Sixth Sunday in Easter: Pick up your mat....

5/26

Ready for worship

It's a sunny Memorial Day Sunday as I head to Good Shepherd Faith. Folks are talking about the holiday. And Fleet Week. And the Yankees...Pam starts the service by playing "Eternal Father Strong to Save," the Navy hymn. And I think of my father, and what  that  hymn mean to him. After the scripture is read, it's time for my reflection, or "prompting," as they call it here.

So it's been  a busy  week in the city.  Graduation week. The streets uptown were filled with Columbia blue robes. The subways with NYU purple. And all around Times Square with sailors in their dress whites and marines in khaki and blue. Fleet Week. Not sure why, but I always enjoy this annual visit of the navy ships to our city.  And now, Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial beginning of summer. And the beaches are open. And we are here, still in Eastertide. Alleluia! Christ is risen. (Christ is risen indeed!)

I chose this passage this morning because it's a weird one. And I wanted to wrestle a bit with it.

We're at a pool in Jerusalem ,at a time of an unnamed festival. Beth-zatha, probably the same as 'Bethsaida'or even "Bethesda." Meaning "House of newness" or "house of kindness." There's a back story here you don't have. The tradition was an angel would stir up the pool and the first one to make it into the water would get healed. We don't know exactly what was wrong with this man except that he'd been ill for 38 years.

Apparently he gets beat out every time he tries to get to the water. No wonder he sounds bitter. It's perhaps the strangest of Jesus' healing stories. When Jesus asks him "Do you want to be made well?"  you expect, as is usually the case, to hear an affirmation of faith followed by either a statement of Jesus about faith or forgiveness followed by a healing.

But what do we get? A complaint. No one will help me..And how does Jesus respond? He says
"Stand up, take your mat and walk." And  he does. Our lectionary ends with Now that day was a sabbath. 

If you're paying attention, that means trouble. Because pretty soon Jesus will be accused of healing on the sabbath. Which was forbidden.  And there's no note of gratitude on our man's part. Never even bothers to say thanks, just goes on.

And later, when confronted by the authorities for carrying his mat on the sabbath, he tries to deflect the blame back on Jesus whose name he didn't even bother to ask.  When he learns Jesus' name, he immediately goes to tell the authorities. Maybe hoping they'll leave him alone.

On the one hand, it's the nature of living under occupation. It reminds me of the  popular current Broadway play  "the Ferryman" where the IRA (no worse than the British) coerce and manipulate people into informing on each other. In the East Germany, during DDR years, some 260000 people were recorded as being informers. One never knew who to trust. Likewise with Palestinians today and their Israeli overlords.

This healed person is the least heroic, let alone faithful, loyal or even thankful of all Jesus' healings. So what's up here?

A simple answer might be that Jesus is promiscuous in his love....not just for the worthy or deserving, it's for all.

But maybe there's something deeper going on here. Three images come to mind:
* First, I remember John Lennon singing "War is over if you want it"....sounded overly simplistic, but.... that's kind of how it starts.

Or the lesson I learned  that if you want to play music, the only way to do that is to play music.

Or the exercise I've seen in retreats and you're in a group and they tell you to imagine you are surrounded by an invisible box then are asked how do you get out of the box. There are usually overblown strategies or dead silence. The answer of course? Step out of the box...

So Jesus tells him to pick up his mat and walk. And he does. It's that simple. No faith has made you well. No sins are forgiven. Just  "Stand up, take your mat and walk." And it works...

So what do we see here? Sometimes the answer is right in front of us. And we can't see it because we believe theres no there there. And so we keep on waiting for someone to carry, drag or pull us down to the pool. Or take us out of the box. So we refuse to take the first step or even try because you know, we can't, right?  And 30 years or more go by and we're still bitter, lying there beside the pool. Waiting.

And Jesus says, "Yes you can, pick up your mat and walk."
Where have we been stuck? What are we waiting for? Are you ready to take that step?
"Stand up, take your mat and walk." 

Alleluia! Christ is risen! (Christi is risen indeed...)

Amen.


We talk. Neil, who does flower arrangements, says it's often the ones who get something for free that are most demanding and least appreciative. We talk about gratitude, how important it is to get us moving. And how hard that step can be. And about the Jewish Passover story that the Israelites had to go into the water up to their noses before God parted the waters. We finish by singing "How beautiful for spacious skies" and I mention the irony that this much beloved hymn, as someone reminds us, was written by Kathy Lee Bates. How conservatives don't even realize it was composed by someone who could so clearly fit that general category of queer. And of course, the conversation turns to Ray Charles....

                                                       Ray sings it....


Gospel John 5:1-9

1After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

2Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. 3In these lay many invalids-blind, lame, and paralyzed. 4, 5One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be made well?" 7The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me." 8Jesus said to him, "Stand up, take your mat and walk." 9At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

Game of Thrones: One last word

5/23

...all about the throne....

Last  Friday night, the lines started  forming outside Yankees Stadium hours before the gates opened. The lines would continue well into the game.  "Game of Thrones Night." Everyone hoping for the special edition Yankees GOT T-shirt. 

Inside the stadium, the line to sit in the Iron Throne curled up the ramps all the way to the top of the stadium.

The Throne

Some folks would spend half the game in line. Though theYankees early spring training like lineup would come back to win dramatically in the bottom of the 9th, clearly the game itself was an afterthought for many fans. Game of Thrones fever had come to Yankee Stadium.

Sunday it all came to an end. And soon enough the reviews would start coming in and the world of social media express its disappointments.  A week ago, a petition drive had begin to rewrite the story.

Look, endings are hard. it's hard to let go. HBO's record is hit and miss in this area. From near perfection with the "Leftovers" to the fan frustrating and still debated Sopranos to the Deadwood finale that has taken 20 years to come around. That's the way it is.

I won't go into al the critiques but to mention only two....Khalesi's WWE style heel turn was no surprise. It had been telegraphed for weeks like the best of wrestling story lines with hints that direction all the way back. Though one reviewer referred to her "Nuremburg-like" triumphant manifestation, that's the wrong analogy. Stalin may be a better referent. Her vision was an honorable one of breaking the wheel, not brute dominance and power.

The point about Khalesi is even to the end, she believed she was being a liberator who would bring a new and better day. Like any liberator turned tyrant she continued to believe in her own goodness. Believing in your own goodness can have pretty bad results for many other people. From the French revolution to Ronald Reagan to Daniel Ortega it's an old sad story.

Most chilling was the incineration of an already surrendered city. Like the napalming of Vietnam. Or more disturbingly, the incineration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US who knew they had already won.. We know now that Japan was already on the verge of surrendur.  Already defeated. Ring the bells....

Drogon the dragon makes one of the  most important points of the series (and I'm surprised so many didn't get this. ) After watching Jon Snow kill his "mother" Khalesi, the dragon turns its fire not on Jon Snow but the Iron Throne itself, melting it. Not Jon Snow but the quest for that damned throne was what had ultimately killed Khalesi. 

So the main theme was clearly the corruption of power and futility of war. 

But there was another theme as well. Redemption. From Theon to Jaime to Tyrion each has the opportunity to face themselves and become moral agents once again. Tyrion especially grows from the hedonistic family wastrel to being the moral compass of the narrative.

Much to reflect on, criticisms aside. All in all, it's been a good ride, worthy of our attention. So let's say thanks, and let it go at that. And perhaps take time to move from vicarious adventure to working on becoming more the subjects of our own history.

Third Sunday in Easter: Feed my sheep

5/5

Beverley Church

On a cold and rainy day, the walk to Beverley from the subway station is no fun. As I arrive, I find my pone is dying and with it my sermon. Thankfully, Irina the accompanist has a charger and I don't need to freestyle...

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Christ is risen indeed! (I'm trying to get them to learn this exchange for the whole of Easter..)

Today our Resurrection celebration continues....

This is another of my favorite resurrection stories. Former Episcopal Bishop Spong of Newark used to say he believed this was the first story of the resurrection.   Let's be clear on what's  going on  here.

It's clear that the disciples have given up. Jesus is dead and gone. It was a nice run, a good  run. There had been hope, excitement. But it's all gone now. No use crying over spilt milk. Time to move on. And go back to their old life. Back to being fishermen as if nothing had ever happened. And when Peter says he's going fishing, they all follow.  And they fish all night. And catch nothing.

When Jesus tells them to try the other side, they get so many they can barely haul it in. (As to why 153? Don't ask. No one knows...) Stop right there. Sometimes we keep on doing what we've always been doing with no results. Jesus says Try the other side. That's what he always does. Gets us to see what we haven't seen before. Try what we haven't tried. And then????..they get so many they can barely haul it in. 

John, the one who loved him, gets it immediately and cries "it's the Lord" and jumped in. Maybe it was Jesus' voice that got him, just like Mary on Easter day. Peter, hears John, but doesn't know, and like Adam in the garden, feels embarrassed and puts his clothes on. (Swimming  naked would have been easier..)

It's what happens on the beach I love. Notice they had not recognized him. No glowing body, no halo. Nothing fancy. Just like Mary thought he was the gardener, the resurrected Jesus looks ordinary. (Warning....he still does that ...shows up when least expected...and so ordinary looking you don't recognize him at first...)

There's a charcoal fire going. And he puts some fish on the fire. Stop a minute. Close your  eyes. Imagine the beach. The feel of the morning sun. The smell of salt in the air. (Or not, it's actually a lake...But I like the smell of sea air..)..the smell of charcoal...then of the fish starting to cook.....

(Throughout Lent when I was growing up, every neighborhood church had a fish fry every Friday...I associate that smell with Lent...)

And Bishop Spong says here is where they know he is with them...not through some spectacular resurrection display, but in the simplest of acts, something they had done a 100 times before, breakfast on the beach, and in the smell an the taste and the presence of each other around the fire, they know he is there with him. And my friends, that's how we know he is risen..in our presence, here in this place,  with each other, we feel it, know it, he is in our midst.

But my friends, if you know he is alive, there are consequences. Demands. And that's what now faces Peter. He's got to be filled with guilt. When he pulled his clothes on, he felt guilty as Adam. He had after all, denied Jesus three times. So Jesus gives him three chances to un-deny him. By the the third time, Peter's starting to feel hurt.

Now I'm one who believes you all can understand the Bible by reading it yourself, with discipline, with regularity. With prayer. And the leading of the Holy Spirit. And community, with each other. You don't need a seminary degree to get it.  But here's where we ministers help.

Jesus asks Peter "do you love me"  with the word "agape" ..self-giving  love...and Peter answers with "philos"....brotherly love...he's still holding back, you see? And Jesus' answer is pretty clear...if you love me, tend my lambs, feed my sheep..

That's it, right there.

Look, it's our call  to extend grace to each other. But the fact is, in human relationships, you can exhaust another's patience and run out of grace. Believe me, I know.  But not so with Jesus.

I'm willing to bet that like Peter, everyone of us in here has denied Jesus (and not just in words) at least 3 times...some of us might be feeling that this morning...

And the point is, our Easter story, our resurrection story is that he's ready to take us back again. Even today. BUT....
you can't just tell Jesus you love him. The way you let him know you mean it is you tend his lambs, you feed his sheep. Believe me, he'll know.  And on this rock, Peter and all of us Peters, the church is built...


After this he said, Follow me...

Let those with ears to hear, hear..
Amen.

                                                    ****


Three  postscripts..yesterday was the 49th anniversary of the Kent State/Jacksom State shootings. A day that changed my life...Pete Seeger's 100th birthday.  Throughout his life Pete tended the lambs and fed the sheep and kept us going in dark times ...we give thanks to God for his life and witness..

Today is Cinco de Mayo. No it's not Mexican independence day. It's when a badly outnumbered Mexican army unit defeated the French at Puebla. Thus preventing the French from aiding the US Confederacy. What we're really celebrating is the ongoing contribution of Mexicans to US society and culture. We do that by opening doors and embracing brothers and sisters, not building walls. No one who doesn't support immigrants should have a shot of tequila or Corona, lime or no lime.
Tend his lambs, feed his sheep.



Gospel John 21:1-19

1After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. 2Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will go with you." They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

4Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5Jesus said to them, "Children, you have no fish, have you?" They answered him, "No." 6He said to them, "Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. 7That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. 8But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.

9When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught." 11So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. 12Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, "Who are you?" because they knew it was the Lord. 13Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

15When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs." 16A second time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Tend my sheep." 17He said to him the third time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep. 18Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go." 19(He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, "Follow me."

Easter Sunday: ....by name....

4/21

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

 It's a cool but sunny Easter Sunday. Enjoying the gardens in the front yards of the Victorian homes on the walk from the subway to the church. As I near the church,

Beverley Church

I see that the little church's garden needs tending and the grass needs mowing

the garden

but I'm sure Eugene will take care of that. The sanctuary is dressed in white for Easter. And people are arriving. Eugene would like to get coffee for us, but he's reminded we will do that after worship. Geraldine asks what my good word? and I say, "There can be a new beginning for us, if we say, Yes" and she smiles and says "Yes."  I begin the service with "Alleluia! Christ is risen!" and ask the congregation to respond,"Christ is risen indeed!" And soon it is time for my sermon. 

Alleluia! Christ is risen. (Christis risen indeed...)

They thought it was over. The men had all run away. Men do that. they get into big stories, dramas, movements , scenarios. And when it doesn't go well, they're gone. But the women stay. 

Mary goes first. Why? It doesn't matter to her that the dream seems to be over. The movement over. The revolution never came. Doesn't matter. She loved this man. And we need know nothing more than that. Details don't matter. And she will honor the love she felt by going to the grave to take care of business, tend to the body. That's what women do. And she gets there and the stone is gone. So she goes to tell the main men and they go to check it out and see the empty tomb. And what does the scripture tell us they did? That they returned to their homes. Obviously they didn't get it.

So she goes to see for herself. And it's like the ultimate insult. Not only have they killed him, but they won't even allow the body to receive a traditional  burial. She can't even make the right good bye. And so she weeps. (Believe me, I've never really understood that part with the two angels. All I know is they ask her Woman, why are you weeping?)

And just then, Jesus appears. And asks her the same question. And this is my favorite part....she thinks he's the gardener...I mean check this out...he's resurrected for God's sake (Uh, literally...) and he's not shining or glowing or levitating or anything. He's just standing there looking like the most common laborer in the cemetery. Like overalls , or jeans or? Like in those campesino paintings from Solentiname, blue jeans and a guayavera? He looks ordinary.  And she cannot recognize him. 

And then it happens. He says one word, Mary, her name, and she knows it is him in the very deepest part of her heart and soul. He has said her name said as no one else she knows has ever said it. It can only be him. He knows her so intimately, so well, it can only be him. 

Let's think about that a minute. This is not seeing is believing. She doesn't see anything that leads her to believe.....its what she hears and what she hears is her own name. 

So let's stop a minute...when you close your eyes and think about hearing your name called, what does it sound like, who is saying it? When you hear your name called in love, what does it sound like? 

Today is about believing and how does that happen? There are no external verifications. No iphone videos. No facebook, instagram, snapchat. None of that. All we've got are these four stories in this book. And they're all different. And please....don't even try to mash them all together. Each one by themselves is true, it's own complete story. Read them separately. Allow each one to tell its own story in its own voice (that word again) and explore each for its own truth for what you can learn but you know what?  Those stories are not going to cause you to believe or prove anything unless you already believe it.

So what do we do? Do what Mary does.  Listen....and hear your name called...the way no one else can....because Jesus will do that...God  knows you more intimately than anyone else...and loves you anyways....and that's how we know....we come to believe as Mary does when we hear him call our name...

So proof? You want proof? Look to your left, look to your right....we are here. It's two millenia later and we are still here. What we celebrate in communion is this...as Presbyterians, as followers of the reformed tradition, it is not the bread and wine that becomes the living body of the risen Christ, it is us....we become his hands, his feet, his words, his silent touch...

Today is  about resurrection. I don't know many of you that well, but I know any of us at our ages have had our share of deaths. Many of us have risen again over and over again and sometimes we don't want to do it again. But he hears us in our weeping...oh Mary don't you weep don't you moan....and he calls us by name....

If you hear it and know it's him, follow Mary, who in this story becomes the first evangelist. She is the first to say out loud, "I have seen the Lord..."

So if you have heard him, if you have known him, go out from here today and don't be afraid to say it. Don't be afraid to bring good news in a day and time when good news is so badly needed. (Good Lord, sometimes I don't even want to watch  it any more...) Go ahead and say it, "I have seen the Lord!"

Alleluia! Christ is risen! (Christ is risen indeed!) 

And so we share our prayers and make  our communion. Geraldine sings a solo, shares her music.

Bob abd Geraldine

It's a joyous day as her family has come to be with her. Grandchildren and great grandchildren. 

Geraldine's family came

Soon we will go downstairs where Eugene has put white covers on all the chairs and the good china is out. They will share an Easter dinner together. I won't eat much since I'm heading to Bushwick for brunch with my boys, bringing them eggs I colored last night.

Eggs for my boys

I do have to try some of the traditonal mac'n'cheese that seems to be part of most special occasions. It is Easter.

Eggs fro my boys


Alleluia! Christ is risen.
Christ is risen indeed!






Gospel John 20:1-18

1Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10Then the disciples returned to their homes.


11But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”  18Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Palm Sunday: the Lord has need of it...

 4/14

Ready for Palm Sunday

On Palm Sunday morning...I go to Good Shepherd Faith Church near Lincoln Center....

We all love a parade. This neighborhood is mad crazy every night before the Thanksgiving parade when they have ballon blow up night. Next week will be that unique New York event known as the Easter Parade. El barrio has its annual Three King’s parade. (Although the real sign of having made it as a religion in or city is to get a no alternate aid parking day.) and all the ethnic groups get their parades- Columbus Day, St.Patricks Day, Puerto Rican Day, West Indian day—-. Today Jesus gets his parade...Palm Sunday.

I have great memories of Palm Sunday as a kid, although I can’t say I ever fully understood what all those palm branches

Palm branches

were about and there was always that ominous sense that the long depressing stretch of Holy Week about to begin. The most days in church of any week of the year ending with the endless Good Friday service.

Maybe the wasn’t so bad. As a pastor, I really didn’t like it when the liturgical powers to be in the church decided to make this Palm and Passion  Sunday ...out of anxiety that modern Christians would want to jump straight from the celebration of Palm Sunday...ending our Lenten journey- to the joy of Easter...skipping right through the liturgical journey of Holy Week....with Maundy Thursday and the darkness of Good Friday. ( May I say I have very good memories of the intimacy of Holy Thursday at Good Shepherd and the annual 7 last words service at Rutgers...I have to say I miss that...but glad I had to have had to opportunity to complete the whole Seven-Word cycle...)

So what’s going on with Jesus today? Luke’s telling of the story is especially vivid... it’s got that “unridden colt” detail...what’s up with that? Maybe it's similarity to an unblemished sacred sacrifice? Maybe a reference to Zechariah 9:9 where the king comes riding on.. a colt, the foal of a donkey? And that wonderful line the disciple use to secure the loan of the donkey, “ the Lord has need of it...”.....

Of course, that raises the question what do we have that the Lord might have need of? Anyways, it seems to work...

What’s important is that Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem is an evocation of, or mimicry of or even subversion of the triumphant entry of a victorious military leader into a conquered city. It excites the people. Maybe even they believe that Jesus is about to launch the revolution.... completely missing the point that Jesus’ victory has already begun in what is now his inevitable journey to the cross. This victory is beyond what military victory could ever be imagined....it is an entirely new way of living in world.

And there is at least the the implication that Jesus’ failure to live up to their expectations would ultimately contribute to his crucifixion...like in Jesus Christ Superstar.

Which of course leads to the question what expectations do we have of Jesus this are not appropriate to who he is?

My favorite line of course is that you can silence the disciples but the very stones will cry out...there are some things that are so wrong, creation it self moans with agony and cries out.

The poor stones could be crying out all the time these days. I have had a hard time dealing with the fact that we were separating parents from their children. That we put children into cages. The smallness and pettiness of seizing rosary beads from detainees. Or how naval ships in the Mediterranean refuse to rescue imperiled refugees. When do you hear the stones cry out?

The beauty of the palms makes for a glorious Sunday....but what happens when the parade is over?

There is one week before Easter..,what unfinished Lenten work do you have to do to make your Easter truly a celebration of resurrection?

So..,

1. What do we have that the Lord might have need of?
2. What expectations do we have of Jesus that might miss who he is?
3. What makes the very stones cry out?
4. What’s on your Holy Week to do list?

So...what do you say?

Hosanna....blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord?

Amen.

We are blessed today to have sharing their music with us Ta'u Pupu'a, former NFL football player and rising opera star, and Pamela Thomas.

Ta'u Pupu'a and Pamela Thomas

By the time Ta'u finishes Ride On King Jesus, the walls are ringing in Palm  Sunday glory.....

Fifth Sunday in Lent: Extravagant love...

4/6

Ready for worship at Beverley

To Beverley Church on a beautiful spring day....

I'm wondering.....have you ever failed to tell someone you loved them? and the moment passes....and it's too late and?....like  someone has died and you weren't able to tell them?

A month or so ago, I had a very tragic funeral to deal with. A young man who had struggled with mental illness...and as so often happens...substance abuse issues...and actually made it through rehab...committed suicide.  There were so many tragic aspects to this story I can't even recount them all.  I was amazed at an overflowing room at the funeral home deep in Staten Island. Many of them young people. Person after person stood up and talked about how much they loved him, how important he was to them. At one point, a friend of mine leaned over and said to me, "So if everyone loved him so much, why isn't  he still here?" And as we talked with his young friends, we heard the same story over and over how they had "fallen out of touch..." Honestly, we don't really know if things could have bene different...but....I know the people I didn't get to speak to...even in much less tragic circumstances.

As so often happens in Lent, today we have another of my favorite Gospel stories. It's one of the most vivid, and visual, and even sensual stories we have of Jesus. One that has been rendered by painters. One so dramatically presented in "Jesus Christ Super Star" as Mary sings "Everything's all right" to an exhausted Jesus.

from Solentiname

The story varies in the different Gospel tellings. In our mind's eye, we see this as Mary Magdelene, but that's not always clear. Here in John, it seems to be Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha, and the recently resurrected Lazarus. But I'm not sure that matters.

Just allow the camera to settle for a moment on this scene.  Watch as wordlessly, in silence, as Mary brings that jar of the most expensive oil and pours it on his feet. Imagine you are in the  room. Imagine the fragrance filling the air. And watch, again in silence, as she wipes his feet with her hair, her tears flowing and mixing with the oil. What do you feel?

Do you feel uncomfortable? I mean it is so personal, so intimate, and everyone is watching...

Or do we react like Judas and say "What a waste!" John is pretty hard on Judas. I think we can take Judas at face value, like in ...Super Star.  Here's this guy who's always talking about the poor allowing this woman to just waste this valuable resource. 

I want to stress that Jesus's response  about 'The poor being with us always"is not saying not to worry about them. He knows how the world is. Judas will have plenty of opportunity to help the poor tomorrow. And the day after...and...

So what's going on here?

1. Jesus knows the end is near. He's just about had it. He knows what he's got to go through to get to the other side. This is one of the few times he allows himself to be given to. One sign of understanding love is being able to allow ourself to be loved. To allow ourself to believe we deserve it. 

2. Mary may be the only person who knows Jesus well enough to understand herself what he is facing. And she decides to use his burial oil to celebrate him, comfort him, love him, while he is still alive. (I have a friend who'd like to have his funeral while he's still alive...)

3. Jesus is saying it's ok to love extravagantly.

So that raises some questions for me. We're more than half way through Lent, our time of self-examination, of repentance, that is turning around...And let me say I'm so glad that having begun Lent with you, I will be able to come to its end and celebrate Easter with you in two weeks....

So here's my question....what are you holding back? From other people? Is there someone you need to reach out to? is there someone you need to tell them "I love you"? Think on that....and I almost want to say, don't come to Easter if you haven't said "I love you" to someone in the next two weeks.

Bigger question....what are you holding back from Jesus? What do you need to let go of ? To give to him?

I love how one person here goes all out to make things fancy, to make events special for people...that's a way of giving to the church and through the church to Jesus.

Tonight I'll help  my old congregation do its monthly meal at the homeless shelter. Other congregations do sandwiches  or pizza. One of our members cooks a four course meal for the people.

And brings a table cloth and place settings. Her theology is everyone deserves Sunday dinner. That's extravagant love...

the crew

May Jesus grant is the grace to love him...and each other...with all our hearts....

AMEN

We share our communion. Our prayers for one another. Then go to the social hall. Eugene has brought a Roku equipped TV for the church. It will be a pleasant walk back to the subway....











Gospel John 12:1-8

1Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5"Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" 6(He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."

Ciudad global e identidad

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Vista de la ciudad

Ciudad global e identidad

Para reflexionar sobre la formación de la identidad en una ciudad global, detengámonos primero en la situación actual. Las áreas urbanas están signadas hoy por la alta densidad poblacional, y por ser un 'entorno construido' en función de las necesidades humanas.

Por primera vez en la historia de la humanidad, la mayor parte de la población mundial vive en áreas urbanas (según la División de Población de las Naciones Unidas). Si tenemos en cuenta a todos los entornos urbanos del mundo, encontraremos algunos rasgos en común:

• La pérdida de sostenibilidad de la vida rural, que lleva a la migración interna del campo a la ciudad.
• El impacto de la migración a nivel global, caracterizado por el número más alto histórico de personas que se trasladan de un lugar a otro. Esto es algo que el artista y cineasta Al Wei Wei ha llamado un «flujo humano». Cada espacio urbano está lidiando hoy con la llegada de personas de otros países. Y cada vez hay más consenso en cuanto a que no existen distinciones reales entre refugiados 'económicos' y refugiados 'políticos', dado que las decisiones políticas son las que condicionan las realidades económicas de las personas.
• La brecha en constante expansión que existe entre los 'súper ricos' y el resto de la población, que crea localidades amuralladas en el seno de otras localidades.
• La urbanización de antiguos suburbios y áreas rurales que ocupaban el espacio intermedio existente entre los grandes centros urbanos, creando un área poblada extendida con múltiples gobiernos locales, que muchas veces no se relacionan entre sí. (Un ejemplo es la cadena urbana que se ha creado sobre las orillas del Río de la Plata y hacia el mar)

También hay gran disparidad entre el norte global y el sur global. En el norte, un fenómeno muy importante es el de la 'gentrificación' (barrios de origen modesto que adquieren valor comercial e inmobiliario y que comienzan a resultar atractivos para los más ricos). Mientras en los años 60's la población blanca abandonó las grandes ciudades, hoy se da un retorno de los más adinerados a las áreas urbanas depreciadas. Eso lleva a un aumento del valor de las viviendas y de los alquileres, que expulsa a quienes habían estado allí por décadas. Esta misma situación recién comienza a manifestarse en las ciudades del sur global.

Por otra parte, el sur global registra el fenómeno de las villas miseria, cantegriles o barrios de chabolas, que surgen en los márgenes de las ciudades, donde los migrantes de las áreas rurales conforman nuevas comunidades urbanas. Una vez vi levantarse, de la noche a la mañana, una colonia precaria de 20.000 personas en la ciudad de Juárez, México. Algo similar aunque quizá menos dramático está ocurriendo en las zonas urbanas del Río de la Plata.

En estos contextos, las personas de las ciudades intentan construir un sentido de comunidad y mantener una identidad. Esto lleva a dos tendencias contrastantes. Una es el acto de crear -o recrear- las viejas comunidades de procedencia dentro de las grandes ciudades. En la ciudad de New York, la zona de Queens está formada por una multitud de enclaves étnicos que han llegado de todo el mundo. Hay, por ejemplo, barrios en los que todos los letreros están escritos en coreano y no se oye en las calles una sola palabra en inglés. Esto no es algo muy diferente de los históricos 'barrios chinos’ que también existen en Sudamérica. Pero lo diferente aquí es la escala. Personas que vienen de un lugar determinado del mundo, y que se establecen juntas formando una nueva comunidad. Tantas son las personas que han llegado desde el Estado de Puebla –México- a la zona Noroeste de Manhattan, que hoy se ha establecido allí un consulado, conocido como «Casa Puebla». En el sur global, algo particular y similar ocurre hoy con ciertos enclaves indígenas, que se asientan dentro de los límites de las ciudades.

Lo opuesto a este fenómeno es una forma de integración en la cual las personas se identifican con la ciudad en la que viven, mucho más que con la totalidad de la nación. En ciudades como Berlín o New York, por ejemplo, un locatario se considera berlinés o neoyorkino mucho antes que como alemán o estadounidense. Algo parecido empezamos a ver también en una ciudad como Buenos Aires. Es que la dinámica de las ciudades globales logra integrar a las múltiples identidades que allí conviven, y lo hace con mucha más facilidad que la tradicional idea de nación. De ahí la tan acalorada discusión sobre lo que significa hoy ser parte de una nación.

En la ciudad global, las personas construyen sus identidades a través de las asociaciones étnicas, de los sindicatos, de los clubes deportivos y –claro-, también de las iglesias. El desafío para toda iglesia es el de si habrá de ser un simple contenedor que preserva las marcas y señales de los lugares de los que las personas han venido, o si va a servir como un espacio en el que se puedan catalizar formas creativas de integración. Ambas funciones son importantes.

La belleza más profunda de toda ciudad proviene de las nuevas formas de arte y cultura, y hasta de la comida que surge del encuentro de comunidades diversas. Nuestras iglesias poseen el llamado de recibir y facilitar ese proceso, como compañeras que somos de nuestro Creador, en la constante tarea de la creación.

Robert Brashear