Thankfulness

11/26 

Farmers Market

My good friend Rabbi Steve Blane and I have a tradition of sahrign a Thanksgivign service together.  Here is this year's reflection

 Good shabbes chaverim…we’re here on the Friday after Thanksgiving. A day that has come to be known by the strange designation “Black Friday.” I understand the connection with businesses going into the black, but it’s still weird… I do remember that as a kid, this day marked the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Do you remember when the stores waited until then to open their magical holiday window displays? I remember how my family would head to Pittsburgh’s South Hills Village Mall to start our Christmas shopping. And of course to the Jewish deli for hot pastrami or Reubens for lunch. Now we see the decorations go up the day after Halloween. Now Pittsburgh turns on the lights in early November and calls it “Sparkle Season” so as to be really inclusive, guess.

 Which leads me to what else is big this weekend. We’re right on the cusp of the first night of Hannukah which falls on the same Sunday as Christians begin Advent, that four week time of reflection and spiritual preparation leading up to Christmas…our sibling celebrations of glowing, growing LIGHT in the darkness. BUT…I’m not ready to let go of Thanksgiving yet…I’ve got leftovers! And warm memories of my family together yesterday. 

Did you know this is the 400th anniversary of the first Thanksgiving? The pilgrims were celebrating the fact that they had a successful enough harvest with enough laid away to get through the coming New England winter. Thanks to the Wappanaog Native Americans who had taught them how to grow corn and squash and harvest clams and fish and cranberries. (A decision they regret to this day!) By the way…we always associate orange and brown with Thanksgiving. For turkeys and pumpkins I guess. But orange now has a deeper meaning..it’s the color chosen by Native Americans to commemorate those who were forced into “Indian schools,” begun in Canada and now into the US. How they came together in that first Thanksgiving is more complicated than the story we tell but we’ll just leave it with the celebration tonight. My wife had grown up believing that Thanksgiving was started to give thanks to the Indians. She was really excited to share Thanksgiving with the family of the retired chief of the Pawnee Nation  our first Thanksgiving in Oklahoma. 

 So Thanksgiving is giving thanks. And that’s important. Walter Breuggeman, a Christian theologian ,says “Doxology is the beginning of resistance.” And Abraham Joshua Heschel said “It is gratefulness which makes the soul great.” Above all else, giving thanks is an affirmation that we are not alone. On the Upper West Side, the West Side Campaign Against Hunger just gave out over 1000 turkeys. Here in Harlem, where I live, neighbors in my building gave out 50 turkey dinners. The Harlem Lounge threw its doors open from noon to 4 for free dinners for all.

 But I want to get personal. In 1993, I lost my job…and my father…all in two weeks. I soon fell into depression feeling I was all alone. But a wise friend took me aside and said, “Look, you’ve got a roof over your head. You’ve got a family, friends and people who love you who will stand by you, not let you down. Start your day by giving thanks. It will get better from there.” And he was right, I did that. And no longer felt alone. And was soon on my way back. 

 Nahum Ward Lev in his book on the Hebrew prophets, talks about the spiritual discipline of giving thanks. He recommends every night before you go to sleep, remembering all that happened over the course off the day for which you are thankful…especially what wasn’t expected. Whether it’s first thing in the morning, last thing at night or better both, it helps keep us grounded. Going. Thankfulness for all we have is a way of being, a way of living. Rabbi Heschel also said, “Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement [to] get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.” 

 The song I sang tonight was written in England in 1864. It came to the US in the depths of the Civil War. Somehow while the world seemed to be falling apart, people wanted to believe that there was still much to be thankful for. 

 God of all, to Thee we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise…

1 For the beauty of the earth, 
for the glory of the skies, 
for the love which from our birth 
over and around us lies. 

Refrain: 
God of all to you we raise 
this, our hymn of grateful praise. 

2 For the wonder of each hour 
of the day and of the night, 
hill and vale and tree and flower, 
sun and moon and stars of light, [Refrain ]

3 For the joy of human love, 
brother, sister, parent, child, 
friends on earth, and friends above, 
for all gentle thoughts and mild, [Refrain] 

4 For yourself, best gift divine, 
to the world so freely given, 
agent of God's grand design: 
peace on earth and joy in heaven. [Refrain]

Living in cornavirusworld15: a conversation with Nahum Ward-Lev

4/5

The Liberating Path of the Hebrew Prophets

It’s easy to forget that  even before the coronavirus, we were in a time of crisis as a nation with corresponding crises globally. A time both in need of analysis and a praxis with which to respond. For people of faith, one of the best of recent books to respond to our crisis has been The Liberating Path of the Hebrew Prophets: Then and Now by Nahum Ward-Lev. (https://www.amazon.com/Liberating-Path-Hebrew-Prophets-Then/dp/1626983291)  Our Wednesday morning reflections group has ben studying Ward-Lev’s book for several weeks and Monday afternoon, he agreed to meet with us for a conversation.  As a bonus, we were joined by Norman Gottwald author of the landmark book on the origins of the people of Israel, The Tribes of Yahweh. https://w,ww.amazon.com/Tribes-Yahweh-Sociology-Liberated-1250-1050/dp/1841270261

Ward-Lev currently lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico where he leads two Beit Midrash  Bible Study/reflection groups, one for Jews who want to delve deeper

 into the wisdom of their own scriptures, and another interfaith group focusing specifically on the prophets and Genesis. The primary interest is in pursuing moral discourse on issues as they emerge from the  text, especially radical hospitality, immigration and criminal justice.

For Ward-Lev, the basis for the conversation flows from the model of covenant in which hesed (righteousness) is defined. by the love of the living presence (his translation of Lord) for the  people of God. From this flows caritas, or charity where all creation is deeply relational. If creation is in its very essence loving, then love is created between people and each other and all creation. Being itself is there for the purpose of relationship, a very different idea than the western concept of the individual, the self-made man, so to speak. Creation exists for relationship.

In Ward-Lev’s concept of the scripture as expressing both covenantal and royal perspectives, he is clearly echoing Wes Howard-Brooks argument that the two religions in  the Bible are not Judaism and Christianity but that of Covenant and creation against the religion of Empire. Both are present. (See Come Out, My People: God’s call out of empire in the Bible and Beyond. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00822J8FQ/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0 )Th e 

The Image of Egypt from which the people emerged was that of pyramid. For the Israelites in the wilderness,  the image  was of a tabernacle or even fragile succah (booth), 

Steve Phelps comments on the sufficiency of the Genesis narrative as a statement of God’s reality where our role is as co-creators, in relationship with creation.  A creation that is by its very nature fluid. Where creation itself is an active ally in our liberation.

This naturally led me to ask a question about creativity.  In chapter 22 of Ward-Lev’s book he describes how their work for Egypt was building storehouses for military equipment. Their work now is gathering threads and skins  to weave a tabernacle. It is a way of saying that creativity, art, is something beautiful, something holy. God tells us “ I will dwell in your midst” to know this, understand this requires imagination. Thus the role of art is central. Especially in the midst of plague. Beauty is how God tells us how God loves us. Tuning into beauty is tuning into love. Thus we find a trinity of love, beauty and justice, all in relationship and interconnected with each other. God is in the midst of what we create. 

Ward-Lev points to the  significance of Vatican II as moving from concern for the institution of the church to emphasis on God’s journey with the people. Much like Howard-Brook, Ward-Lev speaks of the inherent Biblical tension between the prophetic and the Davidic. The tabernacle is not the temple. Our goal is to be on the move with God, The succah(booth,) not the Temple is God's true home. Our greatest commonality is our fragility. 

To address our current religio-spiritual-cultural divide, the challenge is not to avoid the Bible but to seriously engage the Bible. 

Joel calls our attention to the song “All my favorite people” from the Over the Rhine album, The Long Surrendur.()

All my favorite people are broken

Believe me

My heart should know

Some prayers are better left unspoken

I just wanna hold you

And let the rest go

All my friends are part saint and part sinner

We lean on each other

Try to rise above

We're not afraid to admit we're all still beginners

We're all late bloomers

When it comes to love

All my favorite people are broken

Believe me

My heart should know

Orphaned believers, skeptical dreamers

Step forward

You can stay right here

You don't have to go

Is each wound you've received

Just a burdensome gift?

It gets so hard to lift

Yourself up off the ground

But the poet says, We must praise the mutilated world

We're all workin' the graveyard shift

You might as well sing along

All my favorite people are broken

Believe me

My heart should know

your tender heart—

This world's gonna rip it wide open

It ain't gonna be pretty

But you're not alone

'Cause all my favorite people are broken

Believe me

My heart should know

Orphaned believers, skeptical dreamers

You're welcome

Yeah, you're safe right here

You don't have to go

'Cause all my favorite people are broken

Believe me

My heart should know

Some prayers are better left unspoken

I just wanna hold you

And let the rest go

I 

Living in coronavirusworld 3: our life is a hospice

3/25

Faith in love 

Russ says that if this were a normal Wednesday, he’d be at the counter at Tom’s , “..the world’s ,most famous restaurant…” having a coffee and waiting for the rest of us to arrive. But this isn’t a normal Wednesday. And here we all are, right on time, gathered together in Zoomworld.

Last week was our first time to meet this way. The decree ended our debate. Hard to give up Tom’s, of Seinfeld fame. Where every Wednesday at 8 A.M. our Underground group meets in the front window booth. For years, we’d be there, Cornell West and James Cone in the back booth. Cornell always stopping to bless us on his way in. And over there, the Episcopal Bishop and Dean of St. John the Divine. Assorted neighborhood characters, sundry Columbia students and outside our window, an intermittent flow of selfie-taking Seinfeld fans and tourists. But it’s just us in our Zoom boxes.

I’m outraged by “..cure worse than the problem..” talk. But brother Steve B. reminds us it’s not that simple. We have decided, for example, that 40000 death a year is a reasonable price to pay for the freedom to drive 70 miles an hour. Among other comments:

* After rising from the dead, Jesus “self-quarantined” saying “do not touch me..”

* Something about this feels like the down end of 80’s Seattle based music and Kurt Cobain,…., Joel says

* We’e going to have to reach out to people we don’t know

* Joel reminds us that in Steven King’s “the Dark Tower,”  19 is the number of hell

* We conform that CoVid19 is Corona Virus Disease 2019

* a bar in Brooklyn is offering a liter of margaritas for a roll of toilet paper (take out only!)

As we have been talking about Nahum Ward-Lev’s The Liberating Path of the Hebrew Prophets: Then and Now, our discussion turns to how family based religions are better equipped to stand up to crises than hierarchical ones.(https://www.orbisbooks.com/the-liberating-path-of-the-hebrew-prophets.html)  Ward-Lev also argues that we ultimately have to choose between placing  our faith and trust in power, or in love. I argue that from a community organizing perspective, power is the goal, lack of power the problem. Power in Spanish is poder, the same word as can or to be able, as in the farmworkers slogan, si se puede, or as Obama put it, yes we can.  Steve agrees that it’s not power to itself, but the uses of power. I am especially thankful for my friend Peter Heltzel’s book with Alexia Salvatierra, Faith Rooted Organizing: Mobiliizing the church in service to the world.  In classic faith based organizing, faith is a means toward the end of organizing, a base for organizing. On the other hand, in faith rooted organizing, living out faith is the end and organizing the  expression of or means towards that end…(https://www.amazon.com/Faith-Rooted-Organizing-Mobilizing-Church-Service/dp/0830836616)

In Ward-Lev’s understanding of liberation, we need to move beyond simply a material based analysis, as important as that is.  Ultimately, we are led to a critical analysis of our relationship with all creation. In his understanding, there is a connection between creation and creativity and liberation rooted in mutual relationships. And of course, central to relationship is conversation. Joel remembers that his father used to say, “if we how sacred our words were, we wouldn’t speak so much. In this connection to creation, Brother Steve H reminds us of the verse from Song of Songs, “the time of the singing  bird has come..” We have some serious conversation around Ward-Lev’s idea that our call is to “change the world,” Steve B objects strongly to those because in the end, “we have no idea.”  I remind us of the Jewish tradition of Tikkun Olam, healing the earth around us. What has inspired Jewish culture throughout the ages even to secular progressive politics. And Steve B says, “ Yes, the world around us…” we act with hope, having no idea what is to happen. 

An perhaps we need to move beyond WAR language, less “fighting disease” and more “building health.”  Sam says we are being reminded just how fragile we are. In the parable of the house built on sand, we are not the builder but the sand. 

We circle back around. NO acceptable loss of people. Faith in love over faith in power. Brother Steve H quotes 2 Chronicles &:14 again: if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

We agree that it’s about building the kingdom rather, the reign or realm or community of the living presence of God. Sam reminds us….Our life is a hospice. 

Even on ZOOM, it’s good to be together. 

Later in the day, I talk with my friend Ann in Los Angeles. One of the leaders of my denominations reproductive options ministry advocacy group. (PARO) Now an interim minister, for over 30 years she had a ministry of accompaniment recovery and resurrection with prostitutes. (The Mary Magdalene Project) We talk of how Ohio and Texas have weaponized the virus to declare abortions non-essential procedures during the crisis. At least 4 other states are leaning this way. But Ann feels sure that none of these states are prepared to face lawsuits and their accompanying  costs.  We both bemoan our country’s capacity to deal with a crisis like this and the potential of what could happen. In Ann’s classic way she says, “in coronavirusworld we are a shit hole country.”

I keep thinking of all the small ways this gets real. On Tuesday, I learned that the woman who has been cleaning my apartment for over 20 years will not be coming any time soon. That’s a problem. Our project won’t get done. On Sunday, my doorbell rung. Looked like someone in a space suit with a weapon. It was an exterminator. Been struggling with cockroaches. (Seems they are stronger than any virus..) She comes in, does her work. Leaves. Seems to work, I see dead roach bodies. But by late night, they are sneaking back out. The only way to end this is to get Nicky our super to set off a bomb. But to do that, I’d have to leave for 4 hours or so. And there is no place to go.