Living in Coronavirusworld 152: Open Hearts

8/29

Neighbors

The threat of rain hovers over the day but aside from a few raindrops early afternoon, never happens.

Go to the farmers’ market at Morningside Park. Fresh ground family farmed Colombian coffee.  But to drink a cup, you have to “Step outside of the market.” Because no unmasked people allowed. 

at the Lucerene

'"Hope"

Housing Justice is racial justice

community support

Housing justice

Black lives matter

'Homeless can't stay home"

Open Hearts organizers

Walking to the Lucerne Hotel to join’s rally in support of homeless residents of the hotel.  Fredrick Douglass at the entrance to the Historical Society’s “…Hope…” exhibit.  

Hope wanted

Fredrick Douglass

A crowd has gathered at get Lucerne. Chalked messages of support on the sidewalk. Signs linking Black Lives Matter and housing justice.The event has been organized by Open Hearts Upper West Side, an organic grassroots effort of supportive neighbors. My friend Larry Wood of Goddard-Riverside speaks of their efforts to create a day space for residents to hang out in an enclosed patio of a currently unused, due to covid19,  Senior Center. 

Larry Wood speaks

When Larry rejoins me, a man comes over and begins to argue  with him about people destroying the neighborhood. Crazy people. Drug addicts. Larry reponds and also talks about the need for safe needle exchange sites. The man says, “Are you a radical Jew?” Larry looks at him in disbelief. “Are you. Jew?” Larry says, “Actually Episcopalian.” I step back, not wanting any part of the conversation. The man recognizes me and talks about “Twenty people shooting up” at West Park. I tell him “I haven’t seen that,” then see two people I recognize and excuse myself. Larry continues the conversation. 

My friends are long time neighborhood residents. They tell me in this virus world, they basically stay home except for grocery store trips and walks to the park. They saw a crowd and assumed it was “NIMBYs,” i.e. “Not in my backyard” They were moved to see it was a neighborhood support group.  I see my friend Pastor K from the church where we served meals  to the women’s shelter once a month. In BC time. K tells me most that most of his people are supportive. They are looking to join another church in supporting the hotel around the block from them. Just up the street from West Park. 

a resident speaks

Several resident speak, telling their stories. One lost his apartment wen the city ended its rent subsidy program. In the city’s upside down policy, it  pays over 3 times the cost of his subsidy to keep him on one bed in a shelter instead an apartment.  Another speaks of his recovery from addiction. Another his desire to get a job and  be back on his own.  My friend Marc Greenberg of the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and  Housing is here  to promote programs to assist people in reentering society. Which the Assembly has done, year after year.  Some people are getting ready to distribute baga of food to those who might be in need. 

Pastor K and Marc

Rabbi Steve comes from across the street where people from “the anti-side” are filming the rally with their cell phones. We talk with K and Marc.  

Rabbi Steve and I 

He offers to treat  me to a gelato. We go around the corner, enjoying the vibe of the outdoor cafes, sparkling lights in the early evening cool. I share my worry that when I watch Fox News, I realize the depth of the President’s support and fear his reelection. 

There are violent confrontations in Kenosha and Portland. 66 days to go.

Housing Our Future:Now

10/25

It was a beautiful day for a march. Though it felt a bit more like Thanksgiving than Halloween. Crisp fall air. And sun. We gathered at 86th Street and Second Avenue to march to Gracie Mansion, Mayor Di Blasio's home. The march was in support of the "House Our Future" campaign...a call for 30,000 new homes. The point was obvious, I think. The mayor  has his home. A lot of New Yorkers don't.

A crowd that would grow to 250-300 or so is gathering. Marc Greenberg, Director of the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing (which I chair), asks me to help hold our banner.

Bob Brashear and Marc Greenberg with the banner

"Looks like a good crowd," he says. His broad smile reminds me that this is what Marc lives for. The gathering  of people, the marching, the chanting, the never ending struggle for housing justice that he has remained faithful to for decades.

The housing crisis which blossomed under Bloomberg has only worsened under Di Blasio. We now have record numbers of homeless, approaching 61,000. One third of those are working poor. Ten percent of city school children are homeless. It is scandalous. More so because Di Blasio campaigned as a progressive, promising 30,000 units, a promise yet to be delivered. (In more ways than one, Mayor Di Blasio, not unlike President Obama, came into office with a strong progressive base. And instead of using that base for truly progressive change has instead fallen into more traditional liberalism. Sad because the base is there...)

The march winds down 86th to East End. What do we want?Housing. When do we want it? Now. If we don't get it...shut it down..Hey, hey, 30K...and more chants. The crowd gathers.

In the crowd

A bombastic heckler is barely heard. There are homeless people working people, faith community people. People sharing their own stories. What will it take to be heard?

The Interfaith Assembly has been faithful to this witness since the "Kochville" occupation of City Hall Park thirty years ago in 1988. (See John Jiler's Sleeping With the Mayor ....https://www.amazon.com/Sleeping-Mayor-Story-John-Jiler/dp/1886913145.) Founded by a faith community trio of steadfast witnesses Marshall Meyer, Dan Berrigan and my predecessor, Bob Davidson, Marc has led the IAHH through these many years. There would be no better way to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Kochville than action on the 30000 badly needed homes.

Being there for Mohamed Bah

6/30

Mohamed Bah was a 28 year old immigrant from Guinea. A cab driver. A student. A  devout Muslim. A Harlem neighbor. And a son. His smother was concerned about him and called for emergency medical assistance. She got police instead. And Mohamed was shot dead. The story the police told was simple enough. As usual, they were quickly exonerated 

But aa the case has been examined and studied, stories have unravelled, key pieces of evidence “disappeared” and a critical gun shot, when Mohamed was already incapacitated, came not from below, as in defense, but from above as an execution. Finally, five years later, hearings have begun. In Federal court. 

Part of the tragedy is that these events have become so common, details of any individual case are hard to keep track of. There are almost too many to protest. But there is a more personal connection here. One of our colleagues, Imam Konate, was the leader of Mohamed’s spirit home. And has stood beside his mother, Hawa, throughout the long ordeal. He came to the interfaith circle of the Micah Faith Leaders Table seeking our presence.  And we have joined him in support for Mama Bah. 

To walk the streets of Harlem’s Little Africa with Imam Konate is like walking a neighborhood with my favorite Irish parish priest friend. Imam Konate nods a greeting to all he passes on the street, In the Shabazz Market, he seems to know every vendor by name. During midday prayers, the cab drivers park in a long double line in front of his mosque. Though constantly on the verge of being pushed out by the rising tide of gentrification, the Imam is part of the glue that holds this diaspora of francophone Africa together. 

The Patrick Moynihgan Federal Court House

The Federal Court building looms imposingly over Pearl Street in Lower Manhattan. After passing through the airport like security check, I’m surprised to have to surrender my phones well. It makes me feel very anxious to give it up.

I go to the 11th floor and discover the courtroom is already filled to overflowing. They are directing people to an overflow room three floors up where the proceedings are on closed circuit television. I look around the room….there are African Muslims in long flowing robes. And Imam Talib, the dean of African-American Muslim clergy. Women like Debra Almontraser, founder of the Kahlil Gibran Arab culture focus public school until hounded, harassed and harangued by the Post and its allies until the Board of Ed buckled and removed her. Leaders like housing activist Marc Greenberg and Micah’s Peter Heltzel. Other clergy of various denominations. Rev.Dr. Caryn Di Carlo, a former police officer, the passionate Bishop Ray Blanchette.

At the break time, I will see Labor-Religion’s Rabbi Michael Feinberg. And current Muslim lightning rod Linda Sarsour, Palestinian American, organizer of the Women’s march, our go between with the Justice League and the grassroots leadership of Black Lives Matter. Under unrelenting attack by FOX news and the mainstream Jewish establishment. And, sadly, death threats to herself and family. And Muslim women in their robes. The reason for their  presence here is obvious. 

And there are the ubiquitous Revolutionary Communists in their black t-shirts. Leaving aside my puzzlement around the whole “BA”(Bob Avakian) devotion deal, I am fascinated by the Rev Coms.They are always there. Always present. Perhaps that’s why Cornell West will appear with, work with, them. They are disciplined. Committed. And always there. I wish there were a progressive Christian community, not just the usual cadre of progressive clergy, but an identifiable and visible community of witness and presence that like the Rev Coms was always there. In the name of Jesus. Muslims. The progressive clergy cohort collective. And the Rev Coms. Presente. Important for the judge to know we are watching. This case will be watched. 

The wheels of justice grind slow. The day drags on, through the minute details of how the evidence came to be lost and/or damaged and/or…..Well, there was Super Storm Sandy, you know? Well, the officer in charge? Well, retired….

Will there be justice for Mohamed Bah? Even proximate justice? That remains to be seen. We will continue to bear witness. At the least, the Department of Justice has to respond to how people with mental illness are dealt with. A special investigation by the Washington Post showed at least 125 people with symptoms of mental illness killed by police in the first half of 2015. 

And so we watch. And listen. And wait……

Last Sunday after Pentecost: Man in the Mirror..what do you see?

1/31

The Open Choir worshipped with us....

Today we have our friends from the Seed group/Open Choir as special guests. They open our service. Jeremy has been working on JEREMIAH 1:4-10 and does a dramatic presentation of the text.

Soon enough, we get to the reflection.

I’ve been thinking about mirrors…do you know when you look, what you see is reversed? Or that our faces are not symmetrical? I look at kids on the subway…using their cell phones instead of compact mirrors….you know , the selfie app?

I’m thinking about Paul…as through a glass darkly….all we ever  see is a  glimpse…an almost…in part…but to be seen face to face…we want to, need to be seen…

When we first moved to the city, we didn’t know how  to respond to the many who asked us for money. So I asked Marc Greenberg…he said it’s not sop important to give money as to recognize the other’s humanity ..the need to be seen….not being seen takes your life away..makes you disappear…if we’re invisible, we’re not really here…we have to be seen, have to be heard, have to be  known… and we all deserve that…..

So when we look in the mirror, what do we see?

1 Corinthians 13 is a classic passage about love…I associate it with weddings…almost every one I do requests this passage..…

What does it ask of us?

What if it’s reference is not just for couples, but in community?

Back to Jesus. The hometown boy is back…and looking good..…people are loving it…Is not this Joseph’s son?  Wow….

Jesus can’t leave it at happy… But then... but then.... Jesus opens his mouth and gets to meddling. He starts interpreting the Scripture he has just read and he talks about Sidon and Syria, Zarephath and Naaman. He says, "God went to them, not the Israelites." And then he drops the mic. And the hometown crowd gets the point. They know those stories from 1 and 2 Kings. They get the context. They understand that Jesus isn't just talking about including outsiders in the circle of God's care; he is pronouncing judgment on the insiders who have done the excluding.

And people want to push him off the cliff…And How did he pass though the midst of them? Were they looking for someone else and didn’t recognize him? Or was it like a mirror,they saw themselves and like wow, what are we doing?

My friend Arik Ascherman of rabbis for Human Rights..was attacked by a knife wielding settler kid..inches from his chest..the kid could have killed him..Arick though maybe he had a change of heart..yet when interviewed, the young man said that he wished he would have killed Arick..

Our motivation must always  be LOVE

Abraham Joshua Heschel said that a prophet must always be motivated by love. Prophets can only speak  to a people they love.

And of course, Che said,“At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality.” 

So let us take that with us to the  primaries…

And let us look look forward to the day we see in full…

Amen…

All this  put me in mind of Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror…so I played the video..

                                                                     Man in the Mirror

We finish with more songs from the Open Choir. It has been a good morning….

My son's friends Tom and Anne from Berlin were with us…they went first to the LGBTQ Pentecostal service in our sanctuary,,,(yes you read that right…there’s a documentary film group doing a film about them…) Then our service. Then the big production Korean service.  Later that night, they tell me they are amazed at the panoply of religious experience that exists at West-Park. (Robert Orsi would be proud..[1]) But at the end of the day, they liked our service with the Open Choir best of all, even of the smallest. That made me feel good. Because they meant it.

·       [1] Robert A. Orsi, ed. (1999). Gods of the City: Religion and the American Urban Landscape. Indiana University Press.ISBN 978-0-253-21276-4.

FIRST READING JEREMIAH 1:4-10

⁴Now the word of the LORD came to me saying,

⁵"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

and before you were born I consecrated you;

I appointed you a prophet to the nations."

⁶Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy." ⁷But the LORD said to me,

"Do not say, 'I am only a boy';

for you shall go to all to whom I send you,

and you shall speak whatever I command you,

⁸Do not be afraid of them,

for I am with you to deliver you,

says the LORD."

⁹Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me,

"Now I have put my words in your mouth.

¹⁰See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,

to pluck up and to pull down,

to destroy and to overthrow,

to build and to plant."

PSALM PSALM 71:1-6

¹In you, O LORD, I take refuge;

let me never be put to shame.

²In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;

incline your ear to me and save me.

³Be to me a rock of refuge,

a strong fortress, to save me,

for you are my rock and my fortress.

⁴Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,

from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.

⁵For you, O Lord, are my hope,

my trust, O LORD, from my youth.

⁶Upon you I have leaned from my birth;

it was you who took me from my mother's womb.

My praise is continually of you.

SECOND READING 1 CORINTHIANS 13:1-13

¹If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ²And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant ⁵or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. ⁷It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. ⁹For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; ¹⁰but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. ¹¹When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. ¹²For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.¹³And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

GOSPEL LUKE 4:21-30

²¹Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." ²²All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, "Is not this Joseph's son?"²³He said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Doctor, cure yourself!' And you will say, 'Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.'" ²⁴And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown. ²⁵But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; ²⁶yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. ²⁷There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." ²⁸When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. ²⁹They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.³⁰But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

I'm Gonna Make A Change,
For Once In My Life
It's Gonna Feel Real Good,
Gonna Make A Difference
Gonna Make It Right . . .

As I, Turn Up The Collar On My
Favourite Winter Coat
This Wind Is Blowin' My Mind
I See The Kids In The Street,
With Not Enough To Eat
Who Am I, To Be Blind?
Pretending Not To See
Their Needs
A Summer's Disregard,
A Broken Bottle Top
And A One Man's Soul
They Follow Each Other On
The Wind Ya' Know
'Cause They Got Nowhere
To Go
That's Why I Want You To
Know

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change)
(Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,
Na Nah)

I've Been A Victim Of A Selfish
Kind Of Love
It's Time That I Realize
That There Are Some With No
Home, Not A Nickel To Loan
Could It Be Really Me,
Pretending That They're Not
Alone?

A Widow Deeply Scarred,
Somebody's Broken Heart
And A Washed-Out Dream
(Washed-Out Dream)
They Follow The Pattern Of
The Wind, Ya' See
Cause They Got No Place
To Be
That's Why I'm Starting With
Me
(Starting With Me!)

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
(Ooh!)
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
(Ooh!)
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change)

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
(Ooh!)
I'm Asking Him To Change His
Ways
(Change His Ways-Ooh!)
And No Message Could've
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make That . . .
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make That . . .)
Change!

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror,
(Man In The Mirror-Oh
Yeah!)
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
(Better Change!)
No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make The Change)
(You Gotta Get It Right, While
You Got The Time)
('Cause When You Close Your
Heart)
You Can't Close Your . . .Your
Mind!
(Then You Close Your . . .
Mind!)
That Man, That Man, That
Man, That Man
With That Man In The Mirror
(Man In The Mirror, Oh Yeah!)
That Man, That Man, That Man
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
(Better Change!)
You Know . . .That Man
No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change)
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!
Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,
Na Nah
(Oh Yeah!)
Gonna Feel Real Good Now!
Yeah Yeah! Yeah Yeah!
Yeah Yeah!
Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,
Na Nah
(Ooooh . . .)
Oh No, No No . . .
I'm Gonna Make A Change
It's Gonna Feel Real Good!
Come On!
(Change . . .)
Just Lift Yourself
You Know
You've Got To Stop It.
Yourself!
(Yeah!-Make That Change!)
I've Got To Make That Change,
Today!
Hoo!
(Man In The Mirror)
You Got To
You Got To Not Let Yourself . . .
Brother . . .
Hoo!
(Yeah!-Make That Change!)
You Know-I've Got To Get
That Man, That Man . . .
(Man In The Mirror)
You've Got To
You've Got To Move! Come
On! Come On!
You Got To . . .
Stand Up! Stand Up!
Stand Up!
(Yeah-Make That Change)
Stand Up And Lift
Yourself, Now!
(Man In The Mirror)
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!
Aaow!
(Yeah-Make That Change)
Gonna Make That Change . . .
Come On!
(Man In The Mirror)
You Know It!
You Know It!
You Know It!
You Know . . .
(Change . . .)
Make That Change.

Fight, fight, fight: Housing is a right...

7/16

Pastor Bob praying for housing justice

Fight, fight, fight, housing is a  right.

Got a late call from Marc from the Interfaith Assembly on Housing and Homelessness.

Marc Greenberg and the Assembly were there.....

Big rally downtown demanding decent  housing for all. Lots of sponsors including  various unions and community  groups, New York communities for Change (which used to be ACORN), Faith in New York ( a project of the community organizing group PICO National Network), Churches United for Fair Housing and our Interfaith Assembly.And many others. Even though I’m really short on time, I go.

The rally begins at the First Houses, site of the first public housing projects in the US.

We began at the First Houses

I’m anxious to speak and leave, but because of the turnout, I have to go on the long march to the Seward Houses , a new project where affordable means incomes above $60000 a year and work buy non-union groups. At the end of the march, I’m asked to open with prayer. Before I pray, a 16 wheeler rolls by,the driver blowing his horn in solidarity and raising his fist.

I start by saying that there are homeless people on my steps every day with their worldly possessions.  And then I open by quoting the prophet Isaiah:

Isaiah 58:6-8 

“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

We are not asking the mayor to take the homeless poor into his house, or anyone else for that matter. But we are asking that polices be put into place that can bring people the shelter they deserve.

Holy One,  we thank you for this mighty gathering of people. Gather their spirit into one spirit, their voice into one strong voice that can speak loud and clear and be heard.

Holy One forgive our city for turning its back on a record number of 61000 homeless, including women  and children. As we tithe for our churches, let our city tithe of 10% of new housing for the homeless people. Open hearts to provide legal counsel for the  30000 facing eviction.

Add our voices to the over 250 faith leaders who have called for the cooperation of the governor and mayor to produce 35000 units of new affordable housing. Grant them a spirit of  creativity and cooperation.

Let those with open hearts and minds and spirits in city hall and the chambers of Albany hear our plea. Let the radical sustaining power of the holy spirit remain with us until we have  established that housing is a right.

These things we pray in your  holy name and presence.

Amen.

There are a few Hallelujahs....

                                                                                                  ****

I am hot  and tired when I get back to the church. I meet Don to go his house, sit on his patio under the stairs and talk about how we begin moving our developing center forword.