He's Got the Whole World in his Hands 3: with Ryan Smith from the Presbyterian Ministry at the Unites Nations

10/19

Victoire, Bob and Ryan 

Our special guest this Sunday is Ryan Smith, our Presbyterian Representative to the United Nations. We begin with a traditional old hymn, God of Grace and God of Glory. I lift up some of my favorite lines:

Grant us wisdom, grant us courage
For the facing of this hour

And most especially:

Save us from weak resignation
To the evils we deplore

And I tell the story of its  writer, Harry Emerson Fosdick, founding Pastor of the Riverside Church after having been brought up on heresy charges by the Presbyterian General Assembly and resigning from First Presbyterian in the Village where he had preached his scandalous Shall the Fundamentalists Win? Sermon which started the furor. Rockefeller built Riverside especially for Fosdick. I also asked us to think about what the world was like in 1930 when  it was written.

Our Gospel passage of the day is Matthew 12: 16-17:

And He said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" And they said to Him, "Caesar's." 17And Jesus said to them, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." And they were amazed at Him.

It follows in our ongoing emphasis on authority, most recently with the story of the golden calf. Here the message is clear, the whole world is God’s, not the emperor’s.

Following the reading of the gospel, our friend Victoire sings Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind…

And then as a follow up to our participation in the Climate march, Ryan shares with us an overview of what has been going on at the UN. The current round of talks are conclude with a summary of main points so far. Negotiations will continue leading up to a meeting in Paris and then Lima. There is much emphasis on keeping the rise in temperature under 2’ centigrade. At a 2’ rise, some UN island nations would vanish altogether. The process of getting a draft treaty will be long and arduous. And our own country does not have a good record of supporting international treaties. Ryan was impressed by Secretary General Ban Ki Moon’s active engagement and leadership on this issue, including higher summer and lower winter temperatures at the UN.

Ryan also shared with us something of his work in the area of trafficking and Israel –Palestine issues.

Once again, we sing He’s got the whole world…

As I look around, my heart feels encouraged. My rabbi friend Steve from Open Mic has come.

Rabbi Steve and Bob

My friend Carman Moore has come with an artist friend from Denmark. And Berik has 3 friends from Kazakhstan here for an art show at the UN. Our circle is larger.

Victoire

I ask Victoire to sing one more dong for us following the service. So we all stay and listen as she sings a traditional French song. 

We’ve had a very good morning together.

We are going to the other side

6/24

We welcome new members:
Elder Marsha, Steven, John, Don, Bob. Teddy, Willa (welome back!) and Elder Leila
 (who made the rainbow stole)

Big day. Starts out like one of those that feel like you’ve momentarily slipped out of sync with the universe. People I expected would  be coming texting or e-mailing saying they wouldn’t. Someone else I’m counting on texting that they’re late coming back from upstate. After talking to Andre earlier, I’m getting that strange message on his phone. Will he make it? The Bengladeshi copy shop is closed. The Internet is wacky at the Israeli shop. Desperate to get the service bulletins and action resolutions finished and its approaching 11. From somewhere I’m learning to stay calm in these moments. Moments when there is nothing you can do. 

As I approach the steps, I see my sons Micah and Dan there. It makes me happy to see them, Micah back from Berlin for a week, Dan home from Drexel . Has Andre arrived? Yes, he’s inside waiting, says Micah. First sigh of relief. There’s a nice congregation already gathered and in the pews. 

I step to the front. Say a word or two about out of syncness and ask everyone to take a breath. As it is LGBTQ Pride Sunday, we open the service with 

God welcomes all, strangers and friends

God’s love is strong and it never ends...

I point to the rainbow flag. Remind the congregation of the More Light Statement of welcome and inclusion from 1978. The knitted rainbow stole, for so many Presbyterian General Assemblies (national legislative meetings) worn as silent symbol of witness of those excluded from serving until the victory last July. And how the Evelyn Davidson Memorial Water Table at the First Presbyterian Church at the Pride March is named for the wife of former West-Park Pastor Bob Davidson who felt that given traditional church hostility to the  lgbtq community, offering a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name to hot marchers would be  a healing witness. 


Friends from the Sweatshop Upper West Side Campaign have come to worship with us, to say thanks and to inivte us to their Friday night celebration at Holy Name. 

Given the challenges of the day, our opening hymn is Harry Emerson Fosdick’s God of Grace and God of Glory....

God of grace and God of glory

On Thy people pour Thy power

Crown Thine ancient church's story

Bring her bud to glorious flower

Grant us wisdom, grant us courage

For the facing of this hour

For the facing of this hour

Lo! The hosts of evil 'round us

Scorn Thy Christ, assail His ways

From the fears that long have bound us

Free our hearts to faith and praise

Grant us wisdom, grant us courage

For the living of these days

For the living of these days

Cure Thy children's warring madness

Bend our pride to Thy control

Shame our wanton selfish gladness

Rich in things and poor in soul

Grant us wisdom, grant us courage

Lest we miss Thy kingdom's goal

Lest we miss Thy kingdom's goal

Save us from weak resignation

To the evils we deplore

Let the gift of Thy salvation

Be our glory evermore

Grant us wisdom, grant us courage

Serving Thee Whom we adore

Serving Thee Whom we adore

Grant us wisdom, grant us courage

For the living of these days

For the living of these days

And I explain that Fosdick was one of the leaders of the Social Gospel Movement, evangelical and committed to justice. 

To prepare for our prayers, we sing Desmond Tutu’s words:

Goodness is stronger than evil

Kindness is stronger than hate

Victory is ours, victory is ours

Through him who loves us. 

I divide the long reading of the story of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17: 1a, 4-11, 19-23, 32-49 ) into characters: Teddy (who else?) as Goliath, John as David, Don as King Saul.  And I read the Gospel story of Jesus and the boat in the storm. (Mark 4:35-41)

OK. Once again, the crowd is following Jesus. Demanding. He directs his disciples to take him across to the other side.... What is that? By tradition that meant Gentile country,although we know the reality was more complex. But it’s also the  other side of what s normal, a whole other consciousness....

It says that they took him just as he was....What does that  mean? It’s like another   scriptural hyperlink that can take you in to unexplored worlds...

It says that there were other boats...what happened to them? What happens to those around us when we get caught up in our storms? Who suffers collateral damage? Receives collateral benefits? 

Jesus was asleep....was he exhausted, worn out?  They are angry. They wake him up, just to help bail, for Christ sake..They were fishers, right? They knew what to do in a storm. They want him to help.

And so rebuking the wind and sea (same word as when he confronts demons) he says ...Peace! Be still! And everything gets mad scary quiet. And it’s then they get afraid. 

Why are they afraid? It’s the calming, not the storm....In Mark, it’s the same response to the resurrection...awe, and they were afraid....

So I have a number of thoughts...not necessarily answers...The key to story is not how people react to storms, but  how people react to what God does...The metaphors around life’s storms obviously clear...My challenge to you  from Easter  remains...are you ready for resurrection? Are you ready to accept winning? Succeeding? Actually having a vision come true? 

Notice Jesus says Why are you afraid, not why were you afraid....it was the calming that frightened them.. Peace frightens them....

Friends were talking about how so many of our church (not his one) meetings devolve into conflict. Conflict stirs us, engages us, energizes us, juices us. It’s not just a church, a Presbytery thing. I remember talking to my  Occupy friends about this. And I remember these words from the Rolling Stones 

I went down to the demonstration, to get my fair share of abuse...

Peace frightens us. 

So here’s the message. Make no mistake about it. We are going to the other side....

We will have a new consciousness, a new awareness  about who’s in charge.  We have already discerned  in our Bible study of Mark that this is an anti-imperial consciousness

of vulnerability, even woundedness...BUT also a consciousness  where we commit to 

possibility, not despair

openness, not fear and

joy beyond sorrow...

Let me say that again...we are going to the other side...it is a consciousness of metanoia not paranoia, metanoia being a transformative change of heart

I remember that amazing night crossing the Brooklyn Bridge with Occupy. The projections on the side the Verizon building  ending with Do Not  Be Afraid ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhYXjZ-j974&feature=related )

Yes, we are going to the other side

I have to bring up Nik Wallenda and his walk across Niagara Falls one last time. His training, his preparation. How once you commit, you’ve got no choice but to go all the way...

We have trained. We are prepared. We are exactly where we are supposed to be doing what we are supposed to be doing. We are going to the other side....

For our offertory, Andre, accompanied by Micah, sings Eternal Father Strong to Save, otherwise known as the navy hymn, and Steve, a navy man, tears up. 

And then we gladly and happily welcome new members Steve and Teddy and John and Don and welcome back Willa after a long absence. This for us is joyous. 

Then we gather upstairs for a congregational meeting. Our resolution to put the pieces in place to crate our interfaith center for arts and culture and social justice through preferably a lease, if not a sale of the church house to a partner committed to collaboration. And failing that, lease or sale and reestablishing our work in a repurposed sanctuary building. We will create our center one way or another. 

The resolution passes unanimously.


                                                                * * * * 

Come back after a great afternoon at the Evelyn Davidson Water Table at the Pride march. Saw our friends from Sanctuary marching. And Dennis from the Interfaith Assembly with his Middle Collegiate church friends. Now meeting with Ludovica to discuss the intolerable heat, Actors' Equity rules...a new airconditioner for the gym. Before this is over, this will take multiple phine calls, Marc and Teddy. Time to go home.