Living in coronavirusworld 129: We have enough

8/2

Home communion

Up early to finish a sermon and get ready for two back to back services. While finishing the sermon, I realize I need to put together a worship service for West Park as well. Soon enough, I’m meeting the West Park congregation via ZOOM.

Here’s my sermon for the day:

So baseball season finally started last week. With no one in the stands and piped in crowd noise.  Before all the first games, all the players took a knee. There was a large black ribbon that all players on both teams held. And a statement, written by one of my favorite players, Andrew McCutchen read by Morgan Freeman:

“In order to achieve or affect a change and lead a new canvas of optimism, empathy must lead the charge. This moment signifies our charge, our brotherhood, our unity. Equality and unity cannot be until there is empathy. Today and every day we come together as brothers, as equals, all with the same goal to level the playing field. To change the injustices, equality is not just a word, it’s our right. Today we stand as men from 25 nations on six continents. Today we are one.”

That phrase…Equality and unity cannot be until there is empathy. ….leads me to where I want to go today…it starts with compassion…

And at first, I’m thinking about Jesus. His older cousin, John, the Baptist, the one who had baptized him, the one who had called him out into ministry, that wild, passionate voice, has just been executed by Herod. All he wants to do is get away. Take a moment to gather his thoughts and emotions.  But word gets out and the crowd follows him. When he looks out at them, he feel compassion and takes the time to “heal their sick.”

But that of course is not the end of it. You know this story, it’s one of my favorites, the “feeding of the 5000”…it’s in all 4 gospels…The disciples want Jesus to send the people away. And Jesus says, “No, you give them something to eat..” And our know what they say…” We’ve only got 5 loaves and 2 fish”..

So Jesus gives thanks,  breaks bread, as we will do later this morning…and they start to pass it around and there’s 12 baskets left over.

What happened? The story doesn’t say. It’s up to us to figure out. Some say it’s just a miracle, like turning water  into wine. Other say that most people had borough something along and when the baskets started passing, they were moved to open up and share what they had brought. Notice…that what Jesus did was not about doing  something to show his power, it was to feed people. Respond to their hunger with compassion. Like Leila said last Monday at Bible study, food is real.

And the point is, there was enough. God has given us enough. We have enough resources to feed everyone.  Then miracle here is one of distribution, not production. We are currently paying farmers not to raise crops and  in some cases destroy what has already been produced. In a world with so much food insecurity, that is crazy. (It’s as crazy as some congress people believing that $600 a week makes people not want to work..)  We have enough.

I was talking to Dion about what I’ve learned in working with churches. Don’t start with needs assessments, you always get overwhelmed. Hey we need food for 5000 people! Start with what you have…we’ve got 5 loves, 2 fishes….I remember Wavy Gravy at Woodstock…”what we’ve got in mind is breakfast in bed for 400000 people…” And they did it.

I saw yesterday day my first "open refrigerator.” They’re popping up all over the city. “Take food…leave food…be well…stay safe…take what you need, leave what you don’t…comida gratis…and this one was filled with fresh fruits and vegetables…

It’s easy to say we’re small, we don’t have much, it’s too overhwhelming…but what do we have? We have a committed group of people who have kept a church alive essentially on their own with little outside help… not a bad place to begin..what else do we have?

Jesus says “you give them something to eat…”

And I still feel bad that Jesus still hasn’t had time to rest….

You give them something to eat..

Let those with  ears to hear, hear…

After the sermon, thinking of Jesus’ still unfulfilled desire to get away and rest, I share my song “Rest awhile” 

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We spend some time talking about what we do have. the contributions that each have made.  There are words of thanks and appreciation.

Before prayers, Don who has spent most of his last work years in China, shares his anguish over current US relations with China. What we could be learning from one another during this pandemic. Instead we have a President who keeps talking about the "China Virus."

And then share  my first at home communion of the day.  All too soon I am on the telephone with the Beverley congregation from Brooklyn for their service. And my second home communion.

These services are more demanding than in person and  by 1:30, I’ve worked 5 hours without a break. 

Live at Bar 9

I take a walk, read the paper and then go to be a featured performer as part of Bar 9’s “Summer Series.” My first performance in front of real, live people in 41/2 months. At a place I played regularly on Sunday nights but now in this makeshift outdoor cafe on the sidewalk and parking lane cleared for construction. I’m amazed at how nervous I feel not being in front  of a screen. I’m dropping lyrics, but then when it’s your own music, they don’t know, just recover and keep going. In the end, my “Open Mic Lament”, which I first played here, wins the day. I even have a request for a download card. And one of the servers remembers me from BC days. (Before Corona.) I made it through. One step back. But I'm beginning to think there is no “back,”  just a new place ahead we don’t know yet until we get there, creating it as we go. 

Meanwhile, we’re collecting word of mouth rumors as to where real live music might be happening. The word passes, from one to another. 

13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”

16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.

18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Living in coronavirusworld 101: Tomorrow is the 4th

7/3

I'm ready

 Day spent mainly cleaning up all the leftover work from weeks buried in my Presbyterian world.

How we live now

Double Dutch

Outside…I see a truck load of Amazon packages being delivered. How we live now. The Double Dutch coffee shop is back with its clever art. 

welcome back  egret

The egret has returned.

The crap shooters, dice rollers are back.

After Hamilton, I sop by for the final moments of the West Park Open Mic. Play “Blue Eyes….” So Krisitna can sing with me. After another round, finish with RL’s “Stay Awhile….”

Tomorrow is the 4th.

Bread of Life

8/12

Gott ist die liebe

 A straight ride up the 2 train to the Williamsbridge  neighborhood  of the  Bronx. Back to St. Peter's Lutheran Church. I continue to be intrigued by this church. By the fading German  letters above the door declaring Gott ist die liebe...God is love.  There are German words inside too.  There must have been a German population here once although the official history seems to be Jewish and Italian. And many of the current membership have roots in Africa and the Caribbean, especially Jamaica. And I would still love to know how they got  a full immersion baptistry pool.

The beginning of the service with its praise songs led by a Ghanian feels almost separate from the traditional Lutheran liturgy. But soon enough it is time for my sermon, even as I feel I'm losing my voice.....

Ready to preach

Good morning.  Its good to be back again. We're getting into that deep part of summer. When the city feels so quiet. It's a time to enjoy the city in ways we normally can't. Last night, for example, I went to Outdoors at Lincoln Center's Americana Festival. The featured performer of the night was Mavis Staples. Not sure how many here know her but the Staples Family Singers first hit the stage 68 years ago. And now Mavis keeps that legacy alive. Her music takes us through decades of freedom riders and civil rights marches and protests and back to a today that has many of us uneasy and concerned. But when she lifts up her voice and sings, "I'll take you there," there's something transporting. Uplifting. Healing. And sustaining. 

I know a place
Ain't nobody cryin', ain't nobody worried
Ain't no smilin' faces, mmm, naw, naw
Lyin' to the races
I'll take you there......

Reaches though decades of struggle to touch us today...

I'm thinking about what keeps us going. What keeps us going. I keep hearing Jesus say over and over again, he is the bread of life. There's lots more that's kind of convoluted and hard to follow and doctrinally complex, but this is pretty straight forward. 

Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."

Hmmmmm.  What's that mean?  I mean there's lots of literal hunger out there....

There's a lot of hunger out there..the figures are harsh...
1.2 million New Yorkers live in food vulnerabiity...42% of our citizens don't have enough income to meet basic needs...(how are you doin?)
41 Million Americans are hungry
769 Million world wide are without adequate food(Feeding America/New York Times)

At the same time, each of us Americans are estimated to waste between 300 and 360 pounds of food a year, that's 165 billion pounds...(Christian Science Monitor) 
So that's actual literal hunger.  But there's lots of other hungers around the world as well...

I'm asking myself what does hunger feel like? Have any of us here ever felt hunger? For food itself......?

But what of other kinds of hungers?  What gnaws at us? Drives us...Some of us here had a hunger for a better life...for political reasons...or economic reasons...which are no less political....and so we left our home and came here to New York City, to the Bronx....to begin anew...has our hunger been satisfied?

What hunger stays with us? And what does Jesus mean he is the bread of life? Does Jesus feed those who are literally hungry? Well it was just a few weeks ago that Jesus facilitated the feeding of 5000 hungry people. And remember what he said to his disciples, You feed them...No magic tricks, rabbits out of hats, sandwiches out of thin air. He says, Start with what you've got. See what happens next. 

I am the bread of life....hmmm....what does he want us to do?  I thunk there's two sides to this. Maybe one is to believe. To make a commitment to believe in Jesus. (Have you already done that? If you can imagine it, you can understand that...) You, in a sense, bring him inside of you to travel with you, to sustain you, guide you...

But if the believing part is hard, there's another way to the bread of life. I'd call it following. See where he's going and follow along. When he says 'You feed them," well you feed then and soon you will be fed as well as you enter into an ongoing relationship of participation in the presence. 

Might I  add that this means being able to be explicit and concrete about your hungers. You  must be able to name them, if you want Jesus to respond to them. 

I want you to notice one other reality here. The neighbors question Jesus' authenticity because they  know him. They know his family. He's spent the last 30 years among them as a should have  been married by now singe guy working in his father's shop. Bread from heaven, seriously?

Point being...there may be within your community one with special gifts who can help in the feeding of God's children. Especially as we share Eucharist this morning. The reformer Zwingli believed it was not the bread and wine that was transformed but the people who share it.
As we share the one loaf, the one cup, the bread of heaven, let us be open to allowing ourselves to become that sustaining bread for others. Together as the body of the risen Christ

In the sharing of Eucharist, they use traditional thin wafers but use the small individual cups I always associated with lower liturgical traditions. (Like the folks at Beverley) For health reasons they say. 

After the service, we go downstairs for lunch. (Like Beverley again.) But the one white man in the congregation stays behind, plays the organ.

Downstairs, we talk.  When I touch that setting, it's just like Radio City Music Hall, he says. He sees what's going on in the world today as "Biblical prophecy." He's been here over 40 years, and still misses the former pastor, who layed hands on him and healed him. 

There are other conversations. About the class issues of who has teeth and who does not. And answered prayers for parking spaces. It is a good lunch. 




Gospel John 6:35, 41-51

35Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."

41Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." 42They were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" 43Jesus answered them, "Do not complain among yourselves. 44No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. 45It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. 46Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

Open Choir ...and questions

7/23

Open Choir

Jeremy G and Lloyd are in working out details for tonight’s  Open Choir and screening.

I’m having a conversation with Thomas B who conducted the orchestra for Milica’s Composers’ Concordance (http://www.composersconcordance.com/) festival last year at West-Park. He’s coming  back to the city, looking for work, community. Another outlaw musician as it were. I wish I had a large enough congregation or….I’ll think about this. Must be a way to work him into this.

TK is working with Marc on sound for the Hiroshima event. RL’s asking questions, looking for answers. Too much going on at the same time.

The Open Center’s Open Choir is in session. At least 40 people in a circle, singing songs from the African-American church tradition. It is Christian music, but non –sectarian, the singing transcending boundaries. Katherine calls it a contained ecstatic experience without context, but nevertheless, something is happening.

There is a screening of Action at Aya Irini, a performance by Mario and the Work Center outside of Istanbul in an abandoned basilica. An extended performance of a text from the Gospel of Thomas in Coptic, which they translated themselves. Dance, song, theatre, performance.

The music is set to a sampling of these texts:.

1. And he said, "Whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death."

2. Jesus said, "Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all. [And after they have reigned they will rest.]"

3. Jesus said, "If your leaders say to you, 'Look, the (Father's) kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the (Father's) kingdom is within you and it is outside you.

When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you live in poverty, and you are the poverty."

4. Jesus said, "The person old in days won't hesitate to ask a little child seven days old about the place of life, and that person will live.

For many of the first will be last, and will become a single one."

5. Jesus said, "Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you.

For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed. [And there is nothing buried that will not be raised.]"

After all, there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and there is nothing covered up that will remain undisclosed."

Jesus said, "Have you found the beginning, then, that you are looking for the end? You see, the end will be where the beginning is.

Congratulations to the one who stands at the beginning: that one will know the end and will not taste death."

19. Jesus said, "Congratulations to the one who came into being before coming into being.

22. Jesus saw some babies nursing. He said to his disciples, "These nursing babies are like those who enter the (Father's) kingdom."

They said to him, "Then shall we enter the (Father's) kingdom as babies?"

Jesus said to them, "When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner, and the upper like the lower, and when you make male and female into a single one, so that the male will not be male nor the female be female, when you make eyes in place of an eye, a hand in place of a hand, a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then you will enter [the kingdom]."

But meanwhile they are drunk. When they shake off their wine, then they will change their ways."

They said, "Otherwise he can't do it."

106. Jesus said, "When you make the two into one, you will become children of Adam, and when you say, 'Mountain, move from here!' it will move."

That Thomas again, coming from that other place. The other Christianity we are only now discovering. It’s a moving film. Except that the projector keeps overheating and stopping.

But I keep pondering. What is the connection? How does this work connect to building a new church? How does this become a community of mutual commitment? Accountability? Service? Maybe we’ll get close to that tomorrow night in our conversation. Bug the question continues to burn inside of me.

Visit RL to hear about a hard week. Talk turns to Fred Neil. Songwriter. Lover of dolphins. Best known for Everybody’s Talkin at Me from Midnight Cowboy. RL introduces me to A little bit of rain…(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYl5v5OV_y8)

As I leave, Marc is in the sanctuary screening  an old movie about Frank Sinatra…projector seems fine….

I ain't afraid a no ghosts

10/31

My jack'o'lantern

Halloween. Been seeing people in costumes for about a week now. But today it gets serious. 

Three people come in looking to start a day care center. The preaching man in the pork pie hat is out talking to the building again and Marty is back to not talking to anyone at all.

RL

RL comes in with his costume, but is it really a costume? All in black, wearing  a duster like a long rider and his reservation police badge and a gun in a holster at his side. He demonstrates his quick draw spins his pistol and back into the holster. Relieved to find out it was a prop gun from a western movie he was once in.  What follows is a good yarn about a relationship with Mel Torme went south when RL revealed his preference for Remingtons and Torme replied, I’m a Colt man. 

Our neighbor Jen arrives with six large bags of candy. Soon neighbors Susan and Lisa (from Friends of West-Park) arrive. Together we will stand outside the church and pass out treats to passing trick ors.  I love the passing parade of people, children from the neighborhood. Parents. I take the smaller pumpkin and carve the most simple of jack’o’lantern faces. Just had to. Wouldn’t feel like Halloween unless I did. 

Jen and a very scary Green Monster  and a Raggedy Ann

My helpers are also passing out treats to adults passing by and people getting off the bus. The smiles we get back are well worth it. In a couple of hours, the candy is  mostly all gone. I take what’s left over and leave it for the flamenco students.

I’m pondering how the church attempted to take over the Celtic holiday of samhain and tame it, turn it into part of a religious event honoring saints and souls, making the night before All Hallows’ Evening, ergo Halloween. But somehow those like Christmas and Easter and every other attempt to colonize and eradicate the true old time religion, those pagan roots are strong and always show through. The merriment we see around us is the fun in putting on, taking the freedom to be something /someone else while simultaneously poking fun at what we fear. Laughing in it’s face. I ain’t afraid a no ghosts….

Trick or treaters

Lisa and Susan

Churches who try to make it an evil event or turn it into something else unwittingly only honor the darkness and grant it power.  Our ancestors knew…facing it and laughing is the only way to take away its power.

Time to walk with my longrider friend to the Gate and see what kind of collection of spirits are there.

Dead eye