Neighbors

 7/14

The installation of Rev. Kwansong Jeong at HaKnesiah

This Sunday I'm at Good Shepherd- Faith Church in the midst of Lincoln Center. The last remaining non-Lincoln Center/Juilliard Building. Here's my reflection for the day...

So how many of you were affected by the power, outage last night? Another transformer issue. (The last time Con-Ed announced a transformer issue, some people actually thought robots were marching into Queens...No...Con-Ed said transformers...This explains a lot about where we are today...)I keep trying to find a theological connection with today’s gospel but so far haven’t been able to find one. If, one comes to you let me know...(through the magic of technological communication, a friend in Tulsa told me that 65000 others were affected.) With the subways crowded, the buses were jammed completely beyond capacity..

Asked what teh greatest commandment is, a young man replies You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.

28 And Jesus said to him, ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’

But the young man doesn't want to leave it there...

29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbour?’ 30 Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan while travelling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii,[b] gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.” 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ 37 He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’

So there’s this story we’ve heard since nice our youth. What new sense can make of it. Clearly the key question edition is who is my neighbor.

First of all they are the people who live in my apartment building. On long summer nights they bring their lawn chairs and coolers and share food, music and maybe politics.  

Or the Yemenites who run the corner deli. They say hospitality is our culture. So be a good neighbor and be there for us and neighbor we’ll be there for you too.The morning the President announced his plan to exclude and deport people from countries like Yemen, the front of the store was covered with signs saying don’t fear and we’ve got your back and we love you.

Attorneys created signs for the shop that said  “what to do if ICE comes." Now that’s a neighborhood. (Even as today The President's ICE agents spread out in their raids.....)

I watched the Netflix series "When they see us” about the Central Park 5. How instructive it was to be reminded of how far we’ve got to go in dealing with racism in this country. I remember how angry I felt when I heard that story. I was a Central Park runner too. It was people like me who got stirred  up by Donald Trump’s full page ad in the New York Times. Everything about that story stirred up my worst fears.  You know what, he’s still doing that. Those boys probably ran right past my building on their way into the Park. I say boys because then they were. They were even interrogated for as long as 30 hours,  with no sleep,  no food, no attorneys. It took years and a random meeting for the actual rapist to be discovered. To this day the NYPD and the president still need to say they they were guilty of something. Yes, we have a long ways to go.

I’m just back from Central America. Where  the so-called caravans develop. To learn why people are leaving . Not only there but all over the World, its a global problem.

The pattern becomes clear. Agribusiness plus the degradation of the environment makes susbsistence  farming impossible. More and more people fell to the cities where there are no jobs no government infrastructure to speak of and everything  controlled by gangs or drug cartels. Those who want to take care of their families and leave are among the most responsible and courageous in the region. I also met with people who had lived here, in theUS, for decades who had been deported back to places they never knew with a language they could barely speak. There is poignancy in their gathering together to celebrate an American thanksgiving.. on this side of the world we are all Americans. Neighbors. 

I could keep  on expanding the circle of neighborliness but am pretty sure the idea is getting across. 

When I think of neighbors I can’t help but think of Fred Rogers. He was a Presbyterian minister who somehow convinced a Presbyterian committee on ministry that hosting a children’s TV show was a valid ordainable ministry. In those days, we actually had a Presbyterian Church that would validate the media ministries of Fred Rogers and that amazingly creative Dennis Benson. For over three decades Mr. Rogers demonstrated that for him, the clearest understanding of Gods kingdom is a neighborhood.  But maybe the point is not are you my neighbor but Won't you be my neighbor?

His song went:

It's a neighborly day in this beautywood
A neighborly day for a beauty
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?

I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you
I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you

So let's make the most of this beautiful day
Since we're together, we might as well say
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
Won't you be my neighbor?

Won't you please
Won't you please
Please won't you be my neighbor?

When I was a teenager and young adult I made fun of Mr.Rogers. I had to mature in order to see the profound nature of his work. He talked to children about everything from divorce to assasination. When controversy arose over allowing blacks in public pools, he brought out a wading pool and invited his black mail carrier to join him in cooling their feet together. 

For Mr.Rogers, neighbor was a verb.

Notice that for Jesus the question was not who is my neighbor but who proved to be neighbor. The tall steeple preacher, the televangelist and the presbytery moderator all passed by on the other, with legitimate reasons of course.

Only the undocumented Muslim deli worker took the time to intervene and see what could be done.  That’s the one who proved neighbor.

May we as well. 

So let's make the most of this beautiful day. Since were here together 

We might as well say  would you be mine, could you be mine won’t you be my neighbor. 

Let those with ears to hear....

                                                       ****

Later in the day I will meet GSF Elders John Gingrich and Chris Kim and we'll head out to Bayside Queens to join in the installation service for Pastor Kwansong Jeong at Ha Knesiah Presbyterian Church. Elder Kim will preside over the service and I will serve the communion. Anyone going onto the altar will remove their shoes.There's a line of slippers there. Communion is served by men formal wear and bow ties and I as celebrant have to wear white gloves as well. 

This has been a long time coming. The struggles in the church have been bitter. Involving charges and countercharges and law suits and fist fights , vandalized cars and the police being called all playing out like an ecclesiastical soap opera in the Korean language press. "We Koreans are the Italians of Asia" an elder once told me. Passions about church run deep. The day I arrived to preside over the vote as to whether to install Pastor Jeong I arrived to two police cars waiting in the lot, just in case. Hopefully this installation has resolved something and a step towards a new beginning can ev made.