Fog lifted. Smoke cleared. Mist gone.

9/22

Shannon in our circle

The fog has lifted. Smoke cleared. Mist gone.

One of the first people I see is Jeffrey. Looking a bit anxious. Yes, it’s OK.

A distinguished African-American gentleman in a suit and tie waits for the service to begin. A couple waits too and then leaves. Our folks need to learn that when we get serious about expanding the circle, we’ve got to cover those 11 o’clock bases.

Special guest for the day in Shannon Beck, the PC(USA) reconciliation specialist. Once again a blessing to see Rachel here. Today I sing Jesus calls us o’er the tumult..had it give it a try. After the strangest of gospel readings, Luke 16: 1-13. I still don’t get the dishonest steward bit. We’d dig into that but...

My real agenda is to get folks to meet Shannon. Learn about her work. Hers is a new model for the church that is coming into being. Not a national program per se, not a top down implementation, but work rooted in listening. Trying to see what’s going on at the grass roots level and connecting people to people. (My mentor Philip always used to say that If God wants something to happen in this world, it’s already going on. Our job is to find it, call it forth, support it. That’s how he found me all those years ago in Tulsa. And what he did for me...).

She talks about the current focus on domestic violence and a nerve is touched. She has recently called together the folks in Louisville to see who’s doing what, including my community the Presbyterian Health, Education and Welfare Association (PHEWA), especially the  Presbyterians Against Domestic Violence Network (PADVN).

Yes,a nerve. I have a friend....And personal memories of abuse within the family. And stories of cries unheeded. Sounds we hope will stop. And cries answered only to have the violence turn outward. One of us was held at knife point for two hours last night. Had a computer,  lifeline to the outside world stolen. Can PDVN get me new computer?,she wants to know. Shannon gets that in this circle, domestic violence is not an issue, it is life lived. What connections can be made. 

After our dialogue, Shannon plays the same song she played for RL last night. Once she’s been on our circle, she’ll remain a part. Our prayers will go with her. 

Session meets after worship to review our various negotiations. How to keep all our family in the house. And how to manage all the work that needs to be finished before we can complete the deal. It’s hard. But the transition is beginning to be felt. 

It’s a bright,cool and beautiful first day of autumn.Fog lifted, smoke cleared, mist gone.

A wedding. Pushing back the darkness. And green smoke.

9/21

Quick stop at the church to put the finishing touches on a wedding ceremony. It will be a typical New York wedding, the bride from here, the groom from India and currently working mainly in Germany, his bachelor party in Munich. People will come from Calcutta, London and New Jersey. There will be turbans. The bride had met me at a wedding I did last march for a Turkish- German couple.

On the way back, i stop at the Gate and find RL and Thatcher there so we return to the earlier issue of reenvisioning and restarting our website and the prior concern of getting our pirated URL back from a collector in Colorado. It’s frustrating that a google search always leads first to Westparkchurch.org, which is NOT us. Aargh,(Sorry,that was a leftover from International Talk Like a Pirate day. To which Dan said, does anyone know Somalian?)

Shannon Beck is in town. She is the new Presbyterian Church (USA) reconciliation catalyst. (Love that title...) Originally it was violence and reconciliation, but she didn’t want it to seem like she was a catalyst for violence. She is working to connect people working creatively to engage cultures of violence, including our own. 

Shannon and the house concert

I met her last year when my friend Mark from the PC(USA) UN ministry was looking to find her a place for s concert. Hurricane Sandy intervened and it wound up an intimate house concert at my apartment. Which led to live recording that we eventually added our Sunday morning church voices to with the help of Marc S. 

I’ve got an agenda that includes preparing for tomorrow morning’s service, figuring out exactly what her job is, trying to make some connections for Zejko’s Second Meeting film and Amanda’s Indian Summer cross country tour.

But first I want to show her the space. And walking inside, I find the sanctuary enveloped in theatrical smoke and mist and weird green lighting. What the...?But of course, it’s Ramon. A tech rehearsal for his appearance tomorrow afternoon. With Jeffrey from Sanctuary’s assistance. Well,alright then...

So we go up to visit RL. Tales of Washington State roots. Yakima, Spokane....And then the swapping of songs, Shannon with one about people she met at a shelter in Seattle and pushing back the darkness...And RL’s classic Pinto and of course, Stay Awhile...And the evening would not be complete with out a visit from RL’s western radio altar ego Dusty Withers.

We head to sit out side at Slightly Oliver’s and get into the agenda as soft then steadier rain begins to fall....

After seeing Shannon on her way back to Hope’s, I return to the church. Jeffrey has fans blowing full speed to disperse the smoke, the eerie light remains. Hopefully it will all be gone by tomorrow morning, he says.  I nod. Yes. Hopefully.