This Eid. This year.Israel. Palestine.

5/15

"Happy Eid"

It is Eid, then end of Ramadan. Usually a time of celebration and  happiness for the Muslim community. But not this Eid, this Thursday. 

Every Thursday throughout the pandemic I have joined weekly study and prayer service with the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem. With most of the participants from the Palestinian Christian community, others join in from around the world.  Not surprisingly, the gathering last Thursday was filled with anguish and sadness as the Israel-Palestine conflict once again enters a new phase of violence. 

While there is no question that rockets flying into your country create a sense of fear and vulnerability, Trevor Noah of the Daily Show has rightly pointed out that ultimately you have to ask the question of who has then power to do what to whom when. The overwhelming imbalance of power militarily and every other way make any attempt at “moral equivalence” simply inappropriate. 

While determining justice in any particular moment of this conflict depends on when you start the clock, the previous owners of the Sheik Jarrah properties were in fact Jews, every other detail from the lack of a “law of return”,for Palestinians or compensation for land lost in West Jerusalem to lack of building permits squeezing East Jerusalem Palestinians into ever more constricted areas objectively do constitute an apartheid reality. 

It’s hard to pontificate about a “right to defend one’s country” in the context of a policy clearly aimed at making a viable life for Palestinians in Jerusalem impossible.

On my last visit to Jerusalem in 2010, my friend Arik Ascherman, Executive Director of Israel human rights organization Torah Zedek, Torah of Justice, took us on a tour of Sheik Jarrah, the East Jerusalem neighborhood at the center of this moment of the conflict.  We mat families, heard their stories, as of theihouses they had lived in for half a century. The effort to evict them is not about retributive  justice  for any wounded party but  more to create more real estate for ultra right Israeli settlement and further shrinking of Palestinian space. This particular chapter has been going on now for decades and is now before the Israeli supreme court.

The same day as our Sheikh Jarrah tour  we participated in protest against the digit up of a Palestinian cemetery to build a “museum of tolerance.” No comment necessary. Eleven years later, the project nears completion.  The bones of over 400 Palestinian  bodies have been removed. 

IN 1978, I toured Gaza in the wake of the Sadat - Begin agreement. The images I retain are of crowded streets, docks filled with rotting oranges embargoed against export and a giant Israeli  watch tower looming over the  city like an alien war machine.  Even under Palestinian authority,  Gaza remains in a state of continued strangulation. 

Describing the current reality, people  in our meeting use words like “unbelievable” and “out of control.” “Worst we’ve seen in 35 years.” The intercomunal violence has people shaken, “like a civil war” they say, “Neighbor against neighbor.” We see a cell phone video of a right wing Israeli Lynch mob looking for Arabs in a West Jerusalem market with passive police accompaniment. 

I think of my friend David from Kibbutz Gezer and the meals we have shared in the Arab town of Ramle. His friend Samir’s restaurant, featured in “Hummus: the Movie,” arguably the best in the country. What is going on in Ramle? Friends in Jerusalem afraid to leave their homes.

It’s a hard issue to talk about tin the US. Support for lsrael runs very deep. Lobby groups like AIPAC seem to wield as much influence over Congress as the NRA. Conservative Evangelicals see Israel as part of  a “divine plan” and offer unquestioning  support. Traditional liberals are most likely to fall into the PEP (“progressive except Palestine”) circle. Others, ignoring power differentials, argue moral equivalence. In Congress except for Bernie Sanders and AOC and the Squad, it’s an undebatable issue. This current crisis will make President Biden’s desire to avoid the issue untenable.

Despite international pressure and feelers from Hamas to enact a truce, Israel wants to “teach a lesson,” still not understanding that humiliation whether harassment at check points or massive bombing never works. 

The bottom line  reality is, Israel is only able to continue  its position of dominance and control  because of the annual $4 billion support from the US.  Sooner or later we need to take accountability for the fact that we are funding the current reality of Israel-Palestine Increasing numbers of analysts think it is too late for a two state solution  already.  One way or another, US citizens have to take responsibility  and hold Israel accountable. That’s  the only way for peace to have a chance…

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. 

Break the Walls

6/6

The Wall

So what can I do? is a question artists often ask themselves related to the difficult social issues of our time. Especially with a seemingly intractable issue like the Israel-Palestine conflict, or more appropriately, the struggle of the Palestinian people for justice. Last night at the Lark Theatre Center in New York, the Break the Wall Theatre Project provided one valuable answer to that question. 

Inspired by the controversy around Caryl Churchill’s Seven Jewish Children (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Jewish_Children), and Churchill’s making the play available for free for performance by anyone (you can read the whole text here: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2009/feb/26/caryl-churchill-seven-jewish-children-play-gaza), Ismail Khalidi and David Zellnik have conceived and produced their own project, Break the Wall.

Conceptually, BTW refers both to the wall of separation built by Israel but also the fourth wall between stage and audience. BTW  intends to break through these walls. 

It’s first stage, celebrated by the launch, invited a variety of playwrights to write short plays on the struggle. All the resulting plays will be made available in an online archive for any who would like to perform them. The goal is to gather 50 plays within a year.

The plays presented Monday night were illustrative of the values that drive the project. There were common threads that run through all the plays. Among these is  the importance of approaching the issue through interpersonal relationships. Each play  (with one exception, Yussef El Guindi’s the Monologuist), is essentially a painful conversation about the issue between people who care about each other. The plays suggest that it is in the intensity of these conversations, as opposed to dialectical debate, that some understanding might come. 

That of course, is another recurring theme. The ongoing struggle of Palestinians to even be heard, let alone understood, even by people who are emotionally involved with each other at one level or another flowed through the plays.

Perhaps most importantly, the plays demand that we give up a balanced view. That in a situation with such an overwhelming imbalance of power …military, economic and political….a balanced view is morally untenable. It is to the credit of these artists that this point is made through the art, not through didactic moralism. You understand by being drawn into the relationships. 

While all the plays are of comparable quality, I went because of a long relationship with playwright Stan Richardson (co-founder of the Representatives .. http://therepresentatives.org/). Several of Stan’s plays have been produced at West Park, including the recent Edinburgh Fringe festival bound production of Private Manning goes to Washington.) Stan’s contribution, the Montagues, uses his typical command of relational conversation and the connections and gaps between us ending in his two characters’ passionate plea for help. In other words, exactly where we are. And  he doesn’t tell us what help means. We’ve got to figure that out. 

(It was also good to see longtime West Park friend Lynne Marie Rosenberg in several plays. She was a key cast member of the Woodshed Collective’s ground breaking immersive production of the Tenant that helped reopen West Park. http://www.woodshedcollective.com/the-tenant/)

Thanks to BTW for this demonstration of what artists can do in the struggle for justice while staying true to their art. The plays are there to read…and perform…in the theatre, in homes, in church, in the street…

For information about Break the Wall...and scripts...go to http://www.breakthewallproject.org/

What we don't do here (among other things)

7/10

Two women in to explore the possibility of producing two plays in the fall. One a reimagining of Othello. I ask her if she’s familiar with John Hudson and his theory that Amelia Bassano, the dark lady if Shakespeare’s sonnets, was in fact the author of Shakespeare’s plays. (http://www.amazon.com/The-Dark-Lady-Woman-Shakespeares/dp/1445621606) She looks dumbfounded. Then says, To think that one of the greatest writers in history, who expanded our sense of what it means to be human, was a woman, that’s….that’s …wonderful. I talk about Othello and the other plays and how John has unearthed literally thousands of Biblical references in Shakespeare from 15 translations of the Bible. (For a review of John Hudson’s The Dark Lady: The Woman Who Wrote Shakespeare's Plays see https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/john-hudson/shakespeares-dark-lady-amelia-bassano-lanier/) Through hard work, serious scholarship and persistence, John has done the heavy lifting to move his theory from the netherworld of academic literary  conspiracy theorists into the realm of (highly)plausible authorship candidates worthy of serious debate and study. . No mean feat.

To Advent to meet with our Palestine work group. To figure out what’s next. We’ll do a fall session on Kairos Palestine (http://www.kairospalestine.ps/) and then another film series. Consider a closer relationship with Sabeel, the center for development  of Palestinian Liberation Theology. (http://www.sabeel.org/) And then we’ll see.

7/11

Pat O for our weekly session to keep things moving forward on our to-do list. And more importantly this week to review my draft on mission and revitalization of the congregation. It’s rough, but the time is now to move the discussion forward. 

Then my friend from the Palestine group, Russ, comes and we go to discuss what it would mean to create a congregation around radical discipleship where everything gives the same message and makes clear why mind of community this is. What shared values, commitments are needed? How do you get the word of invitation out?

On the steps, Thomas from Texas has a large sandwich board with brightly colored words. Like hypnosis, and paralleling…This looks ominous. Says he’s spent the day at Times Square in the midst of Naked Cowboys and aggressive Elmos and panhandling Spidermen. Claims to haves  been interviewed by CNN and New York 1. He asks RL about Open Mic. Details given. Then RL says, I’m leaving the sandwich board to you. I don’t feel good about this.

I hear my voice called. It's my friend Elise. She's just been with her congregation to hear our friends ETHEL at the Met. Spoke to our friend Ralph. Told him kf it wasn't for Open Mic, I would have been there. 

Finally time for Open Mic. John H,

John Holland

a decent singer-songwriter, opens. Kieran follows with his own idiosyncratic takes on Dylan and the Band. Then it happens.

Thomas from Texas and sandwich board

Thomas from Texas

takes the stage with his sandwich boards. Bright letters an all. Tries to explain himself as a  logical Christian in the line of John Locke and enlightenment philosophy. But soon we’re off into a strange world and he’s taking off on Jews and Muslims as followers of false gods….Judaizers, drink this blood, Mohammedans, eat this body…I’m getting increasingly uncomfortable but he’s finally gone too far so I say firmly and loudly, We don't do that here…we don’t put down people’s religions…He looks at me. Is that the kind of place this is?
Yes it is. All right  then. 
Tie goes to the winners…he says and finishes up and leaves the stage. Upset. Dragging his sandwich board behind him. Sometimes RL’s bottom line, parameters, everything you do as long as you don’t tale your clothes off is ok…is not quite enough. Everyone else is moving on. I’m still stuck. Religion is my job, for one thing. Being clear about what this place is another. But what I'm really struggling with is mental illness. The words have the sound and cadence and rhythm of normal speech. He talks in diagrammatical sentences.But no two sentences  in sequence have rational meaning. And underneath a veneer of philosophical logic is a paranoid intuition of plots and plans and ancient global conspiracies. It never fails to shake me up. Leave my own grip on reality uneasy. Easily half or more of the homeless persons we deal with are seriously mentally ill. And society really does nothing. 

Nick takes us on another banjo adventure. Erik, who met RL at the Gate, makes a good first impression with his quirky, personal songs.

Erick

Joel brings his usual spoken word exploration and Tom from England brings us competent and intelligent personal songs. 

Tom from England

I switch with Pat so  that he can play while his daughter Brianna is still here. It’s good to meet one of his children. He’s working on a new song about old soldiers who gave their life for a dream of freedom. And not sure how that worked out.

Pat and Brianna

Use my set to work thorough some thins. A new song. Sample verse:

Who gives and who takes

What’s right and what’s fair

What bends and what breaks 

And how much do you care.

What is forgotten

And what is still known.

Love always is shared

It can never be owned.

And I finish with Donovan’s Try and catch the wind…

Joe waited until Manahttanhenge was over before coming tonight, looking down 79th where the sun sets perfectly between Trump’s buildings  like an overtime winning penalty shot straight into the goal  in the World Cup. He’s convinced that the full moon and Manhattanhenge convergence sent people like Thomas from Texas over the edge. He brightens the mood and gets us going again.

Alex wins us again

Then sweet Alex, young singer-songwriter on out honky tonk piano, wrings out our hearts like a dishrag and then its time for RL to bring us home.

(To hear Alex's music, go to soundcloud: alxnicole or alexnicolefry.com)

Another good night. The Gate awaits. 

Where should the birds fly?

3/6

Anna comes in for a long conversation. And brings chocolates.

Marc is running the movie, making sure that everything is set for tonight’s screening of Where Should the Birds Fly?

Danielle and I are working hard to get everything ready for the film and Rachel keeps wanting to help. An early arriver for the film wants to help too. Rachel of course attaching herself to the volunteer.

After our shopping, I break away to join in a national conference call with my PHEWA colleagues, working on maintaining our place in the natural church. (http://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/phewa/phewa-networks/)

Soon it’s time for the movie. Tonight is special because we have the filmmaker, Fida Qish with us. It’s a devastating movie about the siege of Gaza, and especially the Cast Lead operation which killed over 500 Palestinian combatants and over deaths of 900 unarmed civilians as opposed to 3 Israelis. The story is told through the eyes of 9 year old Mona as she is witness to the deaths of her parents and other family members.

I remember my own visits to Gaza, first in 1979 following the signing of the Israel-Egypt peace treaty and then in the 1980’s after the Sinai had been returned. I remember the hulking Israeli watching towers ominously looming over the urban centers, container after container of rotting oranges prevented from being exported and the sense of being in a constricted prison in one of the most densely populated areas globally.

The film shows the effects of the giant militarized caterpillar bulldozers crushing homes, even with people in them. After the movie, as I led the q&a, I talked about our denomination’s intention of bringing a motion to its General Assembly this summer to divest from Caterpillar, Motorola and Hewlitt-Packard for their tactical and material support of the occupation. (http://pres-outlook.org/2012/02/mrti-recommends-targeted-divestment-in-3-companies-for-nonpeaceful-use-of-their-products-in-israel-palestine/).

This is also the week  the New York Times broke the story of new mayor Di Blasio’s secret meeting with the American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC) and his promise to do whatever he could to help them.(http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/25/nyregion/de-blasio-in-private-speech-to-aipac-stresses-commitment-to-israel.html?_r=0).

Our neighbor rabbis at B’nai Jeshurun wrote a letter of protest that Aipac did not speak for them or all Jews and the predictable firestorm of threats and reprisals followed. What was encouraging was the letter of support from over 100 rabbis. (http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2014/03/01/rabbis-defend-colleagues-against-aipac/)

Sometimes from our audience after screenings, voices arise accusing us of not showing a balanced view. Stories like this demonstrate how difficult it is in the US to get a perspective sympathetic to Palestinians presented in public.

Russ and friends

The question for us as Americans, is of course, what is our responsibility? What would the situation be like if Israel did not have the 4 billion dollars a year in aid from the US? The fact is, the occupation is primarily funded by our tax dollars publicly and our investments privately. To hold our elected officials accountable, including Mayor Di Blasio, is a daunting challenge. But we can’t criticize Israeli policies without looking at our own responsibility.

I visit with Palestinians who have come. An Armenian Christian hair stylist. A woman doctor from Ramallah who has come with an Israeli colleague and of course, the filmmaker Fida. We’ll be back again, next week. 

Bob Brashear, Fida Qish and Russ Jennings

Only the shoes remain: or A way to stay alive

10/11

"So Lonesome I Could Cry"
Pat, Bob and Alex

By morning, only the shoes remain.

Last night, during  premarital counseling for Lindsey and Brett, we were talking about the promises we make when we get married. The power of living together in trust. Knowing someone will always have your back. And I almost started to cry. You have to be to be so careful. Never take anything for granted. Pay attention all the time. If you can make it, it's wonderful. But it's so fragile, so vulnerable. Beautiful but breakable. Takes intention. And even more so grace. And sometimes the account gets overdrawn. And even closed. God bless them. And grant them intention and grace.

Rudolfo comes in and is very happy. He has received a visa and is returning to Cuba. We’ll leave aside the fact that some of our Latinos say that his accent is Puerto Rican, not Cuban. After 30 plus years here, who knows? By now, he could sound Dominican. I try to imagine the scene at the Cuban embassy. Let’s get this straight, dude, you want to go back to Cuba? Seriously? Do we have procedures for this? Dude, seriously? Rudolfo has his ticket for Havana and is happy.

Jeremy has checked out the piano. Seems it’s sharp. 442 instead of 440. I pretend like I might actually understand what that means. But it will do for his recording.

All but a slice of a kosher pizza from Cafe Roma has been left on the steps.

Danielle is working with her young friend, Daisy, helping her navigate English.

I go to Riverside Church for  a book event we re co-sponsoring, Our Harsh Logic, testimonies  from Israeli IDF veterans' group Breaking the Silence. Remembering their service on the West-Bank. One of the slides in the presentation is graffiti reading Arabs to the gas chamber.  One questioner wants the woman IDF veteran organizer to say  that what the Israeli are doing is like the Nazis. The young pregnant officer balks. No, I am a  history student. A history freak. Not the same. Not the same. each tragedy has its own dimensions.

But the questioner won’t give up. I wonder, why? You’ve got a woman veteran who has collected testimonies of what was done on The West Bank.  They are here to build support for  the occupation. Why do you demand they confess to being Nazis? That is the crazy that sometimes leads me to to despair of liberals all together.

I arrive at Open Mic late. But in time to hear Joel’s improvised monologue. Somewhere between  square dance calling and rap, according  to RL. And I know I'm on edge when I almost break down during Pat's song about his divorce.  Yes, I m on edge.  As for myself,  I only do one original. Then, I do Libby Cotton’s Sugaree, inspired by Danny Kalb's version...everything I had is done and gone...and then finish with Hank William’s So Lonesome I Could Cry...I’m crawling inside that song. Working each word, feeling the vibratos. Irish Pat playing guitar and Alex on fiddle. Singing Hank. A way to stay alive. 

Alex 2, the new bartender,a friend of Glen, from Alabama, says, I never figured anyone up here would get Hank. 
I lived ten years in Tulsa, I say. 
Ah, OK, I get it, he says.

Dion has shown up late. Does his comedy set. He’s almost ready to be there if he can own his innocence and allow his persona to just be with confidence. 

And of course we finish with Stay awhile... and RL.

Yes. A way to stay alive. 

Recharging batteries

9/19

Two pairs of jeans.

Spend two hours with our insurance company preparing for Monday morning’s deposition in another trip and fall case. Our litigious culture is more than  depressing. Moving legitimate. moral/legal responsibility into the arena of opportunism in the hopes  that the other party (ies) will pay just to make it go away. Some values get lost along the way here.

Karen is in playing her music again. And gifting us with some cleaning supplies from her business. 

Sean is outside. His battery dead again. This time, I remove the heavy battery, bring  it inside. As he sits in his chair, covered by his blanket, I go get him a coffee and a bagel with butter. I hook up the battery to get it charging.

Jeremy drops in. Waiting to practice with Ramon the dancer. He sees Sean’s battery. Asks what I’m doing. Says, seems like that’s what the church has been doing for centuries. Recharging people’s batteries.

Later I see Ramon and Jeremy rehearsing. Ramon stripped to his waist. He seems to operate in a world all his own, disconnected from the rest of us. 

Marc brings the photos in that he shot last night. Super clear. Very high quality printing .I look at my face. Trying to feel like I don’t look old and scary. I can see in my own face that this has been a very hard year to live through. It shows. 

Dennis B and Shirrin from  the Assembly have been here all day interviewing potential candidates for the homeless life skills program. The group seems to be coming together.

Meet with Elise and Russ from Riverside and James from Broadway to discuss our Palestine film series. Hopes  to follow up. How to create a safe space to have a dialogue with our  more circumscribed colleagues as to how do we even talk abut an issue that is almost taboo in the US. How do we even broach the topic that the closer we reflect  on on it, it looks like the  day of the two state solution js past already.  And also where do we go from here? It is clear that i have no desire to be involved with the ubiquitous people to people programs that make no attempt to do socio-economic.-politcal-military  power analyses as part of the process. 

A guy comes in looking for Sean's battery. When I look outside later, he's motored off. 

RL makes his daily check in.

Recharging batteries.

In which we discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and ultimately Hank Williams

8/30

Stephen and I are still pondering last night’s film, Roadmap to Apartheid. (http://roadmaptoapartheid.org/) Leaving aside the fact that the film is obviously has an agenda, it makes it’s case well. When you see the actual amount of space now cordoned off, the actual lines of the wall of separation, it raises serious questions about whether a two state is even possible anymore.  And that ultimately Israel will need to decide whether it is a Jewish state or  democratic state. Being both will not be possible under current realities. We also know that to say this is to say something virtually unspeakable in the current  American political reality. Not to mention an ecumenical or interfaith setting. But it’s a dialogue that must take place.

Simply showing the film to those already convinced informs and educates but doesn’t move the issue forward. Could we create an environment where our closest friends could feel safe to discuss this? Analytically? Critically? That’s the question. We need to get those who worked together on this to do a critical review and see what we could do next. 

I share the story with Stephen as to how shortly after the Iraq war began, we had Jeff Halper of the Israeli Anti House Demolition Coalition here to West-Park to speak. (http://www.icahd.org/) How do we get Americans to deal with the consequences of our aid? Or denominations...and individuals...to deal with the consequences of our investments in companies like caterpillar? How hard that has been for us Presbyterians (http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2012/0706/Presbyterians-reject-call-to-divest-over-Israel-s-West-Bank-occupation)

                                                * * * * 

RL’s crew scrambling to get ready for tonight’s Open Mic. 

I join Jamie for mussels at the  B. Then come on over. Our largest turnout yet.  A new young African-

Piano Dan Jessie and Katie Rowell

American singer named Avery. Katie doing the jazz standards with Piano Dan who does his own Mack the Knife. All the regulars. After Dion does his weekly comedy set, it’s my turn.

I do two originals. Then Pat joins me. I take a deep breath. And sing Hank Williams’ So Lonesome I Could Cry. Like I said to my old friend Jack this afternoon, one of the greatest all time American songs. It’s lyrics tight, compact,evocative, damn near perfect. Felt humbling, but good, to give it a try. (Thanks Pat)

                                                             Hank Sr.

Thanks Pat

Hear the lonesome whippoorwill

He sounds too blue to fly

The midnight train is whining low

I'm so lonesome I could cry

Ive never seen a night so long

When time goes crawling by

The moon just went behind a cloud

To hide it's face and cry

Did you ever see a robin weep

When leaves begin to die

That means he's lost the will to live

I'm so lonesome I could cry

The silence of a falling star

Lights up a purple sky

And as I wonder where you are

I'm so lonesome I could cry

Bobby T plays some originals backed by Tim with his looping garciaesque licks. And then the jam begins....

Bobby T and Tim

Later I realize that this Friday night session is becoming a community. A congregation of sorts. With a different kind of worship. But caring, supportive, nurturing growth and exploration. Yeah, why we’re here. (Thanks RL...)