Third Sunday in Easter: Breakfast on the Beach

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Community Garden tulips

On the first of May, the Third Sunday in Easter, I preached for my friends at Beverley Church of Brooklyn. Here's what I had to say:

So here we are. It’s the 3rd Sunday in Easter,  We’re officially six weeks into spring now.  The sun is out, but it’s still cool. But we’ve been through the cherry blossom season and  now the  tulips are out in full force brightening our day with their cheerful array of color.

89th Street Community Garden

The Five Boro Bike Tour is streaming up Adam Clayton Powell, Jr Boulevard about 6.5 miles in.  And workers all over the world are celebrating May Day, which actually ironically commemorates the Haymarket uprising in Chicago in a country that shifted Labor Day to September out of fear of communism.

Dr. Fauci has announced that we are no longer in  pandemic mode and have now entered intro the endemic stage but people we know are still getting covid. Masks are no longer “required” but well, you know? Looks like we’ll have to figure out how to live with covid. And the Ukrainian people are still under siege but are holding on with courage and determination. 

It’s the third Sunday in Easter.  And today we’ve got another of my favorite resurrection  stories…the one I call  breakfast on the beach, Now remember…Jesus has already appeared twice to these guys appearing out of nowhere through locked doors, showing the marks of his resurrection still visible on his resurrected body, And still, still, they are not yet ready to believe. 

They are so not ready that six of them, half of the original disciples, have decided to go back to their old line of work, go back to fishing. As if to say well, that certainly  didn’t work out, let’s  just  act like it never happened. 

They’ve been out all night with no luck. Jesus is there on the beach. He calls out to them to put the nets out  on the other side and what do you know, the nets are bursting. The one that Jesus loved, (still not sure about  that) says it’s the Lord…and Peter, the one with no impulse control, puts his clothes back on and jumps in to the water to swim to shore.

Now stop right there. This has never made sense to me.  If you’re going to swim, I’d think you’d want to be naked. Take your clothes off. And Peter puts his on. But then someone suggested this to me. Peter was always the one to make big bold  promises, like I will never leave you, I’ll be with you to the end, only to deny Jesus three times in the end. This is important.  Think how he must have felt. How ashamed he must  have felt.  How resistant to believing the resurrection he is that he’s gone back to his old work. Fishing. And then he sees Jesus on the beach.. He feels the shame. He’s like Adam in the garden when he realizes he is naked. So he puts his clothes in before jumping in.  The one who once couldn’t handle walking on water doesn’t want to have Jesus see him naked.  But even though he is ashamed, he still goes….

And now back to Jesus.  And I love this part. He’s on the beach.  He’s got a charcoal grill fired up.  And there’s fish on the grill. Stop there.  Close your eyes…see that. But feel it and smell it too, Feel the morning sea breeze on your face. Feel the breeze coming off the water to you. (Well, actually it’s lake water…)  Smell the charcoal. And the smell of fish on the grill.  Take that in. Let that surround you.

Okay.  When they get to shore with their  amazing catch, (and don’t even ask ..no one’s sure about what the number 153 is all about.) And Jesus says, “Come, have breakfast…” and they knew it was him.

John Shelby Spong, former Episcopal  Bishop of Newark, believed that this  was the first resurrection experience. That the disciples had gone back to their old work and as they sat on the beach, breaking bread, sharing food, like they had done with him,  so many times, (remember the bread and fishes story, feeding 5000 and more?) They looked at each other and knew, just knew, that he was with them, not dead, alive in them and would always be there. And so they share their breakfast of fish and bread.

Then there’s this mazing exchange with Peter.  Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him,  And three times Peter says of course I love you. With each response Jesus says, feed my sheep and then tend my lambs and then feed my sheep.

Three questions…three affirmations to follow three denials. 

But did you know that in Biblical Greek, the conversation comes off a bit differently?  The first time Jesus uses the word agape, do you love me with self-sacrificing full out love? And Peter responds, with filios, which is to say, I am your friend. Second time, Jesus uses agape again.  And Peter uses filios again.  I love you as a friend. Finally, the third time, Jesus uses filios as well, and Peter says You know I am your friend. And when Jesus says feed my sheep, he is saying that’s love enough. 

Traditionally, scholars have used this as a way to oh, make Peter not look so good. Jesus is asking for self-sacrificing love and all Peter can offer is friendship, as if  this is a fault.  

I’ve known this story and preached  on this story for over 45 years. And this time I saw something I never saw before. Like I said, Peter was the guy with no impulse control. The one who will alway make the big bold statement, the grand sweeping promises.  But not this time. This time, for the first time in all his exchanges with Jesus, Peter does not over promise. He is honest and clear about what he can do. And can’t do. He has come to understand his own limits.  And I am convinced that it is because of that, the he has finally come to understand what he  can and can’t do that Jesus makes him the rock on which the church will stand. He can finally be trusted. Then Jesus more or less tells him how his days will end. 

Okay, so what’s in this for us? I think the bottom line is something like this. That like Peter, we become most helpful when we can finally accept ourselves as we are. Know our limits. Understand what we can and can’t do That  we won’t promise to do what we won’t do.   And once we have done that , we are finally prepared and ready to feed his sheep, tend his lambs, feed his sheep.  

Jesus’ last words to Peter are Follow me. Not believe in me, follow me. Any of you out there who have trouble with believing, don’t worry about that. Just put your feet on the path and follow.  The rest will follow. And for those out there who say you love Jesus, that in itself is as empty as an immature Peter promise. If you love Jesus, know what the content of your love is.  Know what the capacity of your love is. Know what you are capable of. Know what you can and can’t do and then by God do it.  Feed the sheep. Tend the lambs. Feed the sheep.  Let those with ears to hear, hear. 

Amen

After I preach, I sing my version of 'O Good Shepherd, feed my sheep..

John 21: 1-19

1After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. 2Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will go with you." They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

4Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5Jesus said to them, "Children, you have no fish, have you?" They answered him, "No." 6He said to them, "Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. 7That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. 8But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.

9When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught." 11So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. 12Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, "Who are you?" because they knew it was the Lord. 13Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

15When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs." 16A second time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Tend my sheep." 17He said to him the third time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep. 18Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go." 19(He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, "Follow me."

Living in coronavirusworld 39: May Day

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The Harlem Meer

May Day

I wake to the news that my friend Tracy (Tre) and the nurses rose early  to join the Amazon workers in an action on Staten Island demanding safety measures, sick leave and adequate compensation. That’s the kind of news that makes my heart sing. They need more than our pots and pans and cheers. They need real material  responses. Lives are at stake.

Following a mass shooting in Nova Scotia, Canada has banned military style  weapons for the general public. Sigh. I long to live in rational country where lives are taken seriously. No one needs assault weapons for hunting. Or marching on state capitals.

It is a stunningly beautiful day. It strikes me as a paradox to have such beauty in the midst of an omnipresent pandemic. 

I am happy that my work with the Presbyterian Health Education and Welfare Association is beginning to bear fruit. We have brought together constituencies of four networks of workers who are on the frontlines of the crisis. Our Facebook “group” page has grown to over 100. (New members welcome...https://www.facebook.com/groups/phewa/) We are now ready to meet. Virtually . We want to respond to the fact that our church has decided to hold its national meeting virtually this summer and restrict business to “institutional” matters. It is important  to us that in the midst of this crisis, our church give serious theological analysis and reflection to the reality that is confronting us and even guidance was to how we should respond. This crisis is big enough to force radical change to our meeting. We are not going to Baltimore, a city much maligned by the current administration long before the virus. As Covid19 has disproportionately impacted the African American community, what has its impact  been  on Baltimore, the city we will not visit? This moment demands exegesis. It demands action. There is also the concern that this form of Assembly not become a model for the future. Our denomination has always had as its hallmark a horizontal polity where elected delegates from around the country have the ultimate power.  That is who we are. We cannot allow the virus to compromise that essential tenet of our identity.  

As Mary Gautier sang in Mercy Now:

My church and my country could use a little mercy now

As they sink into a poisoned pit it's going to take forever to climb out

They carry the weight of the faithful who follow them down.

I love my church and country, they could use some mercy now. 

                                                                Mary Gautier, "MercyNow"

 I have a good conversation with my middle son. We talk about many  things. I say that in my experience, when I'm depressed is no time to deal with big life issues. Like the other day when it was cold and wet and raw and not another human around in a post apocalayptic empty landscape and I felt so alone, no family or loved one sharing my quarantine. Not the time for that conversation. Get up, make your bed, do you work, make some bread, come back tomorrow. 

I walk into the park. The Falun Gong people are back again. I walk the Meer, enjoying it’s stillness and beauty. When I reach 5th Avenue, I head north and am happy to find the bar I had previously found open is open again. Carefully marked out six feet spaces for standing.

An oasis

A couple of open tables. An off duty NYPD officer keeping watch. Music from a pod. Damn, it feels almost normal. I have to stop. I pull-up my bandana and approach the bar. There’s a plastic shield  between the bar and the server. She greets me warmly. I order my summer drink, a gin and tonic. Tell her it feels like an oasis.  We’re trying to be a sanctuary, she says. I take my drink slowly. I want this to last.  

Gin and tonic

By the time I get home, I’m feeling pretty good. A good concert last night. The sun. PHEWA. My son. And an open bar. It’s okay.

Tonight’s Open Mic another international gathering with folks from Baltimore and Kazakhstan and Tadzhikistan and New York City. Folk singers and rock singers and Central Asian pop singers and a comedian couple with a two year old in the bed room. 

After the Open Mic, I hear something like a party outside. I check. But it’s just four neighbors, sharing a word on a warm night. Eddie reports that Mt. Neboh Baptist across the street has lost 14 members. Leon says, You got to keep livin your life. The government aint gonna be helping  us through. We got to share that love with  one another. That’s how we do. How we always do. We’re gonna get through this . Together.

We’ve made it through another day in coronavirus world. 

May Day. 

What I said at the May Day rally.....

Good afternoon. Why are we here? I mean here, today, May 1st? Because 126 years ago, in Chicago, police opened fire on workers who were striking for the 8 hour work day. And the sounds of those gun shots echoed around the earth and the Haymarket Square Massacre became a watchword for workers worldwide. 

So that in 1904 the Socialist International would call on workers everywhere to honor this day and work for the 8 hour day, justice for the proletariat and universal peace. And today workers march in global solidarity with one another.

So isn’t it ironic? Isn’t it almost unbelievable that  the country that gave birth to this international outcry for justice is one of the very few in the world that do not recognize this day? 

The struggle must continue. Today we are here to call for an end to the Employer Sanctions act. Cynically promoted as a way to protect American workers’ rights, it does nothing of the kind. Does it protect America workers’ rights? NO!

What does it do? It strips any rights away from those without paper leaving them completely vulnerable for exploitation. It creates the moral equivalent of worker slavery. It pits worker against worker in death race to the bottom and devalues all our labor. The economy is compromised for all....

Today there are 4 million workers in the US without the most basic of human rights...

So we are here to say

 NO  to employer sanctions

NO  to exploitation of immigrant workers 

NO to division of worker against worker 

NO to worker slavery

And 

YES equal rights for ALL workers

YES to the solidarity of workers everywhere

YES for an end to worker slavery

We must 

break the chains now

break the chains now

break the chains now

break the chains NOW

May Day 2012

5/1

For workers and Occupiers in New York City this year, May Day seems as exciting and is as much anticipated as Christmas. There will be a whole day’s worth of activities all over the city. I’ve made my own choice.

Heading down to the church to take the train with Teddy and Steve to Federal Plaza for Tracy’s May Day demonstration. Teddy tells me that Antonia was very happy and thankful to be able to be  inside last night. Teddy had assigned Little Chris to take care of her. He’d made her a bed, got her somthing to eat, found her some fresh clothes. When she got up in the morning, she was helping to make breakfast, helping people with their beds. Teddy called Project Reachout right away and Kris came. Antonia agreed to go with Kris to see if they could find her a place to live. A good start to the day.

As we step outside to head to the subway, Teddy points out the unmarked cars from the Drug Enforcement Administration across the street. Anna has told us stories of late night crack use, crack sales. When I first came here in ’95, the corner of 87th was notorious. The trade seems to be amkig its way south into our neighborhood again. Teddy jokes about the dashboard signs in the undercover cars. Probably don't want to get ticketed by the NYPD. Teddy has also seen the unmarked white van with its tell tale antennas. Listening devices. 

(The demonstration was by Justice Will Be Served and the National Movement Against Sweatshops of which our neighborhood group is a part. The focus was on ending Employer Sanctions laws which strip undocumented workers of all rights and pit worker against worker.  Teddy spoke to express solidarity from OWS and as a union steam fitter. And I closed out the demonstration.)

Teddy and Bob

When I get back from downtown, RL and David are hard at work drawing up designs for a solution to our sidewalk grate situation. They seem to have come up with a workable plan. David will be going to check out materials.

Jerry who used to play oboe with Jens Nygard and the Jupiter Symphony, back in the day, was here most recently with David Grunman and the Spectrum Orchestra. Jerry’s interested in doing his own concert later on.

As we’re talking with Jerry, two representatives of a Jewish congregation have come to check out the  building. They’ve got a growing group of younger people, in their twenties and thirties, and have outgrown their current space. I continue to marvel at the rapid growth of Jewish congregations in the neighborhood. 

We talk until it's time for me to head to the train to go and teach my seminary class.