Living in Coronavirusworld 2: Sometimes loving your neighbor is staying away

3/24

virtual St. Patrick's

Yesterday I did my Monday weekly planning at home for the first  time. I usually like to go to my favorite coffee shop, get an almond croissant and latte and plan out the week.  Last Monday, I thought I had one last day before the ordered Tuesday lockdown. But I found the shop had  already converted to takeout only, hoping to make it that way. (Now even takeout is closed.) I got my coffee and croissant and headed to A Philip Randolph Square to sit. The regulars there were in heavy conversation about “martial law,” which they figure is next. That’s how it is in Harlem.

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Tuesday I went to my physical therapy, still open, on 54th Street.  Walking through the Turnstyle Underground Marketplace at Columbus Circle, most restaurants and food places  were still open. Takeout only, of course. Folks scattered at tables in the concourse, socially distant for the most part. 

New York City Presbytery met by ZOOM and voted to advise all Presbyterian congregations to cease all in person activity “until further notice.” The strongest opposition came from racial/ethnic congregations concerned about remaining “faithful to Christ” regardless of the danger. It took some explanation to make clear it wasn’t about ourselves accepting risk, but that our accepting risk endangers others. That sometimes loving your neighbor means staying away. As a retired pastor with a small pension and social security, I depend on guest preaching, consulting and weddings to augment my income. I began to understand that I would be losing around $1000 month in addition to my lost music gig income. It hurts. Of course, many friends have. Lost all their income. Those projected $1000 or so government checks will be a limited value.

The St.Pat hat collection

At 7pm we gather by ZOOM. The gang that accompanied theologian/activist Peter Heltzel on his annual St. Patrick’s night pub crawl. And traditional 7 PM toast. This year it would be virtual. Wearing green and with my own pint, we toasted, Peter’s son Tristan on his lap. Slainte. 

.....and no place to go....

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At last night's ...Songwriters' Exchange, one of our youngest members sang about her lost prom and graduation .She was embarassed to put it in the song. Seemed so trivial. "No. Sing about your life," we told her. "We get to the universal through the individual. And this is your life, and your life is not trivial..." All those once in a lifetime experiences gone. 

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Today the Center at West Park’s Program Committee met by ZOOM.  It was supposed to be about planning the next season’s residencies but had to focus on cancelled spring programming first. Productions cut off in mid-run. Possible make up in a summer Phoenix Festival? Good idea, but what can we know?

I talk with a chaplain who directs a spiritual  care program for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities. One of only half a dozen or so programs like it in the country. As a day program, all the clients are now homebound. She has  to arrange over 180 home visits by a minimal staff.  The strain is already showing. And how long can their visits continue?

I hear noice outside. Three of my neighbors have been talking on the stoop. The police have stopped to tell then to break it up. I mean they do this under normal circumstances. It's Harlem. A younger man is quite riled. An older man, the young man told the police was "one of our elders," tries to calm him down. "Let it go,"he says, "they just doin' their job..."

The president has said he’d like to “open up for business again” by Easter. “Ready and raring to go!”  he says.  “The cure can’t be worse than the problem,” he says. What world does he live in? Of all the ignorant things he has said, for some reason this enrages me more than usual. We are so unprepared as it is.Visions of stacked bodies. And the Lieutenant Governor of Texas says that if grandparents have to put their lives at risk, even die to save the economy, he’s “all in.”  This grandparent is not. The fact that we have elected officials who think like this both offends and frightens me. Little hope that w ehe the wisdom -or will- to do what’s necessary.

Today was the 40th anniversary of Oscar Romero’s martyrdom.  Even in the midst of coronavirusworld, Oscar Romero, presente.