Advent 3: Joy: Re-cycle, re-new, re-sist

12/11 

Re-cycle, re-new, re-sist:
papers by hand by Jubia

Today we lit three candles, including our pink one. And sang 3 verses of Barbara Lundblad’s Emmanuel …

O come, O come, Immanuel

And bless each place your people dwell.

Melt ev’ry weapon crafted for war,

Bring peace upon the earth forever more.

Rejoice, rejoice! Take heart and do not fear,

God’s chosen one, Immanuel, draws near.

2. O come, green shoot of Jesse, free

Your people from despair and apathy;

Forge justice for the poor and the meek,

Grant safety for the young ones and the weak. Refrain

3.O come, now living water, pour your grace

And bring new life to ev’ry withered place;

Speak comfort to each trembling heart:

“Be strong! Fear not, for I will ne’er depart.” 

And while lighting the candles we read from Isaiah 35: 1-10:

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,

 the desert shall rejoice and blossom;

 like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly,

 and rejoice with joy and singing.

 The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,

 the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.

 They shall see the glory of the LORD,

 the majesty of our God.

Reader 2:

Strengthen the weak hands,

 and make firm the feeble knees.

Say to those who are of a fearful heart,

 “Be strong, do not fear!

 Here is your God.

 He will come with vengeance,

 with terrible recompense.

 He will come and save you.”

Reader 1:

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,

 and the ears of the deaf unstopped;

then the lame shall leap like a deer,

 and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.

 For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,

 and streams in the desert;

the burning sand shall become a pool,

 and the thirsty ground springs of water;

 the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp,

 the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

Reader 2:

A highway shall be there,

 and it shall be called the Holy Way;

 the unclean shall not travel on it,

 but it shall be for God’s people;

 no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.

No lion shall be there,

 nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;

 they shall not be found there,

 but the redeemed shall walk there.

And the ransomed of the LORD shall return,

 and come to Zion with singing;

 everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;

 they shall obtain joy and gladness,

 and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

and saw that in the King James Version, it comes out The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.

And Jeremy and I sang Lo How a rose and the Rose as Better Midler sang it…

On this Sunday we consider JOY. Traditionally this Sunday has been known as Gaudete Sunday…as Advent was a time for contemplation, this third Sunday in Advent became a time for break in the reflection…a pause for joy….and we break up the purple candles with  a  pink….for JOY snd for Mary….

And on this Sunday, she sings a song from the depth of her soul…a song of joy….of resistance …of victory…we call it the magnificat…

My soul doth magnify the Lord : and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

For he hath regarded : the lowliness of his handmaiden.

For behold, from henceforth : all generations shall call me blessed.

For he that is mighty hath magnified me : and holy is his Name.

And his mercy is on them that fear him : throughout all generations.

He hath shewed strength with his arm : he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

He hath put down the mighty from their seat : and hath exalted the humble and meek.

He hath filled the hungry with good things : and the rich he hath sent empty away.

He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel : as he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed for ever.

And Jeremy played for us Paul Mc Cartney’s riff on the magnificat, i.e. Let it Be

In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 1: 18-25,Jesus answers John’s questions in terms of the prophet Isaiah…what do you eyes see?

Matthew 11:2-14 (The Message)

2-3 John, meanwhile, had been locked up in prison. When he got wind of what Jesus was doing, he sent his own disciples to ask, “Are you the One we’ve been expecting, or are we still waiting?”

4-6 Jesus told them, “Go back and tell John what’s going on:

The blind see,

The lame walk,

Lepers are cleansed,

The deaf hear,

The dead are raised,

The wretched of the earth learn that God is on their side.

“Is this what you were expecting? Then count yourselves most blessed!”

7-10 When John’s disciples left to report, Jesus started talking to the crowd about John. “What did you expect when you went out to see him in the wild? A weekend camper? Hardly. What then? A sheik in silk pajamas? Not in the wilderness, not by a long shot. What then? A prophet? That’s right, a prophet! Probably the best prophet you’ll ever hear. He is the prophet that Malachi announced when he wrote, ‘I’m sending my prophet ahead of you, to make the road smooth for you.’

11-14 “Let me tell you what’s going on here: No one in history surpasses John the Baptizer; but in the kingdom he prepared you for, the lowliest person is ahead of him. For a long time now people have tried to force themselves into God’s kingdom. But if you read the books of the Prophets and God’s Law closely, you will see them culminate in John, teaming up with him in preparing the way for the Messiah of the kingdom. Looked at in this way, John is the ‘Elijah’ you’ve all been expecting to arrive and introduce the Messiah.

We have been celebrating all weekend and exploring paper…with Junia 

Junia and Bob

Junia getting ready to make paper

Junia and 

…and the Flute Choir of New York City that played for her opening…

The Flute Choir of NYC

learning about the history of and the the making of paper…

The history of paper

And so we had our conversation…

Why paper? What drew you to paper?

She started working with paper during a time when her flute had been stole and found that making paper filled her with the same feelings that plain the flute did…a sense of meditation and onenesss and JOY…What does the experience feel like for you?

For her, the experience is not unlike that of prayer…

She says that you can’t make paper if you are not at peace with yourself….what does that mean?

One has to see the paper…describe that …it takes split second timing, the particles of fabric floating in the water come together for just a moment, you have to pull it just then or the moment …and the paper is gone…

"Finding the paper"

And when you lose the moment, you just have to, as the song said just, “Let it be”….metaphors, metaphors….and just because you are not supposed to mix natures, vegetable and mineral, paper and rock, she worked at it until she could include gem stones in her paper…. 

Paper with gemstones

Where do you get your materials?  Recycling….

She has always been a saver, one who finds them and put stem to use, especially  in a city of conspicuous wealth and consumption where so may good things are replaced and out on the street.. Old blue jeans, old shirts, all recycled, turns it into something new. 

Why do you always begin with flute playing? 

Junia begins the service with her flute

Andre, of course  sees the two  as related….how so?

It’s all about 

Creation and joy

Creation and resistance…

The act of playing, of creating, is the first step in resisting the powers that deaden life, that threaten us with non-being

And so in that spirit, we join in Mary’s song and go back into the world…her papers remain on the walls of the chapel, to remind us…

Thank you Pat and leila

Advent 3: To be welcomed is to be redeemed

12/15

The Third Sunday in Advent. Mary’s Sunday. And we begin with three verses of Barbara Lundblad’s O come, o come…

O come O come

Immanuel                                                                                                                                      

And bless each place your people dwell

Melt ev’ry weapon crafted for war

Bring peace upon the earth for evermore

Rejoice, rejoice! Take heart and do not fear,

God’s chosen one, Immanuel, draws near.

O come green shoot of Jesse, free

Your people from despair and apathy

Forge justice for the poor and meek

Grant safety for the young ones and the weak.

Rejoice, rejoice! Take heart and do not fear,

God’s chosen one, Immanuel, draws near.

O come now, living water, pour your grace

And bring new life to ev’ry withered place;

Speak comfort to each trembling heart:

“Be strong, fear not, for I will ne’er depart”

Rejoice, rejoice! Take heart and do not fear,

God’s chosen one, Immanuel, draws near.

We read the beautiful Isaiah passage about roses blooming in  he desert. (The new translation, crocus, just doesn’t get it.)  But we stumble on Isaiah 35:

A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it

And we talk about what does it mean to be perceived to be unclean.   And Stephen  says, Unclean is unwelcome.  And later, to be redeemed is to be welcomed…    That works for us. That’s who we are trying to be.

I sing The Rose, as a meditation on Isaiah.

Then there’s the Matthew passage(11:2-11) about John the Baptist and expectation: Are you the one we have been waiting for? Or do we need to keep looking?  Jesus answers in terms of the Isaiah passage.

But I start with asking folks how they are doing. And after it turns out everyone is doing pretty well, I say that often expectations create problems this time of year. We’re expected to feel joy, happiness. Families expect to find reconciliation, homecoming. But it doesn’t always work out that way. What we call Blue Christmas.

But somehow we come around to our current situation. I shared how I had been at a gathering last Sunday night and a woman pastor had shared that she had used West-Park as a sermon illustration. That what she had seen at Presbytery was like the green shoot springing up through the stump. And my Catholic friend Father John had  quoted me in his sermon. About hope. And I realize that people are seeing us that way. That there are new expectations.

And I realize that as bad as we felt on September 29^th, when Marsha and I felt so badly beaten, the outcome was a better situation. What we did between then and November 19^th allowed us to turn around the long running narrative about West-Park. And the work we did brought us together as a community. When Cara was in the hospital for two weeks, someone from the church was there every day. That wouldn’t have been true  year ago.

For this there is joy. Mary’s pink candle lit and glowing.

The fourth Sunday in Advent: Magnificat

12/23

Pastors Bob, Jane and Elise

For the first time in over twenty years, I seriously consider not going in to church. Woke up at 3 am with severe stomach cramps and worse. Every time I try to get up and head to church, I wind up back down again. I know it’s been going around and now I’ve  got it. But somehow I make it out the door and barely to church on time.

George still there. Stephen there waiting, doors open. Hope quickly realizes how I’m feeling, says I look green. Junia is there with her flute. I ask her to play. People gathering. Kara is here. I know she’ll learn of Teddy’s death. Not sure how she’ll handle it. I know I have to be here.

I'm dehydrated.  Stephen brings me a cold ginger ale. Never tasted better. 

I ask Junia to play one more. Say that the flute is a wind instrument. Wind, ruach in Hebrew. The wind that blew over the waters at creation. The wind of the Holy Spirit. Sons Dan and Nate have come too. No Teddy to light the candles this week. All four are lit. And his vela de memoria continues to burn as well. 

Magnificat Sunday. Mary’s song...my soul magnifies....and we sing Magnificat, magnificat, magnificat omnia me dominum...and as we enter into prayers, Kara understands...gasps....keeps it together...

We read the first scripture, Micah 5: 2-5a. Then sing O Little Town of Bethlehem. Then Luke 1: 26-38. And then, the sound of Paul Mc Cartney singing Let it Be fills the church. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajCYQL8ouqw) And Kara begins to sob. We read the Magnificat, Luke 1: 46-55. 

I bring up Teddy again, teasing me for cultural references 40 years old.... and then point out how Let it Be flows right out of Luke... all the images, the yearning, the acceptance. What a harsh season this is. Hurricane Sandy. Newtown. Losing Teddy. You just never know what any day will bring. You think you know, but you don’t. To be crude, you send your children to school and a madman comes and blows them away. You wake up and  a  friend is dead. That is the context in which we sing the magnificat, let it be...

It all happens because Mary says yes. Says Let it be... And the amazing thing is that her song sings of these things as if they have already been accomplished. When clearly you look around and they haven’t been. I look at Arcadia and remember being in Managua in 1982. At a street mass. A woman who had learned to read in the campana de alfabetizacion, which Hugo had participated in. As she read Mary’s song, recalled the overthrow of Somoza, the triumph of the revolution,  the world that opened with words, as she finished the passage, she said this has happened in her life. And the words were alive for me. Thirty years later, what would she say?

I recall the power of worship in communities of struggle, African-American, LGBTQ, Latino...the radical quality of joy. Someone says that word, hope, it’s hope, it’s knowing that you’re part of a bigger struggle, one that goes on before, during and after us.... and we seek to open our hearts to know it, to believe it, to feel it....let it be...

As we pass the offering plates, the sound of Bette Midler singing the Rose (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR6okRuOLc8) . And I recall how my pastor lounge singer friend Tracy in Pittsburgh  used to do a medley of Lo how a rose e’er blooming and the Rose...

And to declare our hope we sing, Joy to the World...

I had to be here. My people were here. Who I needed to see. Who needed to see each other. Lifted by Tracy K, by Don, by..... all. 

But now I’m feeling it. I go get cash so that we can make more relief kits for Sandy. On the way I see Marty. He holds out his hand, then sees its me and brings it back. 

So reverend, you message done?

Yes. 

What did you preach about?

The first minister I ever worked for always said about God and about 20 minutes...

Ah my father, I told you about his white handkerchief right, how he’d sweat? He’d preach 18 minutes and use the other two to ask for money. Couldn’t touch it on shabbes.   So he’d send me out to Jerome Avenue to collect after shabbes. Not many Jews left in the Bronx. All gone. I studied it in school. Wasn’t economy, it was....was....ecology? People and cultures and the Bronx? Ya always work stories in right? People love stories...

I tell him, bless you Marty, and that I have to go. 

He says, may the good lord bless and keep you.

And as I’m walking up the street, hey, my mother told me there was a poor man changed his clothes once a month. The middle aged, uh, middle man changed his every two weeks. And the rich man, every five minutes. That’s how it is. That’s a Biblical story....

I smile and say every five minutes....and head back to church.

....he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich empty away....

Lilly and Samantha will head  up the relief work. I need to head home. 

Where I sleep until its time to go back at 5....

                                                 * * * *

We’re gathering with Jane’s Sanctuary folk and the In Performance Jazz band and my friend Pastor Elise from Advent Lutheran for an inter/intrafaith celebration if the light. Candles lit from many faith traditions, our words of light. Shared. A walking meditation of receiving and sharing the light. I am exhausted but Jane’s energy is carrying me along. I speak of the context of Sandy, Newtown, Teddy’s loss again. And how the light has been there from the beginning of time and has never gone out, even when dim....

When I hear Jeremy’s choir launch into High Praise (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH8v-DBc7gM) , I feel a pang. I recall when my choir introduced that song into this space.  My thenintern Eleanor brought it and our then  music director, cabaret artist Larry Woodard brought his own touch to it and had our Sunday Morning Circle of Singers rock the house with it. I will not be satisfied until I have my own music again.

The service rocks to a conclusion with praise and applause. I stay to collect embraces. Say goodnight to my people. Say good night to George. Go home and collapse. 

One more day....