Great and Small

9/29

Back to Good Shepherd Faith in the shadows of Lincoln Center....

My other text for the day is ...
"You who choose to lead must follow..." that's actually the Grateful Dead...'

Where to begin? So many moments from this past week floating around...it was Yom Kippur...you ever notice that even with Labor Day, the fall really doesn't begin in New York City until after the High Holy Days? I loved seeing the boxes plied to the roof high in front  of Barney Greengrass, delivery trucks fired up and ready to go..

Ready for BreakFast

.their biggest day of the year...supplying lox and bagels to the world...the last  couple of years, they've rented out the West Park Chapel as an extra work space...something about their night long marathon makes me smile..

Yom Kippur morning my rabbi friend Steve invited me to preach at his Yom Kippur service at the Bitter End.

Yom Kippur at the Bitter End

..he does his usual services online but on High Holy days gathers a real live crowd at the iconic night club with a jazz band. Now that was a pretty good sermon, BUT, ah not quite right for today..

Friday night two West Park members, including one from Kazakhstan had an international music festival including American singer song writers, a rock singer from Malaysia, Central Asian pop singers, rappers form Queens a heavy metal guitar player from Moscow and a Tazhiki wedding singer. Leaving aside the occasional SNL feel to the night, I'm willing to bet there was not a more diverse audience in the Upper West Side. (Or beyond)

Yesterday I studied the beauty of Goergia O'Keefe's Hawaiian paintings  at the Botanical gardens.

Georgia O'Keefe in Hawaii

Georgia O'Keefe in Hawaii 

And last night, again at West Park, a concert for Nicaragua...with a singer who took me back to the 80's and all my time there. FYI, the country's leader has become a despot and over 400 have been killed and 23000 fled into neighboring Costa Rica. "It feels like we've been at war most of my life" the singer says. And when the tour is done, mother and daughter will go to Europe because they can't go back. Our Presbyterian mission workers have left too. 

Katia Cardenal at West PArk

All these in my mind when I think about my "prompting"..but here's where I want to go. I went to Louisville this  week to do a memorial service. For a friend who worked for the PCUSA for 35 years following the circle  from NYC to Louisville. With one year to go before 65, she turned down an opportunity for early retirement out of dedication and wound up being cut in a reduction of staff move. After 35 years....

Remembering Susan

She was not one of our church's visible faces. Stated Clerk or CEO or Division Head with portfolio or tall steeple preacher. Not featured in church magazines or webinars or....she was an administrative person. One who answered the phones. And for hundreds, thousands of presbyterians across the country, she was voice that people heard who called with problems from AIDS to mental illness to healthcare issue to addictions to domestic violence....she was a rolodex, no a Siri, better than Siri...she knew who was doing what where around the country and where to connect someone and would stay with them as long as it took. Far more than any "leader" or "face,"  she was the voice of our church and the loving heart that helped people feel loved, cared for and valued. And when she died, she could not be listed in the church's necrology because she was not an elder. Or even Presbyterian. Her name was Susan. And she is representative of 100's of others across this church who spend their lives, literally, making church real for people.

"Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." See?

Jesus had tried to tell the disciples something important. But they just didn't get it. At all. And didn't even bother to to ask. Instead they fell into bickering about who was greatest. (And where was Martha during this debate?) Jesus sets them straight. Keep that in mind. 

Then he takes it further...
Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37"Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."
Children...I'm not going to go too long on this one, but two things come to mind...
ONE...the morning I woke up and realized "I live in a country that separates parents from children and puts children in cages. I'll say that again...I live in a country that separates parents from children and puts children in cages. Let that sink in.

And I thought of the horrible revelations about the Catholic church that broke while I was in Pittsburgh. Numbers so staggering ...300 priests and over 1000 victims in just ONE state. I'm always uncomfortable about talking about another tradition, but sure feels like something's seriously broken...friends in deep pain over now discovered broken trust... 

And responses to the Kavanagh accusations that sound like "boys will be boys, girls you're on your own..."

7"Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."

and the opposite equally true...

Jesus was trying to tell them about where his path would lead. And when they didn't get it, he responded with a model of what is called in some circles "servant leadership..."  It is the Susans of this church, this world, that keep it going but more so give witness to what the ministry, the reality of the living Christ is.

So as we conclude, take a minute and see if you can think of one who has been that in your life, who's quiet, unassuming work has lived out the gospel...

Thank God for their lives among us...

Amen


It was interesting to hear the responses...one person picked himself...







Psalm 1

1Happy are those

who do not follow the advice of the wicked,

or take the path that sinners tread,

or sit in the seat of scoffers;

2but their delight is in the law of the LORD,

and on his law they meditate day and night.

3They are like trees

planted by streams of water,

which yield their fruit in its season,

and their leaves do not wither.

In all that they do, they prosper.


4The wicked are not so,

but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

5Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

6for the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish.

Second Reading James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a

13Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. 14But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. 15Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. 16For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. 17But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. 18And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

4:1Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? 2You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.

7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

Gospel Mark 9:30-37

30They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; 31for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again." 32But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.

33Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the way?" 34But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. 35He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." 36Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37"Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."

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Susan Stack, Rest in peace

2/18

Thank you, Susan....

Late last night I learned that shortly after noon yesterday, my friend Susan Stack had died a few short  weeks after her 65th birthday following a year long struggle with a rare and aggressive form of cancer. In her own desire to maintain control over as much of her life as she could, Susan kept her medical situation (mainly) to herself and resisted hospitalization as long as she could. Susan maintained her fierce hold on life to the end.

For over 30 years of her life, Susan served the Presbyterian Church (USA) in the ministry of the Presbyterian Health, Education and Welfare Association.  She was one of the church's last connections back to the church's old national offices at 475 Riverside Drive, New York City, leaving a city she loved to move to Louisville so she could continue to serve. Through a changing cast of Executive Directors over those 30 years, Susan always fought to keep PHEWA true to its founding vision, and the legacy of the director with whom she first served, Rod Martin.

During those years, as the person on the other end of the phone, Susan was in many ways a true "first responder" to needs ...and crises..of those who called into PHEWA's office. For countless people across the country, Susan was the voice, the ears, and the heart, of the ministry she served.  And thereby, for many, of the church they loved. For many, Susan was the human embodiment of what it meant to be a concerned, caring and responsive Presbyterian Church. Whether it was connecting someone to another who could give the advice needed or helping someone bring a new justice issue or concern to General Assembly, Susan more than any of us was that church.

Susan gave up her opportunity for early retirement in the hopes that she could continue to serve her crunch. Sadly, that was not to be. When Susan left, the church, perhaps without fully realizing it, lost the greatest...and most irreplaceable...relationship based resource bank that could ever be held in one person.

Susan loved her cats. And the Mayan Cafe. And whatever team Tubby Smith was coaching. And there are people she was committed to, whose lives were enriched by Susan, in ways no one ever knew about. Yes, she could be obstinate and prickly. But she was, in the words of her PHEWA colleagues, fierce and passionate. Especially for justice. And she had literally made the church the center of her life, a singular commitment beyond most of us. And yes, there was pain when she felt that she may not have been loved to the same extent she loved. 

Behind her desk at the Presbyterian Center, she kept photos of PHEWA families and their children, as part of her extended family. She also kept a gallery of photos representing those she called "the saints of the church," the faithful witnesses who inspired her to keep going on. Today she has clearly joined that number. Susan has joined the saints.

Thank you Susan.