Reformation Day to Halloween 2016

10/30

Check out today’s bulletin cover…..

The Dakota Pipeline protests continue. This is probably the most important protest of recent years as Native Americas protest a pipeline drill into their scared land. They are indigenous people. ( I’m waiting of someone to tell them to “ Go back where you came from…”) They say they are "Protectors" not"protestors" I have to ask,would we run a pipeline through Arlington Cemetery?

This makes the Chief Wahoo hats worn by the Cleveland Indians all the worse..

Chief Wahoo

Cleveland may win…My friend Bruce Reyes Chow has been wearing a “Caucasians” shirt….

Thus we are "Caucasians"





















                                                                    

Last week I was in St. Louis visiting with colleagues. Some of the wounds of the Ferguson uprising still visible. The Pastor of 3rd Presbyterian Church kept church open to serve meals to the kids….because the schools were closed…and fro some children, their only meals came at school.

Yesterday here ended the two days long Transformation Festival…It’s theme was Leaving victimhood behind…One of the speakers was from the wounded warrior project…for soldiers returning from deployment …how tragic it is how abandoned some of our veterans have felt.

I tell my seminary students…we always do theology in a context..this is mine this week….what is yours?

Today is Reformation Sunday. This weekend begins the 500th anniversary celebration of the beginning of the reformation. Martin Luther  never intended to start a new religion or even a new denomination. (Can you imagine living in a time where there was just ONE church?)

Do you remember what set him off? The sale of indulgences…to pay for St. Peter’s basilica in Rome. (What a great fundraising scheme…to pay to take years off purgatory. That’s what started it. Like pulling on  loose thread, this eventually led him to question the whole system. Led him ultimately to“priesthood of all believers.” In our tradition, our equal ordinations. It’s why I am primarily a teacher and not a priest. A facilitator not a mediator. I am an administrator of sacraments, not a consecrator. What began there had broad political impact as well…Marilynne Robinson argued that Calvin’s reformed theology led to the  Enlightenment and humanism. 

Tomorrow is Halloween…the night before All Saints and then  All Souls days.…Luther chose the day deliberately. Because we are all “saints” and “souls…”

Last week we spoke of  a vision. Habbakuk spoke of “Writing the vision and making it plain so that even runner can read it..” Like bill boards along the highway.  What is the vision we seek to write?  We need to write?

I am more and more convinced that in a challenging and confusing time…at the end of empire…we are called to a radical  Christianity. I don’t mean that in a political sense, though there are certainly political implications. I mean that like Luther, we seek to go to the root and for us that root is Jesus. That more than anything we need to seek a radical obedience to the way of Christ and live that out in a community that works to help each other figure out what that means. To seek to be a Zaccheus who goes out to see Jesus and gets seen himself. To make Jesus the ultimate authority in everything we do. 

That’s how I see it on Reformation Day 2016. 

(And Happy Halloween!!!!)

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In honor of Luther, we sing together A Mighty Fortress...

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Halloweeen another perfect, beautiful day...a day for walking through the park..for debriefing the Transformation Festival  with Carman and Lotte ... then to West-Park where Leila and Pat have transformed the church...for the next four hours we greet a steady stream of trick or treaters..amazed at the cleverness of some costumes, like the two man Mr. Softee ice cream truck...Leila, Pat, Larry, Dion, David, Marsha and finally Russ all do their part...we did this well...

on the steps

Greeting the neighbors

Thanks Pat and Larry

Selfie

Add caption

friends

Marsha looking Wagnerian

Mr.Softee

First Reading Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4

1The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw.

2O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you "Violence!" and you will not save? 3Why do you make me see wrong-doing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. 4So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous-therefore judgment comes forth perverted.

vd

1I will stand at my watchpost, and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what he will answer concerning my complaint. 2Then the LORD answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. 3For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay. 4Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith.

Gospel Luke 19:1-10

1He entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 5When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today." 6So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7All who saw it began to grumble and said, "He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner." 8Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much." 9Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost."

Reformation Sunday reflections

10/26

Reformation Sunday.  We begin with the classic Luther Reformation Hymn, A Mighty Fortress is Our God. After Psalm 90, we read Matthew 23: 34-46, where Jesus is asked which is the greatest commandment? And his answer?

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the greatest and first commandment. ³⁹ And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Our reflection begins with history.

October 31^st, 1517   at   Wittenberg Cathedral . A day that changed the world.  Martin Luther nailed his  95 Theses to the cathedral door.  Why? To protest the sale of indulgences to pay for  the construction of St. Peter’s Basilica  in Rome. (Not a bad fundraising scheme.)  You could get years off in purgatory for you or deceased relatives inn exchange for cash donations. Luther objected. It didn’t make sense to him.

           

As it always does, if you ask one question, it leads to many. For Luther this led to the conviction that there was no purgatory. And that no mediator is needed between any believer and God. And that we, in fact, constitute a priesthood of all believers. And that Salvation comes  only through grace. His own  marriage opened the door for ministers to marry.

He did not start out to create a new religion, or split the church, or create a new denomination. He rejected the use of the word Lutheran for his  church. The only acceptable name for believers was Christian only.

This says something about us. Who we are as a Presbyterian church. We are a priesthood of all believers. We honor the equity of ordinations. There are Teaching elders(like me), Ruling elders (our session), the ministry of service and compassion (deacons).  And the ministry of all. The ministry we have all received at our baptism.   

Today we hear the call for radical discipleship. Jesus  is clear … You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸This is the greatest and first commandment. ³⁹and a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Let’s think about that. There are three points:

1.     We love the Lord our God with heart…soul…and MIND…That’s the one that is most often forgotten …or feared.  It was very important for our spiritual ancestor John Calvin. That’s why we have  always been involved in ministries  of education. It’s what frees us to question. To challenge.

2.     You cannot love God without loving neighbor. Period.

3.     The Hebrew Bible included LAW, the first five books of the Bible, and  Prophets. Read every week in Jewish worship. Like we are required to read from both the Old and New Testaments every week.  Law and gospel, as Luther said. Law and love.

And we must read every verse of the Bible through the bottom line lens Jesus has given us here.

I share the theses we wrote…and nailed to  our door, in 2010, wile we were not yet back and iron gates were in front of  our doors. They reflect a moment in time.

10/31/10

1. The church is the community of God’s children acting together as the Body of the Risen Christ
2. The church is the people of God, not the building
3. The building has been given to the church for the extension of mission and ministry
4. We are called to witness where we are...this corner in thisneighborhood: this means engaging our neighbors
5. The church is not for sale
6. The building is not for sale
7. Our souls are not for sale
8. We left our building voluntarily as a step towards rebuilding and renewing
9. Bureaucrats and zealots kept us out
10. We return here because we choose to
11. We will reclaim, renew and restore this building as we reclaim, renew and restore our mission, our ministry, our witness...and ourselves.
12. Our obedience is first and foremost to the God who created us
13. God has already given us all that is necessary to do the mission God has called us to
14. Neither government nor church council (Presbytery) can take that mission and ministry from us against our will
15. We invite any and all who would be partners to join us now.

We are West-Park.

Here we stand. We can do no other.

And then one year later. 2011. The struggles of that year are very clear:

1. The quality of a church is not defined by its number of members or financial status but by its faithfulness.
2. We are called to have faith and grant ultimate  authority to Jesus Christ, and no other power, civil or ecclesiastical, church or state. 
3. Our obedience is to the God who created us.
4. We have a specific call to live out in this specific place: our location,our context  is a call, not a circumstance. 
5. We have been given all that is necessary to live out our call. 
6. Our building is a means to the end of mission, not an end unto itself.
7. We are committed to reclaim, renew and restore this  building as we renew and restore our mission, our ministry, our witness...and ourselves. 
8. The church has too often been silent as economic systems and theories have been accepted as if they were divinely created, God determined and worthy of worship. We have accepted our systems as the way things are and will be without asking with God’s help, what could be?
9. As the greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves, we must live that out in our personal, church and political life. We cannot leave our children a future without hope. 
10. The doors of this church are and always will be open and be a place of welcome  to people of every ethnic, cultural, and national origin, those who are and are not citizens, people of different economic circumstances and sexual orientations, differing abilities.  All who would be partners are welcome.
11. At this church, love is love and marriage is marriage. 

We are West-Park. Here we stand. We can do no other. 

So the challenge is, this year, 2014, What would we write? What do you most need/want in a church?

A sampling of answers is interesting:

Theses 10/26/14

1. 2014;  The Church must be the place where the Love that Jesus talked about is both lived and fought for, in our lives, our community and our culture.

10/26/2014

2. We should cater to God, God should not cater to us.

2. This church has remained standing both structurally and in the hearts to fits congregants through good times and bad. That is because the church has provided what we need to face our very ordinary, very perilous, very far from perfect lives with dignity and love in our hearts. We have been without music, without heat, without money but we have never lacked hope, strength and love. We will remain strong and will continue to share our gifts with others as long as out church continues to enfold us.

3.     Walk in the shoes of your enemy.

4.     Through our ups and downs heartbreaks and sorrows we stand as through our struggles. Nor fitter or fall as stand as one in the Name of Our Lord. We are Strong. I lift you up as you would me let’s be one and pray for Peace.

5.. Gun violence is a sin and this church will work and do all we can to prevent /end such including work to end the conditions of ignorance and inequality that make gun violence seem a viable option for anyone anywhere. Promoting Peace and nonviolence is our remedy.

6.-- God’s Love motto

  --The <3 id the best place to start & in reclaiming, renewing & restoring this site symbolically we are also work in progress.
-- Martin Luther said you cannot fight fire with fire

And dance darkness with darkness. We need to shine light to destroy the darkness.

Bob Marley says “Emancipate your mind”

Romans 12:2

1.    7. There must be more money for more light in the Sanctuary.

These are collected a part of our offering. An offering of ourselves. We conclude with another classic, Our God our Help in Ages Past…

Then it’s time to head to Mim’s for a Center brunch to honor Danielle.

Then to the 96^th Street Community Space (a former MTA restroom!) for Berik and Leila’s art show.

10/27

Late in the day. Leila and I alone in the church.  I turn around and my friend Arjan is there. Former Dutch Ambassador for Human Rights. Formerly at the United Nations. Most recently ambassador to Peru. In town for one of his periodic visits. We were soccer parents together. And now Harlem neighbors.  

He smiles. From his bag he brings out an ice cold bottle of Dutch genever. Their version of gin. From the juniper berry. We need glasses. We settle for plastic cups. And drink a toast to friendship. And shared time together over the years. Tomorrow, he’s back to Holland.

I remember freezing cold nights in Amsterdam. Ice cold genever and bartenders whisking razors through the foam on draught pints. Outdoor tables and conversations around the plaza in brisk January nights.  He won’t be back until spring. We share a hug. The taste of juniper remains.

Reformation Sunday: Battening down the hatches

10/28

Today is Reformation Sunday. But it’s also a day on which everyone is holding their breath in anticipation of the coming hurricane. 

Reformation robe

In honor of the day, I’ve got my collar on for the first time in a long time and I wear my academic robe, explaining the difference between a priest and a minister. To oversimplify, a priest is an intermediary, a minister, more than anything, a teacher. My ordination and that of my elders, equal, but different. All a result of the revolution begun by Luther on October 31st, 1517. O that day he would nail his 95Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Cathedral. 

Needing to raise money to pay for St. Peter’s basilica, the Pope had authorized a new sale of indulgences under the direction of Johan Tetzel who was known to have said, As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs. Luther insisted that  since forgiveness was God's alone to grant, those who claimed that indulgences absolved buyers from all punishments and granted them salvation were in error. Christians, he said, must not slacken in following Christ on account of such false assurances.

But he also had another objection. On the moral side of the equation he asked, Why does the pope, whose wealth today is greater than the wealth of the richest Crassus, build the basilica of St. Peter with the money of poor believers rather than with his own money? He had no intention of leaving the church or dividing the church. But, as is so often the case with questions, once you ask one, it’s like pulling a loose thread. One leads to another. And a whole structure of thought begins to unravel. 

Luther chose  the day deliberately. It was All Hallow’s Eve, (Halloween), the night before All Saints’ Day. And he wanted to call into question the necessity of praying to saints. And the next day, November 2nd, was by tradition All Souls’ Day, a day of remembrance of all those who have died. Because of what Luther began, we now conflate All Saints and All Souls as all of us are saints. And November 1st became the Day of the Dead. 

Luther’s theses led to some very basic radical ideas:

1. Forgiveness was God’s alone to grant
2. No mediator is necessary between human beings and God
3. The Bible should be in the language of the people, belongs to them, not the church...when people can read for themselves, they won’t be manipulated
4. Our ministries are given to us by our baptism

The issue of putting the Bible itself into the language of the people was itself radical. In essence, it would enable people, in Freire’s terms, to become the subjects of their own histories. No longer subjects in the narrative written by a religious system  of domination and control. And Guttenberg’s printing press, the Internet of the day, made that revolution possible. 

The social and political ramifications of these theological ideas would go beyond what Luther had envisioned. So much to his dismay, the peasants revolted believing that he would support them. And Luther would turn against them, as he would the Jews who he naively believed would convert en masse once he had shown them a Christianity purified from corruption. He simply couldn’t fathom their continued persistence in their own tradition and his response was vehement and vitriolic. 

Luther’s reformation, a faith based in Sola Scriptura, Sola gratia (only scripture and only grace) would open the door to John Calvin of France who took these thoughts further into a church that would be reformata et reformanda... IE, reformed and (ever) reforming... My tradition seems to forget that last part. For Marilynne Robinson,(see her Death of Adam essays) it was Calvin's thoughts that would open the door to humanism.

And just because it’s still Octoberfest, I shared this quote from Luther. 

He who drinks much beer sleeps well; he who sleeps well does not sin; and he who does not sin goes to heaven.

Even though Teddy has created an easel for us to go to the street and collect from people their theses, especially in these pre-election days, concern about Hurricane Sandy, the so called Frankenstorm, sends us into a flurry of preparation.  

This is complicated by the fact that Sanctuary NYC is preparing for their one year anniversary and the visit from  not only other New Thought ministers but also the Mayan Elders from Guatemala with their message about the end of their calendar and the beginning of a new age. 

We’re pulling down ladders, tying things down and trying to tighten anything that could blow away. Taking down our banners, removing debris from the scaffolding, stacking chairs and tables in the back yard.  l leave Marsha on a ladder to grab my Guatemalan clergy shirt and stole to jump into the procession and than deliver a greeting in English and Spanish aware of the activity swirling around outside the building.

I excuse myself from the service and go back out to finish the work. Rachelle is wanting to direct things. Anna and Puppy are intently observing everything. And commenting. I regain focus. Check out Jay’s work in the back. Steve tying down the mini dumpsters left by Woodshed’s recent clean out day. Double check with Jamie and Marsha on blow away details, John R standing at the ready.

In the back of my mind, the small attendance, even with the coming hurricane, gnaws at me. Jeremy’s drum flowing world music fills me with envy, it’s what I always wanted. Back to the job at hand. Thankfulness for this crew. We are battening down the hatches. Prepared as we will be. 

There’s an eerie quiet in the air as I head home.