Living in coronavirusworld 136: Keep walking

8/9

Oakdale Church

Oakdale masks

Sunday I go to my old church at Oakdale to preach. It’s my first time to preach in front of real people in 4 1/2 months. And as I will tell them, first time to wear long pants as well.  It’s familiar to be  back. And strange, too.  There’ s nicely handmade masks for any one who might need one. Terry, who is one of the mainstays, including  children sermons, is wearing a full plastic face shield. By presbyter edict, they are allowed two hymns, one verse each.  This is is the third Sunday back. Only five  5 were here last week. More like 12-15 today, People got out of the habit of going to church, people say. Well that and more. It’s good to see everyone, even behind masks. 

Our text this morning is Matthew 14: 22-33, the walking on water story. Here’s what I had to say: 

Good to be back here this morning. But how things have changed since the last time I was here.  This is the first time I have preached in front of live people since the first Sunday in March.  And to tell you the truth, as I packed, I realized that’s the last time I think I wore long pants until today. The last time I was on a plane or drove a car was the 2nd weekend in March. I saw the Pirates play the Yankees  in Bradenton, (By the way, when I left, the Pirates were winning 3-0…in the 7th they gave up 6 runs in  one inning and wound up losing 7-4…sound familiar? )  I usually grow a beard every  Lent…and shave on Easter…but it didn’t feel like Easter…I couldn’t feel resurrection. Not with so much death around me…Then after 3 months, the barber shop reopened, I got my 3 months  worth of hair cut off . And a real barber shop shave …one of the 3 best things a guy can experience…hot towels and all…and kept what you see for a Stanley Cup beard.  Well we see how that turned out.   Now I’m just not sure. Which is kind of what  we’re all doing.  Unsure. We’re making it up as we go along. Trying to figure out what we need do to keep going. 

My son couldn’t make his planned Easter  trip with my grandkids. And now he tells me, dad , it will be a very long time before Europe lets anyone from the US visit. Not only Canada but Mexico has closed its border to us. In two churches, I had the wife die one weekend and the husband the next.  One of my mentors, Grace, who lived as the epitome  of her name ,died of covid. This is the context in which we read the Bible today.

OK, what’s going on? Jesus, even though he is emotionally done in by the death of his cousin, John the Baptist, and just wants to get away and rest, nevertheless involves himself in the feeding of 5000 men PLUS women and children. Now he wants to chill again so he sends them away in the boat and heads up the mountain, where dreams and revelations always take place. SO early in the morning, he sees them struggling with the wind. SO what does he do? He takes the short cut and walks out to meet them. 

You can imagine what that does to them.  And then my favorite part..Peter the guy with no impulse control…the guy who boasts he’ll follow Jesus to death, and then denies him 3 times, that Peter says “Bid me come Lord…” and he steps out and …good God almighty, he’s walking on water…and then he realizes what he’s doing, you know that Wylie Coyote moment, and he starts to sink, cries out “save me Lord” and Jesus takes him by the hand and leads him on back to the boat. Can you believe this guy is the rock (Oh ye of little faith) upon which Jesus will build his church? Well of course, because he’s us. I’ve been there. 

I can’t tell you how any times in  my little church I felt that we were finally on our way to a safe space, to make it through to the other side.  And then we realize I’m/we’re walking on  water and go, “Wait, we cannot do that…” and start to sink again..so Jesus gets us safe to the boat…and that’s where we stay…we are safe there for the moment, but need to get moving forward again. 

I want you to look at something…with last week, and this, Jesus was involved in what might be regarded as miraculous circumstances. But I want you to notice he was not showing off, trying to draw support by the equivalent of magic tricks. Jesus does not do that. IN both cases, he is responding a real existential need of food and/or lodging. And in the other the safety of his disciples. And in both cases, there is a demand on his disciples…in one to feed the people (you give them something to eat) and in the other the assurance that Peter can walk if he wants to. 

Did you catch that? It’s ultimately on us….Given everything that confronts us, Jesus does not expect us to come up with with solutions for everything. BUT he does expect us to do the one thing we can do. Yes, 5 loaves and two fish isn’t much. So share it …it will be enough.  If he tells you you can  walk on the water  with me, why then come on out and walk.  Self doubt is the only thing that can stop you. (And self doubt is yet another way to doubt Jesus. 

So take that first step. And let’s walk. And keep walking. 

After the sermon, I play my old guitar I found at my mother’s house and play “Rest Awhile.” The service ends. We hang around and talk awhile. As always, mainly about the virus and what it is doing to us. And then it’s time to say goodbye until the next time. Stay safe.

Gospel Matthew 14:22-33

22Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. 25And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. 26But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. 27But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

28Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. 30But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

8/10

welcome back

Travel day. Back to New York City. Before landing, there’s a long questionnaire to fill out. If you’re coming from one of the 31 “bad” states, you have to list where you are staying, contact numbers, etc. The impression is given that they are going to be checking up on you on that two week quarantine. And fine you of you don't respect it.  I say I was in Pennsylvania and move right through. Back home, the heat continues. 

8/11

Yes, the heat continues. My two ordered mini ac’s are lost in the ether between Hong Kong and here. (How did that happen?) And the new one I ordered through Amazon got delivered to my old apartment building. Sigh. So I order yet another, due tomorrow. 

word on the street

I’m interviewed by Andy Zee of the Revolution, Nothing Less Show of the Revolutionary Communists. As an outsider, I’ve been asked to reflect on the recent startling statement by their Chair, Bob Avakian, calling on revolutionaries and others to VOTE in the election and to vote for Biden. This goes against 50 years of revcom ideology that the only action worth participating in is revolution, because ultimately, republican or democrat are just two different ways of running the empire. But the moment is different. From children in cages to the press as enemies of the people to shock troops in cities and helicopter raids on humanitarian border facilities to removing any environmental safeguards in the face of unfettered extraction polices and thousands of unnecessary dead in the face of a virus to….the list is endless. It's Avakian’s analysis that in the name of humanity, this regime must be put out now. The damage it can do to humanity is beyond unacceptable, And that begins with voting. I continue to feel every day like I’m a citizen in late Weimar Germany.  

The little church in Ozone Park meets to move forward  on selling their education building. It is the only way to survive. Like so many of our smaller churches, the virus has pushed them to the edge. Not the least of which I the death of tow of their erstwhile members who helped the church say alive in every way. Survival will come step at time. 

Living in coronavirusworld 130 : the US is not a safe country

8/3

even brownstones

Our International Sanctuary Work Group has two interesting pieces of news.  Our Canadian friends report that the US and Canada has had a “Safe 3rd Country” agreement whereby anyone found in either country who had crossed from  the other would be returned to their point of original  entry. The Canadian court has just ruled that the US is not a safe country and therefore any refugee found in Canada who crossed from the  US  will not be returned  to the US. The one caveat of course is that there is a 6 month opening for an appeals process. But the message is clear: the US is not a safe country.

Our friend John from Arizona can not be with us because the US government has just launched a major raid on the humanitarian rescue camp in Arivavaca, Arizona. They cut off the water supply and then swept in  with an armored personnel carrier and 2 Blackhawk helicopters as if this were the Taliban and not a handful of pacifist medical volunteers and 30 Latinx migrants who have just walked through the deadliest stretch of the Sonora desert.  The medical volunteers are taken into custody and the migrants deported with no hearings.  The politics of bullying again. The longstanding  modus operandi between Border Patrol and No Mas Muertos is long gone.  

The US-Canada border remains closed, not due to migration but due to Covid 19 and Canada's  wanting to keep statistically dangerous Americans on ther own side of the border. Nevertheless people keep showing up at Roxham Road and the Plattsurgh volunteers are trying to figure this out as in cooperation with their  network colleagues from Niagara and Detroit. 

In Rockland County, with its heavily Orthodox Jewish community and its heavy use of undocumented labor, an interesting relationship is developing with the arguably  racist sheriff. 

                                                                                               

Make my long way to

Social distancing on 125th 

the bank and back encountering the new social distance markers on 125th Street and the ubiquitous  Black Lives Matter signs in townhouse windows.

Due to communications foul ups, only Russ and later Dion show up for our Bible Study, which is too bad because I was all ready to talk about the next one of Matthew’s greatest hits, the Jesus walking on the water story. I do get to talk about yet one other significant bit of news for the day.  The Chair of the Revolutionary Communist Party, Bob Avakiian, has gone against his over 50 years old founding principles and called on his followers to vote for Joe Biden. Their policy has always been revolution and nothing less, therefore don’t bother voting or working for police reform. But the possibility of what Trump could do in another four years is too much to countenance. Get him out, then Biden in, then talk revolution. The making things better by making things worse idea is morally empty due to the damage it does to real people. On this BA and I are in full agreement. 

                                                                                               

Deborah: a reflection on redemptive violence

11/16

I’m surprised to find a young man inside a refrigerator box asleep on the steps. That hasn’t happened in awhile. And behind him I see crutches. Sorry, but you’re going to have to leave…services coming up…

Uh, it’ll take a few minutes, OK?

Uh, yeah, sure. I ask Stephen S to see if he needs help getting it together.

Jeremy’s first Sunday back. He’s warming up and getting ready. Russ is first to arrive after our adventures yesterday passing out fliers for West-Park at the Avakian-West dialogue.

Our first hymn is Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee, aka Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, to which Jeremy adds a little Eric Burdon and the Animals We Gotta Get Out of this Place. (….It actually does work, though we sing it straight…and a nod to Eddie and the Otters for that idea, though that’s another story…https://www.facebook.com/eddieandtheotters)

Jeremy has worked out a sung response to our Psalm 123: To you O Lord we lift our eyes.

Our reflection scripture is Judges 4: 1-7. Just a teaser on the story of Deborah. One of those places where the lectionary cops out. So I have us do a readers’ theatre of the rest of the story.

I was originally going to stick with Matthew, but when I heard about their discussion last week about the difference in perspective between men and women, I knew I had to use a rare story that was driven by a woman’s agency.

This was the time of the Judges. The confederation of tribes had leaders who were both adjudicators and military leaders. She wants to take on (and take out) Jabin, King of the Canaanites. (Who were indigenous to the land, by the way…) Her commander Barak is hesitant to go without Deborah, so she agrees to go, only she warns Barak that Sisera, Jabin’s general, will fall to a woman.

Sisera’s army is routed. He flees to the tent of Jael, whose people are allied with Sisera. After calming him and giving him milk to relax, when he falls asleep, she drives a tent peg through his head. And when Barak arrives, she shows him what she did.

This is clearly an FX/HBO style story. Mature audiences…Language, violence, sexual situations…shifting alliances like the houses in Game of Thrones, or the gangs in Sons of Anarchy. As Marsha reminds us in community organizing, there are no permanent friends, no permanent enemies…

Russ  raises the issue that what we’re dealing with here is the myth of redemptive violence, biblically based. Our American culture is saturated with it. (See above). Even in the dialogue between Avakian and West, neither spoke definitively on the violence issue. And the tu quoque argument about the violence of the empire gets us nowhere.  

Marsha likes that Jael’s action is direct and to the point. John R says, That’s reality…God is not the kindly grandfather, God is just God, the Bible is what it is.

And for Jeremy, that’s why he chooses not to rely on the Bible. And Russ speaks to how these stories become the mythic narrative that supports what is.

There are a number of points to make.

1.   We all have a hermeneutic, an interpretive key by which we interpret everything else. What Cornell West said yesterday for him, IE, God is love,that goes for me too. Anything doesn’t make sense through that lens has to be witnessed against. As former Riverside pastor Brad Braxton once said, sometimes we are called on to preach against the text. We are called to witness against, create an alternative to a culture of redemptive violence.

2.   The time of judges was a time pre-monarchy. In a time of covenant based confederacy, the emergence of a woman’s leadership is much easier than in a hierarchical monarchy.

3.   Which is why historically, women’s leadership would emerge in horizontally based church structures while vertical hierarchies have been more resistant to change.

4.   We need to be about the work of creating communities of covenant relationship, committed to love that is effective, not sentimental and resist the culture of redemptive violence. Our own embodiments of the beloved community to which we are called.

Our final song of the day is Soon and very Soon…While we are singing, Pastor Kadisha has entered the sanctuary with his daughter. He joins us for our final circle of blessing, with little Xavier joyfully singing Amen.

Jeremy rocks out with one more Beethoven/Burdon riff…

Pastor Kadisha will have his first service here this afternoon.

The Revcoms are upstairs celebrating yesterday's turn out, over 1500 at Riverside Church.

Reflections on Marissa's memorial

11/3

Russ and I go to lunch to talk about the upcoming dialogue  between Bob Avakian and Cornell West at Riverside Church. The dialogue between revolutionary Christianity and Revolutionary Communism. ( An effort to establish BA as a public intellectual. The dialogue with Cornell West giving a sense of public legitimacy ) Seems like a perfect time to invite those who are interested in this dialogue to come to West-Park to work on creating a community inspired by that dialogue. A place to explore radical spirituality, radical discipleship. I’m going to work of putting this into words. Making the invitation.

Karen is playing her music. And has a contractor friend who wants to look into the pigeon tower clean up project.

The Revolutionary Communists are busy as worker bees using Mc Alpin as their command central as they work on getting the word out about the dialogue. A real dedicated and highly organized cadre.

Tom Bo is in and we’re working on the music for the November 23^rd Sunday concert and service. He’s got a new poem inspired by the Matthew 25 theme that comes on Christ the King/Reign of Christ Sunday. By the same young poet who wrote the Prophecy from the Refrigerator Box poem. And the music is emerging.

Finally get to talk with Jeremy and the Seed group about their experience with Marissa’s memorial service. How they had been called and asked to help organize something. Their presence as a community in a  spiritual setting inspired the call. Jeremy’s theatre experience in theatre gave him confidence in organizing a liturgy. And the Grotowski experience helped see the deeper connections. And the group saw an opportunity to serve. Their own unique practice gave them the opportunity for others to actually participate through movement and song in the memorial. To be physically and spiritually engaged. I explained that this was liturgy. Mario had said that these songs have a purpose. And the group had discovered their purpose.

Two members were part of religious communities, one Episcopalian, the other Unitarian. I talked about the liturgical significance of the popcorn and prosecco eucharist and their breaking of bread following the service, which was a service to the gathered community. And the offerings of music and word that so many brought.  And my interest in nurturing  new communities of spiritual practice. And how they are becoming one.

One woman said that she was surprised that a church would open itself up for this kind of event by a group not members of the church. And at no charge. And that when I said, that’s why we are here, all of a sudden she realized, I am affiliated here. I am part of this. This is my (spiritual) home. Heads nodded in agreement. And I spoke of my desire to create a community of communities. And that nearly 1200 people from around the world had read about Marissa’s memorial.

The conversation will continue.