6/23
Back at last!!! Let me apologize to our readers for blog silence
over the last week. I was involved in the General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church (USA) in what proved to be a truly historic meeting. The spotlight issues included granting
Presbyterian ministry the right to perform same gender marriages (in states
where these are legal), a proposal to change our constitutional definition of
marriage to two people instead of a man and a woman, and divestment from
Caterpillar, Hewlitt-Packard and Motorola because of their profiting from the
Israeli occupation of Palestine. (More will be written about these in the
coming week.) Out of the spotlight, important work was done on issues that
impact urban ministry, including a review of draconian drug policy and its
impact on communities if color—a proposal originated in San Francisco and
co-sponsored by West-Park--, and a call for a new study of urban ministry
taking account of the urbanization of the suburbs and the suburbanization of
the inner city. And the election of one
of our lectionary study group members, Larissa Kwong Adazia as Vice-Moderator.
(The last time New York City had someone
elected to national office was 1982 when my predecessor West-Park
Pastor, Bob Davidson, was elected Moderator. There is much to catch up on and I
will do my best over the course of the week to do so. Thanks for your patience…
(you can read my Tweets from General Assembly at @RLBRASHEAR #pcusa#Ga221)
Now back to West-Park. Saturday, June 21st, we joined
the rest if the city in celebrating the solstice and Make Music New York day
with a full day of music inside the church and on the steps. The day began
inside with a set by Andy Craig
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| Andy Craig |
with electric folk and original music on his
bass and computer. Andy was followed by Bulgarian classical and new music
pianist Tania Stavreva,https://www.facebook.com/TaniaStavreva.Official )
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| Tania Stavreva |
who after explorations of Satie and new music concluded
with Bach. Our own Debra Griner and Robin Greenstein with traditional folk and
country.(http://www.robingreenstein.com/) (http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/DebraGriner)
Jeremy Mage and one of his Magi, Emilio, opened up a hot set outside
with keyboard, cajon and electric guitar. I joined on some vocals and then
Jeremy and I did a rendition of I Know
You Rider…People were literally dancing in the streets.(http://jeremymage.com/ )
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| Bob and Jeremy |
Joel Gold brought his improvised spoken word outdoors and then Pat
O’Connell his Americana and added Jeremy on keyboard.
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| Pat O and Jeremy |
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| Jeremy and Emilano |
Alia Alhan from Kazakhstan
brought the show back inside for a set of traditional Kazakh music and
classical.
After I left for a wedding in Chappaqua, there were sets by Friday
night sound man and rocker David Smythe and Mandola Joe, banjo phenom Nick
Lantigua (our Open Mic all-stars_ and our own RL Haney. Which of course,
finished with Stay Awhile. It was
truly a celebration of West-Park’s musical identity.
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| The one and only Joel Gold |
I came back after the wedding to join Berik and Leila in a glass
of wine celebrating the successful opening of their latest show, Innovation of
Art. A truly beautiful day of celebration. It’s good to be back home.
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