RIP Amos Oz

1/10

I've been wanting to  say some words about Amos Oz, who died last month. Some have said he was the last left Zionist. He was always a writer--and man-- of contradictions. Unapologetic Zionist, yet adamantly opposed to occupation. A supporter of Israeli military actions yet almost always  changing his mind as those actions continue. Criticized -- and worse-- by both left and right with an undying longing to see peace between  Israelis and Palestinians as neighbors in adjoining states. 

( A short story, "All Rivers," is published for the first time in English in this week's New Yorker.. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/01/14/all-rivers)

He was an author who wrote with a sense of existentialism, beauty and an underlying sense of melancholy.

His last novel, Judas, in 2014,(https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01912QAJM/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1) was both an intriguing look into his innermost thoughts and also a very valuable resource for interfaith dialogue and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (see https://west-parkpress.blogspot.com/2017/05/judas-by-amos-oz-traitor-or.htmlm)

The main protagonist is Shmuel,  a young scholar working on producing a Jewish understanding of Jesus. An important issue for the scholar becomes the person of Judas. In the novel, Oz summarizes an overview of scholars on these issues and takes a position that would later emerge when the actual "Gospel of Judas" would be translated and released. That is that Judas was necessary to Jesus' mission, his closest friend, and the only one he could trust to help him live out his narrative. 

The  scholar works as a live in assistant to a man, Gershon Wald, who was the father of  a son who died in the war of independence. His son's wife, Altalia, was the daughter of Shealtiel Abravaniel, an idealistic member of the First Zionist Executive Council who passionately argued against creation of a Jewish state and died branded a traitor, like Judas.

Through Wald and Abravanel, Oz could voice his own internal argument as well as articulate his deepest misgivings about the reality of Israel, something he wouldn't do directly in his own voice. Certainly he sees himself reflected in the traitors Judas and Abravanel. He makes clear that sometimes it is the one who is branded a traitor who is closest to the truth and most loyal to his people. 

In the end, Amos Oz lived out this unresolved tension in his own life. Sadly voices like his are disappearing. As the two state solution recedes into the rear view of history, Amos Oz will be sorely missed. 

Anointing and Betrayal

2/18

Amanda stops in to talk over what’s coming up in the week ahead.....Martin and his mom Luli come in to talk. Both very moved by last night’s memorial for Teddy. Luli says that it was not only a tribute to who Teddy was but to the vision of what this place not only could be but already is. And that it cannot be allowed to die. So she will get on an airplane later this week and make a trip to see if she can find a solution. There is still hope....

Mim comes in to see where we are, to see if there is any help she can offer.

Tonight’s Bible Study focuses on Mark 14:3ff, known as the Anointing in Bethany...the story of the woman anointing Jesus with costly oil. Traditionally connected with Mary Magdalene, and/or a prostitute. But nowhere here is a name given or any indication she was a prostitute. She could have just as easily been a wealthy woman. 

We talk about Mary Magdalene. her intimacy, friendship, with Jesus. How in her own gospel, she is questioned about her special relationship and when she responds, Peter chastises her. And we wonder if it was because of her importance that the official church attempted to delegitmate her by turning her into a prostitute. 

This passage clearly is an  anointing passage. Jesus as a king to be. But, how different this anointing. Taking place at the home of Simon the leper, one who wold be unclean. And in this case, Jesus does not heal him, make him clean. He simply is as he is. And the anointing is done by a woman, not a prophet. And it also seems she knows where his path is headed. 

And of course, the disciples don’t get it. They rebuke her, like they earlier did the children, say the money could have been used for the poor. Always missing who this ministry is for. All those who are outsiders. Jesus’ response to them is twofold: first of all, there will always be poor and therefore opportunities for individual acts of charity. But that is not what this is about. Secondly, relationship always supercedes theology and ideology. Something churches and movement organizations have yet to learn. And for this reason, the story of this unnamed woman will always be told in remembrance of her.....wherever the good news is proclaimed, throughout the whole world...

And for this reason Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza entitled her classic of feminist theology In Remembrance of Her. 

We finish by talking about Judas Iscariot. How his name meant assassin. One of an underground cadre of rebels engaged in  acts of revolutionary violence. We have no story of Jesus’ calling Judas. We have to imagine it. What was his purpose? To convert him? Or did Judas seek him out as a possible leader? Did  he infiltrate the group because Jesus gathered popular attention? Did he decide to turn him in because of disappointment? 

Of the narrative’s complexity given its demands that Jesus be turned over to the authorities. Of Judas' history, connected by the early church with the betrayal of the Jews. Of his portrait in the Prayer Tower at Oral Roberts University, the only one with a beard. Of the attention given hm by Kazantzakis. Or Jesus Christ Superstar, or his own gospel. In which this role is essential to the narrative and he is the only one Jesus can trust with it. And it is with Judas we end our study. And end the day. 

Ascension

5/20

The sanctuary still has the afterglow of yesterday’s wedding. 

I’ve got to get over my sense of disorientation from the loss of a cellphone and numerous other mixed emotions. As usual, Teddy and Chris have everything ready.

At the beginning of the service, I read the story if the Ascension from Acts 1. Then pull out the guitar and sing, I’ll fly away:

Some glad morning when this life is o'er, I'll fly away; To a home on God's celestial shore, I'll fly away (I'll fly away). [Chorus] I'll fly away, Oh Glory I'll fly away; (in the morning) When I die, Hallelujah, by and by, I'll fly away (I'll fly away). When the shadows of this life have gone, I'll fly away; Like a bird from prison bars has flown, I'll fly away (I'll fly away) Just a few more weary days and then, I'll fly away; To a land where joy shall never end, I'll fly away (I'll fly away)

As a response with Psalm 1, I have us sing the refrain:

 We shall not, we shall not be moved, we shall  not, we shall not be moved

just like a tree, planted by the water, we shall not be moved.

And...

No, no, no nos moveran; no, no, no no moveran

Como un arbol firme junto al rio, no nos moveran.

and explain it is both a spiritual and an old union song. Make any verse you want...Black and white together, the union is united...

And then after we read the scriptures, Acts 1: 15-7, 21-26 and John 17:12-19. I begin the reflection. 

This is the Sunday following the Feast of the Ascension...One of those gateway days like Christ the King, and Transfiguration, leading us from one liturgical season to the next..I remember when I was in Germany on this day. Himmelfahrt, they called it, IE, heaven bound, heaven journey...It’s still a .public holiday...I’m not sure what that means in an essentially secular society like Germany today. it always comes 40 days after Easter.

We’ve been talking about resurrection living...What does it mean to be resurrected? Are  we ready to claim new life? As individuals, as a church? In the context of the risen Christ present in our midst.

So now we make a shift...how do we live when the visible presence gone? The ascension leaves the disciples in an in between space....

Part of what they have to do is replace Judas...and this Judas  story is different than the other Judas story, the one where he hangs himself. Here he takes his coins, buys a field, and falls headlong into it, bursting open and his bowels pouring out. (No wonder the lectionary skips those verses.)

Pretty soon we’re into all kinds of sketchy stuff....Like all this  happened to fulfill the scriptures...what? Psalm 41:10 says:

Even my trusted friend,

who ate my bread,

has raised his heel against me.

Most of us know what that feels like, and I’m sure David did too. But I can almost  guarantee that David had no thought in his head about Judas when he wrote that Psalm....

And the whole fulfill business gets too crazy for me... finding random verses scattered throughout the Hebrew Scriptures as if it were the gospel according to Nostradamus...or Jean Dixon. I’m not sure  where or ...how...I fit in such a world...

Still there is this fascination with Judas..whether it’s in Kazantszakis’ Last Temptation  where they are boyhood friends (along with Mary Magdalene) or Jesus Christ Super Star, we don’t want to let him go. We want to understand him. In recent years we have discovered the Gospel of Judas. In this gnostic gospel, Jesus needed someone very special to fulfill this role...and only Judas was strong enough and spiritually mature enough to fulfill the role. 

It’s fun to think about, but the real point here  is succession. They needed to be 12 again.... I wonder..what if every time we lost someone, church member,  one way or another, we didn’t rest until they were replaced?  If that became the priority?

( Though I am convinced that God brings the  people we need to us...)

But back to the weird...the casting of lots....I just read where an election in Texas was just settled by a coin toss...I remember when the church where my dad was choir director merged with another church. Who would be the new choir director? Someone suggested casting  lots as a Biblical solution. My dad said no way. (And wound up being named choir director.) Makes me wonder why Presbyterians have always been so opposed to games of chance..

The bottom line is, here it is about two people we’ve never heard of. It’s about ordinary people  called to do extraordinary things...that’s where we come in

I’m also troubled by what I read in John...all this in the world/not in the world...It’s where the Lutherans get their kingdom of heaven/kingdom of earth dichotomy. (Luther said he’d rather be governed by a wise Turk than a dumb Christan.) And Presbyterians their social vision rooted in a world over which God has dominion. When I was a kid, I remember singing, This is my father's world...

What we have here is John’s cosmic Christ..The one who is preexistant, who drops down for awhile then goes back up. For me, here, this world, is enough...the other place we belong to is  the place of liberation...from whatever oppresses us..occupation, slavery, poverty, addiction....mental illness....none of this define us. Our true self is deeper, beyond that....That’s what i think it means...

So what then are we to do? Obama said it the other day, We know what to do, do we have the will? ...Jesus says, you’ve seen how to live, will you?That is the question that goes with us as Jesus leaves us without his physical presence...Will we? That is out own journey to take....

Our final hymn is Guide my feet. As i look around the circle, it;s good to see Don back from China. Jennifer back again. Wondering how Glen’s dog and Anna’s dog will get along. We close with our Caribbean Halle, halle, hallelujah...

Making a sale

Chris and Runi

We have not had time to plan for this year’s Amsterdam Avenue Street Festival, but Teddy and Chris and Runi quickly organize a clothing/book sale. And mainly enjoy just dealing with folks on the street. 

Late in the afternoon, it’s Leonel’s concert. To benefit the church. It begins with Josh the Juggler. The Leonel sings some songs, Hoagy Carmichael & co. And then it’s Joan’s Seven Ages of Woman, a feminine twist on Shakespeare’s Seven Ages of Man. It’s Joan, her daughter Dee Dee and granddaughter Emily and narrator Nydia. It’s clever, well written, classic Broadway style. The audience shares its appreciation with Joan.

The show ends with folksinger Richard Corrie. (That’s right.) Accompanying himself on autoharp. 

They deserved more people. But who they did get was wonderful. Lots of older folks, peace movement veterans. The old Peace Action folk who used to meet here at West-Park. Joan herself a founder of Grandmothers Against the War and  the Granny Peace Brigade. Allow me to say, saints....

And afterwards, I meet women who had been a part of the planning team here for the march against nuclear proliferation in 1982 that drew over a million to NYC. One of them is pressing me to do something about human trafficking. Tell him who we are, her friend says. Turns out they’re sisters of the Sacred Heart, those senior citizen nuns so devoted to the poor they’ve drawn the ire of the pope. These women who stood with Dan Berrigan in exile are not about to be cowed by a straight laced German pope and a hierarchy that it's out of touch  with the streets.

It’s been an honor to have them here. To hear their experience of West-Park. And our opportunity to carry that legacy on.