Living in cornavirusworld 225: Connections. Relationships. Converations.

 12/8

Deep fall in Central Park

Participate in my friend Dre’s “Twenty Human Questions” project. He’s ultimately trying to find places where real conversation might take place. Some examples are: Three most important issues? Climate change and caring  for creation. Income inequality. Systemic racism. We also talk about the necessity of respecting each person’s dignity. And that failure  to do so is often at the root of violence. I wondered what kind of answers he might get at a bar in Staten Island. Dre has picked up one of the basic building blocks of organizing,  namely intentional conversation. 

Central Park foliage

schoolyard sculpture

tiny plastic houses

Take a walk through Central Park. Notice the deep fall look to the foliage. On 111th I notice for the first time a strange set of sculptures in the school yard. Small plastic houses are starting to appear in front of restaurant around the neighborhood. Like each table will have its own tiny house. 

I join my friend Russ in a ZOOM conversation called “Drinking Religiously.” It’s normally held at the 4 Saints Brewery in Asheboro, North Carolina. Started  and hosted by the duo who do the podcast entitled “A Jew and a Christian walk into a Bar….Mitzvah.” A fascinating show which explores theology and detailed reviews of cigars. I met them at the annual Wild Goose Festival in Hot Springs, North Carolina in the Smokies.  Said to be a combination of Burning Man and church camp. Thanks to ZOOM their virtual table can extend from Carolina all the way to California. In light of new Covid spikes, we’re talking a lot about breath. And God breathing into our lives. And how we can’t take breath for granted. One of the simplest things I’ve begun to become very aware of as I deal with late onset asthma. Every breath we take has the presence of the Holy Spirit. For which we must be thankful. (https://charlesandchris.net/)

I’m back at Moe Geffner’s “Inspired Word” virtual open mic after my failure last week. I had to come back and try again. I start with “You’ve got to  hide your love away,” sounds a little like my take on Dylan doing Lennon doing Dylan. In recognition of the 40th anniversary of John Lennon’s assassination. One of the two or three artists who most affected my life. (

                                                                       "....Hide Your Love Away..."
 

then follow with my own song that I blanked on last week. And I do it. Redemption. 

                                                                        " Get Over You" 

12/9

Day starts off bad as I oversleep and miss the weekly Undergound ZOOM. And nothing goes well the rest of the day. Including lost items and falling into a health insurance rabbit hole. At some point I just have to accept it as one of those days when you just fall out of sync with the cosmos. And I realize that the cumulative effect of three deaths in three weeks is getting to me. And the depression, the sense of hopelessness takes over. So much harder to keep at bay in this never ending coronaviruswolrd. Thankfully I can accept this for myself and come back tomorrow.

Our Presbyterian Health Education and  Welfare Association continues its work of reconstructing itself. In the last month, we’ve seen three long time progressive groups go under. Part of this is generational….we who create these groups are getting older. Hell, we’re senior citizens. PHEWA is one of the few still standing and challenged by the need to pass the torch on. The fact that so may of us are on various front lines and deeply impacted by the virus keeps us going. And needed. W need to invite friends from those networks that have ended to feel welcome under our tent. Connections Relationships.Conversations.  That’s the bottomline. 

Wild Goose 3:Is it the darkness of the tomb or darkness of the womb?

7/15

The Goosecast Sign

Wild Goose 3

Awakened in the morning by the righteous sound of the Trinity UCC Choir warming up the audience for Otis Moss III.  In a passionate sermon, Moss stated clearly why All Lives Matter is a negation of Black Lives Matter. That only when Black Lives Matter can All Lives Matter. He shared a parable about how some need to smooth the path to the river so that others may enter and cross. And shared  the seldom told story of Vernon Johns, who preceded Martin Luther King, Jr at Dexter Avenue  Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama. How he had to talk his way into Oberlin Seminary and then graduated with honors. He challenged us to honor those who have gone before us…and to open the way for those who come next. 

Diana Butler Bass asked that  we consider the theological  implications of gratitude using the story of Zaccheus. She described the First Century culture in which gratitude functioned within a pyramid of privilege. In his role as a tax collector, Zaccheus had become an agent of the empire participating in the oppression of his own people. His place in the tree symbolic of his place in society. Jesus challenges Zaccheus, and thereby us, to come down from  our pyramid of privilege and join in a community of solidarity.

…….

In the Lecture Hall tent, Brian Sirchio led a conversation about the 6 Marks of Progressive Christian Worship Music (https://www.amazon.com/Marks-Progressive-Christian-Worship-Music/dp/1477249575) and his new company The Convergence Music Project. It’s an effort to move beyond praise music to music with more complex theology while seeking to draw traditional evangelicals and prophetic evangelicals into a convergence of music. For Siricho these marks include:

1. A sensitivity to peace, justice and the fullness of human experience.  The need for the Biblical genre of lament. (Rev. Vince says every worship service needs at least one break up song).
2. Inclusive language….our language matters. We live in a  time when our language reflects what we believe, true inclusion demands inclusive language. I raised the fact that we have a real lack of attention to language around disability, And that this requires us to enter into some painful areas. EG, Amazing Grace is a dearly beloved song. (You have to hear Rev. Vince sing it Blind Boys of Alabama: House of the Rising Sun style..) But it uses the language of physical infirmity as a metaphor for spiritual infirmity. (When an African-American music director said, but it’s just metaphor, the response was , Yeah, like wash me and I shall be whiter than snow..) Who has the power to control the use and meaning of metaphor is always a matter of privilege.  There is also the issue my associate Katherine spoke of when she said But I can always sing things I could never say
3. Progressive theology 
1. A focus on the good and the process of transformation
2. No personal substitutionary atonement language
3. No “only one way” language
4. No supercessionism or triumphalism

4.  Emphasis on both individual and community

Gospel calls us to community

Personal must lead to communal

5.  Emotional authenticity

Must provide psycho social meaning

Head and heart together

Make sure lyrics are deep enough to hold repetition (like Taize, e.g.)

Musically accessible

No bloody Jesus

No boyfriend Jesus

6.  Need for fresh language, lively metaphors, moving beyond didactic

Welcoming is being invited. Belonging is they miss you when you’re gone…be careful to avoid how “our” can become tribal.

It was also noted that choir singing is becoming non-normative, no longer part of our common experience. (Right here is where we need the participation of Orion Stephanie Johstone whose radical choir songs  are shaping communities of resistance..(http://stephanieryanjohnstone.com/)

…….

Meanwhile, back at the Goosecast tent, Russ

Russ Jennnings

 is ready to host his own podcast Love In a Dangerous Time with his new cohost, Kristen Leigh.

Kristren Leigh Southworth

(http://loveinadangeroustime.net/) Their first broadcast together is with Goose co-founder Jeff Clark. 

Jeff Clark

Kristen Leigh and Russ join in conversation with Jeff as he shares his journey from the burning desire for something more to the first gathering of a few dozen to today’s gathering of 3000 plus. The experience of exploring uncharted territory. He reminds us of Sikh activist Valerie Kaur’s comment that what we are experiencing right now as a nation may not be the darkness of the tomb, but rather the darkness of the womb. Kristen Leigh ends the podcast with a song: 

We’re gonna keep on walkin’forward, never turnin’ back…

Let it be said, we appreciate Jeff’s work as MC of the

Goose MainStage…and his shameless old white guy dance…

Up next, two of my favorites, Charles Breten and Chris Henson of the podcast A Jew and a gentile walk into a bar….mitzvah.

A Jew and a gentile.....

Their show is a unique blend of theology, sardonic humor, detailed cigar critique and exploration of the human condition. ( Feels a bit like a  theological Car Talk…) Part of the power of their podcast comes from a personal relationship begun with a mutual appreciation of humor in a steam bath and a profound shared experience of depression. Part of their mission is to bring the conversation about depression out of the shadows and into the light to take away stigma and allow others to know they are not alone. Through the clouds of fine cigar smoke, the love…and intelligence…shine through.

Then Goosecast Happy hour continues with Pub Theology’s Bryan Berghoef and friend and special surprise guest emergent church guru Bryan McLaren.

Pub Theology

Its an interesting conversation. One guest speaks of the importance of Rotary Club in his life. The idea of Service above self. And I remember how seriously my father took the Four way test…applied to everything we think or do:

1. Is it the truth?

2. Is it fair to all concerned?

3. Will it build goodwill and better friendships?

4. Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

      Bryan McLaren recalls that Phyllis Tickle has said that every 500 years we need to reset the table every 500 years. And that earlier today, Otis Moss had said that we need o let what is dying die and what is dying is whiteness.

We are in a process of ongoing co-creation with the creator. That we need rituals to release the hurt done to us. And that Baptism is an entry into a mission of shared humanity.

( I later said to Bryan that this was the answer to the question as to why Jesus was baptized. An ultimate expression of his solidarity with humanity, his oneness with humanity in every aspect of life. )

Someone asks "If you had it to do over again would you?" The answer was not easy.

Russ, Bob and Kristen Leigh

…..

The evening saw the introduction of side stages where there were performances during stage resets. Molly(formerly of Me & Molly) Stevens (http://www.meandmollymusic.com/ )played a set of classic Nashville Country. Former Christian music (I still find that an odd term…what about Bach? Mozart?) Jennifer Knapp talks about her journey and the process of coming out and  shares her music.(https://www.facebook.com/JenniferKnappMusic/) Methodist pastor Sherry Cothran has her own solo set(https://sherrycothran.wordpress.com/) and the night ends with the big sound of John Mark McMillan, including a Springsteen cover with his originals. (http://www.johnmarkmcmillan.com/)

The music slowly fades. Beer & hymns comes and goes. Our conversation continues. From music to the Nicaean Creed and feminist virgins. Another day at the Goose comes to an end….