It's about truth, not fact....

4/22

Lots to talk to Martin about. Jon D and his desire to find a collaborative partner from within the West-Park circle. The artist Angelo and what he could bring to West-Park. And one last time, can we come up with an actual plan that would actually allow us to move forward?

Stephen and I meet to talk about what kind of print/promotional materials we’re going to need for our upcoming schedule of  events in May. And how to use what’s happening to build on, not just be an isolated great production.

Anna comes by around  noon with a piping  hot pizza with intriguing toppings. Her effort to give to sustain us, keep us going.  The warmth of the pizza gives off positive energy . And we love that she brought this especially for us.

Almost at random, a representative of a French  modern dance company, Rioult, walks in . I know the church  is no longer functioning...she says.And I’m all,  hold on  wait a minute.... And then she wants a complete  tour, which Stephen gives. There’s real interest. They could be part of a winning combination . But I need real interest, not just  another good idea an good will, now. 

RL ducks in and say All I want to say is, hello. Goodbye. Hello. Goodbye. And then he’s gone.

Rachelle, thanks to Danielle's grace,  is sorting out her stuff at the back of the church. I’m trying to be open again, to see the world as if through her eyes. Outside eyes would see her as an eccentrically dressed bag lady with an suv shopping  cart. When she feel she that her inviting  people  would get them to walk in, the exact oppsite  is more likely. It’s so hard to bear. She still sees herself as a teacher,a role model for young women, a mentor. This is hard.

Tonight is our final session in the study of what the gospels have to say about the resurrection. We’re looking at John. Undeniably this is  what John R calls mystical. In a different league than the so-called synoptic gospels. We’ve got two full chapters of risen Jesus to deal with.

In chapter 20:

• Mary Magdalene
• Stone already rolled away.
• Peter and the other disciple running to see what had happened
• The other disciple believed
• That whole section that I already preached about, where Mary, weeping at her loss, thinks the risen jesus is the gardner until she hears her name as only be would say it
• The idea that she had been a student, beyond anything  else
• How she wants to hold on to him
• How even though they’ve heard all these stoeies, they’re still inside with the doors locked, afraid if resurrection
• The gift of the Holy Spirt, John’s pentecost. To the ned of going out to do what Jesus had done, forgiving, healing, casting  out demons. 
• Anna is right to see how this story underigrds the hierarchical self-understanding of the Roman Catholic church and I do my best to explain apostolic succession (Am I in that line or not?)
• Peter as the keeper of the keys, the one who sits outside heaven, the bouncer, the one who lets us in , or not. 
• The doubting Thomas incident. Jesus risen but with wounds. He needs to see. Blessed those who believe without seeing , like us. 
• Perhaps a polemic between John and Thomas. His gospel got left out.
• All the signs not written  in this book. Wish I could read those stories. 
• My favorite resurrections story, breakfast on the beach. The smell of the sea air. Of fresh fish broiling  on the grill.
• Even given what they’ve heard, they’ve given up. Gone back to their original jobs. Like before they ever met Jesus. And not  doing  very well at it.
• Catch 53 fish.Jerome said the  zoologists of the day identified 153 different kinds of fish. So they caught fish of evey kind. The story to indicate that the Jesus path is for everyone. All kinds of people. Every kind of fish.
• Peter needs to affirm his love for Jesus three tines to cancel out his three denials. 
• It doesn’t come across in English, but Jesus keeps asking Peter  for agape and Peter keeps offering philios. (Self -sacroficing versus brotherly/sisterly love)
• The whole contrast betowen the one Jesus loved and Peter. That one, theoretically the author, draws the assignment of caring for Jesus’ mother. It's Peter who beomes the founder of the church. Perhaps because he was such a volatile erratic person, he neeeded the responsibility.

I explain the whole Cosmic Christ notion in John. Preexistent, cosmic Jesus comes down for awhile then  goes back up, A late developed  theology on the one hand but the most intimate interpersonal relationships, with Mary and John, on the other. This John relationship unique in scrioture. The possibility of a proto- John that came first  then is incorporated into a later John. The evidence for that argument based on existential knowledge of the first century no one else picked  up on.

But in the end what difference does it make?

Different stories for different minds, different ears, different hearts. I share  my thoughts about fact versus truth. The two are not the same. The Bible is about truth, not fact. Proof is in the feeding of the sheep, nothng else.

Jay and Stephen and I off for playoff basketball (Nets again) and all you can eat rib tips and chicken wings at  Brother Jimmies. The Nets should not have gone back to white  uniforms.They lost to the Bulls. 

The new late night  community gathered on the steps.... More to come....

Second Sunday in Easter: The gates of hell, loosed

4/7

There are those days when the universe just seems to slip out of gear. Today is one of those.

Stephen is practicing today’s hymns as I arrive. Cara arrives shortly thereafter. 

No Andre today. Attendance will be small. Not unusual for the Sunday after Easter. No small rolls at Barney Greengrass today so a bialy will have to do for communion. That’s a new one. 

The two large mirrors that appeared out of nowhere are still against the wall.  

There will be visitors. An Asian man and Kathy and Don, two of Amanda’s friends from Seattle. Don is an artist with a show currently open on Long Island. Cara overjoyed to meet friends of Amanda’s.

Goddess Sculpture by Don Haggerty at the BJ Spoke gallery, Huntingdon, Long Island

Just as we’re beginning, Marc discovers there’s no juice coming to the Zoom recorder so we’re int searching for extension cords, etc. Now we can begin.

Today I’m talking about how Easter is not just a day but a season. Easter continues. Not just one Sunday.  A season. It runs 50 days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost. In this season,we have time to examine evidence concerning the resurrection. And to explore what resurrection living, living resurrection means...

First....the disciples have heard Mary’s testimony,  that she had seen the Lord..but they apparently haven’t believed it because they’re still behind locked doors. ( It says for fear of the Jews....the actual word there  is ioudaiou, literally Judeans...there’s a Galilee/Judean split here...but more accurately, we should say religious authorities, or...well, it’s a problem...but be very clear, it’s not about Jews qua Jews, not our neighbors nor any historic Jewish community...the use of the word Jews in John has been responsible for centuries of anguish and suffering of the innocent...you just can’t read this aloud unless you’re willing to talk about it)

Then...Jesus  suddenly appears...how do they know him? He shows them his hands and side...I want to come back to that...He breathes on them...like the breath of Spirit...the breath that blows across the primordial waters of creation....this is like creation beginning again...this is John’s Pentecost....

Then, the situation with Thomas...the so called doubting Thomas...he won’t believe it til he sees it...until he touches it, feels it ...and so Jesus shows him, invites him to touch...

Jesus shows them...and they believed....the question is, what do we need to believe? For Mary, it was the sound of her name being called in a way no one else could. For these disciples, it was the wounds of Jesus...

This is what I want us to see...it was Jesus’ wounds that made him who he was...identified him....even though he was resurrected, and apparently able to pass through walls...what convinced them was his wounds...

As for  Thomas, he wanted to see ....and touch....the wounds convinced him. His wounds make Jesus who he is. And we who we are. His wounds enable others to believe....and ours? What happens to our wounds?

Henri Nouwen, one of my teachers at Yale,wrote of the wounded healer....that’s us.....our wounds make us who we are, even as we have been healed....

As Henri wrote, 

The man  who articulates the movements of his  inner life, who can give names to his varied experiences, need no longer be a victim of himself, but is able slowly and consistently to remove the obstacles that prevent the spirit from entering. He is able to create space for Him who heart is greater than his, whose eyes see more than his, and whose hands can heal more than his.

― Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Wounded Healer

To acknowledge our wounds is not to hold on to them but to allow them to be transformed into the means, the process of our own healing and others...

We do not continue to hold on to them in the identity of victim, but allow ourselves to be transformed...we see Jesus’ wounds in each other...and we see as well  the resurrection...the stories are all around us...

Our wounds make us who we are. But they can be transformed into instruments of healing for ourselves and others. That is one reality of resurrection living.

In closing, this week marked the 45th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King, Jr....we need to make sure that his memory is not tamed...that his passion in pursuit of justice continue to transform.....

During my sermon, I hear Christopher come in and walk the length of the balcony and back. I recover from that only to see that the graybearded man in the cowboy hat has entered, raising my anxiety. He does come forward for communion.

We end the service as, always, with our circle.

Cowboy hat disappears. Cara comes up to tell me that he’s smoking something in the men’s room. She wants to be empathetic with him as she with all prime numbers, as she calls them. But....As Stephen and I go to check it out, he’s coming upstairs. I say he’s got to go, he says, I drove the smokers out of here, chief. How can they accuse me of doing what I condemn? Consider the source, chief....He goes outside, circles back around and back in the front.

(What I really want to be doing is talking to Amanda's friends, taking time for them to really understand the church, the Center....but...)

I’m informed he was cooking up smack. The people from sanctuary are starting to arrive. The mirrors are part of a worship set they’re constructing. Cowboy hat is back playing repetitively and intensely on the piano. We’re talking to Sanctuary folk about the mirrors. Someone trying  to enter the church house has been stopped by someone else who is suspicious and protective so that someone is now complaining about the other person who is complaining to me about the other person. Jeffrey from Sanctuary and I are trying to get them outside. 

Sorry. Yes I know. But you can’t talk about that here now.

And the Cowboy hat. And I look up and Rudolfo is standing in the middle aisle with a confused look on his face and Rachelle is on her way in looking for storage space. I have to get out.

I step outside. Stephen follows me. The gates of hell have been loosed, I say. He laughs. And nods. The whole group, cowboy hat and all, are still in the sanctuary buzzing around. Stephen asks, What are we going to do? And I say, the way I see it, it's time for the 2 o’clock service. I’m done.

So we meet to talk about his plans for concert negotiation and other contracts. I look inside the sanctuary, Sanctuary is about to begin. I am going to walk slowly, very slowly, home....