Living in coronavirusworld 205: Parable of the talents

 

11/10

and we did......

Walking through the neighborhood seeing the election signs.  The ATLAH Christians still seeming to back Trump and dis Biden.

 And ripping gentrification.  We are learning to breathe again but our struggle is far from over.

Tonight’s Bible study focuses on Matthew 25: 14-30. It’s the well known parable of the talents where a man goes away and gives each of his slaves a portion of his wealth. (Each according to their “ability.”) Two out fo the three double their money, the third keeps it safe. When the master (finally) comes back, the first two are rewarded and the third has his taken away and given to the one  who has the most. Not only that, he gets roundly derided and sent into the “outer darkness.” And  his one talent given to the one who had the most. Like the exact opposite of Acts 4: 32-35 where in the early Christian community , it was  from each according to their ability to each according to their need. On first hearing, Marsha responds, Sounds like the  Republican platform. Leila says it speaks to her of the problem of not having money. Russ responds that it is very expensive to be poor. That the “master” in the story sounds more like Gordon Gecko than Jesus. (Greed is good.)  Sherryl responds, God bless the child that’s got his own. And that the  whole thing sounds backwards. As for me, its the kind of passage the makes me want to say, OK, I’m done.I’m out. 

I explain that a talent was a large sum of money…as much as 20 years labor. Perhaps even 1.25 million dollars. And we note that each had been entrusted  according to their ability. So how to blame anyone for the outcome? Trade as an opportunity required risk. The word master is equivalent to Lord. The long time he was away like the delay of the parousia, the coming. 

The root of the word property refers to that which one has proper possession of. And a slave has no possession even of their own bodies

We also note how the phrase, Well done, good and faithful servant, so often used at funerals, has been taken completely out of context.  

Traditionally, this passage has been seen as one which encourages risk taking and  using what God has already given you. It is often seen as an endorsement of bankers and traders. And for liberals,  how important it is to take risks for the gospel. All right so far, but it still doesn’t feel good. 

Next to that as in opposition to Luke 19: 12-27,  we note that none were ordered to trade.  They  took their actions on  themselves. An  alternate reading would be that the one who buried his, as the Talmud instructs,  was the only one protecting his master’s money. Perhaps the only one, who like the wise virgins, (25: 1-13)  actually prepared for his master’s return.  That this parable is placed between the virgins and the sheep and goats. Even if the  other two failed, he master would  still have over a million to start over. The Master is exactly as his salve thought him to be, He seems to believe in living off the labor  of others asa  virtue.He basically says , I take, I steal.  His behavior in response proves the salve right. Faithful in a little? He says? (23) 6.25 million is hardly “a little.” Only the unduly wealthy could see all these talents as “a few things.” Who here Is truly wicked? Truly worthless? It could just as well be the master. 

Glen Gildemstre in Richard Samson’s running commentry Provoking the Gospel,  sees a parallel to Herod Archeleus going to Rome and leaving his brothers in charge of continuing to extract taxes and wealth from the masses. The Jews sent a delegation to Rome  to oppose his rule and when he returned  he slaughtered them. The word “ability” is actually dynamis, power. 

Perhaps the real  message is : Be ready. While you wait, the rich will continue get richer and the poor will be crushed. But there will be an accounting. 

The parable seen so often as defending the status quo is an accurate description of absentee landlords and predatory market capitalism  The one who resists, the third servant, pays a terrible price. 

food ...and community..for the people

Marsha sees the need of those with”little ability” (power) needing to pool their power to be able to resist. When you can’t organize money, organize people. 

Amber Lee still sees the call to utilize your talents, not walk away form them. Talents are not only money but  metaphorically …and literally….talents. And unity through unions., for example. 

Sherryl sees it like other Jesus commands like pick up your bed and walk,. Take responsibility. 

Marsha wonders if Jesus might be messing with them. But then says at end of the day he is inevitably on his way to the cross. And we need take his words in that context. 

We are left wondering who the unsung heroes of the story are. 

the strategy

11/10

The weather stays sunny. The President refuses to concede. I share my music with the Inspired Word virtual  gathering. And make it to the Cantina just before closing. The manager has been waiting for me wondering  where I was. Has my taco order ready to go and a margarita at happy hour prices just because I’m a regular. 

We do these things to order our lives in these unstrung times. 

Matthew 25:14-30

New Revised Standard Version

The Parable of the Talents

14 “For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; 15 to one he gave five talents,[a] to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. 17 In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. 18 But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20 Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. 29 For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 30 As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

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Living in coronavirusworld: the work is hard.....

6/30

125th Street

Another day spent with the after effects of the Presbyterian General Assembly and the depth of pain experienced by people of color, especially Black women at our Assembly. Wrestling with my own defensiveness and guilt. How I could work for two months before and in strenuous writing and strategizing within Assembly and still wind up hurting people. As I listen to my excuses, I realize how white I feel. As I wind up actually reading the report of the Black women and girls task force, I understand  why they  feel so aggrieved.  They had worked for two years and developed a stunning report which the Assembly refused to bring forward. It is filled with a rich history and analysis and strong awareness of intersectionality especially as it relates to the Black Queer and Trans communities. Black women being the marginalized of the marginalized. I checked my own emotional  reactions. I realized I had wanted to be seen as a “hero.” And objectively, much was accomplished.  But for many, especially younger people, all that mattered was that we had failed to hear and recognize and honor this voice.  

It also caused me to reflect on my history in urban ministry. My heroes who inspired me to enter into this work. And they were indeed heroes. They risked their families, their jobs and sometime even their lives to fight for justice in  the inner city.  This was real. But also real is that they were all white men. White cis, straight men going into the ghetto to save the day. At the end of the day, an unescapable ethos of  white saviorism that has been an undercurrent through these many years …yes, even through this  Assembly. 

As  a strategist, I also learned that if I  wanted to keep abreast of what was going on on the Assembly,I needed to keep an eye on Twitter where the  real grass roots commentary was going on.

I have written my younger friends cautioning  them against lingering too long in white guilt, as satisfying as that might be. For liberals, guilt is its own reward in that it allows us to  remain in our privilege because after all , we’re liberals and we feel guilty so it’s okay. What’s needed is the move beyond guilt to responsibility, accountability. What then are we  to do? Honestly, it is frustrating. If we move ahead, we can be criticized for not consulting. If we ask for guidance, we’re told it’s our job to figure it out.  So deal….

I have spoken with my own Presbyterian Health Education and Welfare Associaton to have each of our networks examine how their particular ministry…HIV, domestic violence, reproductive options, disabilities…connects with the unique experience of Black Women and Girls. I have asked the Peace Fellowship to convene a webinar. And if need be, we who were commissioners to understand what it would take to  reconvene the Assembly. This is not easy work.

the barbershop

before

after

I get my first hair cut in three months. And a shave! There are only maybe two sensory experiences better than a barbershop shave.

I need a walk. A Philip Randolph park is open again. I see a Latino man face down in the park. Surrounded by police in masks and blue rubber gloves. And a core of black men with their phone cameras turned on to video. There is no public trust anymore. None. They try to help him up, he goes down again.Now its a job for an ambulance and EMTs. As I watch the ambulance arrive, I knew I can go. 

ATLAH

ATLAH

I head to 125th street.  All the widows have been unboarded except for the Burlington Coat Factory outlet.  The ATLAH church is back at again against LGBTQ gentrifiers. The street cops game done shooters are back out. The domino players are back out. 

It’s time for Taco Tuesdays at my neighborhood cantina. 

Living in coronavirusworld 52: liminal time

5/13

From Temple Israel to Mt.Olivet Baptist

As our Wednesday morning group begin to gather, I share my experience of having watched the final game of the 1979 World Series last night and my pill box style Pirates' hat with the three stripes and two Stargell stars.

1979 Pirates

And how Willie, Pops to his teammates, awarded starts to them after every game.  Some had stars all around their hats, even on top. No one's ever done that since. (Except for a cameo in the 2013 National League Wild Card game…)

Someone mentions that now instead of a Times Square national debt ticker there’s now. A Times Square national death ticker. 

Our group has recently been joined by Biblical scholar Norm Gottwald, author of the groundbreaking The Tribes of Yahweh: A Sociology of the Religion of Liberated Israel, 1250-1050 B.C.E. Published well, in 1979. His basic argument is that in this late Bronze, not quite Iron Age, local Canaanite peasants banded together to overthrow the Egyptian overlords who controlled the costal plane and then retreated to the Judean hills where they worked out a society based on covenantal relationship, not hierarchical authority. Here the peasants, known as ha’piru, became the Hebrews, and with their shared faith in a god named Yahweh became Israel. 

This was a liminal time , a space between time. There were two major city states, Ugarit and Mycena, that had once been cities of extensive trade . They were now in decline. Sea people, Philistines (Palestinians) were invading from the  water. The ha’piru were free floating, marginal people, nomads and workers. Israel arises out of chaos, born to freedom from Egypt. Led by Moses who more than likely had been a bureaucrat working for Egypt who decided to help free these people.  This history became mythologized in an origins story constructed o help establish a collate identity. 

No empire controlled the levantine coast for 3-4 centuries leaving Israel to develop on its own. The Torah is the record of the development of that covenant people, the record of what it takes to live together. Without someone telling you what to do, To be a covenant people, leaders had to serve the covenant people. Of al the neighboring peoples, Israel was the only one to survive. And Yahweh the only god. 

Steve P says that when people tell a story, they create a people.

Christianity emerged out of a similar liminal time. The Temple had fallen.  They still considered themselves to be Jews. They worshipped regularly in the Temple (see Acts 2) and celebrated eucharist in the homes. Thee always comes a point whee the ways diverge, and the path become separate.  It took several centuries for Jesus to become Christ. 

One of the issues  of being a covenant community is  always having to  resist the desire for a king. The different  competing stores and strands of the Bible reflect this struggle, What Wes Howard -Brook sees as the  record of the tension between the covenant religion and the religion of empire  in scripture. 

The US now find itself in a liminal space. We’ve lost the capacity to believe that all people are created equal.

The power of liberation is the capacity to tell on\e's own story for yourself. The task becomes as Freire put it, that one can become the subject of one’s history. 

God’s response to  being asked his name, I will be what I will be, is the God is not about God's story, but your story.  In telling our story of God story, we experience what Ward-Lev called the Living Presence. Where truth can be the opposite of fact. 

Steve H says we need to be able to write the  history of the  future and that in Buddhism , the apocalypse is a function of collective karma. 

Norm has been exploring performance criticism, an emerging form of criticism that focuses on the orality of scripture. I recall how performing a passage instead of reading it deepens, perhaps seven changes the meaning. 

Joel talks about in acting, learning  the scene, not the lines. How where you’ve gone wrong can reveal where what could be right. 

Steve P quotes  Myrti about that all thought  is old. That truth is revealed in events and only events can be called true,   

Andre speaks of the exclusive nature of American stories. Stories that many people cannot see themselves in,

I’m remembering seeing the UK’s National Theatre perform Antony and Cleopatra. How many of the actors are people of color from the empire’s colonies.  Shakespeaere's story now becomes theirs as well. And how does it change in the process?

In this liminal time, where do we turn? Steve P references a quote from a NewYorker article about how Greenwich, Connecticut became Trump country. “ We have no concern for the moral question here.”  And calls us back to “All people are created equal” and “love your neighbor as yourself.”   That is where we must return.

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When Russ asks again. What’s our job? Clyde responds, the Poor Peoples Campaign and Dr. Barber are there always. It’s a call for a moral revival. What to do? Join..

What is clear is that there’s no going back. That road is closed off.  It’s an opportunity, but no guarantee how it will turn out.

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The Jewish stars on the Roman columns of Mt.Olivet Baptist tell the story of the short but grand life of Temple Israel when Harlem was going tone the new promised land. Two waves of African-American  immigrants brought that  dream to an end. We can only only see traces. And now a new Jewish Community Center on 118th announces yet a better wave in the ebbed flip 

I see the Atlah signs are back again, in all their strident animosity.

you may b e

Order has been restored.  

Atlah signs once again