Living in cornavirusworld 149: Violence. Nonviolence. We've been here before

8/26

Convent Garden: an oasis

the Monarchs

Today I wear my Kansas City Monarchs hat. The last Negro league team Jackie Robinson played for before joining the Dodgers organization. It was also the team of Buck O’Neil, player and manager of the Monarchs from 1938 to 1955.  He even made a final  plate appearance for the Kansas City T-Bones of the Norrhern League in 2006 at age 94 years, 8 months and 5 days. And was the first African-American signed as a scout by the Chicago Cubs. It’s mainly  due to the Monarchs  (and Buck) that the Negro League Museum is in Kansas City.  In normal years, Major League baseball celebrates "Jackie Day" on April 15th, the anniversary of his debut.  But in coronavirusworld, they've moved it to August 28, the anniversary of Dr. King's "I have a dream" speech. 

Buck

I also talk about my “happy hour” yesterday afternoon with former Oklahoma Senator Fred Harris who I was surprised to find was still live. Harris was the Bernie before Bernie.  Hard to realize that Oklahoma actually had a democratic socialist Senator as late as 1972.  I actually was a Harris delegate at the 1976 Oklahoma Democratic caucus. Harris campaigned across the country in a Winnebago and frequently stayed at the homes of farmers and union workers. He ultimately lost to Jimmy Carter but continued to champion Native American and working people’s rights throughout his career. The talk was hosted by Jim Hightower, his former campaign manager who joked, “I made Fred what he is today, a professor at eh University of New Mexico.” He came very close to being chosen as Hubert Humphry’s running mate in 1968. Often forgotten is Humphry’s roots in the old Minnesota Farm-Labor Party. Harris reminded us of the 1917 Green Corn rebellion when wobblies, unionists, blacks and farmers came together to oppose the draft and Word War !. Senator Harris’ point was the progressive uprising we see today has roots deep in the American soil that have been buried too long. The Bernie revolution is part of a long heritage of American class struggle. Later in the conversation, Senator Harris introduced us to Teresa Leon Fernandez, whose family roots go back to the 17th century as a Nuevo Mexicana, seeking to join the progressive left caucus in congress. 

Our conversation this morning focuses on contemplation and activism but quickly moves into violence vs. non-violence, the issue of discernment . How Dietrich Bobhoeffer returned to Germany to join in a plot to kill Hitler, saying violence was wrong except when necessary. Who defines necessary? Some of us agree with a traditional reformed “Just war” theory while others are absolutists. What about Gandhi? Gandhi was reported to have said non-violence would not have stopped Hitler. I recall how Archbishop Romero came to accept violence in defense of the innocent . And Franz Fanon’s argument that violence is necessary to free the Wretched of the Earth from colonialism.  But then Robespiere…John Brown….Lenin…Mao? 

And the problematic issue of those who truly believe that abortion is murder feeling called to enter clinics with guns. 

We recall that for Martin Luther King, Jr., non-violence was a strategy that works because it drew violence for the other side and exposed its nature. I say that non-violence elicits violent response because it presents itself as morally superior to which Joel responds because non-violence is morally superior.

Gandhi believed in satyagraha, soul force. That even in the midst of violence one must hold onto the spirit of peace. 

We are constantly faced with the question so what then is possible?

What to do with Jesus’ “not peace but a sword”? Without diving immediately into self-defensive metaphor argumentation. 

Steve P speaks of Brevard Childs’ canonical criticism where the Bible is taken seriously as is, interpreting one part by the others, replacing the entire historical critical method. Sigh.

I ponder how I can occasionally look at the world of turtles, egrets, squirrels and feel that everything in creation is perfect just the way it is and at the same time see the sacredness of the everflowing stream of the people’s struggle for justice. I live with this tension, this dichotomy. 

Sam says the Gita says God and self are the same. 

True belief vs. collective belief. Facts and truth are not the same. But intriguing, even passionate conversations aside, there is no question we are collectively facing a moment of truth…..

                                                                                                   ****

where Hamilton lived before he hit Broadway

Today I decide to do the Percy Sutton Harlem 5K course. Through Sugar Hill, the old ritzy part of Harlem. Convent Garden. Past Alexander Hamilton’s home, an untouched 1802 Federalist rural home in the midst of modern Harlem. I see students in line registering  for their charter schools, receiving their supplies. Along the southern edge of the City College of New York, once known as the Harvard of the working class when every citizen of New York City was guaranteed health, housing  work and education. Then back up St. Nicholas. Tim the trombone player somehow turns up at 136th street. It’s a reminder that we’ve been here before. 

Kenosha, Wisconsin is in flames in response to yet another point blank police shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake.  Yesterday a 17 year old self-styled member of “the militia,” inspired by his president, drove 20 miles and with an AR15 assault rifle opened fire on innocent  protestors killing two, then walked calmly past the police. 

Beginning with the Milwaukee Bucks, the NBA players, in compete despair and frustration, refuse to play their games. The WNBA, Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer soon follow. They are not just athletes, entertainers, they  are adult people with consciences.  Of course the President and his ghostly son-in-law Jared mock the players. Why is so hard to see? Moment of truth….

I finish the night by watching Anna Deveare Smith’s one-woman tour de force Twilight: Los Angeles 1992. Her docudrama exploration of the Rodney King savage police beating and subsequent rebellions. Yes, we’ve been here before. Far too many times. 

Living in Coronavirusworld 122: Good trouble, necessary trouble

7/26

African dance class

West Park is working with lay led services. This Sunday Russ is leading. He’s asked me to play. He’s put together a beautiful tribute to John Lewis from his history as a young Freedom Rider to his elder statesman role as the conscience of congress. Russ reminds us of the quote by Lewis: I want to see young people in America feel the spirit of the 1960s and find a way to get in the way. To find a way to get in trouble. Good trouble, necessary trouble.  It was part of Dr. King’s strategy to have his marchers dressed in their Sunday best. White shirts and ties. The picture of John Lewis, head cracked open, blood streaming down his face onto his white shirt was one of those iconic photos that helped turn the tide of pubic opinion against segregation and towards passage of the Civil Rights Act.  Much as the video of the brutal murder of George Floyd has galvanized our country in its awareness of police brutality. 

Russ’ reflection focuses on the  mustard seed (Matthew 13: 24ff.) and accompanying parables. We share about our transformational moments. I recall sitting at home as 14 year old hearing Dr.King speak from Washington, DC. How the words thrilled through me. Stirred my heart.  And I felt I had to make a commitment to do my part. That was 47 yeas ago. 

Russ has asked me to sing “Blowin’ in the Wind.” I recall hearing it sung by Peter, Paul and Mary. My pastor quoting the song in connection with the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of the Times. I winced as he spoke of Bob DYElan. When I first heard Dylan sing his own song, it was raw and pure as nothing I’d heard before. So I sing his song. Simple, And at the end add my part about reflecting on the Parkland students protesting after their school massacre and how somehow maybe “blown’ in the wind” is not enough. Maybe we have to believe and act as if the answer is in our own hands.

Russ ends the service by reminding us to look for the right kind of trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble.

The unrelenting heat continues. I meet  my friend at the Morningside Pond.  I tell her what I watch for there on a daily basis. We hear a steady beat of drums and see an African dance class underway.                    

We’ll walk over to Fredrick Douglass to the Harlem Tavern with its large umbrellas and ample shade. Time for cold drinks and appetizers.  And in the back of my mind, good trouble,  necessary trouble.                                                                                                                    

e

Love is....

2/3

Beverly...the sun is back...

The deep freeze seems to be breaking up. There's sun...and warmth on the air today as I walk up Beverly towards church...Today we're talking about love....



                                                                          ****

In five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure a year in the life
How about love?
How about love?
How about love?
Measure in love
Seasons of love
Seasons of love

At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality.
Che

All you need is love. Beatles

Seems  like everybody's got something to say about love. . Just like the Christmas decorations go up the day after Halloween, the Valentine's Day hearts and cupids start going up right after Christmas. And we're now 3 days into February, the month of love...

Paul said some hard things, some confusing things and (forgive me) some just out and out things that just don't make sense. But if one time he got things right, it was First Corinthians 13. One of the all time greatest hits. Just like almost every funeral I do, people request the 23rd Psalm, almost every wedding requests 1 Corinthians 13.

(Although for awhile in the 70's, I got this from Tom Robbins: “Love is the ultimate outlaw. It just won't adhere to any rules. The most any of us can do is to sign on as its accomplice. Instead of vowing to honor and obey, maybe we should swear to aid and abet.”)

You could just about read  1 Corinthians 13 and drop the mic, no further words required. But I made the trip all the way out here, so I should say a few more things.

1If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Paul begins by describing how even the most  poetic words ring hollow and untrue without love. Even seemingly righteous religious acts without love are meaningless.

Listen to these next again...

4Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

These are not necessarily easy. Patience, especially. And insisting on your own way. That  not rejoicing in wrong doing covers a wide area. Like revenge. Or checking our happiness when we see another's sadness. Rejoicing in truth? How we need to hear that these days. And for all the competing claims about truth, remember this, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life...if you're struggling to know what's true, one question is does it sound like it's of Jesus? And there's your answer...that informs all that follows as well...

Three looks...first interpersonal. Times like Valentine's day can be hard for those of us who don't have a current partner. It can be as painful as mother's day is for some. At one point in my single years, I had finally come to a moment of peace when I considered that friends can get you through tines of no lovers better than lovers through times of no friends. Every relationship with love is a gift of God never to be taken for granted and to be received as a grace.

As far as our corporate life goes, that's pretty simple. We sing this song:  "...and they'll know we are Christians by our love..." So you always have to ask the question do they? If you pull back the camera a bit, what do you see? Here?

One of my biggest learnings I had in seminary came through my urban ministry core group. There were 12 of us, We would meet every Monday for 3-4 hours. Part of that time was prayer.  We had to pray for each other. Let me be honest...there were people at the beginning of that class that I just plain did't like. That I found annoying, irritating. At the end of the term, there were still some I didn't like, but after a semester of praying for them, I had come to love them.

We live in difficult times. I remind myself daily that there are still children in cages in the desert. Old prejudices and nemeses have been unleashed. 

I can only say this, our only answer is love. And it will take strong love to turn back the hate that has been loosed.

One who understood this was Dr. Martin Luther King,Jr. And as I said on his birthday, we must resist any efforts to tame Dr.King. 

Listen to these words..

What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.

and this was the basis of his beloved community, a dream still unfulfilled.


What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.
.King

At the end of the day, Just love is the only thing that is going to get us through this tough place of black and white.  Just meaning simple and only. But also just, as in justice.

Michael Eric Dyson's new book, What Truth Sounds Like, tells the story of how Bobby Kennedy changed from seeing the reality of black people as a political problem to be finessed and began to understand it as a personal moral imperative. (Much like Lincoln and slavery  before him...) It began by allowing himself to listen.

So it's Valentine's month. And also black history month. Can we make LOVE part of black history month?

8Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.
 13And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

Let those with ears to hear, hear....and love.
Amen

                                                            ****

We share our prayers.Break bread together. Then go downstairs for a shared meal. Outside, the sun feels good...

"Seasons of Love"

                                                     "All You Need is Love"

I Corinthians 1: 1-13

1If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

"Seasons of Love"

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
Five hundred twenty-five thousand moments so dear
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?
In daylights, in sunsets
In midnights, in cups of coffee
In inches, in miles
In laughter, in strife
In five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure a year in the life
How about love?
How about love?
How about love?
Measure in love
Seasons of love
Seasons of love
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Journeys to plan
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure the life
Of a woman or a man?
In truths that she learned
Or in times that he cried
In bridges he burned
Or the way that she died
It's time now to sing out
Tho' the story never ends
Let's celebrate
Remember a year in the life of friends
Remember the love
Remember the love
Remember the love
Measure in love
Measure, measure your life in love
Seasons of love
Seasons of love

The sixth Sunday in Easter: Abide in Love

5/6 

On the way to church Sunday along Beverly Road

Back to Beverley for the first  Sunday in May....

SO finally, it feels  like spring...we're now six Sundays into our Easter journey....a journey I am so happy that we began together...a 50 day exploration of what it's like having the risen one, the living Christ, back and present  with us once again. As we get closer and closer to how we're going to have to go on without his physical presence  with us, Jesus keeps bringing the message closer and closer to the bottom line.   And for Jesus, the bottom line is LOVE, that we LOVE one another.

Hear that.  It's not about your theology, what doctrine you adhere to, what church you belong to or even what religion you follow. Do you love? That's all Jesus wants to know....

But it's not enough to speak of love...we have to do it....and we have to figure out what that means...I remember when our Presbyterian General Assembly many years ago in Hartford, Connecticut.  It's theme was Love So Amazing ( from the old hymn  When I survey the wondrous cross...) I remember the representative  from the Presbyterian Church in Cuba, Miriam Ofelia  Ortega, said No me tengo interes en amor increible, yo prefiero  amor eficaz...by which she was saying  I prefer love effective...or like that hymn based on a Native American song, in the chorus it says, They'll know we are Christians by our love.

Now that puts a little catch in things...it's kind of  like this...if someone came in here this morning, for the first time, unannounced...would they know we were Christians by  our love? What would that look like? Feel like? 

He wants us to love each other as he has loved us. And at the center of that love is laying down one's life for one's friends, exactly what he did for us.  And he tells us we are his friends...Think about that for a second...the usual and expected relationship between a human and a divinity would be that of master and servant...but Jesus wants us as friends...like, you know, What a friend we have in Jesus. We can live without lovers...some of us do that for years. But I can't imagine living without friends...

He chooses us...not the other way around...and it's all to the end that we love one another..

I find it very interesting....and very sad...how we act and treat each other sometimes...some of the meanest,nastiest fights I have seen anywhere have been in churches...I was asked by Presbytery to help resolve some problems in a church. And it's like they want the problems to be unsolvable. I said to them we're watching pictures of Presidents Kim and Moon holding hands and you're telling us this can't be taken care of? 

When planning a funeral yesterday, and this happens all the time, I heard of family members who might not come because they hadn't spoken in years. How crazy is it that we can pray for peace between Israel and Palestine and a brother and sister don't speak for years? If there's someone you haven't spoken to for years, speak to them!

Love. It's about love. And it's not a just a warm and fuzzy emotion.  It's Gandhi, inspired by Jesus developing satyagraha, soul force. And Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., inspired by Gandhi and following Jesus, who brings it back to us again. 

I spent a whole day last week in a training session for non-violent direct action as part of the Poor Peoples Campaign. It's named for the campaign Dr. King was planning when he was taken from us. Organized by Dr. William Barber from North Carolina, the Moral Mondays Campaign. I believe that the only kind of mass based movement that has any possibility of succeeding has to be one motivated by love and carried out with non-violent means. 

Abraham Joshua Heschel taught us that a prophet must come from a people and speak to that people and must be motivated by love. That was the beauty and power of Dr.King's work...he acted as if our country were capable of better, could be better, was not hopelessly evil by nature. Dr. King believed in us.  Just as Jesus believes in us and expects us to do better. 

That is the love he calls us to and wants us to abide in. And here's the truly amazing thing...so that our joy can be complete...I have learned that the two most important spiritual qualities , the  two most radical qualities, are hope and joy. And man, joy seems hard to come by some times.  If you want to know what joy looks like, remember the joy of Archbishop Desmond Tutu...in the face of the most outrageous oppression of apartheid, he smiled with joy because he knew whose he was and in whose hands lay the future. He knew he had already won. I am convinced that it was that power that finally defeated apartheid. 

(“At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality.” ― Ernesto Che Guevara · )

Loving one another is both the easiest and hardest of commandments.
Couldn't Jesus  just ask us to believe three unbelievable things? 
Or say so many hail mary's or our fathers?
Or fast for 40 days? 
Or stand on our head or...

NO. Just love one another. Even as he has loved you.  And abide in that love. 

As always we shared our prayers with each other, This week including a disappeared child. We shared communion. We greeted a man in the Navy whose mother lives nearby and who drops in when he's in town. There were grandchildren. It was another Sunday in the season of Easter.

Beverly Road

First Reading Acts 10:44-48

44While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. 45The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, 46for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, 47“Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” 48So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.


Gospel John 15:9-17

9As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

12“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. Weekend 2017: Where is Jesus?

1/15

It was the Sunday before the inauguration. And we gathered to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And reflect on where we are …now.

All the music of the day was chosen for special reasons….we opened with “Jesus the Light of the World…” continuing our Epiphany theme of light..and getting it…and sang Siyahamba…We are marching in the light of God…a South African freedom song that was late taken up by the More Light movement for full inclusion in church life  by the LGBTQ community..a movement that was birthed at West-Park in 1978…the religious Stonewall, you might say…Precious Lord, take my hand was Dr.King’s favorite song, the one that brought the confirm in times of doubt and fear .the uncertainty of our  time moved me to sing Blowin in the Wind, a song I would sing the next day at the annual Upper West Side Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. peace walk at Pastor Heidi’s invitation..and of course we called with the Civil Rights Movement’s We Shall Overcome…

And this was my reflection…

This is the Second Sunday in Epiphany…a season of Light…a season of “getting it”…as we continue ti hold our breath in our journey into the unknown…and the weekend of celebrating the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, JR…

In our gospel lesson, somehow we’re still with Jesus where we left him last week, on the banks of the Jordan with John…and this time it’s from the perspective of the Gospel of John…and John too has seen the dove of the Holy Spirit descend and remain on Jesus.

Ultimately, in seeking what Jesus is up to, the people ask him where he’s staying, he responds come and see…and it’s not so much asking where he is but what he does and who he is and by doing so we will discover where we are…

And where is he staying?  I’m convinced that  these days, we’re going  to find him a lot in the streets…

Last Friday, the Micah Institute (and others) walked together to deliver a letter. We walked with Mama Bah, the mother of a murdered child. The Micah Faith Table calls on US Attorney Preet Bharara to launch a full investigation into his case and fully prosecute all officers who killed her son Mohamed Bah, an African  Muslim son of our city in Septemer 2012…three years ago…It was profoundly moving to see Muslim, Jewish, Sikh, Buddhist, Hindu and  Christian clergy all together…with my neighbor Imam Konate, the spiritual leader of the mosque where Mohammad worshipped…later. he told us emotionally how moved Mama Bah was by the solidarity of so many. She felt a dam in her heart had broken open. “Come and see’’’ says Jesus…

We’ve got macro concerns and micro ones as we  move forward…macro-wise, there was recently a full page ad in the New York Times  calling us to  “Stop Trump” before he is inaugurated…calling on 1000’s…or more.. to come to Washington,DC to block the streets, etc…and of course the women’s march that will take place January 20th…these are macro actions…

We need to be concerned with the micro as well…local issues  and actions that are definable, achievable, measurable and verifiable …(the DAM-V test of organizers..)

Tomorrow is our annual Upper West Side Martin Luther King, Jr.  walk for peace and justice organized by our clergy and Westsiders for Peace and Justice…

Our march

this year the action is very specific….support for West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing’s proposed expansion of affordable housing at West 108th street…

WSFSSH founder Rev. Laura Jervis

We support affordable housing

.280 units…(20% of our seniors live in poverty, in Manhattan Valley alone 2000 of them are  on a  waiting  list for affordable housing …with a seven year wait..)The plan to use  three garages owned by the city has caused a community uproar..…come and see

And our friends from the National Movement Against Sweat Shops  and Justice will be Served…are organizing to pass a statewide SWEAT bill to stop wage theft…from the most vulnerable of our neighbors, immigrant workers from Mexico, China and French west Africa…come and see…

Frequently at these services, we read from Dr. King’s I have a dream speech. But this year i want to read from Dr. King’s 

Letter from the Birmingham jail….1963…

There was a time when the church was very powerful. It was during that period that the early Christians rejoiced when they were

deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas

and principles of popular opinion; it was the thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Wherever the early Christians

entered a town the power structure got disturbed and immediately sought to convict them for being "disturbers of the peace" and

"outside agitators." But they went on with the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven" and had to obey God rather than

man. They were small in number but big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated."

They brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contest.

Things are different now. The contemporary church is so often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often

the arch supporter of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average

community is consoled by the church's often vocal sanction of things as they are.

But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If the church of today does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the

early church, it will lose its authentic ring, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no

meaning for the twentieth century. I meet young people every day whose disappointment with the church has risen to outright

disgust.

I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour

Yesterday, our Session met with Rick Ufford-Chase

Meeting with Rick

…..we dreamed of creating a congregation committed to:

,,,each other

…radical (and disciplined) reading of scripture

…worship (deep sharing)

…and taking action together…

of this you will be hearing more..come and see…

Jesus is here..

Thank you (again) Leila!

Trinity Sunday: Does it make any difference?

5/22/16

a table for Trinity Sunday

So what’s new this week? …I attended an Andrew Goodman Foundation update …They currently have ambassadors, IE on 41campuses (https://andrewgoodman.org/ve-ambassadors-directory/)…they are working on registration…especially important in a day where the bright to vote is begin rolled back and challenged every day…In Louisiana, for example, there is a new law requiring photo ids to register. Over  100,000 students have ids with no photo… that’s enough votes to turn an election..

I did two weddings in the park on Friday. It was filled with  tourists.…It was warm, perfect weather… There were at least 3 couples getting married…Back at the church, Dion was on the steps selling his collection of stuffed animals …

Dion and the stuffed animals

I had long conversation with a member, talking about concerns very dear to me.. I began remembering what I enjoy about this work…we are on the very  cusp of summer….

Yesterday…even in the midst of a performance by Broadway Bound Kids, we did our annual tours as part of the Landmarks Conservancy Sacred Sites Open House Tour day.   I love telling our story, the archi-theo-social history of this very special place. (http://www.nylandmarks.org/events/sacred_sites_open_house/)

Today is Trinity Sunday…41 years ago, this day marked the occasion of my first sermon…at St.Paul’s, New Haven..This day is a pause before launching  into the long green season…of Sundays after Pentecost, of ordinary time…which ends with our only other theological theme Sunday…Christ the King..

The question to keep in the back of your mind…does it make any difference?

Russ’ bulletin cover

gives us another Trinity.. racism, materialism, militarism.. (from Martin Luther King Jr’s speech at Riverside Church…) those three up against the Father, Son and Holy Ghost is  like a 3 on 3 streetball game…..

This concept has troubled me since I was a kid …I got in trouble in Sunday school asking questions…there were of course those cool diagrams…is/is not…all of that …

traditional Trinity diagram

and of course the Celtic trinity’s 

Celtic Trinity

with all thee all interconnected circles and lines…

I can give you all the standard  explanations but….

Historically, Thomas Becket (1118–70) was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury on the Sunday after Pentecost (Whitsun), and his first act was to ordain that the day of his consecration should be held as a new festival in honor of the Holy Trinity. This observance spread from Canterbury throughout the whole of western Christendom.

Anglo-Catholic parishes observe Corpus Christi on the following Thursday, or in some cases the following Sunday.

John XXII (1316–1334) ordered the feast for the entire Church on the first Sunday after Pentecost. A new Office had been made by the Franciscan John Peckham, Canon of Lyons, later Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1292). The feast ranked as a double of the second class but was raised to the dignity of a primary of the first class, 24 July 1911, by Pius X (Acta Ap. Sedis, III, 351). Since it was after the first great Pentecost that the doctrine of the Trinity was proclaimed to the world, the feast becomingly follows that of Pentecost. (from Wikipedia..)

The key quote…the only one in the Gospels is Matthew 28: 19

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

 Notice it took nearly 400 years to be established as a doctrine..

The three persons are distinct, yet are one "substance, essence or nature".^[4] In this context, a "nature" is what one is, while a "person" is who one is.^[5][6][7]

The Fourth Lateran Council declared, "it is the Father who generates, the Son who is begotten, and the Holy Spirit who proceeds")

“Whitsunday”….simply means ”white”…the color we use today….

What difference does it make?

The Father (or Creator)  …..leads us to respect for/care for “creation”…ongoing partners with the creator in the ongoing work of creation…

Son (or Human One)….leads us to see the sacredness of our lives…seeing the  face of God (and Christ) in all people

Holy Spirit (or Wisdom?) is what flows through and sustains us…informs and supports our friends and community…

They are different ways for being for us, all ways of being a community of faithful believers…but all the same substance of the Holy One who is our God…

And so we go out…to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…

AMEN