Living in Coronavirusworld 18: It's Maundy Thursday

4/9

The Last ZOOM

It’s Maundy Thursday…when Christians commemorate the Last  Supper. A popular internet meme shows the Last Supper as if  it were on ZOOM, each disciple in their own square.  I remember how I used to enjoy the quiet candlelit simple agape tennebrae services at Good Shepherd-Faith, our years of services  at West-Park with my colleague Katherine and my first experiences with the ritual of footwashing.

So A. Philip Randolph Park is closed. 

A. Philip Randolph Park is closed

It’s not that big for one who started the first African-American union, of Pullman sleeping car porters. He was a key organizer of  the 1964 March on Washington where a young Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr made his mark on the American conscience. He once said, "The idea of separatism is harkening to the past and it is undesirable even if it could be realized, because the progress of mankind has been based upon . . .social, intellectual and cultural contact." It’s a small neighborhood park. Just big enough for a few men to gather and talk about martial law and the rest of what they see  coming. They are the kind of people  Rev. William Barber's Poor People’s Campaign should be organizing. No gathering there now, not even the informal ad hoc encounters that  make a neighborhood a neighborhood. Closed until  further notice. 

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It’s now official that we have lost  twice more the number of Americans to to the Coronavirus as to 9-11, over 6000.  I need to repeat that. There is a certain numbness….      

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I keep hearing from old friends, even old girl friends, who just because I live in New York City, in the eye of the storm so to speak,  want to know that I’m okay.  I find that kind of comforting      

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In the midst of all these deaths, I find myself especially saddened by the loss of singer-songwriter John Prine. He was soooo good. Maybe because my voice has been  compared to his?   

(https://www.facebook.com/dian.killian/videos/10210618178481538/UzpfSTU3ODk4MzM2MDozMDYwNjExMjk0OTk0MTQ6MTA6MDoxNTg4MzE2Mzk5Oi02MDAxNzU4OTkzMTU0NTMzNzQx/)     

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At the nurse’s action, on a light pole, there was a flyer comparing the Trump-Pence reopens etc the evokes to the  plan for epidemics contained in the constitution for a socialist republic of North America written by Revolutionary Communist Party Chair Bob Avakian. (https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?shva=1#search/rev+com/FMfcgxwHMjpZnvkbDLpphBMBzHQhZFdG?projector=1&messagePartId=0.1)  I could write a whole other essay on my history with communists,  some of the best people I have ever known, but this is not that. Whatever else you might say about Avakian, he is certainly thorough in cases like this laying  out what a decent, effective and efficient governmental policy related to public health and epidemics might look like. Written years before this Corona virus global pandemic just because, well, epidemics happen. They are part of our life. Certainly not like this one, but….Suffice it to say, if I had to choose between Trump and the Rev Coms, well, all power to the people.  I wish there was more of their info here but there are only a pair of ardent Spartacists on the fringe. 

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I spend most of the day in tech land. Trying to learn how to host an open mic on ZOOM.  My buddy Steve is helping me, since he’s got this down. Of course he thought it was Friday already, but that happens to all of us.  And also trying to revive an interactive online meeting place for  my long-forgotten colleagues in then Presbyterian Health Education and Welfare Association who are currently serving on the front limes of the epidemic. I inch closer, but it’s slow work. I finish my day by watching game 7 of the 1960 World Series where my hometown Pirates came back to win from the indomitable New York Yankees with a walk-of homerun in the bottom of the 9th. I was 10 years old. It allowed me to believe that anything can be possible. I’d never seen the whole game before. Comparing the  game of 60 years ago to today was fascinating, not the least being it was an hour faster in all than most games today. I loved the strategic battle of wits between the Yankees “ole professor” Casey Stengel and Danny “the little Irishman” Murtaugh of the Pirates. Of course the game itself could have been scripted by a combination of Garcia - Marquez and Disney.  Somewhere inside of me, Bill Mazeroski’s homer is always sailing over the left field wall into Schenley Park, Yogi Berra staring into the sky helpless and forlorn. 

It's Maundy Thursday. 

                                                                                                                          

Here Am I

6/3

Beverley Church

Eugene has been working for hours on the feast he is preparing for the congregation that has welcomed him. He has used the fallen branches form the last heavy storm as fuel for his fire. Cut the chicken into little pieces. Prepared the sausages. Marinated his meet. His barbecue will be a gift. 

Eugene at work

After reading the scriptures, from First Samuel and Mark, I share my reflection: 

Today, again, the verses from First Samuel are one of my favorite passages. I read that passage, The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread and I say, yeah, tell me about it. It feels so true...but is it? All I have to do is think about Rev. William Barber and his partner, our Presbyterian sister, Liz Theoharris, and their leadership of the Poor Peoples' Campaign, and I think, maybe not. Maybe the word of the Lord is not rare, maybe it's becoming more present, more here, and we just need  to pay attention. They are trying to bring a new (renewed?) moral perspective to our life together as a society. 

What our Samuel  story is about is the call of Samuel, his call to ministry, to witness. It took 3 times for Samuel to figure out it was the Lord who was speaking to him and not Eli. And is answer is, Here I am. When Eli finally figures out what is going on, he tells him to say, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” And in the end we are told, the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the Lord.

So I'm thinking about this and trying to figure out what it means. At the  least, it means being ready to answer when you hear the call. And I guess being alert enough to hear the call when it comes. 

I think of  the hymn, Here I am Lord...

Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night
I will go, Lord, if you lead me
I will hold your people in my heart

That is Samuel's song. 

I spent last week in Chile working with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Chile. (Even that title has meaning, as in in the world, not of the world...)Back in 1973, their country had been taken over by a military junta under General Pinochet. They began to feel that some of their Presbyterian  leaders were not only not resisting but were actively collaborating with the junta. So a significant portion of the church decided to leave the denomination  and create a new church. 

They also drafted a creed that defines them as a church. And here's the important point to remember...they aren't radicals...they are in many ways very traditional evangelical Presbyterians. But their declaration that their obedience was first and foremost to  Jesus Christ had profound political implications, even as it did for the Confessing Church under Nazi Germany. Sometimes simply seeking to be faithful can take courage.

Yesterday I was in Greensboro, North Carolina. Do you know the names  Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr., and David Richmond. And what happened in Greensboro? On February1, 1960 four college students from North Carolina  A&T went to the Woolworths store.

The Greensboro Four

Bought some school supplies. Then sat down at the lunch counter. And ordered coffee. What happened next was not the first but was the most influential sit in inspiring a whole wave of sit ins. At the end of an exhibit featuring the history of the civil rights movement, there's giant mural made of the  faces of people engaged in the civil rights struggle. There are several blank  spaces. Those are reserved for you. For me. For us. For our faces. The point they make, from Rosa Parks on, individuals do make a difference. What one person does, what you do...or don't do...makes a difference...

Where the sit-ins began

What happens to us when we hear God's voice calling in the night? Do we hear God's voice calling in the night? 

We each have our individual calling. Each of us has our unique ministry that no one else can do. Can we say here am I ? Can we help our brothers and sisters answer their calls?

Here am I....

After the sermon, we share our communion. And then go downstairs for our feast. Even though Eugene has brought all the tables up and out, it is too cold and windy so we will eat downstairs. There are sodas from the Republic of Georgia on the table. And salads of cucumbers and tomatoes (without leaves, Irina the musician says...) Someone has made fresh banana pudding. It is truly a feast. 

sharing a feast and breaking bread together

As we wait for the meet to arrive, I ask how people came to this church.  A lot of it has to do with proximity. Family.  People have come from American south. And Guyana. And now Russia. Pastors are remembered fondly yet with each's departure, members have left. Like so many small churches, there is sadness over what has been lost. Community members no longer here.  And yet, this faithful remnant steadfastly keeps their tradition of breaking bread together after worship. I am happy to be part of that. 



First Reading 1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)

1Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread. 2At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; 3the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4Then the Lord called, “Samuel! Samuel!” and he said, “Here I am!” 5and ran to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. 6The Lord called again, “Samuel!” Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 8The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. 9Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, ‘Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

19As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. 20And all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the Lord.



Second Lesson 2 Corinthians 4:5-12

5For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. 6For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

7But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. 8We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. 11For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh. 12So death is at work in us, but life in you.

Goose 2017 Postscript: Of health care. And beer

7/30

wild Goose signpost

Goose 2017:  postscript

After living through a week of  watching a Senate debate about health care that defies belief, I thought back to Wild Goose 2017 once again. Dr. William Barber had very detailed analysis of what the  effects of various proposals would be. Dr. Barber and his movement are doing the best work I’ve seen in terms of specific polices in the public process. But as I recall it was Otis Moss III who used the phrase murder by policy. He said, they say, well, there won’t be people dying in the streets. But in fact there will be. It’s murder by policy, plain and simple. That’s what gets lost in the coverage of the debate. There’s this drive to  undo a program, simply because it was the work of President Obama. The real life impact on millions of us is simply not part of the equation.  I honestly don’t believe the President even understands what the current system is and what dismantling it would mean and most Republicans simply don’t care. The emerging congressional political consensus seems to be that health is a privilege to be earned not a human right to be provided by society. If one cannot afford health care, well then one simply doesn’t deserve it. This from people who whipped up panic by talking about nonexistent death panels. Congress itself is now a death panel, deciding who will live and die…..

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And now for a few words about beer. I’ve been reflecting on the role of beer in Wild Goose culture. On one level, nothing mysterious here. A few beers among friends is a good thing. And any seminarian can name the pub where theological  discourse was passionately pursued until the wee hours.  In New York City, I had a young friend who dreamt  of an urban monastery that produced a really  fine craft brew. As Benjamin Franklin didn’t actually say, “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” Or on this 500th anniversary of Luther, we should recall what Luther had to say on the issue:

“Whoever drinks beer, he is quick to sleep; whoever sleeps long, does not sin; whoever does not sin, enters Heaven! Thus, let us drink beer!”I often imagine his voice joining the nightly Beer and Hymns.

But I suspect there is  more. From the theological happy hours to the craft beer tent to the official Wild Goose beer glass, it is clearly a part of the culture.

Official Goose beer glass

Some of it is a bit tongue in cheek.  But it goes deeper. Many of the Goose family are children of American evangelical culture, a culture that for the most part is teetotaling. Who can forget the role the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in bringing prohibition? In those days, prohibition was seen as part of a social gospel witness on behalf of the (especially) urban poor. 

Thus for even progressive prophetic and post evangelicals, a simple beer has transgressive content, becomes a way of declaring an emotional, intellectual and spiritual independence. For those who were part of communities that were countercultural, it becomes a way of becoming part of American culture one way while exploring new ways of becoming counter. Sharing a beer with friends  becomes,  in a way, liturgical. And for someone like our seventh generation Nazarene friend, becomes a very serious act. For her, she felt she needed to leave the denomination to participate in this simple act without hypocrisy. 

So as we drink one final toast to Wild Goose 2017, let ’s consider what a difference a beer makes….

Wild Goose 2: What if we only had 5 years?

7/14

Rev. Barber wakes us up

Wild Goose:2

From inside my tent I hear the wake up music from the main stage. It’s the unmistakable bluesy growl and rolling keyboard line of The Rev. Vince Anderson.

Rev. Vince Anderson

(More about Vince later.)

I get up, go to the Desanka tent to grab an oatmeal and coffee  and then to the main stage.

There to wake us up in more ways than one is the Rev. William Barber from North Carolina. Founder of the Moral Mondays movement and now Repairers of the Breach (http://www.breachrepairers.org/) and planning a new Poor People’s Campaign. Barber as always is in his red and black clerics, complete with a red stole (usually signifying the presence of the Holy Spirit) as if to proclaim every public prophetic witness is a liturgical event.

It seems to be Barber’s moment now as commentators compare him to Martin  Luther King, Jr. much to the concern of some of his friends. It’s a heavy—and dangerous — mantle to carry. We don’t need another King, they say. A Barber is enough. 

Today he wants to tell us what time it is. But before he gets there, he’s got a litany of what time it is not….

To name a few:

• It’s not the time of Trump. We were facing the evils of white privilege and racism; police violence, mass incarceration and gentrification long before Trump.
• It’s not the time of Russia. Our elections were hacked by acts of voter suppression and race based gerrymandering to deny black votes long before Russia hacked in.
• It’s not the time  of white working class deplorables. The majority of Trump voters were upper income , those who benefit from his policies. The white working class are victims of economic exploitation as well with whiteness used a means of dividing natural allies and diverting class struggle.

SO what time is it?  The voice echoes and booms…it’s movement time! It’s moment time!  It’s movement time!

……

Barber also reported a visit by African American pastors to try and find common ground with Franklin Graham, who makes his father Billy look like a flaming liberal. Of course he served us fried chicken and watermelon, he said. 

….… 

Jim Wallis of Sojourners is next up. He’s currently been portrayed by the New York Times as the godfather of the progressive Christian movement and it’s “inside man.” (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/10/us/politics/politics-religion-liberal-william-barber.html) More than anything Wallis has served as bridge between the evangelical world and the world of mainline liberal protestantism. The Times article didn’t seem to get that many of the “liberals” they were lifting up are actually progressive prophetic evangelicals. Wallis is very clear that the single most important issue for us to be working in right now is white privilege. 

….

What followed was an all star panel of Nadia Bolz-Weber, Michael Waters and Doug Pagitt. 

Round table conversation

Last night Nadia had described a t-shirt that proclaimed   " Radical protestants: nailing shit to church doors since 1517.” She had described repentance as the “freedom from thinking the same over and over and over again.” That our sense of sin keeps us in shame. To which she says, remorse, yes, shame no. Our jagged edges connect us to each other and to God. 

Today Nadia reminds us that its the work of pastors to preach the gospel, administer the sacraments and proclaim the forgiveness of sins. She refers to David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and asks us to think about what it would be like if our churches only had 5 years to live.

We could give it all away. 

We could be free people 

Christ came to set us free. 

Free people are forgiven people.

Forgiveness of sins is REAL.

Free to speak truth to stupid.

What if we only had 5years?

……

I go to catch Rev. Vince Anderson’s set in the Cafe. 

Russ Jennings and Rev. Vince

I first encounters him when I was on the Great Open Mic Tour of 2015 and we landed at Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn. (https://www.facebook.com/Rev-Vince-Anderson-and-his-Love-Choir-74494194069/) Are you here for church? they asked. I looked in. Saw this bear of a man in a Hawaiian shirt and white Panama hat. Turns out it was Rev. Vince and his Barstool Tabernacle. Which I learned was the successor to Jay Bakker’s Revolution church.  (Vince’s Barstool has now been folded into the Bushwick Abbey (https://bushwickabbey.wordpress.com/) where he directs music) You hear traces of Tom Waits in his music well as a bit of Randy Newman and Dr. John but his style of dirty gospel is all his own.  He shares with us music from his new psalms project. After his set, Kristen Leigh and I spend some time talking with him. Maybe we could put together a whole tent next year?

Robert Brashear and Rev. Vince

………..

Podcast guru Tripp Fuller leads a conversation at the Seminary Happy Hour asking us to ask ourselves three questions about our seminary education:

1. 1. What was our ‘Oh shit!” (or 'Oh Schnikies”) moments when we realized everything we knew was about too come undone. 
2. 2. What was the “MMMMM yes, but not quite enough” moment..and
3. What was the “I may not know for sure but I'm putting my stake in the ground here” moment?

………..

The Goosecast tent hosts an everchanging eclectic collection of podcasts. Like Matt Inman’s “Ineffciency” (http://www.inefficiencypodcast.com/)  celebrating the value and importance of inefficiency in experiences and relationships and use of time.

"Inefficiencies"

Or Carla Ewart of Holy Writ(https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/holy-writ-podcast/id1205352786?mt=2) interviewing Tina Schermer Sellers author of Sex and the Conservative Church.

Tina Schermer Sellers and Carla Ewart

In their conversation, the two women explored the damage done by the (so-called) Purity Movement and Ms. Sellers’ work bringing a Biblically based sex positive perspective to evangelicals.

The day ended with the Brew Theology crew:Ryan Miller, Janel Apps Ramsey, Shane Oram and Andy Millman. (https://brewtheology.podbean.com/ ) They shared their stories and how Brew theology works, meaningful conversations…and beer. The casual relationship with beer, so much a part of this scene, i snot without deeper implications. Janel, for example, speaks of being seventh generation Nazarene and deciding to leave the denomination rather than live hypocritically. Each person’s journey has its own unique marks. 

The Brew Theology crew

……

An important discovery  is the Desanka Diner tent.  Taking its name from an African word meaning Joy, Contentment and Pleasure, the Desanka community provides an invaluable service by providing simple free food every day for Goose volunteers and everyone else. A simple act of hospitality that makes thew Goose possible for many and opens tables for unexpected conversations. So a hearty thanks to Desanka (http://www.desankaspirit.net/blog)…..

My favorite concert of the festival is Friday night with David Wimbish and the Collection.

David Wimbish and the Collection

They have a special place in my heart since the band spent a night at West Parka couple of years  back following a concert at the Rockwood Music Hall celebrating their Ars Moriendi album. Th next day, they had vehicle issues so they spent the day hanging out and playing music in different configurations throughout our church. I was impressed that so many musoicians would come together to help bring David's music to life. Their music is carries the indie vibe of Mumford, Sufjan Stevens, Fleet Foxes etc. with its own unique orchestral flourishes. The music is also driving and infectious and explores issues of mortality, spirituality and young adult angst. When I first saw them there were at least a dozen musicians with multiple horns and other instruments.  Tonight’s Collection includes in addition to the standard rock lineup a  harmonium and one horn player. With a larger stage and fewer musicians, the players jump around the stage with a punk sensibility. Although as Kristen Leigh says, in North Carolina, genre boundaries are more fluid. Songs from  the new album “Listen to the River”are featured and the music satisfies, intelligent, creative and catchy. (https://thecollection.bandcamp.com/) 

After show conversation

The Collection

David and his new partner join us at our table and we talk about music and intentional communities. “How great thou art” resounds form the Beer and Hymns tent….