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| St. Peter's Williamsbridge, Bronx |
It's a typical subway Sunday. The 2 is supposed to go al the way to 219th where I'm preaching but when I get to the station it tells me it's only going to Gun Hill Road, And then when we stop at 180th, we're told there's a "sick passenger" and are being "held at the station." We finally get moving again and at Gun Hill Road, I have to locate a shuttle bus and somehow make it to St.Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Bronx in time for the service.
I've never been to the Williamsbridge neighborhood before. The old church has a sign in German above the door, "Gott is die liebe," God is love. And a newer sign by the newer building calls this St.Peter's Lighthouse Church, which makes me wonder if some other church is sharing space. But no. It all has to do with a gift.
Inside, the two eras of church history are visible in the construction. And it's the first Lutheran Church I've ever seen with a full immersion baptistry. The whole congregation, except one old white man, is black, African American and Afro-Caribbean. It's a straight up Lutheran service, but a spirited singer from Ghana leads us in a series of praise songs.
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| Our praise song leader |
This is the time of year when lots of New York kids are heading to camp. If that camp us a sleep away camp, we all get something we're familiar with. It's a packing list...all the things to bring...all what not to bring. In the gospel lesson today it looks like Jesus is giving his disciples a summer camp list.
Now the don't bring is pretty lenghthy....
no bread,
no bag,
no money in their belts;
not to put on two tunics.
As for the TO brings, just a staff and apparently one tunic (the clothes on your back) and a good pair of sandals...
Apparently Jesus wants his disciples to be mobile, ready to move at the drop of a hat....
Maybe we should take a look at what precedes those instructions...
He's been in his hometown,...and it hasn't gone so well....all they see is the carpenter they've known for 30 years..Mary's son (notice that, Mary, not Joseph)...with 4 brothers and some sisters...they can't see him as anything else....
and Jesus has that famous quote..Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house....so apparently even his family couldn't even see him as different...last Thursday at another church, we talked about this passage over dinner....sometimes hometowns are proud of their children...in the South Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh there's a sign that says Welcome to South Oakland, home of Dan Marino and Andy Warhol. Forgetting of course that Andy had to leave Pittsburgh to become famous and wasn't all that welcome during his life.
Is it envy? Or skepticism or...? As for family, we also talked about the fact that families get used to people in specific roles. It's hard to accept change....even positive change..When someone who has been an alcoholic or drug user get sober, it's not always easy for the family. Likewise when someone gets out of prison. Jesus has been running the family business. Who's taking care of that now with him running around? No...this didn't go well....
He could do no great thing there. Even with Jesus, people had to believe it could happen for it to happen. Otherwise, no deed of power...
People have to believe for it to happen...the slogan of the farmworkers was si se puede.....yes we can...that became the slogan of the Obama campaign....
Maybe that's what he's thinking of when he sends his followers out....this may not work with our own people, we've got to look at new markets. There is this too, by travelling so light, his people will have to be completely dependent on who they meet on the road. For food, shelter, security.
And he had some other good advice too..."Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place..... "what? Maybe that's another way of saying you have to be where you are... I mean really be there...
And if any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.
That's to say don't keep beating your head against the wall....if they can't hear you, move on..like if Jesus' homies couldn't hear him, time to move on....and even shake the dust off your feet....don't be carrying burdens...let it go...I heard a refugee from Rwanda talk about forgiving the man who had murdered his parents. He forgave in order to set himself free...what he said was profoundly moving: what we do not forgive we become, he said....
I'm aware that a lot of bags are being packed these days..there are more people in motion than at any other time in history. What AI Wei Wei calls "the human flow...." The Sonora desert is strewn with personal items left along the trail. People leave because they feel they have no choice. When living becomes impossible, leaving becomes inevitable. We have a crisis of migration. And now a crisis of welcome as more and more countries close their borders. And one of then even separates parents and children.
We have to be prepared to welcome those who come perhaps without even a staff. We need to open our doors and raise our voices. And then, maybe then, we can begin the work of trying to figure out what is driving people form their homes in the first place.
Friends, we have to travel light on this journey. But I can tell you this...Jesus travels with us every step of the way, every day....and always..
Travel light..
ch
Amen
For the second time this week, I celebrate a Lutheran Eucharist. So much more liturgical than my Presbyterian tradition. A deacon assists me in an alb like mine.
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| Ready for worship |
Like it's namesake St.Peter, this chur has been a rock of presence in an ever changing neigborhood.
Gospel Mark 6:1-13
1He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 2On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, "Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! 3Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. 4Then Jesus said to them, "Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house." 5And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. 6And he was amazed at their unbelief.
Then he went about among the villages teaching. 7He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; Gospel Mark 6:1-13
1He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 2On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, "Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! 3Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. 4Then Jesus said to them, "Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house." 5And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. 6And he was amazed at their unbelief.
Then he went about among the villages teaching. 7He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. 10He said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. 11If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them." 12So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. 13They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.
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