Rally for Housing

The Rally for Affordable Housing

The Interfaith Assembly leads the rally

First: The invite to the rally

Please join the Interfaith Assembly and other faith leaders and people of faith: 

To bear witness to the critical need for supportive housing 

for the most vulnerable New Yorkers

Wednesday, August 10, 2016 

 9am to 10am

At Governor Cuomo's New York City Office 

633 3rd Avenue (btwn. 4oth and 41st street) 

and to urge the Governor to release the 

full funding for 6,000 units of supportive housing 

over the next five years by signing, without delay 

the MOU for the 1.9 Billion in the state budget 

for affordable and supportive housing 

This presence in front of the Governor's office will be the third weekly Wednesday witness in partnership with the campaign 4 NY/NY housing to let the public and the Governor know that New Yorkers across the state call on him to act now to sign the MOU for the full $1.9 billion. We hope you will help us send the message that New York's people of faith stand with our most vulnerable neighbors in calling for action NOW. 

Fully six months since Governor Cuomo pledged to produce 20,000 units of supportive housing over the next 15 years, and over 100 days since the Governor and State Legislature included 1.9 billion in the state budget for affordable housing including 6,000 units of supportive housing,  a mere $150 million has actually been authorized. 

As the Daily News  

reported last month 

about the memo of understanding still unsigned 

"Gov. Cuomo, Legislature deadlocked on $2B affordable housing plan for New York"

The lives of New York's most vulnerable residents are not a bargaining chip!! They are our mothers and fathers, sisters, brothers, children and neighbors. 

Supportive Housing development is an endeavour that involves multiple partners and years of planning and coordination. The current $150 million authorization severely constrains our partners' ability to gain the long term commitments from funders, developers, property owners and others required to move forward on the scale of development that our current crisis demands. Every delay in signing the full Memorandum of Understanding truly means that many of our most vulnerable neighbors will suffer and some will actually die prematurely from the lack of appropriate housing and needed services.

Marc L. Greenberg

Executive Director
Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing

165 West 105th Street, NY NY 10025

O-212-316-3171, C-917-913-0098

Assembly DirectorMarc Greenberg and activists from 5th Avenue Presbyterian

The Press release:

gather on Wednesday, August 10, at 9am in front of the NYC office of Governor Andrew Cuomo to bear witness to the crisis of homelessness and call on the Governor to exercise his leadership and sign an MOU with the State legislative leaders to release 1.9 billion dollars in the New York State budget to fund 6,000 units of supportive housing state wide over the next 5 years. 

Faith leaders will include: The Reverend Peter Cook, Executive Director of the New York State Council of Church, The Reverend Robert Foltz-Morrison, Executive Presbyter, Presbytery of New York City, Dr. Anne Klaeysen, Leader, New York Society for Ethical Culture, Sister Carol De Angelo, Sisters of Charity of New York, Iman Boukadoum, Interfaith Center of New York, The Reverend Robert Brashear, Senior Pastor, West Park Presbyterian Church, Marc Greenberg, Executive Director, Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing, and others, and will be joined by members of the Micah Faith Table and of the Life Experience and Faith Sharing Association – including men and women who have themselves been homeless. 

In November of last year, in an effort spearheaded by the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing, nearly 300 faith leaders called on the Governor and the Mayor to commit to produce 35,000 units of supportive housing over the next 15 years, and this June over 150 faith leaders endorsed another letter urging the Governor and State legislative leaders to sign the MOU to release, without delay, the full 1.9 billion in the New York State budget for affordable housing and supportive housing for New York’s most vulnerable households.

 “As the legislative session closed on June 18th we were dismayed and deeply disappointed to learn that the Governor and State leaders agreed to release a mere $150 million of the 2 billion dollars in the state budget for affordable and supportive housing.  Every delay in signing the full Memorandum of Understanding means that many of our most vulnerable neighbors will suffer and some will actually die prematurely from the lack of appropriate housing and needed services. We see no reason to delay this effort one more day!” – The Reverend Robert Foltz-Morrison, Executive Presbyter, Presbytery of New York City. 

Presbytery Exec Robert Foltz-Morrison addresses the rally

‘With 20,000 households across the state of New York approved for supportive housing each year but only 1 in 6 actually obtaining it, our most vulnerable citizens need our elected officials to stand up for them TODAY and sign the Memo of Understanding for the full 1.9 Billion Dollars – a true 5-year commitment and not a series of one year allocations.  Signing the MOU would send a powerful signal to members of our communities, the general public, advocates, stakeholders and the entire country that New York is serious in its determination to end homelessness and help to affirm the public’s faith that Government is committed to help all citizens to live full and decent lives.  New Yorkers look to Governor Cuomo and our State leaders to do their job and sign the full MOU NOW” -- The Reverend Peter Cook, Executive Director, New York State Council of Churches 

Marc with Peter Cook of the New York State Council of Churches

“As people of faith, we believe that decent housing is the God-given right of all people. Our elected officials have done their part, they've budgeted the money. All it requires is the governor's signature. And still Governor Cuomo refuses to sign. It is simply wrong, in every sense of the word, to hold the lives of our most vulnerable neighbors, hostage to political whim. Governor Cuomo, sign now!” – The Reverend Dr. Robert Brashear, Senior Pastor, West Park Presbyterian Church, Chair, Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing

Pastor Robert Brashear and Robert Foltz-Morrison

“Today, I stand with faith leaders to bring to our awareness our brothers and sisters who need a place to live, a place they can call home, especially those in need of supportive housing. Too often, their stories are not known, their voice not heard. We need to get to know them, listen to their stories and respond.  We are one family, brothers and sisters to each other. I give thanks for all who are working to address this injustice. 

Sisters of Charity of New York join with Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing, faith leaders and others who urge Governor Cuomo and New York State legislators to sign the MOU on Supportive Housing. The MOU is one way to bring forth new life for those in need of supportive housing.

Pope Francis, in Laudato Si: On Care For Our Common Home, states: “Disregard for the duty to cultivate and maintain a proper relationship with my neighbor, for whose care and custody I am responsible, ruins my relationship with my own self, with others, with God and with the earth. When all these relationships are neglected, when justice no longer dwells in the land, the Bible tells us that life itself is endangered.” -- Sister Carol De Angelo, SC, Director of Office of Peace, Justice and Integrity of Creation for the Sisters of Charity of New York.

“The New York Society for Ethical Culture was the first community to answer Mayor Koch’s call to provide shelter for our most needy neighbors. After 30 years of giving comfort and support to women in transition as they take the necessary steps to self-sufficiency, finding a new home and job, we join our colleagues from throughout our great state in calling on our Governor to do his job and sign the MOU without delay.” Dr. Anne Klaeysen, Leader, New York Society for Ethical Culture.

“Supportive housing is the best, most humane, and most cost effective way to provide chronically homeless people the support they need. Providing supportive housing to our most vulnerable residents saves government’s money -- $10,100 per year, per tenant here in New York – by reducing hospitalizations, detox and rehab programs, and incarceration.  But supportive housing development is an endeavor that involves multiple partners and years of planning and coordination.  The current $150 million authorization severely constrains our partners' ability to gain the long term commitments from funders, developers, property owners and others required to move forward on the scale of development that our current crisis demands  .  The lives of New York's most vulnerable residents are not a bargaining chip!! They are our mothers and fathers, sisters, brothers, children and neighbors.” – Marc Greenberg, Executive Director, Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing

The letter signed by 150 faith leaders reads in part:  ““As members of the clergy and the leaders of faith based communities and service organizations, we are on the front lines of providing support to the 80,000 homeless children, women and men in our communities. From Montauk to Massena, Brooklyn to Buffalo, too many individuals and families with serious social service needs simply cannot find and maintain permanent, affordable housing and get off the streets.” … “With the stroke of a pen, you can begin to change that”.   

As people of faith, we know you each share our belief that the true values of a society are revealed in the way it treats the neediest and most vulnerable among us. That is why we are writing you today to encourage you to finish the job by signing the Memo of Understanding your budget requires before those funds can be spent, and those 6,000 new units of supportive housing can be built”.

(For press people – for more info – marc@iahh.org – 917-913-0098)

What I said at the rally:

I need your help to try and figure something out.  We all know there’a crisis in affordable housing.  Maybe 80000 homeless. We got busy…those of us who work in the area of housing did our job. We wrote up programs and proposasl. And delivered them to our elected officials. Those of  us in the fauth community did our job. We wrote letters, we communicated with our elected officials.Told them of our concerns. And lo and behold, they listened. And praise the Lord, they did their job. They budgeted 1.9 billion dollars for affordable housing.  That was six months ago. SO where’s the money? Someone must not be doing their job. Who could it  be? Gov. Cuomo Maybe? So our first message is:  do your job.

The second is: sign the memo. Now.

To use the most vulnerable in our society as political bargaining chips is reprhensible. To hold them hostage is morally worng. We are here to say that stops now. 

Addressing the rally

Last Sunday after Pentecost: Man in the Mirror..what do you see?

1/31

The Open Choir worshipped with us....

Today we have our friends from the Seed group/Open Choir as special guests. They open our service. Jeremy has been working on JEREMIAH 1:4-10 and does a dramatic presentation of the text.

Soon enough, we get to the reflection.

I’ve been thinking about mirrors…do you know when you look, what you see is reversed? Or that our faces are not symmetrical? I look at kids on the subway…using their cell phones instead of compact mirrors….you know , the selfie app?

I’m thinking about Paul…as through a glass darkly….all we ever  see is a  glimpse…an almost…in part…but to be seen face to face…we want to, need to be seen…

When we first moved to the city, we didn’t know how  to respond to the many who asked us for money. So I asked Marc Greenberg…he said it’s not sop important to give money as to recognize the other’s humanity ..the need to be seen….not being seen takes your life away..makes you disappear…if we’re invisible, we’re not really here…we have to be seen, have to be heard, have to be  known… and we all deserve that…..

So when we look in the mirror, what do we see?

1 Corinthians 13 is a classic passage about love…I associate it with weddings…almost every one I do requests this passage..…

What does it ask of us?

What if it’s reference is not just for couples, but in community?

Back to Jesus. The hometown boy is back…and looking good..…people are loving it…Is not this Joseph’s son?  Wow….

Jesus can’t leave it at happy… But then... but then.... Jesus opens his mouth and gets to meddling. He starts interpreting the Scripture he has just read and he talks about Sidon and Syria, Zarephath and Naaman. He says, "God went to them, not the Israelites." And then he drops the mic. And the hometown crowd gets the point. They know those stories from 1 and 2 Kings. They get the context. They understand that Jesus isn't just talking about including outsiders in the circle of God's care; he is pronouncing judgment on the insiders who have done the excluding.

And people want to push him off the cliff…And How did he pass though the midst of them? Were they looking for someone else and didn’t recognize him? Or was it like a mirror,they saw themselves and like wow, what are we doing?

My friend Arik Ascherman of rabbis for Human Rights..was attacked by a knife wielding settler kid..inches from his chest..the kid could have killed him..Arick though maybe he had a change of heart..yet when interviewed, the young man said that he wished he would have killed Arick..

Our motivation must always  be LOVE

Abraham Joshua Heschel said that a prophet must always be motivated by love. Prophets can only speak  to a people they love.

And of course, Che said,“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.” 

So let us take that with us to the  primaries…

And let us look look forward to the day we see in full…

Amen…

All this  put me in mind of Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror…so I played the video..

                                                                     Man in the Mirror

We finish with more songs from the Open Choir. It has been a good morning….

My son's friends Tom and Anne from Berlin were with us…they went first to the LGBTQ Pentecostal service in our sanctuary,,,(yes you read that right…there’s a documentary film group doing a film about them…) Then our service. Then the big production Korean service.  Later that night, they tell me they are amazed at the panoply of religious experience that exists at West-Park. (Robert Orsi would be proud..[1]) But at the end of the day, they liked our service with the Open Choir best of all, even of the smallest. That made me feel good. Because they meant it.

·       [1] Robert A. Orsi, ed. (1999). Gods of the City: Religion and the American Urban Landscape. Indiana University Press.ISBN 978-0-253-21276-4.

FIRST READING JEREMIAH 1:4-10

⁴Now the word of the LORD came to me saying,

⁵"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

and before you were born I consecrated you;

I appointed you a prophet to the nations."

⁶Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy." ⁷But the LORD said to me,

"Do not say, 'I am only a boy';

for you shall go to all to whom I send you,

and you shall speak whatever I command you,

⁸Do not be afraid of them,

for I am with you to deliver you,

says the LORD."

⁹Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me,

"Now I have put my words in your mouth.

¹⁰See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,

to pluck up and to pull down,

to destroy and to overthrow,

to build and to plant."

PSALM PSALM 71:1-6

¹In you, O LORD, I take refuge;

let me never be put to shame.

²In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;

incline your ear to me and save me.

³Be to me a rock of refuge,

a strong fortress, to save me,

for you are my rock and my fortress.

⁴Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,

from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.

⁵For you, O Lord, are my hope,

my trust, O LORD, from my youth.

⁶Upon you I have leaned from my birth;

it was you who took me from my mother's womb.

My praise is continually of you.

SECOND READING 1 CORINTHIANS 13:1-13

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.

GOSPEL LUKE 4:21-30

²¹Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." ²²All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, "Is not this Joseph's son?"²³He said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Doctor, cure yourself!' And you will say, 'Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.'" ²⁴And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown. ²⁵But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; ²⁶yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. ²⁷There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." ²⁸When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. ²⁹They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.³⁰But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

I'm Gonna Make A Change,
For Once In My Life
It's Gonna Feel Real Good,
Gonna Make A Difference
Gonna Make It Right . . .

As I, Turn Up The Collar On My
Favourite Winter Coat
This Wind Is Blowin' My Mind
I See The Kids In The Street,
With Not Enough To Eat
Who Am I, To Be Blind?
Pretending Not To See
Their Needs
A Summer's Disregard,
A Broken Bottle Top
And A One Man's Soul
They Follow Each Other On
The Wind Ya' Know
'Cause They Got Nowhere
To Go
That's Why I Want You To
Know

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change)
(Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,
Na Nah)

I've Been A Victim Of A Selfish
Kind Of Love
It's Time That I Realize
That There Are Some With No
Home, Not A Nickel To Loan
Could It Be Really Me,
Pretending That They're Not
Alone?

A Widow Deeply Scarred,
Somebody's Broken Heart
And A Washed-Out Dream
(Washed-Out Dream)
They Follow The Pattern Of
The Wind, Ya' See
Cause They Got No Place
To Be
That's Why I'm Starting With
Me
(Starting With Me!)

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
(Ooh!)
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
(Ooh!)
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change)

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
(Ooh!)
I'm Asking Him To Change His
Ways
(Change His Ways-Ooh!)
And No Message Could've
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make That . . .
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make That . . .)
Change!

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror,
(Man In The Mirror-Oh
Yeah!)
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
(Better Change!)
No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make The Change)
(You Gotta Get It Right, While
You Got The Time)
('Cause When You Close Your
Heart)
You Can't Close Your . . .Your
Mind!
(Then You Close Your . . .
Mind!)
That Man, That Man, That
Man, That Man
With That Man In The Mirror
(Man In The Mirror, Oh Yeah!)
That Man, That Man, That Man
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
(Better Change!)
You Know . . .That Man
No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change)
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!
Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,
Na Nah
(Oh Yeah!)
Gonna Feel Real Good Now!
Yeah Yeah! Yeah Yeah!
Yeah Yeah!
Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,
Na Nah
(Ooooh . . .)
Oh No, No No . . .
I'm Gonna Make A Change
It's Gonna Feel Real Good!
Come On!
(Change . . .)
Just Lift Yourself
You Know
You've Got To Stop It.
Yourself!
(Yeah!-Make That Change!)
I've Got To Make That Change,
Today!
Hoo!
(Man In The Mirror)
You Got To
You Got To Not Let Yourself . . .
Brother . . .
Hoo!
(Yeah!-Make That Change!)
You Know-I've Got To Get
That Man, That Man . . .
(Man In The Mirror)
You've Got To
You've Got To Move! Come
On! Come On!
You Got To . . .
Stand Up! Stand Up!
Stand Up!
(Yeah-Make That Change)
Stand Up And Lift
Yourself, Now!
(Man In The Mirror)
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!
Aaow!
(Yeah-Make That Change)
Gonna Make That Change . . .
Come On!
(Man In The Mirror)
You Know It!
You Know It!
You Know It!
You Know . . .
(Change . . .)
Make That Change.

Fight, fight, fight: Housing is a right...

7/16

Pastor Bob praying for housing justice

Fight, fight, fight, housing is a  right.

Got a late call from Marc from the Interfaith Assembly on Housing and Homelessness.

Marc Greenberg and the Assembly were there.....

Big rally downtown demanding decent  housing for all. Lots of sponsors including  various unions and community  groups, New York communities for Change (which used to be ACORN), Faith in New York ( a project of the community organizing group PICO National Network), Churches United for Fair Housing and our Interfaith Assembly.And many others. Even though I’m really short on time, I go.

The rally begins at the First Houses, site of the first public housing projects in the US.

We began at the First Houses

I’m anxious to speak and leave, but because of the turnout, I have to go on the long march to the Seward Houses , a new project where affordable means incomes above $60000 a year and work buy non-union groups. At the end of the march, I’m asked to open with prayer. Before I pray, a 16 wheeler rolls by,the driver blowing his horn in solidarity and raising his fist.

I start by saying that there are homeless people on my steps every day with their worldly possessions.  And then I open by quoting the prophet Isaiah:

Isaiah 58:6-8 

“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

We are not asking the mayor to take the homeless poor into his house, or anyone else for that matter. But we are asking that polices be put into place that can bring people the shelter they deserve.

Holy One,  we thank you for this mighty gathering of people. Gather their spirit into one spirit, their voice into one strong voice that can speak loud and clear and be heard.

Holy One forgive our city for turning its back on a record number of 61000 homeless, including women  and children. As we tithe for our churches, let our city tithe of 10% of new housing for the homeless people. Open hearts to provide legal counsel for the  30000 facing eviction.

Add our voices to the over 250 faith leaders who have called for the cooperation of the governor and mayor to produce 35000 units of new affordable housing. Grant them a spirit of  creativity and cooperation.

Let those with open hearts and minds and spirits in city hall and the chambers of Albany hear our plea. Let the radical sustaining power of the holy spirit remain with us until we have  established that housing is a right.

These things we pray in your  holy name and presence.

Amen.

There are a few Hallelujahs....

                                                                                                  ****

I am hot  and tired when I get back to the church. I meet Don to go his house, sit on his patio under the stairs and talk about how we begin moving our developing center forword.

No Place Like Home

12/15

All I can think about today is tonight’s concert.

At 4 PM, we have our final run through and sound check. Russ J,

Jeremy, Russ and Bob

our stage manager ready to take charge. Katie has arrived! The final member to complete our band, Katie on violin and harmonies.  And I have to admit, it sounds good….

My son Dan has arrived to help. And our faithful Dion.  And Elise and volunteers from Advent.

I’ve got time to visit with the West 80’s Neighborhood Association who is holding their holiday event in Martin’s studio due to construction in Mc Alpin.

Speaking to the West '80's Association

It’s exciting to be able to tell them our project is finally underway.

Our city councilmember Helen Rosenthal has left her own holiday party to come by and visit our event.

Bob, Councilmember Helen Rosenthal and Elise Brown

I wish we had time to talk about last Monday’s die-in at City Hall.

The big names for the night, Julie Gold and Christine Lavin, Suzzy Roche and Lucy Wainwright Roche and Laura are now doing their sound check. Watching and waiting for a good audience to arrive.  And they are beginning to.

Our own Jeremy opens the night followed by my welcome with a sense of the history of our place. And then Julie Gold. Marc introduces Nazima Ali who tells her moving story.

Marc introduces Nazima

Then Suzzy and Lucy and Laura bring that peerless Roches tight harmony to the First Noel and the classic Roches New Yahk accent version of Walking in a Winta Wondaland.

Laura Pearson, Suzzy Roche, Lucy Wainwright Roche

Murray from Sesame Street works his magic even with no kids in the crowd. The we hear from Shorne how he went from being a Desert Storm veteran to being homeless.

Then it’s time for our block. Steve Blane opens with his Gonna Light the Lights Tonight (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKGCWlp3-Lc)…with Kathleen Doran on trumpet and harmonies, then his anthemic Spark. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBkU_XsbHk8) 

Steve Blane

Our Home band (with me, Jeremy Mage on piano and vocals, Joe Ornstein on mandolin and vocals, Steve Blane and Esther Ready on vocals, Katie Rowell violin and vocals and Pat O’Connell, guitar) open with Storm Large’s Stand Up for Me, then Emmy Lou Harris’ Light of the Stable and finish with Stephen Foster’s Hard Times Come Again No More. Not quite perfect as our run through, but harmonies still crisp and clean. We held our own.

The Home Band: Katie, Steve, Esther, Bob, Pat. Joe and Jeremy

Christine Lavin sings her caustic critique of gun violence, Are You Kiddin’ Me? ((http://www.christinelavin.com/index.php?page=songs&category=Live_at_the_Cactus_Cafe&display=2357) then invites everyone up to join her for the 12 days after Christmas by Fred Silver. (An honor to sing beside Suzzy…) 

Singing with Christine Lavin

James A has his story of recovery and redemption to share  followed by his daughter and granddaughter Tara Robinson and Derrika Willock with a tight harmony gospel set.

John Jiler reads from his Sleeping With the Mayor, (http://books.google.com/books/about/Sleeping_with_the_Mayor.html?id=_ge8AAAAIAAJ) the story of  the 200 day occupation of City Hall Park by homeless people in 1988. He reads from the beginning of the  story, and then the end, on Christmas Day 1988.

Elise passes the plate and then Julie ends  the night with her classic

Julie Gold and Bob Foltz-Morrison

From a distance…(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4q9JUMF0oc)

From a distance the world looks blue and green,
and the snow-capped mountains white.
From a distance the ocean meets the stream,
and the eagle takes to flight.

From a distance, there is harmony,
and it echoes through the land.
It's the voice of hope, it's the voice of peace,
it's the voice of every man.

From a distance we all have enough,
and no one is in need.
And there are no guns, no bombs, and no disease,
no hungry mouths to feed.

From a distance we are instruments
marching in a common band.
Playing songs of hope, playing songs of peace.
They're the songs of every man.
God is watching us. God is watching us.
God is watching us from a distance.

From a distance you look like my friend,
even though we are at war.
From a distance I just cannot comprehend
what all this fighting is for.

From a distance there is harmony,
and it echoes through the land.
And it's the hope of hopes, it's the love of loves,
it's the heart of every man.

It's the hope of hopes, it's the love of loves.
This is the song of every man.
And God is watching us, God is watching us,
God is watching us from a distance.
Oh, God is watching us, God is watching.
God is watching us from a distance.

The song for me will always be connected with the Bette Midler version  that came out which became popular during the first Gulf War.

And it’s time to close out the night…

Just a few thoughts:

1.     It’s important to support the Assembly. There are many other groups that supply direct services for homeless people. But on one else is working to help people transform and regain their own lives. When you hear the stories, you realize that lives have been saved. That is worth something. Even more, the Assembly also works with its members to bring about systemic policy change to tray and address root causes for homelessness, which has now reached historic levels, over 60,000.

2.     My greatest joy used to be preaching a sermon that just knocked people out. But now, it’s working  with a group of people on a song until the voices, no matter how disparate, blend and a sound so round and good, not pure and perfect, but good comes out.  It echoes back and forth in my heart.

3.     And there’s joy in having  had an idea, brought it to life and had it succeed. We all need that. Thanks Elise.

We raised nearly $4000, like our old Comfort Ye program at it’s peak.

Time for the  after party at the Gate.