Living in coronavirusworld: Holding on

 1/14

Harlem Meer

Tulsa Ice Oilers

This morning I’m wearing a hat and sweater form the 1933 Tulsa Ice Oilers hockey team. Mainly in recognition of Tulsa as a treasure house of Art Deco. Because the oil barons who built the city wanted the best and most up to  to date. Including the Boston Avenue Church, the Radio City Music Hall of churches. (For real.)

It’s hard to realize that only one week ago was the siege of the capitol. One of the collateral damage stories is of the sequestered congress people stuck together in a small room with Republicans refusing to wear masks. And now several colleagues have tested positive for Covid. It’s criminal. Like unprotected sex with undisclosed AIDS. These people should be removed from office. We are now in the 10th month of coronavirusworld. 

We speak of many things:

*the “zero vs, the infinite” as in rioters transferring “power” to Trump…they think they are superior than they know that the are not..

* Watching the siege on the capitol, we’re all called to self-examination, asking when we may have felt  the same, even acted the same. Discernment is truly important. When I say it seems to me that many there who "truly believe…,”  Steve P stops me because “true belief” is not a valid category in the conversation. “Blind faith..”is not a valid reason for action. Are there no villains, but a lot of victims? 

* Symbolic vs. instrumental values. 

* Is it about me forever, or loving your neighbors, even enemies?

Steve P thinks we need to remind those Christians who so passionately follow Trump that they have forgotten their religion, That they have entered into a space where disagreement is self-excommunication.  We debate to what extent Christian language and imagery still shapes the American narrative. Dre maintains that for many millennials, that’s over. I noted that in my experience with Occupy, even though they were militantly anti-religious, Christian imagery still filled their poetry and songs. And I also argue that there is something archetypal about the Jesus story that transcends culture. 

We all are filled with uncertainty as to what happens next.

                                                                                         ****

In reflecting on the year ahead, the leadership of New York City Presbytery must deal with the loss of over 600 members last year, including over 500 from just two “tall steeple” Manhattan churches. And currently with 87 sanctuaries, some 30 churches have no pastoral leadership. On the other hand, attendance for many of the virtual services outnumbers previous live ones.

1/15

Our Sabeel conversation focuses on Baptism. Our vows to participate in fellowship, communion and breaking bread. And to resist evil and proclaim the good news, loving neighbor and pursuing justice, and peace. Which we commit to “with God’s help.” Omar want to know if it’s more than “signs in a restaurant,” do we really take it seriously, is there Christian accountability?

I speak of the need to beyond the traditional idea of baptism as a kind of “spiritual inoculation” to keep babies out of limbo and more of a community commitment. We cannot live the Christian life without community. 

It is pointed out that in our tradition, new members are baptized as part of the Easter vigil, symbolizing that as Christians we share in Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.

                                                                                 ****

on Harlem Meer

Walking through Central Park, I see a goose land on the wet ice of the Harlem Meer, his webbed feet skittering and wings flappier as he tries to find equilibrium. I look t tom and say, “Yeah, that’s what stating this year feels like…”

In Morningside Park, I see no life. No ducks,. No geese. No turtles. Like Holden Caulfield (in Catcher in the Rye) I wonder where they go. 

Along 118th street, anti-trump signs remain.

anti-Trumo signs

no Black vax

The ATLAH church encouraging Black people NOT to take the vaccine .”Remember Tuskegee” The evil use of black prisoners for medical research haunts us still…

a tree remains

Christmas trees remain in the parks.                                In normal years I find lingering Christmas decorations annoying, at least. Not this year. I never really felt fully embraced by Christmas this year. Just like everything seems to exist in a hazy place somewhere between virtual and real.I still feel comforted by those lights. I can hold on a little longer. 

Baptism of Jesus Sunday 2016

Sermon

1/10/16

Jesus' Baptism by Angelo Romano

It’s Baptism Sunday. And because our 600 pound late Victorian Baptismal font is in the Chapel, due to Antigona in the Sanctuary, we will worship there this morning. Dion is there when I arrive, getting everything ready. And John Roggie will be our musician. A young couple with a 2 month old named Jack is visiting.

We’ll share a lot of good Baptism songs today, like Take Me to the Water, and Baptized in Water, and of course, When I Went Down to the River to Pray. We read Isaiah 43: 1-7 and Psalm 29 and Luke 3: 15-17 and 19-22, the story of Jesus’ Baptism.

I ask everyone how many remember their baptism. About a third received adult baptism. Including one by full immersion  in a baptistery in public.

So we’re talking about Baptism. In Isaiah, we’re told that God calls us by name…..you could say that it is at baptism , when you receive your name, , is when YOU become YOU so to  speak.

I’m wearing today my father’s watch. My mom told my sister she wanted to give it to one of the boys someday, and my sister said, Do you know how old the boys are?  So my mom gave o tot me for Christmas.  Baptism was really important to my dad. SO it was really special when he was so pleased at the bris (Jewish circumcision /naming ceremony) when my son received his name.  My Dad said, ..at least he’s not a nameless waif… a blessing had been invoked, a name given, our friends and family celebrated.

At Baptism we receive our Christian name…..we only baptize using the  first (and second) name….Our last name is shared by family, but the first and second names, those are unique to us, make us who we are.

We sometimes used to say Christening as an alternative word for baptism pointing to being dedicated to Christ and also the receiving of our Christian name.

Isaiah speaks of redemption . In the Old Testament, it related to debt, to debts owed. Your redeemer was the one who paid your debt, thus setting you free. The pawn bought back to its original owner.

Isaiah also says Do not fear….a common theme, like the angels in the Christmas story. Do not fear…

So we have water baptism ….and by fire…the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Of the three basic elements, Sun, air and water…does everything need all? No…creatures can live without sun or without air (in the water) but no creature can live without water. Water is primordial…it’s where life begins…and we ourselves are 98% water.

By tradition, water was Chaos…God brings order out of chaos. …Defeats Tiamat  of the Babylonian creation story. But Tiamat, chaos is always there…as my friend Pastor Heidi…of Trinity Lutheran likes to say.

In Luke, John speaks of  Jesus coming to separate the wheat from the  chaff…..separating out…we have come to see this not only in the individual but  in the communal sense as well.  At the end of the day, we are both. We have both within us and Jesus comes to burn the chaff part out of us.

But there is a communal issue as well. The question always arises, so Why Jesus? If Jesus was sinless, why did  he need to be baptized? I’m not going to get into “sinless” discussion. The story of Jesus in the Temple spoke of him as needing to grow in wisdom and stature, even as normal children do.

At any rate, some commentators see this as Jesus’ commitment to be in solidarity with humanity. In the middle verses, before Jesus’ baptism, we find John in prison…SO Jesus in essence picks up John’s mantle…To understand this, you have to understand John.  He left security of the Temple world where his father was an official. The center of Jewish religious power living in collaboration with the Empire.

John’s baptism was an act of  protest/judgment against temple system, a call to come out from empire…So after Jesus lived within the system for 30 years, he had to COME OUT too. Separate  his life from the power of the Empire to where only God the creator has authority. Baptism is a public witness to that authority.

           

So what does it mean for us? First we are called to answer and demonstrate the question of what authority is primary. We need to understand that if  Jesus is our redeemer, in the time of Jubilee, all debts to empire cancelled…

Hear this…and know this…YOU are God’s child…in YOU God is well pleased…you have your own name, you have your own ministry…name it, claim it and live it…

AMEN

After our prayers, I lead evryone to the baptismal font. Tell the story of its florid Tiffany design. The uncommon  water lily, lotus motif rising from the waters of chaos, rippled by the breath of the Holy Spirit.  How the lid disappeared during Occupy and how a very special mother, Sheryl Jaffe, made us a new ceramic cover. How the one on the other is a metaphor for who we are.

I say the Thanksgiving over water. Pour drops of Jordan River water in.  And invite every one to come up for laying on of hands and a blessing. I remember doing that for so many years with Katherine and how I felt the first time I did it alone.

We have our benediction. Sing Amen. And go out into the world….

FIRST READING ISAIAH 43:1-7

¹But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob,

he who formed you, O Israel:

Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name, you are mine.

²When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you.

³For I am the LORD your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

I give Egypt as your ransom,

Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you.

⁴Because you are precious in my sight,

and honored, and I love you,

I give people in return for you,

nations in exchange for your life.

⁵Do not fear, for I am with you;

I will bring your offspring from the east,

and from the west I will gather you;

⁶I will say to the north, "Give them up,"

and to the south, "Do not withhold;

bring my sons from far away

and my daughters from the end of the earth —

⁷everyone who is called by my name,

whom I created for my glory,

whom I formed and made."

PSALM PSALM 29

¹Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings,

ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

²Ascribe to the LORD the glory of his name;

worship the LORD in holy splendor.

³The voice of the LORD is over the waters;

the God of glory thunders,

the LORD, over mighty waters.

⁴The voice of the LORD is powerful;

the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.

⁵The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;

the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.

⁶He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,

and Sirion like a young wild ox.

⁷The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire.

⁸The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness;

the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

⁹The voice of the LORD causes the oaks to whirl,

and strips the forest bare; and in his temple all say, "Glory!"

¹⁰The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;

the LORD sits enthroned as king for ever.

¹¹May the LORD give strength to his people!

May the LORD bless his people with peace!

GOSPEL LUKE 3:15-17, 21-22

¹⁵As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, ¹⁶John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

²¹Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, ²²and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

It was a beautiful Sunday

3/29

Sabrina, Stephen, Jamie, Brandon, Camille and Pastor Brashear

The winter seems to be passing. At last. Palms cover the steps of West-Park. (And in the sharing of palms we share the commemoration of Christ’s passion with our friends from Advent Lutheran and their pastor Elise.) People who look like they’ve wandered in from a mid-European shtetl or even the Warsaw ghetto are on the steps, saying shalom, passing out palms to those who enter, those who pass by.

Inside, once again, our friends from Theatre Dzieci will lead us through an experience of Matthew’s Passion in what has become an annual tradition. As the scroll is unwrapped and the strains of hinay ma tov umanayim begin to unfold, it has the feel of a story passed on within a community. A story of and in community. We are reminded of course that the story began as a Jewish story, but through the lens of the particular we view the universal. Thus the Yeshua character is not only a community member remembered and loved but a universal figure of  redemptive (we hope) suffering. The feeling  that this story has been told over and over again affirms a sense of redemption without being explicit.

The Passion

On a deeper level, the shifting of characters is a classic expression of reformed theology. We are all the maschiach. And we are all the betrayer Judas. The impulsive and cowardly Peter. The empire collaborating religious establishment and the closest of friends. As in any good parable, we are all the characters. Who can live through the most profound losses and still go on, even with an undetermined future. The gathered community exits the sanctuary with an affirming sense of hope. The sanctuary is hushed and silent.

Theatre Dzieci

But this Palm/Passion Sunday is different. For there is something to celebrate as well. The baptism of Brandon Manuel Ayala, son of  Jamie and Camille Padilla Ayala. Grandson of Luis and Alma.  This is our first baptism in three years and this marks five generations of this family in our church. Luis was one of the rocks who led our return from exile. Good to see him back.

Elder Samantha presents Brandon for baptism. Deacon Stephen and Sabrina are the godparents. Jeremy leads us into the ceremony with take me to the water. And later Baptized in water, to the tune of Morning has broken. The right questions are asked. And answered. Dion and Deacon John hold the Occupy Font. I will bless the water and add in drops of the Jordan River water Pastor Alistair brought back to us from his Holy Land trip. Brandon will screw up his brow and look at me quizzically as I touch his head with water. The people applaud. We gather in a circle. Sing Amen. Which little Xavier loves. And wish each other peace. It’s been a beautiful Sunday.

                                                       * * * *

The Koreans are coming in soon. They had  a big gathering Friday night. This morning one of the counter guys at Greengrass said, What was happening Friday night? Saw lots of our people…

Baptism of Jesus Sunday: Wade in the water..

1/11

Freezing cold.  It’s Baptism Sunday. Remembering the baptism of  Jesus. And our own.  Time to bring our baptismal font out front and center. Late Victoriana Tiffany. Lotus blossoms, water lilies arising out of the waters of chaos. (Our ancestors were already stepping outside  the circle with the Buddhist symbols.) Lid missing during Occupy. FOX news spreads a simplistic story around the world. (Literally). The new ceramic lid made my Cheryl Jaffe whose son Dan , now a chef in Coorado, was one of our occupier alumni. That’s us in a nutshell,classic Tiffany topped by contemporary ceramic.

Our baptismal font

I begin with a proclamation from the opening words of the Bible:

¹In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, ²the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. ³Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. ⁴And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Then we sing the traditional   Morning Has Broken and after the greetings, Take me to the water. Jeremy has prepared a response to the Psalm 29, Glory.Glory. Glory. After we read the story of Jesus’ baptism in  Mark 1: 4-11, we do Wade in the Water as our musical reflection, and then it’s time for our reflection.

^{I ask Who here remembers their baptism?Only Dion. Baptized as an adult. By full immersion. His Journey church has a mobile baptistery, he says.}

^{So we have three questions:}

                  ^{What was Baptism?}

 What is Baptism?

                  ^{So what?}

^{First, what was baptism? We’ve got John tbe Baptist out in the wilderness. He was, according to scripture, the child of Zechariah and Elizabeth.  Cousin of Jesus. Father a priest in the temple. He was a tall steeple preacher’s kid. Like 5th Avenue Presbyterian. Or Riverside, someone says.  You might say the table was set for him. But instead, he goes out to the desert and dresses like  Elijah. Or the life of a nazarite. or Essene.  He’s living a strict, countercultural life.}

^{In Judaism, thee is a bath called a mikvah. For ritual cleansing, And conversion.  John is making a declaration through ritual. He is saying that the current religious establishment (including his father?) Is so corrupt that everyone needs to be converted all over again or at least cleansed. The judgment Is not against the people, but against the institution. (Although by implication, if the people are within the Temple system, they too, are corrupted. And  therefore sinners…}

 ^{So why did Jesus have to be baptized?  If this season has been about incarnation,}

God alive in human flesh, God in the

^{midst of humanity, in the midst of us. And Jesus’ baptism is a sign and symbol a sign of of solidarity, his} 

complete and total solidarity with humanity.

^{What is baptism? There a re two kinds, infant and adult.  Infant, in our culture, is emotionally experienced as a spiritual inoculation. Our tradition baptises infants because we believe that  our salvation comes from God and is a gift, not earned or an act of will,}

^{It is also a sign of community responsibility. (We didn’t used to have godparents, but now we do…if everyone is, nobody is…so our new Book of Common  Worship recognizes that.)}

^{If a non-baptized adult wishes to join, recognizing a choice, a conscious decision, we baptize adults. But it happens once and once only and our various historic traditions mutually recognize our baptisms…as long as they are done in the name of the father, son, and holy spirit.}

^{So what? It is in baptism that Jesus receives his ministry. As he comes out of the water, there is a voice….and in Mark, only he hears the voice …saying you are my son, my beloved .in you I am well pleased…(1:11)}

^{And baptism is where you receive your ministry…these words are intended for you:}

You are my child the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.

 For you…so say this:

I am a child of God

I am beloved

In me, God is well pleased

Believe it.  Now the work begins.

Then Jeremy and I sing the old song made famous by the Blind Boys of Alabama, He Gave Me Water.

Singing with Jeremy

After our prayers and offerings, I say the words of Thanksgiving  over the water:

We give you thanks, O God, for you nourish and sustain all living things by the gift of water. In the beginning of time, your Spirit moved over the watery chaos, calling forth life itself. 

You led the people of God out of slavery, through the waters of the sea, into the freedom of the promised land. 

In the waters of Jordan Jesus was baptized by John and filled with your Spirit which gives life to all. 

We thank you, O God, for the water of baptism. Through it we cleansed of our sins and reminded that all good things come from God, especially the gift of life. 

The minister may touch the water. 

Send your Spirit to move over this water as it did on the day creation, that we each may fully share in the creative and life giving power and Spirit of God. 

And I invite each one to come up, to touch the water, and then I lay hands on them and give each a personal blessing.

A blessing for  Dion

That used to be Katherine’s specialty. It used to frighten me. But no more.

And one for Russ

And finally we sing Down to the River to Pray, like out of the movie, O brothers

I spend time talking with Amber Lee who has come back to visit us from Toronto again.

Late in the day, I come back from seeing Noche’s Antigona. The Francophone African church

Is preparing for their service. The deep sounds of song echoing in the empty sanctuary like a voice echoing over the waters. 

(Videos for most music in yesterday's post. Many thanks it AnnaYamada for photographs)