Living in the Spirit: Prepared for struggle

First day back from vacation.  Our main scripture  for reflection today is EPHESIANS 6:10-20

¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. ¹¹Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. ¹²For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ¹³Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. ¹⁴Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. ¹⁵As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. ¹⁶With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

¹⁸Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. ¹⁹Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.

I want to begin with a reading from  Ti-Neshi Coates “Letter to my son” from  Between the world and me.

And yet I am still afraid. I feel the fear most acutely whenever you leave me. But I was afraid long before you, and in this I was unoriginal. When I was your age the only people I knew were black, and all of them were powerfully, adamantly, dangerously afraid. It was always right in front of me. The fear was there in the extravagant boys of my West Baltimore neighborhood, in their large rings and medallions, their big puffy coats and full-length furcollared leathers, which was their armor against their world. They would stand on the corner of Gwynn Oak and Liberty, or Cold Spring and Park Heights, or outside Mondawmin Mall, with their hands dipped in Russell sweats. I think back on those boys now and all I see is fear, and all I see is them girding themselves against the ghosts of the bad old days when the Mississippi mob gathered ’round their grandfathers so that the branches of the black body might be torched, then cut away. The fear lived on in their practiced bop, their slouching denim, their big T- shirts, the calculated angle of their baseball caps, a catalog of behaviors and garments enlisted to inspire the belief that these boys were in firm possession of everything they desired. I felt the fear in the visits to my Nana’s home in Philadelphia. You never knew her. I barely knew her, but what I remember is her hard manner, her rough voice. And I knew that my father’s father was dead and that my Uncle Oscar was dead and that my Uncle David was dead and that each of these instances was unnatural. And I saw it in my own father, who loves you, who counsels you, who slipped me money to care for you. My father was so very afraid. I felt it in the sting of his black leather belt, which he applied with more anxiety than anger, my father who beat me as if someone might steal me away, because that is exactly what was happening all around us. Everyone had lost a child, somehow, to the streets, to jail, to drugs, to guns. It was said that these lost girls were sweet as honey and would not hurt a fly. It was said that these lost boys had just received a GED and had begun to turn their lives around. And now they were gone, and their legacy was a great fear.

Sometimes, I start out with a clear idea of where I want to go in my reflection and then  something  takes me in a slightly different direction. I started out thinking about evil. And what it was Paul having us prepare ourselves for. But I couldn’t get Ti-Neshi Coates out of my head. Thinking about fear. What it would be like to live with fear all the time. What that would do to you. And for African-Americans, what it’s like on a daily basis. Especially in this year. Most of us don’t live with that kind of fear. We begin with a basic sense of safety and security in the world. We worry about money. Or relationships. Coates makes us wrestle with how the experience in this culture, this socio-political system, has beren a direct assault on the bodies of black people and continues to be so. How does our seeking to live out an incarnational faith commitment relate to this reality? How do we respond to one who has rejected our faith tradition as one which seems to accept the disrespect for and abuse of black bodies?

Then there are these words:

¹²For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 

The most dramatic  time I heard these words was in Guatemala. In the 1980’s. I remember speaking  with our missionary friend there, in a hotel room, the radio turned up to block the bugs. Many of our Presbyterian friends were indigenous people of various tribes. Whole villages were disappearing. Tribes that had existed 1000’s of years wiped out. Under the presidency of Efrain Rios Montt, el Viejo, the old man.  The darling of other missionaries and  North American Christians because he was a born again Christian from an American based group, el verbo, the word. (And the Reagan administration, obviously.)

So we went to El Verbo headquarters. Chain linked fence with razor wire on top. Barking German shepherds. Their spokesperson, Kurt Meyer, in his black leather jacket. After listening for awhile, I interrupted his lecture on saving power of Jesus to ask about genocide. And this passage was his response. The indigenous, and other enemies weren’t people, they were earthly minions of the forces of cosmic evil. Therefore, their deaths were justified. I knew then there would be little dialogue between us.

So back to my original thoughts. Yes, there is evil in the world. But mostly it is done by people. People just like us. And if we separate ourselves from that, or if we see those we disagree with as not being people, all is lost. And violence, sometimes unspeakable,  is done to others.

While I was gone, there was the 70^th anniversary of  the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We hosted here at West-Park a photography exhibit of survivors and the screening of an important film. We know now that it was not as my father believed, that this bombing had saved him form being sent to Japan. It’s clear now that Japan was ready to surrender. And that the offering up of over a quarter of a million Japanese (mainly) civilians, and the sewing of their land with atomic salt like Sodom and Gomorrah was more to send a message to the Soviets.

What does Paul see? The location for Paul of evil was  The Roman empire and its corrupting influence on its collaborators. The armor we need for protection in the struggle against empire is:

TRUTH….there IS truth…we must move beyond the relativism of our liberal elite power structure and must be willing to speak it. There is truth. As when Jesus says, I am the way, the TRUTH and the life…

RIGHTEOUSNESS….which is all about right relationships. How we treat each other. How we begin to create a new reality even within the shell of the old, as Dorothy Day expressed it.

All towards Proclamation, speaking this new reality more than in our words but in our actions.

To understand that to  say Jesus is lord is a powerful political statement for there can be no other. 

FAITH…..to stake our lives on this truth and in this HOPE.

                                   

This seems to me to be the ultimate  word of God… the sword of the Spirit, that WORD of creation that expresses the SPIRIT that has been there from the start, the SPIRIT that sustains us still.

Let’s listen again:

                 

¹³Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. ¹⁴Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. ¹⁵As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. ¹⁶With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

It is not TRUMP. It is not even Bernie. What we’re called for is not reform of a system that can never fulfill the full will of God’s intention but the creation of a whole new way of  living. Liberated zones.  Safe spaces….where our SPIRITS and our bodies can be safe and free.

Let those with ears to hear, hear.

And so we share our prayers, we sing our hymns, share our peace and go put into the summer day. It is good to be back.

Reflections on the the 70th anniversary of bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

8/2

Normally,. I like to focus on just one of the morning's passages, but this Sunday, I can’t resist spending time with David in  2 SAMUEL 11:26-12:13A.  It’s the marvelous story where the prophet Nathan engages his king, David, asking with a parable about a man and  his beloved lamb and a rich man who seizes it. When David responds. As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; ⁶he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. Nathan thunders You are the man!....David realizes the  wrong he has done, but there will be a heavy price to pay. For generations.

This was written either during the time of monarchy expressing  a distrust of kings or critique or written during the  exile looking back as of this kind of kingly behavior were the cause of the exile. …for certain it is part of the deuteronomic history arc…and is written more to critique the situation current when it was written than an intention to record FACTS.

The parable is rooted in tribal law…it was permissible to slaughter a neighbor’s livestock when rules of hospitality made it absolutely necessary…but not permissible if you had livestock yourself and if the animal were a personal pet….

The word used to describe David’s action, IE,  take is used repeatedly in 1Samuel8: 11-18 used as verb when king is subject…it always refers to a ruler's abuse of power

In  the Septuagint, the lamb is to be restored 7 fold, as per Proverbs 6;31.

 Nathan, speaking further to David, says Your master’s house, your  better master’s daughters were turned over to you. (Entry into a harem was one way of claiming power, to be greater, more potent than the one you are replacing,) His point was that God had given David all the women he could want but he wanted one who belonged to someone else…

For this, a sword would be come : His sons Amnon, Absalom and Adonijhah will all die by the sword.

David is told to put away your sin: put it off…David won’t die, but someone else will, the innocent unborn child. (I wonder about connections here with early Christian theology..?)

And of course I am Remembering Ray Swartzbach, my pastor at Westminster, College of Wooster when I was there   and Bill Coffin, Jr. when I was at Yale. The passage sounds so so much more dramatic with the King James version, Thou art the man…For Swartzbach, this was a parable for Vietnam, for Coffin, Central America. That’s what empire does, it takes what it wants.

Two things I will say about David…he does have a residual sense of right and wrong….also on the personal side, this is a dramatic story of what happens when lust, desire, obsession takes over…and everything else is secondary….when desire replaces awareness of God…also…and I’ve found this true…whenever you hear yourself saying I’d sell my soul for….that’s usually what it will cost you….

Our PSALM 51:1-12 in most Bibles is tied to David after the Bathsheba incident. It's what we sing to begin every Lenten season: Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within my soul…Later we find ⁷Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. I wonder if we can say that in today’s environment of black lives matter?

Our SECOND READING  EPHESIANS 4:1-16.

¹I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ²with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

⁷But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift. ⁸Therefore it is said, "When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people."PSALM68:18 God receives gifts…) ⁹(When it says, "He ascended", what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? ¹⁰He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) ¹¹The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, ¹²to equip the saints for the work of ministry,(DIAKONIA--serving) for building up the body of Christ, ¹³until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. (THE BASIC MISSION OF CHURCH) ¹⁴ must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. ¹⁵But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶from whom the whole body, joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love.

There is no specific incident being referred to here as is usual…but is directed to gentiles,,,so that they can be socialized into new reality, a new community 

My question for you is What is your gift, how are you using it? I get some pretty cool answers mainly related to serving….the answers are relational…

The question for us as a church is, Are we equipping the saints?  Are we building up the body? The result of which will be UNITY…

Can we speak the truth in love to one another? Now that takes real discernment…I’ve often heard it used as an excuse to hurt…

ALL of us together are needed to make ONE body….building itself up in love. And that we will celebrate when we share our communion together.

And that we do.

Yumi Tanaka, TK and Pastor Brashear

TK has been upstairs in Mc Alpin setting up for the afternoon film screening. Yumi Tanaka of the New York Peace Film Festival introduces the film from Oliver Stone’s Showtime series, The Untold Story of US history.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Stone%27s_Untold_History_of_the_United_States The film pretty much gives the lie to the idea that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was necessary to get the Japanese to surrender. (The invasion of the Red Army into Manchuria had sealed that outcome..) As a quarter of a million innocent non-combatant victims perished, it seems more than anything a demonstration conducted to put fear into the hearts of the Soviets. Show them what we are capable of.

welcome to the exhibition

My father always believed Harry Truman kept him from going to Japan. This would be very painful for him to accept. (My son Daniel in Dublin wonders what we never talk about Hiroshima and Nagasaki.) TK has as always, put together a fine program  rich in its depth. Paule Saviano’s photo exhibit of survivors is presented again. (https://vimeo.com/15844700) and installation artist Natsuko also grace our building. I’m glad that we could continue to be part of this event even in a small way. 70 years since we unleashed this terror.

Looking up mat a Natsuko installation

Natsuko installation

Later, after our volunteer night at the homeless shelter, I see Anna on the steps. Haven’t seen her in a while. Good to catch up. She’s what Jane Jacobs calls eyes on the street, one of those people necessary for communities to survive . As she watches, she looks, she listens. And that is a gift….

May peace and justice be with us....

The bomb landed on the cathedral

8/11

This is the season where the JCC summer camp kids gather on our front steps every morning to catch their bus to camp and are there every afternoon when they come back, their parents waiting for them. Just before they got back today, I had to remind the surly barefoot man, no sleeping on the steps during the day.

Pat O and Marsha in early to go over everything coming up in the week ahead. All the meetings with architects, contractors, elevator people, roof people, boiler people, we need to keep our project moving forward.

A man comes in wanting a new bag, or back pack to carry his stuff in. Seems upset when I tell him we don’t have anything like  that.

Paule Saviano, the rock star photographer who took such stunning portraits of the hikabushas, has come in to take down and load out his photos. It’s been an honor to have had his work, first in Mc Alpin, then in the Chapel, for a week. Shortly thereafter, TK arrives for one last clean up job. We will keep the peace cranes hanging  in the doorway.

Sean wheels up. There seem to be issues with the place he has been living…his stuff….

RL stops in before going back to finish his breakfast, we’re looking for a time to speak, not talk…

Late afternoon, a man named Michael comes in looking for a Bible. I go to look for one of our hardback ones. No, he says, a paperback will be fine. 

I don’t know about that, I say. But there in the pew in front of me, a paperback Bible. 

Tell me your name, he says, So I can write it in the Bible and remember who gave it to me. So I tell him. And bless him. As he blessed me.

An old Japanese man has come to help TK clean up. He was the one who was born in an internment camp then deported to Japan after the war. A man with a very gentle, forgiving spirit.

Some final notes:

+ TK reminded me that Nagasaki was the most Christian of any Japanese city. The bomb landed on the cathedral.

+ At the conclusion of his chanted Lamentation, Rabbi Michael added a prayer for the children of Gaza and Israel. The lamentations continue.

+The drummer KATARO wore a Palestinian keffiyah as a scarf, his own silent witness.

Leila is in to talk with Danielle. She’ll be filling in while we interview for a replacement.

The day turns to night. Ryan and his young crew rehearsing Cymbeline. reGroup actors arriving for this evening’s performance.

Time to wrap up the day with Danielle. From the Sanctuary, I hear the sounds ot Jeremy and the Seed Group singing Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me around, turn me around, turn me around….

Of walking on water

8/10/14

This Sunday, Anna has brought with her another visitor. Caitlin, a young woman she found on the steps. Says she’s got an internship with the Universal Zulu Nation coming up and needs business clothes. Thing is, I actually have some connections with the UZN. We’ll see.

Early in the service, I talk about how moved I was by the Hiroshima-Nagasaki events of last week and living with TK and company for several weeks. I try to tie the concern about  nuclear weapons back to this church’s  history and the march against nuclear proliferation. And the madness of the current global reality. And almost as soon as I’ve finished, TK comes and joins us. I’m very happy to have him as part of the circle.

We sing How firm a Foundation again.

Our psalm, as I point out, is atypical. Psalm 105 is less a hymn or personal reflection than a straight forward narrative telling of the story of Jacob.

Our Gospel story, Matthew 14: 22-33,  is the Jesus walking on the water one which leads me to sing my song, Rest awhile, which I wrote for Teddy’s memorial service. If anyone was a godwrestler, it was Teddy. How I miss him still…

When your boat is so small and the water so wide

And the shoreline just too far to see

I will quiet the storm, I will still the sea

And you can walk on the water with me….

(Jeremy gets really into it and says, We've got to do something with that...)

So what’s going on in this story? Jesus has just fed the 5000. He needs a break. He’s up the mountain alone. Somehow he knows his disciples are in trouble. Is it some sixth sense? Or like when we all of a sudden we get the feeling that someone we know is in trouble? So he goes out walking on the water to the disciples.

And Peter, our ADHD disciple with no impulse control, jumps out and starts walking towards Jesus. Until the wind blows and he realizes what he’s doing and starts to sink. And cries out to be saved. And that I believe is the crux of the matter.

I know for myself, and for this community, we have been there many times over the years. Many times we have ventured out, actually found ourselves walking on water, then instead of continuing, realized what we were doing, lost heart and started to sink. Then turned back.

You can’t do that. It's like Nik Wallenda walking the tightrope over Niagara Falls. You can’t look down. You’ve got to keep your eyes on the other side, on Canada, and keep walking until you get there. Or to be blunt about it, keep your eyes on Jesus and keep going.

Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid. He says. But do we really believe that? I faced that question this week when I was afraid. Afraid of having to confront someone. I read this passage. Read it again. Asked myself if I really believed it. And then ventured out.

Our friend Russ takes it to another place. Gives us the context that Jesus is talking about confronting the empire.  As crazy as walking on water. But we have to do it. To step out, to try.

OK. Maybe you can not not be afraid. I recalled the story of Rabbi Marshal Meyer of blessed memory, confronting the junta in Argentina by stripping naked in the police station. Weren’t you afraid? He was asked. Afraid? I was scared shitless, he responded. But I had no choice....

We feel the fear. We take a deep breath. Take the next step. Keep our eyes in the other side. Keep our eyes on Jesus. And keep walking.

Walk on water friends,  that’s what we are called to do.

Our prayer song this week once again is Amazing grace, but this week, Blind Boys of Alabama style, that is, to the tune of House of the Rising Sun. And we will finish the day with Yes, Lord yes….

Today’s Pete song, with the disciples in the boat and all, is Somos el barco….we are the boat, we are the sea, I sail in you, you sail in me…which is exactly what our friends in Hiroshima and Nagasaki are trying to tell us, when it comes to nuclear weapons, we’re all in the same boat….

As we close our service, I’m happy to have TK in our circle.

The session meets. If our interviews take too long, Leila will fill in for Danielle until we have someone one new on board. Tonight we’ll gather at my place to officially say thanks and farewell. It’s too hard for me to even think about.

Walk on water. Keep walking. Don’t stop until we reach the other side…