Living in coronavirusworld 124: collateral damage

7/28

Harlem Tavern

The heat continues unrelenting.

We measure our lives by small victories. At the Best market, the Barbecue counter is back for the first time in 4 months. To tell the truth, I didn’t understand what the issue was with barbecue to begin with. But hey, welcome back. And I’ll be taking some barbecue brisket home with me.  For what it’s worth, the sushi bar is back, too.  Didn’t know why got shut down either. Step by step.

in the park....

In the Park, a goose is walking around in the picnic area, checking out the grounds. The turtles are sunning themselves.  When I see them swim, they look like I do swimming the breast stroke.

In Portland, the face-off continues between protestors and the presidents federal troops.  An op ed in the Times has wondered whether the “weird” that Portland…and other places like Austin, Texas and Lake Worth, Florida pride themselves on being may be a function of privilege. Only white people can be “weird.” For people of color it’s too risky.  

Birth control activist and feminist pioneer Margaret Sanger has had her name removed  from New York City’s Planned Parenthood clinic although her statue remains in Greenwich Village. For the moment. Sanger’s reproductive activism was rooted in eugenics and a racist commitment to remove the “weeds” from America’s birth stock. The early connections between abortion and eugenics and the continued disparity of abortion in practice raises some uncomfortable issues in the abortion  conversation that cannot be avoided much longer.

The Ozone Park Session meets  for the first time in four months with an advisory commission from Presbytery.  Like many small churches, this has been a difficult time. They have lost their weekly offerings. They had survived mainly from the rental of their education building by another congregation and that income  too is gone. They  have been unable to pay their insurance and have had to take out a loan from Presbytery. To pay off that loan, tonight they commit to selling their education building. During the covid crisis, they lost two bulwarks of the church, a husband and  wife who died within  weeks of each other from the virus. A member of the Advisory Commission was asked to develop a plan for reopening the church. And it was decided  that the first service after reopening would be a memorial for this couple.  This church of primarily ethnic Asian  Indian immigrants from Trinidad and Tobago and other former British colonial West Indies islands is barely hanging on. Many of our small ethnic churches may not make it through the pandemic, collateral damage. 

I’m a guest of “an independent leftist historian” and Carl Dix, revolutionary communist organizer on the topic of police violence.  We talk about the roots of the word police, in Latin politia, or citizen, government and policy, or public order.  How originally “policing,” in English tradition was carried out by citizens each taking their  turns under the direction of a constable. (So humorously portrayed in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.) The permanent organizing of a public police force grew directly as part of the chattel slavery system of the south.  Until today, when the municipal police serve as an occupying army in service of the empire. (Of course not denying that there are still those, especially immigrants and persons  of color who see this service as away of helping  their families and building good lives. And perhaps aiding their  community.

The heavily armed militarized police and the LA style SWAT teams are latter developments. But the President’s new force is a  different and ominous   element. We could go on with the litany of victims of police violence  and brutality for days without ceasing. (Say their names…) But I press Carl to give us a picture of what a better, socialist world might look like. (I’ve read the party’s constitution several times over and although it is amazingly thorough,  well thought out and attractive, this area apart from the general category of armed forces, militia and other organs of public defense and security..is relatively vague. For Carl, it is all based on commitment  to principles. He recounts a story from his youth where an epileptic woman was mistaken for drunk, manhandled and arrested. Carl retells it as now being handled with committed mental health professionals and community workers.  Ultimately the party (rightfully) believes that the current police crisis is inseparable from the system as it were.  Therefore the best  you can do is to devote yourself to full time  revolution.  I can’t go there. I also have to attend to damages being done to real people in the inexorable present. 

And as unchanging  as the story of police violence is, the response today is unlike anything I’ve eve seen before in my life.  It's  time to bring about changes that can save real lives while the larger battle continues. 

        

"BlackKklansman": valuable resource for the conversation

11/21

Spike Lee's "BlackKklansman"

As BlackKklansman makes it's way from the theaters  to various platforms, it's valuable to take a look at what is a most valuable resource  in our struggle with white privilege and its ongoing power in our national life. As always, Spike Lee knows how to entertain  us even as he seeks to educate, irritate and hopefully instigate.

Based on the true story of Ron Stallworth, the first African American police officer in  Colorado Springs who actually joined the  Klan and developed a relationship with David Duke, there's a number of points worth looking at:

* Set in 1972, it's shocking how the events depicted could just as well be from today.
* Kwame Toure (Stokely Carmichael)'s description of the wantonness of police violence against black people continues to be tragically accurate.
* The racism Stallworth confronts within the police department continues. Perhaps the most disturbing moment is when Stallworth, as an undercover  officer, is making an arrest of a white female terrorist planting  a bomb, he's taken down and beaten by police who assume he's black criminal until his partner arrives. 
* The Ku Klux Klan included active duty members of the US military
* Stallworth has to wrestle with the feelings of his own community about police.
* Stallworth's Jewish partner, who becomes the physical embodiment of the character Stallworth has created, slowly comes to an awareness that as a Jew, he has "skin in this game" too. 
* Watching the flames of a KKK cross burning fade into the tiki torches of Charlottesville was chilling.
* Equally chilling is after seeing the semi-comical David Duke of the movie, we see today's real David Duke praising President Donald Trump for "speaking the truth" and moving the country in the right direction."

Although some dramatic license has been employed, Lee let's us know that the film is based on some "shonuff fo real shit." There predictably have been numerous ideologically based critiques of this film,  mainly related to presenting a hero who is a police officer and variations of that theme. I'm not really interested in engaging those arguments. Any particular story is its own story and not the whole story. And this story, on it's own, is valuable in giving us rich...and entertaining...material fro reflection and conversation. It's a long road. 

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……

San Lazaro

9/26

I’m not sure what it was about this police shooting. Terrence Cutcher, Tulsa, Oklahoma.  That he was a choir member? Coming home from a music class? That photo of him and his wife? Or just that he was from Tulsa? A place I hold dear? I went to jail over Amadou Diallo. I have a close friend on Staten Island near where Eric Garner died. But this… I had a visit from old friends, former students from Tulsa.  We spoke of the race war of 1921. How the program our church did was the first they’d ever learned of it. I mean they used planes to bomb the black neighborhoods…

As of Keith Lamar Scott just killed in Charlotte, North Carolina, there have now been 194 African Americans shot dead by police this year. In Charlotte rioters have been  threatened with loss of  food stamps and welfare forever…

Enough.

Lazarus..San Lazaro…I could spend the whole service with this…

there is the story itself…the parable…

For centuries, people believed it was a factual story…for two two reasons….it is the only parable in which Jesus uses  a name..and secondly, because it feels true…ultimately.the Bible is not about fact, but about truth….

There was the Order of Hospetallleirs of St. Lazarus established in the crusader kingdom of Jerusalem…he was the patron saint of lepers…

He appears throughout all the varieties of Afro-Caribbean religion , which have managed to preserve West Africa Yoruban forms to an amazingly strong and visible manner…the saints are stand in covers for orishas, or spirits, like San Lazaro is babaluaye, …..guardian against leprosy, AIDS, and other viruses…..

This story has bene used in popular culture from the medieval Child ballads to Paul Simon to David Bowie..just before he died.

Let’s leave aside theological questions of the afterlife…what about this chasm? Is it punishment? How can there be no forgiveness? (This really brothers my Lutheran friends…) It is not so much punishment as it is what we have created for ourselves….if we have cut ourselves off from others, from humanity, then we are alone…and the chasm can not be crossed.

In a reflection from Jill Duffield, we read, there is a difference in aid and charity…

Don’t confuse aid with charity. Charity is old coats. Donating a coat doesn’t make you a good person but I bet it makes you feel like one. You didn’t even want that coat anymore, what you wanted was the closet space. Sure, you could have sold it at a garage sale and made, like, twenty bucks. It was an expensive coat, damn it. But you, with your heart of gold, gave it away. There’s a twinkle in God’s eye just for you.

What is needed is your vote, not your coat…

Vote? Yes. Like for a minimum wage of (at least ) $15 an hour…like supporting Sweat Shop FreeUpper West Side in their efforts to stop companies from avoiding fines and back wages  by delaying bankruptcy and reorganizing…(like a certain presidential contender…)

Likewise, a friend wrote me that her church in Tulsa had begun a six week series…on self-examination of white privilege…

So the question is , if this is about Lazarus at the gate, who is at the gate that we are ignoring?

Thank you Leila

Scriptures….and notes…

First Reading Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15

1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. 2At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and the prophet Jeremiah was confined in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah, 3awhere King Zedekiah of Judah had confined him.

6Jeremiah said, The word of the LORD came to me: 7Hanamel son of your uncle Shallum is going to come to you and say, "Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours." 8Then my cousin Hanamel came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the LORD, and said to me, "Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself." Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.

9And I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, and weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. 10I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on scales. 11Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions, and the open copy; 12and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in the court of the guard. 13In their presence I charged Baruch, saying, 14Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, in order that they may last for a long time. 15For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.

This is about the Courage to invest in a time of occupation…sovereignty will one day return…it’s the LONG VIEW…

like Bishop Tutu in the midst of apartheid could say, we have already won or my communist friends who never give up on the 

Ultimate victory of the people. 

Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16

1You who live in the shelter of the Most High,

who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,

2will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress;

my God, in whom I trust."

3For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler

and from the deadly pestilence;

4he will cover you with his pinions,

and under his wings you will find refuge;

his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.

5You will not fear the terror of the night,

or the arrow that flies by day,

6or the pestilence that stalks in darkness,

or the destruction that wastes at noonday.

14Those who love me, I will deliver;

I will protect those who know my name.

15When they call to me, I will answer them;

I will be with them in trouble,

I will rescue them and honor them.

16With long life I will satisfy them,

and show them my salvation.

To which after last week we could add, or bombs that explode in the dumpster

Second Reading 1 Timothy 6:6-19

6Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; 7for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; 8but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. 9But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

11But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. 12Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15which he will bring about at the right time-he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. 16It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

17As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, 19thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.

Here we are contining the discussion begun last week…no one can serve two masters…

Gospel Luke 16:19-31

19"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. 22The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. 24He called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.' 25But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. 26Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.' 27He said, 'Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father's house-28for I have five brothers-that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.' 29Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.' 30He said, 'No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' 31He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’"

San Lazaro….

medieval church, a literal story…(questions about view pf afterlife) ONLY parable with a name….

parable vs pharisees (jews refuse to believe)

parable vs Sadducees(purple, fine linen, father’s house is Annas, high priest) threaten to kill lazarus when raised….new covenant

Eleazar…servant of Abrahamthe spokeswoman 

Where? Hades? (eastern orthodox and ads, waiting place) hell?

Note: In the Latin liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church, the words of In paradisum are sometimes chanted as the deceased is taken from church to burial, including this supplication: "Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere aeternam habeas requiem." (May the ranks of angels receive you, and with Lazarus, who was poor, may you have eternal rest.")

from Paul Simon Rhythm of the Saints

Always a stranger when strange isn't fashionable

And fashion is rich people waving at the door

Or it's a dealer in drugs or in passion

Lies of a nature we're heard before

Do my prayers remain unanswered

Like a beggar at your sleeve

Babalu-eye spins on his crutches

Says leave if you want

If you want to leave

from Jill Duffield:

What if we listened to Jeremiah this week and took the long view - the really long view -believing in God's promises to provide, to save, to see us through the darkest valley, to bring us home no matter how long the exile... would we more eagerly let go of our coat, our crumbs or care?

We have Moses and the prophets and the One who returned from the dead, too. Is that enough to give us the eyes to see Lazarus and the willingness to respond to him with not scraps but an invitation to the sumptuous feast?

What about the witness of Timothy? Can we heed his word to not be haughty, to be rich in good works, generous and ready to share? Or will we get caught up in the "I am" culture that causes us to wander away from the faith?

The texts for this week, particularly the New Testament offerings, could come across as finger wagging or, dare I say it, "preachy" in the worst sense of that word. I recognize, too, that I am assuming we are the rich man, not Lazarus. That is certainly not universally true in our congregations. What is at stake for all of us, rich man and Lazarus alike, is our true identity, our created good humanity and the abundant life that results when we recognize who we are, who others are and who God is.

This Sunday is an opportunity to listen to Moses and the prophets, to Luke, Timothy and, most importantly, the One who returned from the dead who said, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you - that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled ... the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations."

Is that enough for us? Are we convinced? "It" isn't about us. The one who returned from the dead did so for all the nations, for the rich man and for Lazarus, the Canaanite woman, her daughter, the wayward sons still far off and the ones who never left home. We aren't called to indulge in the sweet smell of self love, we are to follow the fragrance of the One whose feet were anointed by the sinful woman. I am certain he will lead us to the hungry and all will be fed, enriching both body and soul.

This week:

1 Jeremiah is able to take a very long view. When have you been able to act with a long, future view in mind? When has your congregation done so?

2 1 Timothy talks about being content. Are you content? What makes for contentment or not?

3 The verses from 1 Timothy contain several sayings that have become commonplace. "We brought nothing into the world, so we can take nothing out of it." And, "The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil." Where have you heard these expressions outside of church? How do they shape your view of money and possessions?

4 Neither the Luke text nor the passage from 1 Timothy condemn money, but they do contain pointed admonishments about wealth. How do we recognize when we are being good stewards or when we are justifying our wealth?

5 In Jeremiah the phrase "in the presence of" is repeated. Why is having witnesses to this purchase so important?

6 Try to notice those "at the gate" this week. Who do you see? Where are they? What are they longing for?