July 4th reflections

 7/4

Guerilla fireworks

My words for Beverley Church, July 4th, 2021

So here we are again. And of what do we preach on this, the 4th of July 2021?  Our reopening continues. Friday night I played at our church’s open mic for the first time since March 13th of last year. The room was packed with people I hadn’t seen since then and people I had only met on our virtual open mic shows. (For the record, since April 15, 2020, I hosted and produced 61 virtual open mics for West Park. Today will mark the 15th virtual sermon and communion service I’ve conducted for Beverley Church.) You can now go to Yankee Stadium and get in without showing your vaccination card. The craft distillers can once again offer free tastings at our neighborhood farmers’ market. But you still have to wear masks on the buses and subway. An many shops. Some people feel safe, others don’t. Yesterday I took my collection of covid related t-shirts…the Pittsburgh Pirate pirate wearing a mask, the Grateful Distancing Stay at Home Tour of 2020, the “Vote” t-shirt with the words “This darkness must give,” the grateful dead logo skull wearing a mask with the words “We will survive, we will get by..” To a thrift store. A good friend said I should have saved them for historic value. But I never want to wear them again…..

covidworld

A year ago, it was a strange 4th of July. No city wide fireworks. But my neighborhood was booming every night for weeks. Til the wee hours of the morning…Car alarms going off all night. Perhaps it was pent up energy from locked down people. Perhaps it was because the police feeling angry and hurt in the wake of steady streams of Black Lives Matter protests and criticism of police violence against Black people basically decided, if it ain’t murder, you’re on your own. And we were still neck deep in the chaos and tension of a presidency like we had never seen before. 

I thought of the words  of that great hymn, “O beautiful…” that my pastor and friend William Sloane Coffin, Jr so loved:

America! America!

God mend thine every flaw,

Confirm thy soul in self-control,

Thy liberty in law!

This year, we are nowhere near out of the wilderness. So much still unresolved. So much division with both sides totally unable to understand the other, especially in the community of those who call themselves Christians! Followers of Jesus…even vaccination is politicized and divisive…

So what is God’s word for us today? 

We find Jesus teaching, preaching at his hime church. And the people just can’t get it. They say:

Is 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?”

Notice how they describe him…son of Mary…no mention of Joseph. They knew him as a carpenter. Joseph must have been gone a long time. He never appears after Jesus the boy is found teaching in the temple. As the oldest, perhaps it’s fallen to him to keep the family business going, take care of his mother. And siblings. He’s 30 years old and never married. That alone would make him suspect. And perhaps rumors about his parentage still linger on.  This oddball kid couldn’t possibly have anything to say. And so they reject him.       

And Jesus responds that a prophet is not without honor except in his own country.  And the clincher…he could do no deeds of power there. 

I spent my first 10 years of ministry  in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Most church people …and others…were excited to see what this new kid from Yale might have to offer. I felt I could do anything I dreamed of.  My next work was in my hometown of Pittsburgh, Pa. Long story short, I could do no works of power there.       

Jesus had to had to hit the  road and recruit his team. People who did not know him.  And get them ready for their road trip. Only the barest of necessities: a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. 

They would be completely dependent on, like Blanche DuBois put it, “the kindness of strangers,” the hospitality of those they did not know. And he gives them practical advice as well,   8 "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." 

Don’t keep beating your head against the wall where you are not welcome…shake the dust off your feet and move on….    One of the commentators I read said, there must be a lot of dust filled doorways around here…even churches…  

And what are the results?    

They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

Mark this…these inexperienced disciples were able to do more on the road than Jesus was in his hometown. 

SO what’s the takeaway here?

First, Jesus is not going to be able to help you if you don’t want to be helped. And he sure can’t help you if you don’t believe he can. 

BUT, if we work with him, if we allow him to be our partner, all kinds of things are possible. 

In the marches last year, I could hear people chant, this is what democracy looks like.

The message of what we do needs to say clearly….this is what community looks like, This is what love looks like. This is what following Jesus looks like. And like St.Francis said, use words only when necessary. 

Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son? Isn’t this Beverly Church, that little church on the corner of Beverley Road and East 8th? Well, yes it is….

That’s what we need to be about, this 4th of July 2021 in this painfully divided yet still beautiful country. The beauty and power of Dr. King’s message and witness was that he believed in what this country said about itself and believed it could be that. That’s what we need to be about in our day and time. 

Let those with ears to hear, hear.

And a happy 4th of July to you my friends….

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.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Living in coronavirusworld 232: Advent 4

 

12/20

Home Communion

I stop in to the West Park worship service because my friend Russ is leading it. Right in the middle of his sharing a video of John McCutchen’s moving song, “Christmas in the Trenches,” about the Christmas Truce  of 1917, I experience my first ZOOM bomb as a crude penis appears on the screen followed by the word “fuck” and then scribbling all over as demonic cackling fills the sound. Amazed at how violated you feel. It takes a few minutes to straighten all that  out. You just can’t  have ZOOM meetings without a waiting room.  

                                               "Christmas in the Trenches"

Leading a Christmas service for my Beverley friends this morning.  Here’s what I had to say:

Luke 1: 26-38

26In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

Here we are…the final Sunday of Advent. Our journey is almost at an end. Just 4 more days until Christmas Eve in the most strange of Christmas seasons.  As I've walked the city streets, everything seems subdued, toned down, quiet. There are still lights, the midtown shop windows, but it all seems, you know? The parties we’d normally be going to aren’t happening. The extended family visits also curtailed. We’re all shopping on line and the mail is slower than ever.  We all wonder what’s up with this virus even as the vaccine begins to make its way around. 

Can you see in your mind’s eye the inside of Beverley Church? Decorated for Christmas? And we walk down the stairs and see what Eugene’s been up to and share in the food we all have brought and enjoy the transforming decorations and fellowship with one another? That’s where we see each other today….in our mind’s eye. 

Try to see in your  mind’s eye a young woman. All we know when she enters the scene is that she is nobody famous. Who lives in a town, not a city, just a town, a non important town, Nazareth in the upstate region of Galilee. (As Nathanel says in John ,”Can anything good come out of Galilee?”) Tradition tells us she’s a teenager. Luke tells us she’s a virgin. And out of nowhere, an angel appears! And says “Greetings!” But this is where I like the King Jame version better…where the angel says

Hail Mary! 

I’m sure Gabriel never imagined he’d become famous in football which didn’t even exist then…Of course  that started at Notre Dame, but get this, it was a Presbyterian player who suggested they pray!  He tells her Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

Which coming out of nowhere would shake anyone up…can you see the  look on her face? Luke tells us she was “perplexed” and “pondering”…but it gets better..she’s going to “conceive” and “have a son.” Let that sink in..The angel goes on. But I’m sure Mary is still struggling with that pregnant part. Because her first words are,  “How can this be, since I am a virgin' ….and for anyone who wants to bring up the fact that in her Hebrew of Isaiah that informs this passage, the word is just young woman, Mary makes it clear. He literal words in Greek are.. " I have never known a man”…which is to say, “ I have never had sex..”And Gabriel tells her ““The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.” Okay then, how does the  work?  And earlier he had said, 2He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”  That’s a lot to take in.  

And if you’re Mary, what do you think? Well, maybe the first thing you think is, hmmm, most favored? Here I am engaged to a good man from a good family, yeah, he hasn’t done so well, but he’s a good man. And I’m going to be an unmarried pregnant woman? In this town? At best I’ll be a scandalized woman and maybe even taken out and stoned…doesn’t sound so blessed to me..

And the angel’s not done. Her cousin Elizabeth, an old woman, is now six months pregnant. Elizabeth is married to Zechariah, a priest in theTemple. They live in the fancy suburb of Judah just north of Jerusalem. Think Associate Pastor of 5th Avenue or Madison Avenue Presbyterian living in oh, say, Chappaqua. So that makes Mary the poor relative. Elizabeth’s late in life pregnancy os like that of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.  SO making barren women pregnant is a standard Biblical event…a virgin is just one step beyond. Did you know around the world how common that Is ? Found at least 10 famous virgin births including Krishna, Bacchus, Hercules and down in Mexico, Quetzalcotel.  The Muslims say, if God could created humans out of nothing, hey with a woman you’re halfway there!

Bottom line: with God, anything is possible.

So how long does Mary ponder? How along was she perplexed? Did she hesitate? She says, resolutely, , “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” 

So Mary goes off to visit her cousin, and when she arrives, the baby leaps in her cousin’s womb, Elizabeth confirms for Mary what the angel has told her and Mary sings this amazing song:

46b My soul magnifies the Lord,
47       and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48  for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
          Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49  for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
          and holy is his name.
50  His mercy is for those who fear him
          from generation to generation.
51  He has shown strength with his arm;
          he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52  He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
          and lifted up the lowly;
53  he has filled the hungry with good things,
          and sent the rich away empty.
54  He has helped his servant Israel,
          in remembrance of his mercy,
55  according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
          to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

It’s amazing because the baby isn’t even born yet and she sings as if all these things have already been accomplished. Like Desmond Tutu saying long before apartheit fell, We have already won. The others just haven’t figured it out yet. It’s that knowing, deep inside, at the heart of creation, that it is God’s will that the lowly will be lifted up, the hungry filled. (Mary’s song is a riff on Hannah’ song (1 Samuel 2: 1-10), the mother of Samuel.) It is the already and not yet.

In Nicaragua, in the 1980’s, I heard a woman who had just learned to read in their literacy  campaign read this passage and then say that this had come true in her lifetime. 

When I was growing up, we were taught that all this Mary business the Catholics do is at best idolatrous. But through my life I’ve come to understand that this song is the reason poor people around the earth venerate Mary as one of them and proof that God wants their concrete life circumstances changed now, not just in the sweet by and by.  If you come to think  about it, this is what Jesus was talking about in his sermon on the mount, the Beatitudes. 

Hear this :Gabriel’s message to Mary and Mary’s song are at the very center of the meaning of the child who’s birth we will celebrate next Friday. This is the why and what of who this child, this Jesus is….

And see this…Mary’s been given  limited information….it’s heavy, yes, but limited. She says yes to the risk of what many happen to her and without any idea of what will come next. And no idea that this most beloved son of  hers will wind up executed by the imperial Roman oppressors as an insurrectionist, condemned by the religious leaders, abandoned by his friends. In spite of all she does not know, Mary says , Let it be, to me according to thy word. 

We have lived through dark days. And they are not over yet. It will take courage to keep walking with one another to the other side. 

So here’s the point…just as the angel had a message for Mary, God has a message for us…this Christmas, there is something waiting to be born inside of us. God has something ready to be born in each and every one of us. What we need is to have the courage, like Mary, to say, Here am I…let it be to me according to thy word. And more…if God has something to be born inside each of us, God has something to be born inside your community, inside Beverley Church. I can’t tell you what it is. You just have to listen together and let it be. 

Remember …Nothing is impossible for God. 

On last word, just like Mary riffed on Hannah’s sing, Paul McCartney and the Beatles riffed on Mary’s song. The words of Let it Be come straight from Luke. NO matter how  dark the days, there will be an answer, Let it Be. 

                              ****

our concert

In the late afternoon, my friend Steve and I do a virtual holiday concert. Last year at this time we did a pop up concert at the Bethesda fountain in Central Park. Drew a crowd of a 100 or so.Sang harmonies.  Not this years. Solos on ZOOM and a team up on White Christmas. Hopefully brought some cheer in the darkest days of this pandemic. 

Living in conavirusworld 69: Pentecost

5/31

Martin Luther King, Jr. Houses

It’s been three months since I’ve preached a sermon.(https://west-parkpress.blogspot.com/2020/03/first-sunday-in-lent-temptation.html) I am back with the Beverley congregation.  Not even on ZOOM , but on old school conference call.  Not many members  have enough tech for ZOOM.  And doing this by conference  call is even more challenging  than ZOOM. The strange thing is, when I begin  to preach I can feel as if I am in their pulpit back in Brooklyn. And when I say the words of the Eucharist, I can see them in front of me in a way that I could not if I were seeing them on ZOOM. I can feel myself with them.

Here is my sermon for Pentecost:

It’s good to be with you all this morning, It’s hard to believe that it’s been three months now. That we went through all of Lent. Actually thought we might be able to have Easter. And now the 50 days of the  Easter season have passed as well and today is Pentecost.   How the world has changed since last we were together. Who had any idea that something infinitesimally small could shut down the whole world. That masks would become daily wear. That the President would  try to force churches to open and churches in faith and conscience would choose to stay closed. That over 100000 fellow citizens would die. That there would be hospital tents in Central Park and freezer truck morgues on our streets.  And now another trilogy of brutal murders of black people by police have taken place. Breonna Taylor, Ahmad Arbery and  Floyd George. And unbelievably, those words, I can’t breathe again.And now protests and fires and violence break out all cross the country. My boys were in Prospect Park last night…..And most bizarre, many of those arrested in Minnesota seem to be white people from out of state. Take a deep breath. What a 3 months. 

I know Sunday mornings should be a time to seek refuge from the troubles of the world, but by the very way we’re meeting, the world can’t be ignored. And the word of God always comes in context…and this is our context as we receive the word of God. 

Today is Pentecost.  The day we celebrate receiving the Holy Spirit. I should pause for a  moment and remind us that the Holy Spirit did not just arrive for the first time at Pentecost. It was at Jesus’  Baptism. And it’s been here since day 1 when the breath of God, ruah, blew across the waters and brought dry land, and when the breath of God blew into clay and earth man, Adam was created. We need to figure out what is special about this visitation of the Holy Spirit. We know that Jesus had earlier promised that we would not be orphaned.  That the Holy Spirit would be our comforter, our Advocate, our sustaining power.  So what’s going on here? 

Let me pause for a moment and say that the holiday Christians call Pentecost already existed as a Jewish holiday, called Shavuot in Hebrew and Pentecost in Greek. It took place 50 days after Passover, (that’s what Pentecost means, counting 50…..) and it celebrated the receiving of the Ten Commandments.  Moses went up to Mount Sinai, surround by smoke and fire, He was there for, what else, 40 days and 40 nights. Then 10 days later brought the 10 commandments to the people. (After of course, an unfortunate incident with a golden calf…) So there has to be some significance for this incident happeninhg on this day.  Like if the 10 commandments were foundational for our Jewish brothers and sisters, the receiving of the Holy Spirit is our foundational focus.  And the two are integrally related.

Pentecost has sometimes been referred to as the birthday of the church.  Once in the 80’s, the church tried a campaign to market Pentecost as the party, with whistles and noisemakers, red banners, the whole works. (I like the red part, by the way…did you ever wonder why there’s a tradition of red doors on churches? (Like West Park?) A sign of the Holy Spirit. ) So what’s the story? 

They’re all gathered together to celebrate Pentecost….in one place…wouldn’t we like that? People from all over the near East. And the was a wind and tongues of fire appeared over the heads of the disciples….and then, and then, everyone heard God being spoken about in their own language…Let’s be clear…this is not ecstatic speech, glossolalia, speaking in tongues. This is speaking in known intelligible languages, Was this gift of speaking or a gift of hearing? At one level, I believe the disciples had to have been able to hear the others before they could speak their language.   The response of the people is like when you say, Now you’re talking my language…

The disciples had to learn to talk about God in ways people coil understand…

To what end?  In Peter’s response to the accusation that they are just drunk, hey it’s just 9 in the morning, he quotes the prophet Joel. The apocalyptic scene Joel paints is familiar. We are in the middle of days of blood and fire and smoky mist.  Though the sun shines bright and it is spring, we live through the darkness of virus, the reality of death and fear. Peter says that God’ spirit will be poured out on all flesh. All. The whole world has suffered with this virus, surely we can feel the connection with others no matter where they are.  These are hard days, We need visions and dreams, We need to  be able to see what a better world might look life like, feel like. Poets, preachers, performing artists of all kinds, we need you to prophesy. 

And here’s where the Pentecost miracle coms in,. Our country has never been more divided. Since the Civil War at least. (Well, and 1960s…) Forget learning to speak Spanish, French, Chinese, Russian as important as those are to  global understanding.  It’s a bigger miracle to be able to speak to one another across our current divides. Can whites and blacks, billionaires and subsistence workers, Sanders supporters and Trump supporters, conservative evangelicals and progressive Christians, you see where this is going…can all these hear the word in their own native tongue?  Can we listen well enough to even be able to hear one another, talk to one another, that would be a miracle. ( I read the other day never question why someone believes what they  do. Ask how…)

So that’s the prophetic life with the Spirit.

But I have to end with the comforter, the advocate…as we are gathered here today, how are you doing? What are you feeling? Anxious about? Afraid about? Have you lost someone you care about? Are you worried about someone? Can we hear each other in our own unique personal languages? Can we reach through this void and give each other a virtual hug even as pray for one another and break bread with  another? 

Receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit, in Jesus’ name Amen

                                                                                                        ****

On 116th Steret, the virus has claimed another victim.

116th corona victim

                                                                                                       ****

No family meeting this week. There are solidarity marches in Berlin. I want to hear about them.  My younger sons are heading to the protest in Prospect Park.

                                                                                                      ****

There is a vigil at St.Paul & St. Andrews.  I go. Walking from Harlem to the deserted ghost town streets of the Upper West Side  Meet my friend Rabbi Steve and his wife.  

Rabbi Steve and Carol

We have sung  together here for Interfaith Thanksgiving services.   People fill the West End block north of 86th and then most of the next block as well.  Every person has a sign and a candle.

with sign and candle

Pastor K Karpen reads the name of each black person killed by police since 2017. Twenty six names. Each name read slowly and distinctly . Follow by the toll of a bell and silence as the bell echoes. It is quiet. Solemn. Moving. And disturbing.

Pastor K reads

Why does this not stop? Why? We can’t pray it away. That’s why the streets are in turmoil.  

fillng the streets

After the last name has been read, Cantor Ari from B’Nai Jeshurun leads us in Hinay Matov… "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers and sisters  to dwell together in unity!" And Halleluia. And We shall overcome.  I see my friend Kate and her husband Jeff. She leads our monthly meal with the homeless shared here. I’m glad she’s found a home here. With the sounds of songs sung low, and in harmony, I start to make my way home. 

There’s no people of color here, someone says. There’s no people of color on the Upper West Side says another. Well except for public housing, say someone else, and we’d just as soon not admit they’re here….

This issue runs very,very deep. Very deep. 

First Reading Acts 2:1-21

1When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

5Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes 11Cretans and Arabs — in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” 12All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

14But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:17  ‘In the last days it will be,God declares,
     that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
          and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
     and your young men shall see visions,
          and your old men shall dream dreams.18  Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
          in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
               and they shall prophesy.19  And I will show portents in the heaven above
          and signs on the earth below,
               blood, and fire, and smoky mist.20  The sun shall be turned to darkness
          and the moon to blood,
               before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.21  Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’”