Must be a piano player

10/17

Good to see Danielle back again.  Mim and Katherine have come to meet with Richard Barr, an old friend and colleagye of Katherine’s from back in the days when they worked for the same radio station.  And it turns out our kids went to PS 87 together and his daughter was in one of Frog & Peach’s productions in the balcony theatre. And of course, his kids were part of Rudy's gym experience.

Rchard was aked to do pr work back in the early days of the Friends of West-Park.  And as that effort shifted, changed, evolved, he was ultimately eased out. There's a lot of history to review. He’s interested in what we’re trying to accomplish. Willing to help. But we’ve somehow got to get all these efforts, Lisa’s fundraising and community support, the gala efforts, all on the same page, working in a coordinated way towards the same end.  Or the moment will be lost. Richard agrees first to reach out to some of our poitical friends.

After Katherine leaves, Mim goes out to get sandwiches and she and Danielle and I review where we are on the boiler. We might actually have the final necessary estimate. We need to approve and start work soon. 


A older couple comes in. With books and clothes to donate.  We're interested, but....They live across the street at the Belnord. Have lived there over thirty years. Retired. Ready to go to Brazil for two years. I talk to them about our work in Brazil over the last several years, Point of Encounter/ El Punto del Encuentro. Especially in Recife. Hope's work in health, Arcadia's in dental. Turns out they've got good friends in the administration of the hospital in Recife. They're leaving soon. Sorry we didn't meet sooner. Mim, always protective, intervenes and says that we don't really have the infrastructure right now to deal with the clothes and books. And she's probably right.

Jeremy has come to rehearse.   He’s got some good stories. We share our experiences of Occupy Times Square. He describes what I had experienced, the somewhat bizarre police tactic of clsoing off the south end, preventing people from leaving. It had what Jeremy called a lobster trap effect, ie, you could enter the demo, but not leave. As they cut off east and west exit routes, it kept swelling the crowds. Tourists from the midwest only wanting  to see the Lion King or Mama Mia became unwitting addtions to the protestors. Things had, as Jeremy put it, gotten strange. 

And he’s got another story. As the gospel chorus repeated  over and over with rising intensity in the last song of the last service of the Sacred Center, he leaned forward for one final piano flourish and wound up smashing hs nose into the piano. Next thing you know, blood everywhere and a broken nose. Later that day, he said, walking with his wife, he saw a skateboarder with wads of cotton in his nose. Must be a piano player, he was able to joke. We’re both excited at what could come out of the new collaboration to begin this Sunday. 


Boxer Mike has come in to show Danielle the picture he took of the both of them. Both of them smiling. As always, he's ready to help. Just wants a place to hang his bag. 

The cardboard is all gone. Only an empty vodka bottle on the steps. 

The Daily News didn't come but it was a good day anyways : A day for food justice

Adolfo, Bob, Tracy, Sophie, Victoe, Hope

10/16

We’re all excited about the Daily News coming. Hope is there. Then Andre. Amy arrives in time to practice with Andre. Pat and Larry have come and brought flowers for the table. The place is looking good.  Tracy arrives along with her coworkers Adolfo from Mexico and Victor from China. Deryl is downstairs painting and Marc is working with the sound system. Marc tells me he’s written some music that might be appropriate and then a recording of his solo guitar work fills the sanctuary. I’ve handed out scripture feadings in advance. We’re ready.

I explain that the first time I had wanted Tracy to be wth us was Labor Day Sunday. To honor workers. But that being my surgery didn’t work. I described seeing cultural worker Paul Stein at the march. How he remembered playing at West-Park that Sunday before 9-11. With today being an emphasis on Food Justice, an emerging concept of a constellation of issues from production to distribution, land use, and consumption, it was a good opportunity to have her come. 

I described my experience at the clergy workshop on mindful eating...Jane is in the second pew and smiles knowingly....and that it is a corrective to mindless consumption, how that’s a metaphor for much that happens in our system. 

First, I spend some time with the question, what does today’s gospel lesson mean in the context of Occupy Wall Street?

Matthew 2: 15-22 is another of those testing Jesus moments. It’s the one about taxes, and who’s picture is on the coin? I had done that wth the children and my ones and fives earlier in the service. The answer Jesus gives has to do with authority and meaning..exactly some of the issues raised by Occupy. For too long our current system with its so-callled free market has had the quality of a religious belief. As if it were hardwired by God into the universe, not by human policy making. 

Jesus on the one hand seems like he's dividing things up, this is Gods, this is  Caesar’s..But if we truly believe that all things are under God’s dominion, and if we say in our offertory prayer all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee, then there is no division. It is all God’s, our role is one of being stewards, of stewardship.  

At our clegy discussion group, we spoke about a second level, discerning when it is necessary  to resist, when to cross a line....Friday morning, when we waited to see if a move to evict the occupiers was coming, I recieved a text from my son in Berlin, this may be one of those Niemoller moments, he said. I’m surprised that some of the congregation don’t know the Niemoller statement:

First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

I talk about Niemoller and Bonhoeffer and the Confessig Church movement, how placing ultimate authority only in Jesus had profound poitical implications in the Germany of the 1930’s.  And it has implications for us. 

What’s going on around us is what in Spanish we call a grito, a cry, an outcry, a scream...There has to be that before a plan. 

I invite Tracy up, ask her to explain what is happennig on the Upper Westside, why the pickets. And she describes what started the action at Saigon Grill. How they have remained stalwart on that line throughout the cold of the winter and heat of the summer. (Like West-Park?) A constant presence, two  blocks north.  She speaks of the exploitation of immigrants, and the amazing thing that happened when the Mexicans and Chinese came together, (symbolized by the presence of Adolfo and Victor with her ) and it became more than a restaurant labor/management issue and more about creating a sweat shop free Upper West Side. 

Together, we talk about the connections between Occupy Wall Street and creating a sweat shop free zone in our neighborhood. We have to live out concretely in our own community the ways of what just community looks like, the new reality on the other  side of Occupy...we start doing that now. 

As an act of thanksgiving,we take up the Bread for the World offering of letters. This years’ focus is on preservng   the circle of protection for the most vulnerable.In the US, The Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit keep millions of families out of poverty, reward work, and promote economic mobility. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) has responded quickly and effectively to need, preventing an increase in the percentage of families struggling to put food on the table for three consecutive years.

We also write  in support of international poverty-focused development assistance that can reduce the likelihood of conflict and strengthens our national security. Moreover, cuts to poverty-focused development assistance will restrict our ability to respond to humanitarian emergencies, such as the ongoing famine in the Horn of Africa.

(To learn more about Bread for the World and the Offering of Letters go to http://www.bread.org/ol/2011/   ) 

We have named this  offering the Carol Wadsworth Memorial Offering of Letters in honor of her decades long quiet, constant witness both through Bread for the World and as our representative to the Interfaith Assembly in Housing and Homelessness. 

Neighborhood, national, inernational...that’s how we begin to live in, build, a post occupy world even while the larger issue continues to be defined. 

As offerings are collected, we’re blessed by Andre’s singing Rock of Ages. Jane can hardly keep from joining in. Our last hymn s Where cross the Crowded Ways of Life.

1.Where cross the crowded ways of life, 

where sound the cries of race and clan, 

above the noise of selfish strife, 

we hear your voice, O Son of man. 

2. In haunts of wretchedness and need, 

on shadowed thresholds dark with fears,

from paths where hide the lures of greed, 

we catch the vision of your tears. 

3. From tender childhood's helplessness, 

from woman's grief, man's burdened toil,

from famished souls, from sorrow's stress, 

your heart has never known recoil.

4. The cup of water given for you still 

holds the freshness of your grace; 

yet long these multitudes to view 

the sweet compassion of your face. 

5. O Master, from the mountainside 

make haste to heal these hearts of pain; 

among these restless throngs abide; 

O tread the city's streets again. 

6. Till all the world shall learn your love 

and follow where your feet have trod, 

till, glorious from your heaven above, 

shall come the city of our God! 

And then as we gather in our circle, I call Tracy and her colleagues up front....to bless them in their work on our streets.  I say how proud I am that is people north of the AARP line that have been involved and present in Occupy, especially Pat and Marsha. And then our benediction and Amen. 

Samantha and her family have brought coffee and donut holes. 

Outside, on the street corner, I run into Jim Wadsworth. I tell him how we have just honored his late wife Carol. He looks a little surprised, then moved. I bring  him up to date on the boiler. Thank him again for helping wiht the Dickerman Fundation. We shake hands, I tell him to come for coffee. I understand why you’re doing this, he says, I do. 

The Daily News didn’t come. But it was a good Sunday anyways. 

A clean sweep

10/15

In the church alone, waiting for the clean up day to begin, I feel very depressed. Can’t find our brooms and pans anywhere. When I get the cleaning closet door open, it’s filled with garbage. Some bags left over from the Tenant closing night party. In the control room, the chapel, it’s a disaster area. Coffee grounds about to come alive. Food in the refrigerator. The apartment rooms not cleared, bags of bottles, left over items. And our archival display still not put back up. I’m all for solidarity with Zucotti Park, but don’t want our home looking like Occupy Wall Street’s been camping out there. The load out seems to have been abandoned halfway through. There has to be a plan. Soon. Hope, others beginning to get angry, feeling disrespected. And it’s on me. Time to call Stephen.

Deryl arrives and heads to the basement to continue painting the bathrooms.

Hope arrives first. The Daecon James. I’m not going to waste time. I go to the hardware store and buy new brooms, a long handled dust pan, push broom. And we get to work. Luis arrives, we pull out all the pieces of the archival display, lay them out, look at the diagram. get the ladder. Ready to remount. 

Marsha comes. Time to clean the office, put it into order. Sort through, throw away papers. James is polishing the piano, the pews. I go to the steps with a broom, the first time in a months. Find an empty St. Ides 40. There’s a man asleep on the sidewalk. And Edward in the north doorway. Awake it seems. With a backpack. A child’s comforter.

He sees me, starts kicking cigarette butts to the sidewalk, I’m helping you clean up, he says. Got to keep the church clean, he says. You got too much stuff, Edward, I say. I’m not movin it, I’m  watchin my shit, takin care of my shit. And he scowls. I go inside, look out, he’s gone. His things remain. 

Hours later, things are looking good. We move the communion table, the pianos. Luis is getting ready to leave. We look outside again. Edward is passed out, clutching a bag in the north doorway. I try to wake him, tell him he knows he can’t sleep there during the day. He doesn’t move.

James comes out, C’mon, Eddie, you got  to get up, man. Luis comes out, too. C’mon  Eddie, we been through this before. Don’t make have to call the police. He rouses a little, Go ahead,call the fucking police see if I care. C’mon, Eddie do me a solid, I’m tryin to help you here. yeah, ‘I’m goin, I’m goin he says. But I have to see some movement, says James. Yeah, yeah, yeah..

James touches  his shoulder, gently. Pulls a bit at his blanket. You take your fuckin hands offa him, from out of nowhere, like a superhero swooping in, Charlotte swoops in.  Don’t you fuckin be pullin at him. 

I’m not pullin him, I’m pulling the blanket, says James. 

You live in my palce, she says, eyeing James, you leave him alone. 

We’re trying to help him, you understand? he replies. 

Charlotte pushes her body between Edward and James, C’mon baby, you got to get up now, she says, now baby, you got to get up. She keeps this up until he begins to rouse, raises himself up wobbly, hands her the bag with the bottle. 

He’s up, facing me. Unties the sweater from around his waist, lets it drop. Half raises his fists, looking at me, You come on, motherfucker. 

I don’t really think you want to do that, Edward, I say. 

C’mon baby, c’mon, says Charlotte, we goin now, we goin now. Back to my place, we goin. He turns begins to go with her. Good goddam thing I seen you from across the street, she says. 

C’mon, says James, let it be. Go back inside. And we do. Luis leaves. Ten minutes later, the doors rattle and Edward storms into the church, fists raised, c’mon, motherfucker, c’mon, you come get me now. 

C’mon, Eddie, says James, we got this to a good place. Don’t be takin it back there again. C’mon man w egot a good ending. Don’t mess with it. C’mon and he slowly walks towards him, slowly easing out the door. You take care, Edward, I say, as James walks out with him. 


I step outside to take a call. It's my friend Uli from Berlin. He's just back from a solidarity march in Berlin.  Thousands turned out to march in support of  what's going on here.


Jeremy has come in to practice. He's excited about the new venture emerging from Sacred Center. A venture that could lead to a permanent presence here. Who knows what could happen when you live in the same building?

Another hour or so and we’re done. Looks good. I go down to check on Deryl. Still hard at work. I tell him I’m leaving,to let me know when he's gone and I’ll come back and deadbolt. Outside, Edward is passed out again in the north doorway. I’m done. For now. I’m on my way to a rally. A demonstration. At Times Square. Occupy Time Square. 


(Read my report on Occupy Times Square here: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=578983360)

And the rest of the day

10/13 

Danielle is not able to come in. That will make a crazy day crazier.

First meeting is with Tracy Kwon of the Anti-Sweatsop Campaign, We have a long talk about her work and Occupy..... Her National Movement Against Sweat Shops had a very long discussion about how to respond. What does this movement mean? How do we understand it ideologically?  How did they manage to hit such a nerve? What does it mean for those who have been in the trenches all along?  She was clearly not wanting to engage in sectarianism.  She’s also been working hard to connect the anti-sweatshop campaign with grassroots organizing against gentrification in Chinatown.  At the bottom line, Occupy...has opened up space for dialogue and conversation about class based issues.And no matter where the movement goes, the necessity of building relation based long term orgainzations will continue, no matter what. In the final analysis, only organizations will bring about lasting, sustained systemic change. We talked about what we will do in church on Sunday.

As we’re finishing, Jed walks in, just back form Nice. He plays piano for awhile then we go to Popover’s. He’s got new ideas about the Bible marathon we’re scheduling for next May. He promises to have an overivew by early next week. And we also continue to discuss his dual piano, four hand/eight hand idea. Maybe starting with four makes the most sense.


I go to Barney Greengrass to pick u a fresh coffee. Good yontiff, says Gary. So I don't see your sukkah, I say to Gary, you're welcome to put one up in our backyard. Have a good one anyway, he says, and I'm back to the church. 

Marc is in to tweak the sound system. And Jane’s friend Deryl is in to start painting the bathroom.  Hope and I discuss plans for how to get the church ready for Sunday. It’s been a very long day.

Another sweeping story

10/13

This blog began with a story of sweeping...the steps of West-Park church. Last November, a connection was found with men and women sweeping the streets of Managua, Nicaragua in the early morning. Today there is another sweeping story.

It is still dark when I arrive at Zucotti Park. Energy, spirits and tension is running high. All  around the edge of the park, I see people with brooms, sweeping. We are prepared, if necessary, to form a human chain around  the park to prevent police evicition. I see a young man in a collar sweeping and approach him. He’s one of the “protest chaplains”, a seminarian froom Union. I ask him what it’s been like. 

He tells me that they have been a constant presence. That once occupiers got used to them being there, they began to accept them, to talk. Ask questions. And there had even been requests for baptisms. As we’re talking, a cheery young woman approaches. Hey, another collar person! She too is a chaplain, a seminarian. I ask who’s in charge. And they tell me, we’re in the spirit of the occupation, we share leadership. (I do know that friends at Auburn Seminary had provided trainng yesterday to prepare for police action.)

Soon I’m surrounded by a circle of collar wearing men and women, all with brooms. Many have written phone numbers and other information on their arms and wrists in case of arrest. And I came here this morning prepared for that possibility myself. Only wondering about my healing back.

A marching band is providing music. I see two men quietly playing chess, as I have every time I’ve been down there. Breakfast is being served.  I see, greet  and hug my friend from St. Mary’s Episcopal, Father Earl Koopercamp. Another one of my if he’s there it’s real colleagues. 

The word begins to spread....the city has backed down.  There will be no eviction today. Cheers wring out. And one by one people get up, call out mike check, and begin to speak.

A burly middle aged man stands up. I’ve been a trade unionist all my life. And this is a true people’s victory.  Don’t let any one take this away from you. Allow yourselves a moment to appreciate what you’ve done. Today we won a victory. And every win counts. 

And then there’s a young clean cut man in a suit, City Councilmember Steve Levin from Park Slope Brooklyn, calling out mike check. This is a victory for people who still believe  in democracy, that democracy still belongs to the people. The voters of ths city wouldn’t let you be evicted. The stayed on us until we stayed on the mayor. Money’s not the only power.

Later I learn how right that was. All day long people kept up the pressure. I called my Councilmember Gale Brewer. She assured me that the progressive caucus would keep meeting, keep asking to speak to the mayor. Thousands of ordinary New Yorkers kept calling. One of my clergy colleagues called 311 over 20 times. Finally even the owner of the park told the mayor to back off. 

The people united...

There’s a spirit of celebration. Voices begin calling for a march down Boradway to City Hall to say thank you. The sanitation task force calls on everyone to grab a mop or broom and sweep up as they march up Broadway. And brooms in hand, the march begins. 

                           * * * * 

Eleven o’clock. Judson Memorial Church. An interfaith clergy gathering and press conerence. Behind the lectern is Judson’s notorious Golden Calf, looking a lot like the Wall Strreet bull, created to point to the worship of false idos. I sit beside my friend and colleague Annie Rawlings who has been staffing the Intefaith Center’s Prepare New York to further understanding in light of the tenth anniverdary of 9-11. (West-Park’s showing of Divided We Fall was part of that campaign.) She's also been a key organizer in the new emerging PHEWA Criminal Justice Network . And  Mark Greenburg of the Interfaith Assembly on Housing and Homelessness. And my friend Kellie Anderson Picallo  from Auburn, one of  the chaplain trainers. Representatives of Interfaith Immigration Action. There’s an opening Buddhist chant. A chanted verse from the Koran. A Jewish prayer. Then Rev. Michael Ellick of Judson uses the people’s mike to read the statement of solidarity that had emerged from an interfaith working group. 

Line by line the statement echoes back:

We, the people of faith communities throughout New York and the United States, see in the spirit of Occupy Wall Street a promise of democracy renewed. 

Our spiritual traditions are clear: the impoverishment of the many for the benefit of the few destroys us all. The cries of our people are clear: the American dream is compromised; the middle is slipping away; and in our politics, fairness is dissipating. The Soul of our Nation is threatened by many false idols. 

So together we affirm the golden rule: do to others as you would have them do unto you. We commit ourselves to the restoration of justice for all in our economy, and compassion in our politics, that together we might behold a revolution of values for all our people. We ask all Americans to join us in this prayer, that once again our country might be the fulfillment of hopes and dreams for all who reach its shores. 

(To learn more an sign on go to 

http://www.groundswell-movement.org/occupy)

Already over 150 clergy had signed.

And then one of the longtime faithful witnesses, The Rev. Herbert Daughtry of the House of the Lord church in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, who goes back to King and the Civil Rights Days, ever young even after 80, comes to close out the talks. He gets a standing ovation from his peers. And then says, I liked that, that was good. Do that again. At my age, I’ll take all of those I can get. He reminds us of a 1978 march on Wall Street. Quotes from Hillel: If I am not for myself,who will be? But if I am only for myself, who am I? And James Baldwin: nothing is as dangerous as a society letting loose someone with nothing to lose. Then reminds us that in his last week, as he was preparing  for the Poor People’s Campaign, Martin Luther King, Jr. said, What this country needs is a radical redistribution of economic and political power. 

the golden calf

The time had come to lift up the calf and process to Zucotti Park where the statement of solidarity would be shared. 

A confrontation is looming

10/13

Piano Dan is in the sanctuary with a young woman singer named Julia. They are rehearsing, making a video, working on a promo to help them get what Dan calls a real gig. They’re rolling out some pop standards, light jazz. I’ve never heard Dan do that kind of harmony before. To be honest, it’s very comforting, calming to hear them filling the sanctuary.

It’s the kind of day with too much to handle. As you dig in to deal with what must be dealt with, new demands keep coming across the e-mail.  We’ve got a boiler to build, a benefit to organize, a fund raising effort to carry out. Jane’s congregation is in a rapidly evolving crisis and we seem to have a role to play. And the situation at Zucotti Park, at Occupy Wall Street,  is changing by the minute. It appears that Mayor Bloomburg is going back on his word and the NYPD is planning to empty the park at 7 am for sanitation reasons. Occupiers will only be allowed back in under rules that will completely change what this occupation has been. A confrontation is looming. 

Sarah rushes back in to pick up the wallet she has left and then back out again.

Dan and Julia have finished. He tells me that Julia is an accomplished songwriter as well. She says the space has inspired her. That it's a blessing to sing here. And I see that RL has arrived, guitar in hand. His beard is beginning to grow out in his fall/winter Dusty Withers,famous sidekick  persona. Dan and Julia leave.

We’ve got to show RL what the sound system can do, so the Beatles’ I’ve Got a Feeling fills the space in full stereo and RL breaks out in a big smile. Look, he says, the Tribal Council has been after me. After me to make something happen here. But I have to know what’s the plan for the boiler. Without that, nothing happens. And so we try to bring him  to date with Gale Brewer, Lisa Semple, the plumber....

I step out for a minute. When I come back, RL is deep in conversation with a guy from Australia who has just wanderd in while his wife gets her nails done. He very soon will inivte the Aussies to join him at St. James’ Gate, his office, for a drink. 

A woman comes in buscando para ayuda.  She wants to know si alguien aqui habla espanol. I tell her si and that she needs to go to la iglesia a la esquina de ochenta y seis y Avenida West End. She nods and takes off. I begin to say to Danielle And your next project is... and she tells me she’s already lining up Spansih lessons at El Taller.


Jane has brought a friend from the coast, Deryl, to check things out. He quickly decides he's like to tackle painting the bathrooms. Starting tomorrow.


Danielle looks up, smiles, hey can I help you? she says. I look up and its the Prophet in all his subSaharan rastaman glory. At the end of a long incomprehensible stream of words i hear, church? Yes, were a church, I say, you are welcome to come in, sit down rest awhile. You are welcome. His eyes dart back  and forth awhile. Then he turns and leaves. He's never set foot inside the church before. I wonder whatt brought him in. 


A woman comes in with a bag of food, (actually good food), for the homeless. 

And I’m now checking the latest to see if I’ve got to be at Zucotti Park at 6 AM. If so, it will be a collar occasion. 

Publish Post

KIller sound, wifi, sketchy bathrooms and no heat

10/12

I come to the church after our clergy lectionary study and then  a clergy workshop on mindfullnes. It was helpful, though the part on mindful eating, slowly experiencing a strawberry and two grapes, might have gone  easier without the  box of Krispy Kreme donuts, including cream filled, on a  table so near by.

Things are  looking a bit scruffy on the steps. I find a paper bag with an empty Romanoff vodka bottle. 

Down to meet Jane at Starbucks. She's just back from a funeral in California.  There is much to talk about including the upcoming visit of the Daily News to West-Park this Sunday. At the end of our conversation, I bring her back to the church to hear the sound system.  For oldtimes sake, ie, remembering those Wooshed afternoons, I put on Michicant by Bon Iver. And it sounds every bit as good.   Jane is blown away..She calls up Jeremy and holds the phone opens so he can hear. I can’t wait to see what he would  with all this. 

I tell her what I said yesterday: killer sound, wifi, sketchy bathrooms and no heat. 

On Janes phone is a picture of me bending over to talk to one of the guys on the steps.