Living in coronavirusworld 232: Advent 4

 

12/20

Home Communion

I stop in to the West Park worship service because my friend Russ is leading it. Right in the middle of his sharing a video of John McCutchen’s moving song, “Christmas in the Trenches,” about the Christmas Truce  of 1917, I experience my first ZOOM bomb as a crude penis appears on the screen followed by the word “fuck” and then scribbling all over as demonic cackling fills the sound. Amazed at how violated you feel. It takes a few minutes to straighten all that  out. You just can’t  have ZOOM meetings without a waiting room.  

                                               "Christmas in the Trenches"

Leading a Christmas service for my Beverley friends this morning.  Here’s what I had to say:

Luke 1: 26-38

26In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

Here we are…the final Sunday of Advent. Our journey is almost at an end. Just 4 more days until Christmas Eve in the most strange of Christmas seasons.  As I've walked the city streets, everything seems subdued, toned down, quiet. There are still lights, the midtown shop windows, but it all seems, you know? The parties we’d normally be going to aren’t happening. The extended family visits also curtailed. We’re all shopping on line and the mail is slower than ever.  We all wonder what’s up with this virus even as the vaccine begins to make its way around. 

Can you see in your mind’s eye the inside of Beverley Church? Decorated for Christmas? And we walk down the stairs and see what Eugene’s been up to and share in the food we all have brought and enjoy the transforming decorations and fellowship with one another? That’s where we see each other today….in our mind’s eye. 

Try to see in your  mind’s eye a young woman. All we know when she enters the scene is that she is nobody famous. Who lives in a town, not a city, just a town, a non important town, Nazareth in the upstate region of Galilee. (As Nathanel says in John ,”Can anything good come out of Galilee?”) Tradition tells us she’s a teenager. Luke tells us she’s a virgin. And out of nowhere, an angel appears! And says “Greetings!” But this is where I like the King Jame version better…where the angel says

Hail Mary! 

I’m sure Gabriel never imagined he’d become famous in football which didn’t even exist then…Of course  that started at Notre Dame, but get this, it was a Presbyterian player who suggested they pray!  He tells her Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

Which coming out of nowhere would shake anyone up…can you see the  look on her face? Luke tells us she was “perplexed” and “pondering”…but it gets better..she’s going to “conceive” and “have a son.” Let that sink in..The angel goes on. But I’m sure Mary is still struggling with that pregnant part. Because her first words are,  “How can this be, since I am a virgin' ….and for anyone who wants to bring up the fact that in her Hebrew of Isaiah that informs this passage, the word is just young woman, Mary makes it clear. He literal words in Greek are.. " I have never known a man”…which is to say, “ I have never had sex..”And Gabriel tells her ““The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.” Okay then, how does the  work?  And earlier he had said, 2He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”  That’s a lot to take in.  

And if you’re Mary, what do you think? Well, maybe the first thing you think is, hmmm, most favored? Here I am engaged to a good man from a good family, yeah, he hasn’t done so well, but he’s a good man. And I’m going to be an unmarried pregnant woman? In this town? At best I’ll be a scandalized woman and maybe even taken out and stoned…doesn’t sound so blessed to me..

And the angel’s not done. Her cousin Elizabeth, an old woman, is now six months pregnant. Elizabeth is married to Zechariah, a priest in theTemple. They live in the fancy suburb of Judah just north of Jerusalem. Think Associate Pastor of 5th Avenue or Madison Avenue Presbyterian living in oh, say, Chappaqua. So that makes Mary the poor relative. Elizabeth’s late in life pregnancy os like that of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.  SO making barren women pregnant is a standard Biblical event…a virgin is just one step beyond. Did you know around the world how common that Is ? Found at least 10 famous virgin births including Krishna, Bacchus, Hercules and down in Mexico, Quetzalcotel.  The Muslims say, if God could created humans out of nothing, hey with a woman you’re halfway there!

Bottom line: with God, anything is possible.

So how long does Mary ponder? How along was she perplexed? Did she hesitate? She says, resolutely, , “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” 

So Mary goes off to visit her cousin, and when she arrives, the baby leaps in her cousin’s womb, Elizabeth confirms for Mary what the angel has told her and Mary sings this amazing song:

46b My soul magnifies the Lord,
47       and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48  for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
          Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49  for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
          and holy is his name.
50  His mercy is for those who fear him
          from generation to generation.
51  He has shown strength with his arm;
          he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52  He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
          and lifted up the lowly;
53  he has filled the hungry with good things,
          and sent the rich away empty.
54  He has helped his servant Israel,
          in remembrance of his mercy,
55  according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
          to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

It’s amazing because the baby isn’t even born yet and she sings as if all these things have already been accomplished. Like Desmond Tutu saying long before apartheit fell, We have already won. The others just haven’t figured it out yet. It’s that knowing, deep inside, at the heart of creation, that it is God’s will that the lowly will be lifted up, the hungry filled. (Mary’s song is a riff on Hannah’ song (1 Samuel 2: 1-10), the mother of Samuel.) It is the already and not yet.

In Nicaragua, in the 1980’s, I heard a woman who had just learned to read in their literacy  campaign read this passage and then say that this had come true in her lifetime. 

When I was growing up, we were taught that all this Mary business the Catholics do is at best idolatrous. But through my life I’ve come to understand that this song is the reason poor people around the earth venerate Mary as one of them and proof that God wants their concrete life circumstances changed now, not just in the sweet by and by.  If you come to think  about it, this is what Jesus was talking about in his sermon on the mount, the Beatitudes. 

Hear this :Gabriel’s message to Mary and Mary’s song are at the very center of the meaning of the child who’s birth we will celebrate next Friday. This is the why and what of who this child, this Jesus is….

And see this…Mary’s been given  limited information….it’s heavy, yes, but limited. She says yes to the risk of what many happen to her and without any idea of what will come next. And no idea that this most beloved son of  hers will wind up executed by the imperial Roman oppressors as an insurrectionist, condemned by the religious leaders, abandoned by his friends. In spite of all she does not know, Mary says , Let it be, to me according to thy word. 

We have lived through dark days. And they are not over yet. It will take courage to keep walking with one another to the other side. 

So here’s the point…just as the angel had a message for Mary, God has a message for us…this Christmas, there is something waiting to be born inside of us. God has something ready to be born in each and every one of us. What we need is to have the courage, like Mary, to say, Here am I…let it be to me according to thy word. And more…if God has something to be born inside each of us, God has something to be born inside your community, inside Beverley Church. I can’t tell you what it is. You just have to listen together and let it be. 

Remember …Nothing is impossible for God. 

On last word, just like Mary riffed on Hannah’s sing, Paul McCartney and the Beatles riffed on Mary’s song. The words of Let it Be come straight from Luke. NO matter how  dark the days, there will be an answer, Let it Be. 

                              ****

our concert

In the late afternoon, my friend Steve and I do a virtual holiday concert. Last year at this time we did a pop up concert at the Bethesda fountain in Central Park. Drew a crowd of a 100 or so.Sang harmonies.  Not this years. Solos on ZOOM and a team up on White Christmas. Hopefully brought some cheer in the darkest days of this pandemic. 

Living in coronavirusworld 228: There will be an answer

 

12/14

Together apart

Well, at least one good thing about the Covid spike…no Santacon this year.

Walking the streets of Harlem, all is quiet and deserted. In all the the tiny plastic houses, which seem to be a gift from Stella Artois beer, there’s only two tables with people at them, both at Silvana. 

Today the Electoral College made it official, Joe Biden is the next President.  Never before did this pro forma exercise draw breathless coverage from Wolf Blitzer and CNN. Now we’re one step closer to an inevitable  January inauguration. But somehow I fear more shenanigans are in store.

This is the context for our Bible Study tonight as the lectionary shifts into  a more thematic Christmas mode. Specifically, Mary’s visit to Elizabeth. (Luke 1: 26-38.) Russ requests that we extend the reading through 55 so we get the Magnificat as well.

Marsha loves the simplicity of the story. Russ the simplicity of a story of a young woman. Michael is awed that a woman with no social standing, no great lineage would be chosen for such a role. And AmberLee, as always, come in at an angle and sees connections with a Marvel comics origin story with Venom, Brock and Anna.  And I tell her that that’s pretty much the way people in the first century heard these stories, like Marvel Comics superheroes. 

Here then birth of Jesus is foretold. The angel greets Mary with the words “Hail Mary” which would  find their way into football parlance in the 20’s through Notre Dame, although ironically it was a Presbyterian player who convinced the  team that they needed to pray. And now the phrase has not only football specific meaning but broader metaphoric use, like in Trump’s legal maneuvers. Gabriel’s announcement echoes his earlier announcement to Anna about her old age miracle  pregnancy keeping up a common Biblical trope, e.g. Sarah. From elderly barren women getting pregnant to a pregnant virgin is just one more leap. 

This  visit takes place in Nazareth, backwater town of no importance. In Galilee, not Judea. To a woman who is a virgin. (People make much of the fact that the Isaiah passage 7:14 literally says “", but no matter because she has “known no man.” (34) Thus sending the Roman Church on an ever winding doctrinal goose chase of immaculate conception and perpetual virginity. When the point is about youth and holiness and how anything is possible with God, not about biology. (Strange that in Matthew the angel appears only to Joseph. In Luke, Mary’s situation is fait a compli. And Jesus’ royal lineage is argued through Joseph, 2:4, even though he was not apparently involved.) Let miracles be miracles, wonder be wonder. 

And her child will bring a kingdom without end, fulfilling promises in 2 Samuel 7:16, Isaiah 9:7 and Daniel 7:14. 

Mary’s response to “how can this be?”(34) Is “Let it be.”(35)  (More of that later.)

She is much ‘perplexed’ and has much to “ponder.” But in the end accepts. 

Much can be made of what is left out, the gaps between her title and her test, the question and the answer, the vision and certainty. 

That yes doesn’t come easy. It will  open the door to scandal, ostracization and potential death by stoning. “God’s favor” is not necessarily evident. She doesn’t know the future. That will end with the special child’s crucifixion as an insurrectionist. She only knows enough to take the first step. 

I do note that virgin birth stories are common in many cultures and traditions, including  Krishna, Bacchus, Hercules and even Quetzelcote. Something very basic to humanity is at work here. 

The visit to Elizabeth takes place in the 6th month of her pregnancy, At Mary’s revelation, her yet to be born John “leaps” for joy. Compared to Elizabeth, wife of Zechariah the Temple priest, living in a fancy Jerusalem suburb, Mary is a poor relation. Mary’s triumphant song, the Magnificat, is a riff on Hannah’s song in I Samuel 2:1-10, a song of great reversal, pulling the mighty down form their thrones, filling the hungry, sending the rich empty away. And she sings it as if it has already been accomplished. The already and not yetness of the Gospel. Desmond Tutu’s “we have already won…” long before apartheit officially fell. It is real and concrete. I remember hearing a woman who had just learned to read in the Sandinista literacy campaign read this passage in a street mass in Managua. And then say, “I saw this happen in my life.” (How much more tragic the betrayal of the revolution by Ortega.)   It goes deep, Luke alway speaks of “the poor” the “hungry,” no Matthean nuanced spirtualizing, It speaks to those who Franz Fanon spoke of as the wretched of  the earth. 

Mary’s consent, and the essence of the Magnificat, will become the Lennon-McCartney classic, “Let It be.”

“…..And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree

There will be an answer, let it be

For though they may be parted, there is still a chance that they will see

There will be an answer, let it be”

There will be an answer. Let it be. Yes. Come, Lord Jesus, come.

                                                                              Let it be

Advent 3: Joy: Re-cycle, re-new, re-sist

12/11 

Re-cycle, re-new, re-sist:
papers by hand by Jubia

Today we lit three candles, including our pink one. And sang 3 verses of Barbara Lundblad’s Emmanuel …

O come, O come, Immanuel

And bless each place your people dwell.

Melt ev’ry weapon crafted for war,

Bring peace upon the earth forever more.

Rejoice, rejoice! Take heart and do not fear,

God’s chosen one, Immanuel, draws near.

2. O come, green shoot of Jesse, free

Your people from despair and apathy;

Forge justice for the poor and the meek,

Grant safety for the young ones and the weak. Refrain

3.O come, now living water, pour your grace

And bring new life to ev’ry withered place;

Speak comfort to each trembling heart:

“Be strong! Fear not, for I will ne’er depart.” 

And while lighting the candles we read from Isaiah 35: 1-10:

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,

 the desert shall rejoice and blossom;

 like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly,

 and rejoice with joy and singing.

 The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,

 the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.

 They shall see the glory of the LORD,

 the majesty of our God.

Reader 2:

Strengthen the weak hands,

 and make firm the feeble knees.

Say to those who are of a fearful heart,

 “Be strong, do not fear!

 Here is your God.

 He will come with vengeance,

 with terrible recompense.

 He will come and save you.”

Reader 1:

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,

 and the ears of the deaf unstopped;

then the lame shall leap like a deer,

 and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.

 For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,

 and streams in the desert;

the burning sand shall become a pool,

 and the thirsty ground springs of water;

 the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp,

 the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

Reader 2:

A highway shall be there,

 and it shall be called the Holy Way;

 the unclean shall not travel on it,

 but it shall be for God’s people;

 no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.

No lion shall be there,

 nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;

 they shall not be found there,

 but the redeemed shall walk there.

And the ransomed of the LORD shall return,

 and come to Zion with singing;

 everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;

 they shall obtain joy and gladness,

 and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

and saw that in the King James Version, it comes out The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.

And Jeremy and I sang Lo How a rose and the Rose as Better Midler sang it…

On this Sunday we consider JOY. Traditionally this Sunday has been known as Gaudete Sunday…as Advent was a time for contemplation, this third Sunday in Advent became a time for break in the reflection…a pause for joy….and we break up the purple candles with  a  pink….for JOY snd for Mary….

And on this Sunday, she sings a song from the depth of her soul…a song of joy….of resistance …of victory…we call it the magnificat…

My soul doth magnify the Lord : and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

For he hath regarded : the lowliness of his handmaiden.

For behold, from henceforth : all generations shall call me blessed.

For he that is mighty hath magnified me : and holy is his Name.

And his mercy is on them that fear him : throughout all generations.

He hath shewed strength with his arm : he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

He hath put down the mighty from their seat : and hath exalted the humble and meek.

He hath filled the hungry with good things : and the rich he hath sent empty away.

He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel : as he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed for ever.

And Jeremy played for us Paul Mc Cartney’s riff on the magnificat, i.e. Let it Be

In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 1: 18-25,Jesus answers John’s questions in terms of the prophet Isaiah…what do you eyes see?

Matthew 11:2-14 (The Message)

2-3 John, meanwhile, had been locked up in prison. When he got wind of what Jesus was doing, he sent his own disciples to ask, “Are you the One we’ve been expecting, or are we still waiting?”

4-6 Jesus told them, “Go back and tell John what’s going on:

The blind see,

The lame walk,

Lepers are cleansed,

The deaf hear,

The dead are raised,

The wretched of the earth learn that God is on their side.

“Is this what you were expecting? Then count yourselves most blessed!”

7-10 When John’s disciples left to report, Jesus started talking to the crowd about John. “What did you expect when you went out to see him in the wild? A weekend camper? Hardly. What then? A sheik in silk pajamas? Not in the wilderness, not by a long shot. What then? A prophet? That’s right, a prophet! Probably the best prophet you’ll ever hear. He is the prophet that Malachi announced when he wrote, ‘I’m sending my prophet ahead of you, to make the road smooth for you.’

11-14 “Let me tell you what’s going on here: No one in history surpasses John the Baptizer; but in the kingdom he prepared you for, the lowliest person is ahead of him. For a long time now people have tried to force themselves into God’s kingdom. But if you read the books of the Prophets and God’s Law closely, you will see them culminate in John, teaming up with him in preparing the way for the Messiah of the kingdom. Looked at in this way, John is the ‘Elijah’ you’ve all been expecting to arrive and introduce the Messiah.

We have been celebrating all weekend and exploring paper…with Junia 

Junia and Bob

Junia getting ready to make paper

Junia and 

…and the Flute Choir of New York City that played for her opening…

The Flute Choir of NYC

learning about the history of and the the making of paper…

The history of paper

And so we had our conversation…

Why paper? What drew you to paper?

She started working with paper during a time when her flute had been stole and found that making paper filled her with the same feelings that plain the flute did…a sense of meditation and onenesss and JOY…What does the experience feel like for you?

For her, the experience is not unlike that of prayer…

She says that you can’t make paper if you are not at peace with yourself….what does that mean?

One has to see the paper…describe that …it takes split second timing, the particles of fabric floating in the water come together for just a moment, you have to pull it just then or the moment …and the paper is gone…

"Finding the paper"

And when you lose the moment, you just have to, as the song said just, “Let it be”….metaphors, metaphors….and just because you are not supposed to mix natures, vegetable and mineral, paper and rock, she worked at it until she could include gem stones in her paper…. 

Paper with gemstones

Where do you get your materials?  Recycling….

She has always been a saver, one who finds them and put stem to use, especially  in a city of conspicuous wealth and consumption where so may good things are replaced and out on the street.. Old blue jeans, old shirts, all recycled, turns it into something new. 

Why do you always begin with flute playing? 

Junia begins the service with her flute

Andre, of course  sees the two  as related….how so?

It’s all about 

Creation and joy

Creation and resistance…

The act of playing, of creating, is the first step in resisting the powers that deaden life, that threaten us with non-being

And so in that spirit, we join in Mary’s song and go back into the world…her papers remain on the walls of the chapel, to remind us…

Thank you Pat and leila

Awakening 4: The third Sunday in Advent, let it be

12/14/14

Did anyone notice yesterday was 12/13/14?  None of us will see that again.

The third Sunday of Advent. In the midst of anger and rage. Where are we today? This is our Let it be Sunday. Mary .And McCartney.

Our special guest this week is out own Jeremy.

We start the service with the full text of Bartbara Lundblad’s O Come, O Come Immanuel…

O come, o come Immanuel                                                                                                                                

And bless each place your people dwell

Melt ev’ry weapon crafted for war

Bring peace upon the earth for evermore

Rejoice, rejoice! Take heart and do not fear,

God’s chosen one, Immanuel, draws near.

² O come green shoot of Jesse, free

Your people from despair and apathy

Forge justice for the poor and meek

Grant safety for the young ones and the weak.

Rejoice, rejoice! Take heart and do not fear,

God’s chosen one, Immanuel, draws near.

³ O come now, living water, pour your grace

And bring new life to ev’ry withered place;

Speak comfort to each trembling heart:

“Be strong, fear not, for I will ne’er depart”

Rejoice, rejoice! Take heart and do not fear,

God’s chosen one, Immanuel, draws near.

⁴ O come dear child of Mary come

God’s word made flesh within our earthly home.

Love stir within the womb of night

Revenge and hatred put to flight

And once again, a new litany for lighting our candles….

One: Our brothers and sisters are not yet free. Like captives and exiles in their own land, they mourn the loss of children with inconsolable grief.

All: We light this candle in solidarity. We light this candle to light the path from lament to hope. To the day of true emancipation when all will live in freedom.

One: Words like ‘Ferguson”, names like Michael Brown, Hands Up, Don’t Shoot, I can’t breathe make our days, resound in our nights. Bridges, highways, subways close. There is pain that goes beyond words, and the unbelievable that is only all too believable.

All: In such a world, the prophet cries Comfort, comfort my people…prepare the way …a new day is coming…a new day will come….

One: There is hope in the voices raised yesterday in our city from Washington Square to Police Plaza crying out for justice and an end to violence.

All: There is hope in the song of a woman about to give birth to a child, a sign that God is with us, a sign of a new reality being born, a sign of a victory already one, a song that with full heart says, “Let it Be”…..

Our prophetic lesson is that passage from Isaiah that practically preaches itself..

FIRST READING ISAIAH 61:1-4, 8-11

¹   The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, 
          because the LORD has anointed me; 
     he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, 
          to bind up the brokenhearted, 
     to proclaim liberty to the captives, 
          and release to the prisoners; 
²   to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, 
          and the day of vengeance of our God; 
          to comfort all who mourn; 
³   to provide for those who mourn in Zion — 
          to give them a garland instead of ashes, 
     the oil of gladness instead of mourning, 
          the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. 
     They will be called oaks of righteousness, 
          the planting of the LORD, to display his glory. 
⁴   They shall build up the ancient ruins, 
          they shall raise up the former devastations; 
     they shall repair the ruined cities, 
          the devastations of many generations.

⁸   For I the LORD love justice, 
          I hate robbery and wrongdoing; 
     I will faithfully give them their recompense, 
          and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 
⁹   Their descendants shall be known among the nations, 
          and their offspring among the peoples; 
     all who see them shall acknowledge 
          that they are a people whom the LORD has blessed. 
¹⁰  I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, 
          my whole being shall exult in my God; 
     for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, 
          he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, 
     as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, 
          and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 
¹¹  For as the earth brings forth its shoots, 
          and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, 
     so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise 
          to spring up before all the nations.

We follow that by singing Oh Mary don't you weep don't you mourn..including Arlo Guthrie’s original verse, Moses was the first to get the notion  that the world is safer with the army in the ocean…Why is this appropriate for Advent? It’s  Moses’ sister Mary, but Jesus’ mother too. And it’s Moses’ pharoah and the Roman Empire. And the pharaohs of our own day. And it’s filled with Advent apocalyptic language:

One of these days about 12 o’clock this old world gonna reel and rock….

We do our Psalm somewhere between people’s mic style and pastor K from SPSA style, repeating key phrases for emphasis….

1When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, 
          we were like those who dream. 
²   Then our mouth was filled with laughter, 
          and our tongue with shouts of joy; 
     then it was said among the nations, 
          “The Lord has done great things for them.” 
³   The Lord has done great things for us, 
          and we rejoiced.

⁴   Restore our fortunes, O Lord, 
          like the watercourses in the Negeb. 
5   May those who sow in tears 
          reap with shouts of joy. 
⁶   Those who go out weeping, 
          bearing the seed for sowing, 
     shall come home with shouts of joy, 
          carrying their sheaves.

Jeremy follows the prophetic words with  I Can See Clearly Now by Jimmy Cliff.

 For our gospel lesson. We’ve got Mary’s song, the Magnificat…

^6b My soul magnifies the Lord, 
⁴⁷       and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 
⁴⁸  for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. 
          Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 
⁴⁹  for the Mighty One has done great things for me, 
          and holy is his name. 
⁵⁰  His mercy is for those who fear him 
          from generation to generation. 
⁵¹  He has shown strength with his arm; 
          he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 
⁵²  He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, 
          and lifted up the lowly; 
⁵³  he has filled the hungry with good things, 
          and sent the rich away empty. 
⁵⁴  He has helped his servant Israel, 
          in remembrance of his mercy, 
⁵⁵  according to the promise he made to our ancestors, 
          to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

 As a commentary on the Magnificat, Jeremy plays Let it Be, Paul McCartney’s riff on Mary’s song.

And these are my reflections:

It’s been yet another week…it’s the third  Sunday in Advent, Gaudete Sunday, Mary’s Sunday. It’s the Sunday for the pink candle. A Sunday for Joy…so who’s feeling joy? We are celebrating the beginning of our reconstruction..it began this week. There must be joy in that…Certainly the santacon revelers yesterday were wearing something that at least looked like joy.  And yet….our streets are filled with anger..

Last Monday…a circle of clergy went to  city hall…but we began at St.Paul’s Chapel…itself a symbol of rebirth…(do you remember our hours of volunteer work at Ground Zero on the St. Paul’s steps?) We celebrated a liturgy of breath…a way of breathing together (for which the literal translation is conspiracy). Then  we marched silently to city hall. Joined the black and latino city council caucus in a die-in closing Broadway. Then into the council chambers, where we sang freedom songs and spirituals.

On reflection, we realized something.  Chants are essentially confrontational, singing  is invitational,oiur singing  blessed the council…..after we ended our die-in, we left with the echo of we shall overcome ringing in the rotunda…

Yesterday, the streets filled with people….marching against police violence.

There is a thirst right now that cannot be quenched…

In this context, we hear Mary’s song, an old song,in this case, the song of  Hannah. (1 Samuel 2) Like we sing the Seeger songs, she sings her song…

The thing is, she sings as if it has already happened….and it has specific content…it is a reversal….

My soul magnifies the lord….she sings..

We as a people have HOPE, but what about JOY?

Yesterday, there was this chant, I believe that we will win…

For Mary, she saw the victory as already won..

There is a question however, How do we make this personal? We are a part of something larger… bigger than us…a something rooted in love…where and how do we feel it? (From Lincoln to other Theresa to William Styron it's a sense of being connected to something beyond ourselves that enables us to move beyond depression. 

Mary, an unmarried pregnant woman in day when that was dangerous

Living at the lower end of working class in occupied land with an oppressive power in control…feels in her womb a sense of HOPE a sense of JOY

Mc Cartney’s Let it be….is based on magnificat…Let it be…is beyond political issues ti the personal issues of loneliness or broken heartedness, it’ s all directed to these people as individuals….let it be…, let it be…

That’s our challenge…to let it be…

And we finish, one last time with Ella’s song. After Saturday, we had too…

We who believe in freedom cannot rest
We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes

Until the killing of black men, black mothers' sons
Is as important as the killing of white men, white mothers' sons

That which touches me most is that I had a chance to work with people
Passing on to others that which was passed on to me

To me young people come first, they have the courage where we fail
And if I can but shed some light as they carry us through the gale

The older I get the better I know that the secret of my going on
Is when the reins are in the hands of the young, who dare to run against the storm

Not needing to clutch for power, not needing the light just to shine on me
I need to be one in the number as we stand against tyranny

Struggling myself don't mean a whole lot, I've come to realize
That teaching others to stand up and fight is the only way my struggle survives

I'm a woman who speaks in a voice and I must be heard
At times I can be quite difficult, I'll bow to no man's word

We who believe in freedom cannot rest
We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes

Then it’s time for Jeremy’s own performance. He begins with his own song, written as a tribute to a family friend, Kathy Boudin. ( Who is actually here to hear him sing it…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathy_Boudin) I wanted to hear him sing  it because of the chorus:

What do you do with a world on fire?

How do we change how we live?

You have just one life to give.

Somehow fits what’s going on around us.

                                                                   ****

Our band arrives for another rehearsal. This will be our first run through with Rabbi Steve. He’s got that high voice we’ve been missing. Tomorrow night draws close.