Reflections on the events of the week...let the conversation begin

7/12

Until the killing of Black men, Black mothers’ sons 

Is as important as the killing of White men, White mothers’ sons

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

     From Ella’s Song by Bernice Reagon inspired by the words of Ella Baker in 1964

                                  ****

Do you remember the Sunday our music director Jeremy Mage led us in that song? After which killing?  How sad it is that we can’t remember. Or that words written in 1964 could sound like they were written yesterday.

I am now back from North Carolina…four days with no cell phone or internet. I am sorry that I was not able to be with you last Sunday when faith communities around the country took time to stop and reflect and pray about the violence that tore our country last week… Baton Rouge, St. Paul, Dallas…

Throughout the Wild Goose Festival (Of which I will write more later), there was an underscoring sense that we are at a critical moment in our society. How it turns out will be up to us.

While at one level it is true that ALL LIVES MATTER, that statement can be used to undercut the demands of the present moment that unless BLACK LIVES MATTER specifically and concretely, NO LIVES MATTER. Unless we take seriously the current reality of a black community that feels under attack, from every social measurement to gentrification, mass incarceration and seeming disregard for human dignity let alone lives, we will not be facing the truth of the moment we are living in.

What does our gospel lesson from last Sunday have to do with this? As Claudio Carvales of Union Seminary said, “What do we do when black bodies are lying bleeding in the road in front of us? Do we pass by? Or do  we stop?”

And if we stop, what are we to do?  Unless…and until…we begin the project of actively and intentionally  de-privileging, of deconstructing privilege, we will continue to be caught in this devil’s bargain. Black lives…and when anger rages, blue lives are the price of privilege.

The loss of life in Dallas is no less tragic. But when anger rages and lives continue to seem to be disregarded, where there are victims of ptsd from wars that never end and easy access to guns, these tragedies as well are almost predictable.

How do we begin? I do not have a formula. All I know is that we have to ask ourselves, what can you do, what can I do, what can we do, and how can we help each other begin? That conversation must begin, above all, with those of us who claim to bear the name of Jesus. 

Let the conversation begin….

PRIDE 2016

6/26

Celebrating PRIDE 2016

Today we are gathered on PRIDE SUNDAY. This year more than ever…it I san important day to celebrate as celebration becomes an act of resistance against the forces of hate, fear and violence.

Last night, I went to a concert and celebration event at the Brooklyn Commons Café…a gathering of the young queer community…white, black ,latino/a and Palestinian…beyond categories…as our epistle lesson said last week, there is”Neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female..” I’ll never hear those words the same way again. There were poets, singers, performance artists, telling their stories…filled with anger, rage,resolution….and  fierce love..and finally my friend Stephanie Ryan Johnstone (https://lovesongsfortherestofus.com/)…and the  choir…the second song was  by our friend Osagyefo Sekou (https://mic.com/articles/135635/rev-sekou-the-holy-ghost-s-new-album-the-revolution-has-come-is-true-healing-music#.EqFoUbueB)…about violence done to a trans woman of color...Ryan is bringing back an old tradition…that of churches, unions, communities…singing together…in harmony …and unity.

(I’m thinking a concert with Brother Sekou and his Holy Ghost Band, and Ryan  and their choir..that’s what we should be doing in our sanctuary..) The Commons became that night  church…safe space for being together, singing together, and shouting at God…the same one we claim to represent…

Rick Ufford-Chase has written in his  new book: Faithful Resistance: Gospel visions for the church in a time of empire…(http://west-parkpress.blogspot.com/2016/06/faithful-resistance-gospel-visions-for.html)

“As for the kind of community I want to be part of, I am interested in creating a community where those who have been rejected in every other space can come and feel safe…”  ad to that I say amen..

In Portland, I was inspired by watching on C-Span the resistance video feed of  the Democrat sit in…led old saint John Lewis…WOW…Hillary should have dropped by…I mean Elizabeth Warren brought donuts..BUT…then my Plaestinian friend 

Linda Sarsour, and another  lesbian friend reminded me  that …most massacres in this country have been committed by people NOT on the list…Orlando was NOT about terrorists…(but Oklahoma City was, did we call Timothy Mc Veigh a radical Christian terrorist?) .stop the gaming, just ban the damn assault weapons already…

In our gospel, Luke says: "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

What does that mean to you?  Once we get started down the Jesus path, the way, there can be no turning back. ( The Wile E. Coyote moment, someone says…like Paul walking on the water to Jesus until he realizes what he’s doing..and then starts to sink…all too often we take ten leap of faith and then stop and crash before we reach the other side…Lot’s wife tuyrns back, becomes a pillar of salt…like Bib Dylan said, Press on…)

                                                        ****

So a few words about the Presbyterian 222^nd General Assembly:

The action that started with our Session and our friends across town at Jan Hus, calling for an apology to the lgbtq community for years of exclusion, of gGod-given ministries denied, Apology?  well, not quite…we couldn’t quite get there…it still seems that ”Sorry is the hardest word..”

And related to migration and the statement of Sanctuary principles our international work group, facilitated by Russ, ha sbeen working on? Yes…unanimously…

An effort to join the Methodists in leaving the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice was turned back. (Although we white pro-choice people wtil have to deal with the legacy of Margaret Sanger’s racist eugenics philosophy that informed her work on contraception..)

The Belhar Confession from apartheid era South Africa has now become an official creed of the Presbyterian Church. (https://www.pcusa.org/site_media/media/uploads/theologyandworship/pdfs/belhar.pdf)

We have written a new, more pointed statement on Israel-Palestine (but voted no no on a call to boycott of Hewlitt-Packard..)..and we continue to support two states still…

Re. fossil fuel? Shall we divest? Well, no not yet…but we will double down on engagement, yes.

We made a radical new declaration on communion, that  will no longer be restricted to those who are baptized..(simply all who are faithful…)

We passed a statement of concern for the lives of Black males (but amended it to read black people..)

There is HOPE. We are finding our way into a new day..this year the rejectionist right wing didn't even have a booth…now that the cultural wars are being settled, we have BIGGER questions to face, of race and class, big vs. small, privilege and power…

For the first time we elected two co-moderators, both  women, one black, and  one white

We have elected our first African-American  stated clerk, our highest office…a nd J.Herbert Nelson comes as a prophet, not a lawyer..

Yes….

HOPE

                                             ****

It was great to have our music man Jeremy Mage

Jeremy sings his song

back again from Switzerland. A new father! Jeremy played one of his new songs…and helped us rock some old ones….

Welcome back Jeremy!

Don’t look back? Well, sometimes there’s value on knowing where you came from. And so I shared stoles from the shower of stoles that for years were not by volunteers from around the country to be worn at GA’s as a sign of protest.

From the "Shower of Stoles" project

In a movement that began here at West-Park in 1978 with the More Light Statement.  The religious Stonewall, as it were…1

I lift up the t-shirt from the Evelyn Davidson Memorial Water Table,

Add caption

named for the wife of our former pastor who called for a direct  and concrete witness to the lgbtq community that not all churches rejected our bothers and sisters by passing out “a cup of cool water in Jesus’ name”…

And we end our service by singing together, We are a fiercely loving people, and we are singing  for our lives…

[1] In harmony with the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church, West-Park Church affirms the civil rights of all person. Further, in keeping with our General Assembly’s guidelines, this community of faith welcomes as members homosexual persons who both seek and have found Christ’s love.

This local congregation will not select one particular element from a person’s total humanity as a basis for denying full participation and service in the body of Christ. Nor will this community of faith condemn or judge our brothers and sisters who declare their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and promise discipleship to Him. We affirm that in meeting each other in Christian love. God’s spirit frees us all to live and grow, liberated from the oppression invoked upon us by ourselves and others.

Within this context, West-Park Presbyterian Church reaches out to Christian and non-Christian homosexual persons with a ministry of support, caring and openness—a ministry in which the creative, liberating power of the Holy Spirit rules and guides.

¹Now when the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. ²Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here; for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel." But Elisha said, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel.

⁶Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here; for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan." But he said, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So the two of them went on. ⁷Fifty men of the company of prophets also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. ⁸Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground.

⁹When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you." Elisha said, "Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit." ¹⁰He responded, "You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not." ¹¹As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. ¹²Elisha kept watching and crying out, "Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

¹³He picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. ¹⁴He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, saying, "Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" When he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.

Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20

¹I cry aloud to God,

aloud to God, that he may hear me.

²In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;

in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;

my soul refuses to be comforted.

¹¹I will call to mind the deeds of the LORD;

I will remember your wonders of old.

¹²I will meditate on all your work,

and muse on your mighty deeds.

¹³Your way, O God, is holy.

What god is so great as our God?

¹⁴You are the God who works wonders;

you have displayed your might among the peoples.

¹⁵With your strong arm you redeemed your people,

the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

¹⁶When the waters saw you, O God,

when the waters saw you, they were afraid;

the very deep trembled.

¹⁷The clouds poured out water;

the skies thundered;

your arrows flashed on every side.

¹⁸The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;

your lightnings lit up the world;

the earth trembled and shook.

¹⁹Your way was through the sea,

your path, through the mighty waters;

yet your footprints were unseen.

²⁰You led your people like a flock

by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Second Reading Galatians 5:1, 13-25

¹For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

¹³For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. ¹⁴For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." ¹⁵If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

¹⁶Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. ¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. ¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, ²⁰idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, ²¹envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

²²By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. ²⁴And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.

Gospel Luke 9:51-62

⁵¹When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. ⁵²And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; ⁵³but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. ⁵⁴When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" ⁵⁵But he turned and rebuked them. ⁵⁶Then they went on to another village.

⁵⁷As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." ⁵⁸And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." ⁵⁹To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." ⁶⁰But Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." ⁶¹Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." ⁶²Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

Faithful Resistance: Gospel Visions for the Church in a Time of Empire by Rick Ufford-Chase...a review.....

6/30

Faithful Resistance: Gospel Visions for the Church in a Time of Empire by Rick Ufford-Chase

A review…..

With his new book, Faithful Resistance…our friend Rick Ufford-Chase had made an important and significant contribution to the growing body of literature on the future of the church. (And how to get there..) It is significant that Rick’s primary focus is not how do we save the church but how do we live as faithful followers of Jesus in this empire dominated day and what role does the church have and what kind of  church is needed in the struggle. The church is thus a means to faithfulness, not an end of and to itself.

The book is also an example of liberation theology praxis. It is intended not only as reflection and analysis but as a workbook to help the faithful be about this work themselves.  It is especially intended to be used in groups, groups that help sustain each other in mutual support and solidarity in difficult days ahead.  In that, Rick follows in the footsteps of the  Latin American liberation theologians who brought a Freiran approach to the doing of theology in their Christian Base Communities.

It is very helpful that Rick comes to this book not as an academic or even professional clergy but as a lay person who understands the value of each of our God-given unique ministries and our need for one another. He draws on his experiences as a seminary drop out, going adult volunteer, border justice worker, moderator of a historic denominational church with international partners, peace activism and co-chairing an ever evolving study center with interfaith intentional communities. In broad strokes, Rick responds to the already inevitable end of the large national (and local!) denominational church infrastructures  as we have known them. (For example, in New York City Presbytery, there are approximately 14,000 members in 99 churches. Half belong to 5 churches, the other half to 95 churches over 50 of whom have no pastor at all…) Related to our ecclesiastical structures are our literal structures from our  national office in Louisville with its echoing emptiness to our hulking aging stone buildings with mausoleum like silence. How do/can they function in our mission?

This is for Rick, not an occasion for mourning but more an exciting opportunity for recreating at the grassrootsiest of levels a church that is flexible, mobile and resilient. Being independent of reliance on larger structures, the church can be radically free to be a faithful witness, not unlike the primitive church.

Towards that end, Rick does several important things:

* Names and discusses the power of white privilege (and other cognate privileges of class, gender, orientation, etc…)

* Produces one of the first real discussions I’ve seen for the implications of this new reality for theological education. (Happy to see two institutions I’m involved with, New York Theological Seminary and Newark School of Theology on his list of emerging models of providing quality education for those who cannot afford.. moneywise or timewise…traditional theological education.)

Others chapters tackle such issues as confronting empire at the border, the importance of ecojustice, nonviolence as a principle and practice, worship, the meaning of solidarity, being a church that is “small but fierce.” Oh, and the intriguing exploration of the idea of  responsible living in a “watershed.”

Though somewhat presbycentric, Rick's primary context, it nonetheless has much to say to all of us struggling to find faithfullness.

Rick’s bottom line is one that appeals to me at the deepest level:

“ I am interested in creating a community where those who have been rejected in every other space can come and feel safe..”  Amen. Word.

Pull together a circle of friends. Get a few copies of this book. Let the connversation begin….

Can we still dance? (after Orlando)

6/19/16

Pat and Leila gave us beauty again...

We began our service singing Desmond Tutus's Goodness is stronger than evil...

Goodness is stronger than evil;                                                                                                              love is stronger than hate;light is stronger than darkness;life is stronger than death.Victory is ours, victory is ours through him who loved us. Victory is ours, victory is ours through him who loved us.

In our first lesson, Elijah listens for the voice of God. It’s not in storm or thunder or…it’s finally in what the King James Version called a “still, small, voice”..or more accurately “silence in silence” or..”the Sound of Silence” So I just have to share what’s been all over the Internet, this remix of Paul Simon’s song, by heavy metal band Disturbed.  Let’s listen:

Why this song? Why now? What’s changed in 50 years?

(Russ points out the difference between the original plea for an apathetic world, not listening, to what becomes an impassioned plea, HEY, YOU MOTHER_____STILL DON”T GET IT…)

Last week. When I came to church , I wasn’t fully aware of what had happened in Orlando. If I had been, I would have spent the morning on Orlando alone.

As I came into church, Pastor Yvonne M. Harrison of the lbgtq Pentecostal Restoration Temple church was talking about her leaving the Pentecostal church. How she was “Disfellowshipped” People instructed not to talk with her. Not to even pray for her. There was one pastor who did….and he was her guest. I reflected on that pain…

In my neighborhood clergy Bible study on Wednesday morning, the young Vicar from Trinity Lutheran was nearly in tears. About our failure, refusal  to speak the truth. To be honest. Orlando was not about “terrorism”…It was an act of a disturbed, more than likely closeted gay man, with religion inspired hatred of himself, rejected by his own father…taking that out on others..with an easily acquired automatic weapon. He was going got accompany his sermon with 'Lord of the Dance." (words I have rewritten..) And an in answer to my question, Can we still dance, he says we must...as resistance..

And so we sang tho morning, more slolwy, reflectively:

I danced in the morning when the world was young 
I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun 
I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth 
At Bethlehem I had my birth 

Dance, dance, wherever you may be 
I am the lord of the dance, said he 
And I lead you all, wherever you may be 
And I lead you all in the dance, said he 

I danced on a Sunday  when the sun went away

It's hard to dance when you cqnnot see the day

They thought that hatred could silence our song

But we are the dance and we still go on..

We danced for those who love and we danced for those who hate

We dance for the angels who wait at heaven’s gate

We dance for the weak and we dance with the strong

The dance is love and it still goes on…

I was talking to our friend, Stephanie now Ryan, Johnstone about her upcoming concert with her choir of young lgbtq (queer) folks. And how we no what a completely new way of understanding that Galatians passage about Completeley neither “male nor female” in Christ Jesus. Those distinctions, categories, have no meaning..

The Luke passage, about the Gerasene demoniac is on of my favorites. I thought of the man on the steps, half naked, dirty shouting and cursing. And the two sisters who come daily with all their belongings. And how our  Dion has such an easy loving touch with those on our steps.

Our old member Philip once told me how every Sunday, his pastor would thank God for waking up ”clothed and in his right mind.” I guess if you start there, the rest of the day is easy.

I remembered how Dostoevsky used this passage as an aPentecostal ascription to his book “The Possessed,”…how he saw his Russia as a society driven mad, possessed and going over the edge…

How Jesus deliberately referenced the Roman Empire by naming the demon Legion…the Empire does drive us mad..and to come to one’s senses is to become dangerous,a perceived threat…to be driven out…he ants to follow Jesus, but Jesus sends him back, to be a witness to sanity restored, to a new way of life.

A way of life where

²⁸There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 

Let us come to our senses…help each other to break free…and claim the life we were promised..

Amen

 Second Reading Galatians 3:23-29

²³Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. ²⁴Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, ²⁶for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. ²⁷As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.

Gospel Luke 8:26-39

²⁶Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. ²⁷As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. ²⁸When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me"-²⁹for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) ³⁰Jesus then asked him, "What is your name?" He said, "Legion"; for many demons had entered him. ³¹They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.

³²Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission.³³Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

³⁴When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. ³⁵Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. ³⁶Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. ³⁷Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. ³⁸The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, ³⁹"Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.