Palm Sunday 2022

4/10

Palms on the street

palms for all

On a beautiful Sunday morning, I go to my favorite Venezuelan cafe  to start my day with coffee and the Times. The owner/artist has added one of his wood portraits of Frida Kahlo.  The I make my way to Lincoln Center to lead Palm Sunday services for the Good Shepherd Faith congregation.  There's more of a mix of Korean and English speaking members this time around and I've given my friend Chris enough time to translate my sermon into Korean.   The ushers have cut the palms and there are plenty for everyone.  Here's what I had to say......  

Frida

Palm Sunday.  Childhood memories. Full church.Waving palms. Not sure I knew what jt meant, but it felt good. Opening  the door to what felt like a long week of church going. The Maundy Thursday communion service.  That three hour long Good Friday Seven Last Words service.  And finally two services on Sunday. By the time I got to Easter, I always felt  like I’d had so much church, it was hard to feel the joy except that it was over. 

Which is good background to look at church history a little. For centuries, that was the pattern, I would add that in my church, Maundy Thursday was when the Communicants Class would officially join the church and take communion for the first time after a year’s preparation.  For our Catholic neighbors, there would be the Saturday Easter Vigil with baptisms. That was the pattern. 

Then sometime in the 1970’s, the folks who made up the Common Lectionary began to become concerned that far too many people were going straight from the triumphant entry of Palm Sunday to the victorious joy of Easter Sunday without experiencing the Holy Week journey.  And so this Sunday became designated Palm/Passion Sunday with the reading of both the Palm Sunday passage and the entire Passion story.  Now that’s a tall order for any Sunday.

I must say that I arrived in my  ministry here in time to catch the tail  end of the Upper West Side Presbyterian joint practice  of a Lenten School at West Park, the beautiful Maundy Thursday simple candle lit  meal and communion here at Good Shepherd faith with its quiet  and warmth, and the three hour Seven Last Words Good Friday service at Rutgers. I can say that I actually got to preach each of those seven words twice. Sadly, one by one, these all came to an end.

SO here we are on this Sunday and this year. So relax…we are only going to do Palm Sunday, not the whole Passion. You are responsible for your own Holy Week.  And we begin with a procession. 

I learned something this year that I never knew before.  Reading the book, the Last Week, by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, which systematically looks at each successive day of the last week of Jesus’s life in Jerusalem, I learned that there was another procession that day. 

It seems that the season of the Passover week, with so many pilgrims coming to Jerusalem and celebrating a festival of liberation, was seen as a potentially dangerous time by the occupying Roman Empire. So every year, the Roman governor, would enter Jerusalem to be the presence of the Empire in the city for that week. A reminder of who was in  charge.  So on this day, as Jesus is entering the city through one gate, Pilate is entering through another. 

It is very possible that Jesus chose this day deliberately as a counter procession, a demonstration,  to challenge the authority of the Empire. It’s interesting that since the time  of Caesar Augustus, the Roman Emperors were called “son of God,” “savior” and “bringer of peace on earth.” Augustus even claimed that Apollo was his father, his mother simply the vessel for bearing the child of God. So…Pilate’s entry was not only about political oppression but a theological affront to the Jewish people as well. Jesus’ entry was ultimately a proclamation that there is no God but God. 

The Jerusalem of Jesus day was under what we call a domination system. The three parts of which are political oppression, economic exploitation and religious legitimation.  Thus the Romans installed Herod as an ethnarc, one of the subject Jewish people to rule on their behalf.  And it was the job of the Temple to collaborate with the empire in areas like  taxes and a kind of money laundering and a bit of religious cover. And so it always is in occupations from 1940’s occupied France to 1950’s Iran to 1970’s Vietnam to …well it goes on. And I can actually understand how the temple authorities might actually have thought they were helping to protect their people, even as they personally benefited from their collaboration..

It’s interesting that in the Luke version of Palm Sunday, there are actually no palms, and no Hosannas. Luke wants to make very clear that we’ve got a very different kind of king here and a very different  kind of kingdom being celebrated here. So he leaves out the signs and language of empire. 

Two very different processions. Two very different kingdoms.

Jesus’ message is always not about him, but about the kingdom, the reign of God he represents. We are always to look beyond Jesus to God.

Every sermon needs  to teach and to reach. That was pretty much the teach part.  And now to reach. In the language of Jesus’ time, the word believe was not so much about giving assent to some ideas.  It was more about trust and commitment. Whose word do you trust? What is the authority in your life?  What are you willing to commit yourself to?

And that question is a very serious question. For Jesus, his procession was a symbolic denial of the power of the Empire and that would lead to his arrest and execution. For the only crime for which Rome would use the cross was denial of the authority of imperial Rome.

So here’s the point…if we want to call ourselves Christians, then we are called to be disciples.  To be a disciple.  Go with me here. Genuine discipleship means  to follow Jesus.  All the way. We must follow him on his way.  And that way leads to Jerusalem and that leads to confrontation. And ultimately death.  AND resurrection. 

That is the theme of Lent.  And Holy Week.  And all of Christian life. To be wiling  to follow Jesus all the way.

So the question is …which procession are you in?  The procession of Pilate …of the power, glory and violence of the empire? Or the procession of Jesus, of the proclamation of the kingdom, the kindom of God?

Let those with ears to hear, hear…

Ta'u sings...and waves....

One of my favorite singers here is the former NFL football player now opera singer with a burgeoning career, Ta'u Pap'ua.  He sings the Battle Hymn of the Republic bringing new meaning to the words as related to Palm Sunday, waving his palm as he sings, his truth is marching on....

hot cross buns

On my way home, I stop at the Silver Moon bakery for the their traditional hot cross buns. 

And as I walk home down Adam Clayton Powell, the good people of  First Corinthian Baptist are passing out palms on the street. The line stretched down the street. It's Palm Sunday.....

Luke 19: 28-40

28After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

29When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30saying, "Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' just say this, 'The Lord needs it'" 32So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. 33As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?" 34They said, "The Lord needs it." 35Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, 38saying,

"Blessed is the king

who comes in the name of the Lord!  (Ps. 118:26)

Peace in heaven,

and glory in the highest heaven!"

39Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, order your disciples to stop." 40He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out."

For Holy Week Reflection 2: The Last Week by Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan

 For Holy Week Reflections 2: The Last Week by Marcus J.Borg and John Dominic Crossan

My second recommendation for Holy Week is The Last Week: The Day by Day Account of Jesus’ Final Week in Jerusalem by Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan which is exactly what it says it is. In this book from 2007, the authors of The Heart of Christianity and The Historical Jesus, and Jesus Seminar members bring their systematic critical Biblical analysis to Jesus’ last week in Jerusalem. 

Beginning with the "triumphant entry"  known as Palm Sunday and ending with Easter, each day is explored for its theological meaning.  For them, “Palm Sunday” itself opens the door to Holy Week and contains with it the essential content of Jesus’ mission.

It was startling to read of another triumphant entry into Jerusalem that day, through another gate, of course. The authors posit  that it was the Roman Governor Pilate’s custom to be present in Jerusalem during the pilgrim festival of Passover, a season with great potential for civil disruption by an occupied people.   And that his entrance would  have been one week before. 

From this perspective, Jesus’ entry was a carefully staged and planned counter procession with enough street theater to criticize the empire. Interestingly, the record shows that beginning with Augustus, the emperor was known also as son of God, savior, bringer of peace on earth, titles we have come to associate with Jesus. The occupying empire was thus  not only a political affront but a theological one as well to the Jewish people and their religion.

The authors describe the the domination system that was the context of Jesus’ witness. A system that used political power, economic exploitation and, especially significant for Jesus, religious legitimation to maintain dominance over an occupied people.

Such a system required collaborators on the Jewish side to make it work. Thus Herod serves as “ethnarc,” or ethnic ruler serving in thrall to the Roman Empire and the Temple authorities help to enforce the system and provide religious cover for their own people's oppression. One can always find contemporary examples of  this system.  In all fairness, some collaborators can be perceived as actually seeking to mediate between their people and the empire, keeping them safe. But it becomes clear why for Jesus, the Temple establishment becomes the focus of his witness,

The authors  argue that in those days in the religion of the Jewish people, belief was not about giving assent to theological propositions but about trust and commitment.  That Jesus never wanted the focus to be on him as an individual but on the countercultural alternative kingdom of God over against the kingdom of the empire. Thus he would be executed for the capital crime of encouraging refusal to accept the authority of the empire.  

With this understanding it becomes clear that for Borg and Crossan to claim the name Christian is to commit to following Jesus which leads to Jerusalem which leads to confrontation with the powers which leads to death and ultimately resurrection.  To follow him is to commit to the whole journey.

So for our Holy Week we can contemplate these two processions and their implications for us. And ultimately ask ourselves, which procession are we in?

Well worth it.

Living in coronavirusworld 14: PPE everyday

4/6

Nurses at Harlem Hospital

On the way to Harlem Hospital for the nurse’s action. En route, I’d now say masks are about 3 out of 4. I exit the subway at 135th an Lenox. A circle of 30 or so masked nurses are assembling outside the emergency ward entrance. On the sidewalk, the chalked names of medical workers who have died. Their signs calling for “Patients before profits” and “PPE everyday.” And one bold enough to say, “Capitalism: do not resuscitate.”

word

the necrology of health care workers

There is a full phalanx of news media there, keeping social distance of course. I see one woman being interviewed. Her mask somewhat obscures her face, but when I hear her Spanish, I know it's my friend Tracy, now Tre.

Tre (Tracy) Kwan

Our friendship goes back to the days when she was organizing kitchen workers at Saigon Grill and the Sweatshop Free Upper Westside Campaign. Created a coalition of Chinese and Latino and West African workers. She was an organizer for the  National Movement Against Sweatshops. I saw them every day, began talking with them. And thanks to  my son Micah, joined them. Along with my Lutheran pastor colleague Heidi, were harassed by attorneys working  for Dominos Pizza. (No justice, no pizza…) I remember my steamfitter union and  Occupier friend Teddy joining in the protests. (Miss him still, may he r.i.p. ) Tracy left NMASS. Became a barista for awhile. Her immigrant family had high expectations for every child.  Organizing was not on the list, She eventually went to nursing school. And became a nurse and activist for healthcare workers. And now a mother.  Called out of leave by the crisis and into action by the inaction of leadership. As I listen to the speakers, their demands are simple. Adequate personal protective equipment. Every day. Paid sick leave. No retribution. Nothing  has exposed the barrenness of our national healthcare non-system like this virus crisis. When she finishes her interview, she walks over to me, in my outlaw bandana. “Bob. It’s you! I knew you by your eyes!” And her eyes crinkle into a smile. And mine smile back. She extends her elbow. And I smile again. As she turns to go, I raise my right fist. Solidarity, I say. She made my day. 

As I leave, the chants echo in my ear…PPE, every day, PPE, every day…

a good deal....

I take the long walk back home through Harlem. 

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I talk with one of our Presbyterian Health Education and Welfare Association colleagues in upstate New York. She has been a leader of the Domestic Violence network.  Full-time pastor and chaplain at a facility. She’s concerned with the spiritual and emotional health not only of the patients, but also the staff. In the middle of our conversation, she’s called away to a code blue.  When she comes back, a baby has died. She’s got special concern for the housekeeping workers who have to clean out the rooms. Their lives are on the line. And she talks about one of the hidden tragedies of the  crisis, domestic violence. People, mainly women, trapped in isolation and tense circumstances with violent abusers. Home is not safe for victims….

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My friend Steve does an afternoon benefit concert for frontline workers, sponsored by Rudy’s, the bar we hang out and play at in Lake Worth, Florida. Home of the annual Rudystock and a wonderful collection of musical (and other) characters all hosted and cared for by Mary. 

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The West Park Bible Study picks up the issue of a triumphant entry in coronavirusworld. We start by acknowledging that Jesus’ “triumphant entry” was performance art, or as Latin American revolutionaries call it, propaganda of the deed, the act itself defines its meaning. There is this weird  bit of riding on two animals, probably from misreading Zechariah 9:9. And at the  outset, evidence of a covert, underground organization of Jesus with secret passwords and signs,  Marsha, ,as always, looking for the so what, the what exactly is it that  we are supposed to do. Jesus is sending a message to his people. The people in the street want a takeover. A replacement.With themselves in charge. Like gays or women who are ready to leave the struggle once they’ve got a seat at the table instead of turning the table over completely. We talk of individual salvation as opposed to collective responsibility and community. And our new awareness of our mortality. And how Jesus’ true victory was embracing the  cross, thus defeating the power of death to manipulate and demean. Power of death, broken once and for all. 

This is the entry of Jesus into our coronaworld, the week we are supposed to reach the apex. Let it be. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord…

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As the study breaks up, Russ, Marsha and I stick around. For one drink. Our virtual visit to St.James Gate. Slainte. 

Living in coronavirusworld 13: Palm Sunday

4/5

Palm Sunday

Today is Palm Sunday. This is the first Palm Sunday in my memory where nothing in my life signifies the day, no visual imagery, waving of palms, etc. Except maybe….on my way to the deli to pick up a Sunday Times, I pass by First Corinthian Baptist. I hear from inside the locked doors the powerful voices of their choir, filming for their 10:45 streamed service. I wonder how many are inside. How far apart they are. What the scene is like. I hear the voices rose and fall….What does the triumphant entry of Jesus mean in coronavirustime?

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The corner produce vendors, gone. Green markets, farmers' markets, gone. Hot dog vendors, gone. The Halal stand guys, gone.

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Turns out the tents in Central Park are donated by Franklin Graham’s Samaritan Purse organization. Franklin, the son of Billy Graham, is an Islamophobe and homophobe who makes his father look like a Unitarian by comparison. Turns out you have to sign a “faith statement” to be accepted as a volunteer. The blessed Rev. Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping Now was arrested by attempting to plant a rainbow flag at the site. I wonder if the tents accept lgbtq patients? (https://gothamist.com/news/rev-billy-arrested-planting-rainbow-flag-central-park-tent-hospital)

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My friend Kosi (http://www.kosi-sings.com/) does a live concert from Baltimore along with  her friend Ross Martin. Kosi was a regular at the West Park Open Mic and lead vocalist for the alt pop group Goddess Lakshmi.(https://thegoddesslakshmi.org/)  Even did a theater turn in Joyce Miller’s evolving Handmaid’s Dianetics at Dixon Place (http://dixonplace.org/performances/the-handmaids-dianetics-episode-4-the-science-of-survival-08-19-2019/). Ross, a doctor turned singer-songwriter. (https://www.missrainsong.com/ross-martin) It’s an intimate concert experience. 

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 Another friend has invited me to a virtual theatre festival organized by the No Pants Theatre Company.(https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10158447466719187&set=a.10151127892799187&type=3&theater)  A whole day of new plays, 10-15 minutes long apiece, three actors on ZOOM, all reflections on the virus. My friend’s piece, State Mandated Therapy Session #8, posits a day where the virus and quarantine have just continued and now in addition to isolation, the government is requiring therapy sessions for everyone. The play is a clever, and chilling, projection of a not unimaginable dystopian future. All the plays I see in the hour make good use of the ZOOM platform and its markers, including the symbol we see from people who cannot get their cameras to work and the other quirks becoming part of our shared cultural experience. The virus continues to inspire creativity in the arts community as we all seek to do our part to keep each other going…

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Palm Sunday. The door is opened to a Holy Week like no other….

Palm Sunday: the Lord has need of it...

 4/14

Ready for Palm Sunday

On Palm Sunday morning...I go to Good Shepherd Faith Church near Lincoln Center....

We all love a parade. This neighborhood is mad crazy every night before the Thanksgiving parade when they have ballon blow up night. Next week will be that unique New York event known as the Easter Parade. El barrio has its annual Three King’s parade. (Although the real sign of having made it as a religion in or city is to get a no alternate aid parking day.) and all the ethnic groups get their parades- Columbus Day, St.Patricks Day, Puerto Rican Day, West Indian day—-. Today Jesus gets his parade...Palm Sunday.

I have great memories of Palm Sunday as a kid, although I can’t say I ever fully understood what all those palm branches

Palm branches

were about and there was always that ominous sense that the long depressing stretch of Holy Week about to begin. The most days in church of any week of the year ending with the endless Good Friday service.

Maybe the wasn’t so bad. As a pastor, I really didn’t like it when the liturgical powers to be in the church decided to make this Palm and Passion  Sunday ...out of anxiety that modern Christians would want to jump straight from the celebration of Palm Sunday...ending our Lenten journey- to the joy of Easter...skipping right through the liturgical journey of Holy Week....with Maundy Thursday and the darkness of Good Friday. ( May I say I have very good memories of the intimacy of Holy Thursday at Good Shepherd and the annual 7 last words service at Rutgers...I have to say I miss that...but glad I had to have had to opportunity to complete the whole Seven-Word cycle...)

So what’s going on with Jesus today? Luke’s telling of the story is especially vivid... it’s got that “unridden colt” detail...what’s up with that? Maybe it's similarity to an unblemished sacred sacrifice? Maybe a reference to Zechariah 9:9 where the king comes riding on.. a colt, the foal of a donkey? And that wonderful line the disciple use to secure the loan of the donkey, “ the Lord has need of it...”.....

Of course, that raises the question what do we have that the Lord might have need of? Anyways, it seems to work...

What’s important is that Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem is an evocation of, or mimicry of or even subversion of the triumphant entry of a victorious military leader into a conquered city. It excites the people. Maybe even they believe that Jesus is about to launch the revolution.... completely missing the point that Jesus’ victory has already begun in what is now his inevitable journey to the cross. This victory is beyond what military victory could ever be imagined....it is an entirely new way of living in world.

And there is at least the the implication that Jesus’ failure to live up to their expectations would ultimately contribute to his crucifixion...like in Jesus Christ Superstar.

Which of course leads to the question what expectations do we have of Jesus this are not appropriate to who he is?

My favorite line of course is that you can silence the disciples but the very stones will cry out...there are some things that are so wrong, creation it self moans with agony and cries out.

The poor stones could be crying out all the time these days. I have had a hard time dealing with the fact that we were separating parents from their children. That we put children into cages. The smallness and pettiness of seizing rosary beads from detainees. Or how naval ships in the Mediterranean refuse to rescue imperiled refugees. When do you hear the stones cry out?

The beauty of the palms makes for a glorious Sunday....but what happens when the parade is over?

There is one week before Easter..,what unfinished Lenten work do you have to do to make your Easter truly a celebration of resurrection?

So..,

1. What do we have that the Lord might have need of?
2. What expectations do we have of Jesus that might miss who he is?
3. What makes the very stones cry out?
4. What’s on your Holy Week to do list?

So...what do you say?

Hosanna....blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord?

Amen.

We are blessed today to have sharing their music with us Ta'u Pupu'a, former NFL football player and rising opera star, and Pamela Thomas.

Ta'u Pupu'a and Pamela Thomas

By the time Ta'u finishes Ride On King Jesus, the walls are ringing in Palm  Sunday glory.....

Palm Sunday: A Passion

3/20

The Restoration Ministries Palm Sunday service is in full swing as I arrive at the church.  They are an African-American LGBTQ Pentecostal progressive congregation, a combination of words you don’t often see. And I do mean full swing…. (There's a film crew doing a documentary about them...)

Upstairs in McAlpin, Theatre Dzieci is deep into their workshop preceding their annual production of A Passion here at West-Park. (http://dziecitheatre.org/) . I notice that my friend Pastor Jeanie and four of her volunteer crew are participating in the workshop. Dresden, one of her young volunteers, will join the cast in their performance at worship.

They’ve been here since Friday continuing their work in restoring  our chapel.

working on the chapel

They’re officially part of a Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Team from Sacramento presbytery that has stopped here on their way to do continued Sandy relief in Jersey. And also part of a new worshipping community Jeanie began a year ago whose one word mission statement is simply that: mission. Sandy relief, Alaska, Nicaragua…It’s an exciting model. Without a building to worry about.   This year my session has worked side by side with Jeanie’s group, and provided and shared in meals.

I’ve known her for over 30 years. Back when I was a rising young star in the church and she was a Princeton student with a limitless future. Needless to say, things didn’t necessarily work out the way either of us expected. The +/- ratio still in the balance.  But we’ve been faithful in ministry and friendship all these years. And she always brings a bright and hopeful and inviting presence to everything she does. And her spiritual authority with her group is clear. I admire,appreciate and respect her ministry, and who she is, in a very deep way.

Downstairs, Dzieci cast members are silently greeting people arriving for the service and passing out palms. The Passion will soon begin. Their telling of the story reaches into its deep archetypal roots with typical Grotowski emphasis on ritual and movement. They find the universal in the specifics of ancient text and Hebraic melody and the shadows of the Warsaw ghetto in their dress. While in the tradition of medieval passion plays (and Sarah Ruhl’s remarkable 2010 Passion Play..) their work is meta and post-modern and ancient all at the same time.

Most moving is the way the white prayer shawl that designates Jesus throughout the play is passed from character to character so that all are Jesus, all Pilate and Caiaphas, and all Judas. All victims. All perpetrators. Crucifiers and crucified. We are all sheep. And all goats. All wheat. All chaff.  The TRUTH of the Passion penetrates deeply into us. 

Pastor Jean Shaw and Dzieci's Matt Mitler

The Dzieci cast of A Passion

After the play is over, an impromptu potluck lunch is quickly organized by Jeanie and her team. Sacramento volunteers, West Park congregants and Dzieci company. We symbolically shared bread and cup together during the Passion. And now we break bread together in the most common—and sacred—of ways. Companions. Companeros.  Community.

Shared grace before a shared meal

As we leave, the Korean In2Church service is underway. Some 300. Most all no older than 30.  A place of community for them.

Holy Week has begun.