like a dentist’s drill boring into my head. Later she will set up a display on the steps. Tired, I finally say, if it bothers Sanctuary, they can deal with it.

She sees me going up Amsterdam and follows. Telling me her medical miracle, living with scleroderma. (I told her I knew the story)And of her miraculous rescue from a car accident and the cop who called her an angel. She tells me an angel of mercy. She says I am an angel, too. .This is going on too long. I a exhausted. Remember the first West-Park rule. Remember...don’t try and have rational conversations with irrational people...

Occupy Sandy, Part 2: Midland Beach

11/28

Midland Beach, Staten Island. This section of the city has had the highest concentrated death toll. Up and down every block we see the houses with yellow tags-- and the words enter at own risk without spelling out specifically the  mold problem. So people are moving back, even without light, heat or safety. 

Comfort Cafe and Free Store

Inside the Comfort Cafe, we meet first with the parish priest,Father Diaz, a native of the Philippines. He tells me that 95% of his  parishioners have lost their homes. There are rumors, repeat rumors, of dozens of undocumented bodies in a makeshift morgue. Headed to Potters' Field.  People afraid to report  missing loved ones do to fear of  of deportation. 

Never thought I’d see signs for a NYPD/FDNY Comfort Cafe side by side on a fence with sign for Occupy Sandy Free Store. Here’s what happened: soon after the dust settled from the hurricane, Occupiers George and Amin-- who it turns out had been part of the #OWS encampment at West-Park, arrived at Midland Beach. Wisely went to the local parish priest, Father Diaz.  Told him they were here to help. Got the use of the empty CCD education building across the street. Set up their free store. Put out the word through the Occupy Sandy Social Media Network.  Within 24 hours, food, clothing, supplies were pouring in.

Amin and George

A week or so later, the police and fire guys said that they’d like to open up a cafe. Said they had issues with Occupy. Wanted them gone. Father Diaz and other local clergy said, They’ve been here from the start. This is not about politics, it’s about helping people. They’re staying. Deal with it. So after agreeing to meet every day at 1 PM to check in, they began to work with each other. Warily, but side by side.

So now here are  Red Cross working with Occupy  and retired police and firefighters cooking and serving people. Cooking on charcoal grills and Coleman stoves. While we were there, there was some tension with the Red Cross. They’re trying to get the site designation changed from  emergency recovery to reconstruction. That would mean they could leave. 

The retired police speak up...Wait a minute..you want to leave?  These Occupy guys got here before you. They work 15-18 hours a day. They’re not going anywhere. You’re telling us that you’re leaving and they’re staying?

There is no heat or power in the rectory. (Took me back to the old days at West-Park....but at least we had lights.) There is a rumor that Cardinal Dolan is coming December 8th, but still  unconfirmed. 

Occupy Sandy is building a tool library. Looking for power tools. Saws, crowbars, sledge hammers, nail guns.....

There are mold related problems everywhere.

The Red Cross says that because this mold is mixed with saltwater, bleach doesn't work.

 Turns out after putting out a call for people to donate bleach, it doesn’t work with mold mixed with salt water. (We didn’t know that from Katrina?) 

 Some of these houses will NEVER be inhabited again.

We are four weeks into this crisis  and information regarding mold is still not out. Why?

At this point, the biggest need is for volunteers to be involved in canvassing--spreading the  word about mold and finding out people’s needs.Occupy Sandy’s long term goal is to develop community ownership of the processes that have begun.

Another related action I am  just beginning to understand is the debt strike campaign, when this many of us are in debt crisis,  change must come.

This is a neighborhood of white  homeowners, Russian immigrant homeowners and Latino tenants. it is mainly a working class, middle class neighborhood with a long  identity as a  community of firefighters, police, first responders-- 

  

There are language and cultural barriers with the Russian and Eastern European immigrants. In the community, many didn't leave, despite the warnings. They are currently experiencing trauma. Some left and came back. Others stayed throughout. Already there is a growing division between those who saw water (as they say) and those who were not there.   

It can’t be said enough...mold is serious public health crisis.....there is a need for educational materials,for one on one engagements in Russian, Spanish and English. No one has figured out how todeal with sewage mixed with saltwater. And once again, there is no temporary housing. 

Jessica is  from the make the road program. She works primarily with Latinos and immigrants, mainly undocumented. People who are ineligible for services....They are organizing clinics to deal with stress and trauma,especially the stress of  mothers who feel they are having to hold everyone together.

Many Latinos have already moved out because they have no homes left and have no place to go. And the local jobs they worked in are gone. 

There is this need for educating,for  signage, for...The reality is,  most people can't afford to leave. They are unable to  move out of emergency status. The conversation goes to the thought that it’s time for churches to go back to old school leadership....our churches and ministers  have to assert local leadership beyond the Red Cross. 

Sully talks with us

Sully, a retired cop from the Emerald Society, tells us that the lights only came back last week. There are bungalows here too. But overall,he says,  it feels like the old west. Only the strong survive. And even more, there seems to be dividing line between north and south shore of Staten Island. Just like a typical third world country.

The visiting nurses have set up here now, too.

Susan, from the north shore says that there has been  lots of response but it has been  uncoordinated.

     

Finally Amin says, maybe they don't need money-- maybe they need radical solutions. This disaster is hardest on low lying communities of invisible people.One of the cops says, we're paying the load for this....as taxpayers, and we get nothing back..One of the Occupy Sandy volunteers  says that the issue on the Island is one of the individualizing of crisis, no sense of common good...

Story: Sully and the other police were on the case of the two Occupiers related to 9-11. They weren’t hear, they didn’t know...

Little George speaks up. I was eleven years old when 9-11 happened. I watched  it on TV. I felt I would do anything to help New York City. And now  I have the opportunity to stand side by side with you and work together. I feel its an honor to work with you...And Sully and the cops were silenced. 

And the cops see people they don’t understand willing to work to exhaustion to help the community where the live. Their home. This  is the brilliance of this stage of #OWS. They are getting embedded in communities. Working side by side with real people, seeing police and fire personnel as people,not ideological symbols. And they have proven they can deliver. As they sit together and discuss their shared experiences, questions get raised.   So why are we still in the dark? New opportunities  for reflective dialogue emerge. . Once again proving the main point of organizoing: relationships, everything is relationships.

Bishop George Packard is a good man. He was the first to go over the fence in an effort o get Trinity Wall Street engaged. He was ready to challenge his fellow Episcopal church over their liberal persona and massive 1% ownership in lower Manhattan.  It only unerscoes that moving forward, the liberals are more dangeroue than the conservatives. 

Bishop Packard is referred to as the people’s Bishop.  It’s not because  of any ideological commitment, it's because that’s who he is. A purple heart army veteran, chaplain and then head of all chaplains.  He has been there. As opposed to some of our colleagues who speak and analyze well and may even get arrested, but don’t deal with #OWS at the street level, don’t really know any occupiers, or have not been with the hurricane victims.  George has been there. he is there.  He always wears his chaplain's baseball hat and his magenta bishop's rabat. 

He’s also has a  sixth sense with veterans.  He seems to  know who they are. He went to the beleaguered Red Cross worker,  I see you’re a veteran....your vets for vets badge. where did you serve? A conversation ensues. George ends the conversation with a sincere thank you. 

Portajohns in liturgical colors

As we pass the portajohns in green and purple, I share a liturgical joke with him, so we're moving for ordinary time to advent johns, eh? And he laughs. 

For a m  think of the national guards we saw deployed in Far Rockaway. In their camos, their humvees, cradling M 16’s. Blocking off access to parts of of the town.  Residents are angry...put down your guns and pick up a shovel. 

In the corner, the Christmas tree is glimmering with lights. Darkness is nearing. In the background  the voice of Bing Crosby singing,  I’m dreaming of a white Christmas.  

Table discussion: Father Diaz, second from right

A day with Occupy Sandy, part 1: Far Rockway

11/28

Today I break my rule again about on the steps, in or near West Park because of the need for people to understand the effects of Hurricane Sandy. 

Although West-Park has been packing emergency survival packages for Hurricane Sandy relief, I needed to see with my own eyes what is going on. Decided to spend the day with friends from Occupy Faith as we went to check out Occupy Sandy operations.

We began at St. Luke and St. Matthews Church in Ft. Greene, Brooklyn, the headquarters of Occupy Sandy. On the fence was a typical Occupy style sign, Mutual Aid, Not Charity..inside, I was staggered by the sheer volume of supplies that had been gathered. The feel of the place was like something between St. Paul’s Chapel after ground Zero and Zucotti Park. I wondered if they still held services here and Father Michael assured me that they did. The sanctuary fills and empties ever day when a squadron of UPS trucks arrives to move supplies to where they need to go (For a time lapse video go to: .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSYd2-d1r7g ) Occupy’s social media network drawing the supplies in and directing them to where they are needed with carefully coordinated efficiency.

We pile into a van and are led by Juan Carlos of Occupy Faith to our first stop in Far Rockaway. We’re off Seagirt Boulevard near the bungalows section of Far Rockaway visiting a Latino Pentecostal Church meeting in a house with a large tent beside. Pastor Rene Morales meets us, makes us welcome. 

Luke Nephew is an organizer building church coalitions. He tells us that there is a critical need for emergency housing. People have returned to homes they should not be in. There is no place else to go,no shelters in the nearby community. FEMA maintains that the New York City Office of Emergency Management is the missing link. 

There are no shelters here because no power. Not electrical, or heat. But there is a need to build community power as well. The suspicion is that it is politically deliberate not to provide temporary shelter. The city would prefer to see these people leave, bulldoze the bungalows and rebuild with beach condos for a more affluent population. As he’s talking, I see a repeat as to how city officials in New Orleans used Katrina to level the sturdy brick public housing projects.  

Pastor Rene, speaking of his congregation and his neighbors,  says that there are special problems for people without papers. There is a desperate need for food, pampers, place to stay

Juan Carlos Reyes reports that  St.Jacobi Lutheran church, one of the original hubs,is phasing out. The success of Occupy Sandy has been developing out of relationships on the ground. relationships with churches first developed during Occupy and now serving as connections with local communities.  

He describes both the generosity and power of young people. But already there are issues of young people worn out....The question has to be asked, what is the long term vision? Nevertheless,amazing donations continue to come in. For example, someone has just donated a boat large enough for hundreds of people.  Actually, more  a ship. Right now, it’s docked  in Red Hook. What will they do with it? House people? Ship supplies? Remains to be seen. Right now there is a big need for trained mold remediation teams.

The human infrastructure of the Occupy Sandy operation was set up in set up in two  days by a core group of 20-30 people. The church of St.Luke's/St. Matthews now known affectionately known as 520. 9It;s street number.

Father George, an Episcopal priest, says that  what we are seeing reveals the failures of the system.

Rev. Michael Ray Matthews is a national PICO (people Improving Communities through Organizing)working with clergy. They are hard at work on the ground seeking to organize Far Rockaway.Stephanie Goode, another Pico organzier is with him. I recall the good work done in New Orleans after Katrina and the lead organizer, Wesley Woo. TheY smile, knowing Wesley well. He’s trained a generation of organizers.  

Joseph Mc Kellar is with  Queens Congregations Organized for Change, the Queens PICO organization, representing 32 congregations. Over 50 clergy recently gathered at St. Mary's Queen of the Sea to assess the situation. There is a great need for a critical mass of electricians and plumbers. This community has a large population of domestic workers who lost their jobs working in homes that are no longer there. Because they are undocumented, they do not qualify for unemployment relief. 

There are also insurance company issues. Job creation issues. There needs to be  clean up and rebuild job creation, especially for local people. People feel left behind by the city.23000 out of 39000 houses are still without power. Compared to only a little more than  700 in the rest of the city. And again, 

temporary housing. Policy issues. And again,long term issues.Our friends from the National Nurses Union have already done 44000 mental health consults.

Louis, a natural Latin community leader shares his reflections. 

There are serious issues with the bungalows--insurance payments takes up to 4-5 months. People are scared of shelters far removed from their homes, if they cold even get there. The bungalows from 24th to 32nd off Seagirt Boulevard are ripe for predatory redevelopment. 

Voices around the table agree. The process is condemn, seize, redevelop. There is also a burgeoning public health crisis due to the condition of the homes people won’t leave. Some say that more than public health, it’s actually a moral crisis--how can the city ignore this? Allow this to continue? 

There is no light here.Only one generator per block. The people need to come together. To make sure that they keep the message united and the same.What’s called for is solidarity and power.

As we prepare to move on, Bishop George Packard says to me, I want to tell you how much I have admired your 

congregation over the years. You, the church, have been the very model of Christian social action.

We head down into the bungalows. Once built as little summer cottages for vacationing city people, they now have been (more winterized and become homes for the working poor. Like I said, ripe for predatory development. 

Louis shows us his street. Describes a nightmare night. His brother told him to leave, but it didn’t look so bad. The ocean is coming here, he told him. And it did. Next time he came out, the water was chest deep. He described a scene like something out of a Wachowski brothers apocalyptic move. Car alarms going off all up and down the street until drowned by the incoming sea. Power lines breaking and flailing around like electric snakes, slashing the water with showers of sparks and flashes until all light went out into a darkness that returns every night. 

Forcing his  way through the water, garbage cans bobbing on the water. Watching his daughter in law go down and then his son pulling her out, putting her on his shoulders for the rest of their walk to higher ground. As he tells the story, the look in his eyes is one of disbelief, horror. 

Louis and Bishop Georage

There will be a town hall meeting this weekend to agree on goals, strategies and tactics. Easy to imagine getting some donated trailers and just taking over that gaping vacant lot in the middle of the neighborhood, just moving the trailers in. Something must be done.

As we make our way out of Far Rockaway, out Atlantic Avenue then along the water, past Howard Beach, Broad Channel,names connected with racial tension and violence in recent years, we can observe the changing and shifting dynamics of the hurricane. Who got wiped out, who didn’t. Who’s got light and heat, who doesn’t. Like I said,we must stop talking abut natural disasters. The hurricane was weather. The disaster was created by policy decisions by human beings.

Riding along the coast, I recall my tours of post-Karina New Orleans. The day reminds me of my experiences in third world countries working for the church in the 1980’s. How we’d load into vans and visit local people on the ground, learning  of their struggles, their resistance. Only this is my own city. Places as foreign to me as Central America or the Middle East. But it is my city....