Easter Monday: Didn't last long

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Easter 2012: Are you ready?

4/8

Teddy, Rachel. Wilhamina

Easter arrives sunny and cool. As I get to the Park for our early service, Teddy is there waiting for me. I see Rachel heading up the hill to Seneca Village. We walk up together and Wilhamina from the LGBTQ people of color task force joins us as well. 

I tell the story of Seneca Village. (see http://west-parkpress.blogspot.com/search?q=seneca+village.) And compare how the New York Times of the day described its residents, even as it describes the Occupiers of today. The stones rising for the ground tell us, history will not remain buried. I recall other times here..when Park rangers would stop by and join us for communion. Joggers who would stop and check us out. The year they fenced off the area inside the stones and we crossed the fence for our services and were threatened with arrest. This is a good place to celebrate Easter. 

Teddy and I walk Rachel back to 87th and then  stop at Starbucks for coffee. Back at the church, Teddy helps me get everything ready. Wesley and Antonia are up. The doors swing open. Visitors are coming. Amy is in Michigan visiting family. Andre is here and will help me with the music. I feel a sense of confidence. I feel a sense of Easter inside of me. Ready to happen. 

We’ve filled the pulpit area behind our table with all the candles Jamie brought. There’s a scary moment when the lights go out, but we flip a few breakers and they’re back on. I invite the children forward, talk about the Easter eggs that my son Dan and I colored yesterday. Talk about how ther shape has no beginning and no end, like the cycle of the seasons. Their colors reminding us of spring.What came first, the chicken or the egg? How every animal, chicken, human being, dinosaur, begins with an egg....I hear a noise in the congregation, thinking its a response to my children's conversation then realize that Ashley has leaned back into a candle and her hair is on fire. We quickly put it out, the smell of burned hair in our space. Disaster averted. 

I confess that often Easter has been a hard sermon for me to preach. Why? I recall my pastoral counseling class at Yale with James Dittes. How he showed us slides of the Cistine Chapel. How the condemned, being consigned to hell, are clearly defined, strong muscled, sharp in focus and detail. The saved, heading to heaven, soft focused, ethereal, ill defined. We all, said the professor, know what it’s like to be damned. Very few of us really know what it’s like to be saved. Preaching Easter has always been hard. 

And so I ask, It’s Easter, are you ready? Are you ready for resurrection? Are you ready for new life? Are you ready to come out of the tomb?

Let’s roll it back a minute. It was the women who went to the tomb. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome. The men had all run away. They were disppointed. They were afraid. The movement they thought they had was defeated. The messiah they thought they had, the savior, the leader,  was dead and gone. One more broken dream, One more lost cause. Over. 

But to the women, none of that mattered. They had loved this man. And he had loved them. And now they would come to the tomb, do what needed to be done. Take care of business. Out of respect. Out of love. Love, greater than disappointment.

They knew there would be a stone. A heavy stone. Who will roll away the stone for us? They knew they couldn’t do it by themselves. But they get there, and it has already been rolled away. The only one there was a strange young man, dressed in a white robe. Who was he? The only other young man in Mark was there at Gethsemane when the Romans arrived. And chaos breaks out. Like the night they raided Zucotti. (Mark14:51) He ws dressed only in a loin cloth. (Why? We don’t know....) They grab him, the cloth comes off, he runs away naked. 

Reminds me of the so-called Gerasene demoniac. (Mark 5: 1-20) The one who hung out in the tombs. Who they couldn’t keep clothes on. But Jesus drives out the demons and :

¹⁵They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind,

The young man in white was clothed and in his right mind...

So they’re told that Jesus is not here. That he has been raised. And has gone on ahead to Galilee, that they are to spread the word, go there to meet him.

And how do they react? The Bible says with terror...fear..amazement...and they said nothing to no one for they were afraid....that’s the last word of Mark, afraid...

Well someone must have said something to someone because we’re here....but they were afraid....why? Obviously the church was embarassed by this ending because  they kept trying to add to it until it  came out right, but that’s Mark’s last word,afraid....

Mark’s ending is a cliffhanger... to get you to tune in for the next episode, the next season...

terror..fear....amazed...

But there’s a clue...Galilee...his book ends there..but that’s where it began...it’s a dvd loop that keeps on going around...go back to the beginning, read it all again...and again... all over again.

So my question this morning is, which side of the stone are you on? Are you waiting for someone else to roll away that stone? Are you willing to come out? And if you do, what do you need to leave behind, back in the tomb? Can you believe that it’s already been rolled away?

Terror..fear..amazed

The fact is, we have no proof...there is no extrnal verification...there was no streaming video, no iphones with cameras quickly transferred to youTube. No tweets. Nothing in the Roman annals. How do we know?

That’s where Paul comes in. His testimony in I Corinthians 15. Paul references all Jesus’ appearances, and then, last of all to him, as to one untimely born, he appears....

The point is, we know just as Paul knows...he’s got nothing on us...Jesus appears to us as he appeared to Paul....the only proof of the resurrection is our presence here today...

And then Paul gets to the  bottom line in what is perhaps my favorite Bible verse:

By the grace of God I am what I am, and God’s grace in me has not been in vain....(1 Corinthians 15:10)

Say that with me ...say it again....that’s what it feels like to come out from the tomb...

terror....fear....amazed....

Look, it’safer back there, in the tomb, behind the stone....nothing can go wrong, you can’t be hurt, disappointed...to step outside, you have to risk, the light can hurt your eyes.....

Say it again....

By the grace of God I am what I am, and God’s grace in me has not been in vain....(1 Corinthians 15:10)

The stone has already been rolled away. The time to come out is now....Are you ready?

And that’s Easter today....

Andre recommends we all lisen to Mumford and Sons Roll Away Your Stone (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eEobPFhpws) and then sings a traditional song. We gather, a large circle this Sunday, say Alleluia! once more and sing Amen!

the kids do a play

Samantha

We gather in the Chapel for coffee and Easter celebration.The kids do a play. Fellowship time with each other.  But for this morning, for this moment, I felt it. Easter was real. 

Hugo

Good Friday: The accumulated weight

4/6

A day of pressurs and anxieties. Runi back for another round. She got her one thing done. Wesley and Antonia slow again. Wesley comes in with a handful of Gospels of John he picked up somewhere. Teddy had told me they had recived a marraige license. But no. Lost the papers. Wesley tells me she’s getting worse. Needs a psych eval. I tell him about the free clinic. The staff had  actually been looking for her.


Coffee at Barney Greengrass. My friend behind the counter might have a job as a chef, what he's been looking for. Gary is looking forward to Passover tonight then leaving for his annual Pesach week vacation. I wish him good travels. 

A German woman has come in just to look around. From Bavaria. And Berlin. I tell her I have a son living in Berlin. Jamie and Steve drop by from a walk to the Conservatory Gardens I wish I could have been on.

I hear the ominous sound of cooing, whuch sends a chill down my spine,  and realize that the pigeons have broken in somewhere again. Which tower? Did someone leave a door open? Turns out the bell tower hatch has come open. Teddy braves it and goes in, scares the pigeons away and pulls it shut. 

I look and am somewhat amused to see that Teddy is wearing an old t-shirt of mine with the old New Haven Black Crows baseball logo. The ever resoureful #ows clothing committee under fashion director Chirs has obviously found my stash tucked away soemwhere during the water damage clean up . I tell him it looks good on him, tell him the story and we both laugh. 

Jane and I go for coffee. She mentions that Teddy with hu slarge personlity, creative humor and Yonkuhz accent woud make a great character for a sitcom. Except he’s a real guy, in every way. And I think that its good to have moved from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to sitcom territory.

RL’s in to look around. Talk about possibly renting space to rehearse. And reviving the open mic night. I haven’t had a moment to breathe or work on that one. 

Anna and her dog come by again. I tell her I appreciate her comments and contributions. And I mean it. She’s very open and honest about herself. 

Raven has returned from somewhere. Anna greets him warmly.

Rudolfo comes in. Medical concerns.Delays with his green card an therefore medicaid. I tell him about the free clinic.

Scattered people throughout the day into pray. Table draped in black. Single candle burning.

Get anxious and frustrated waiting for the folks to come for the Good Friday service. No program. And we’ve got no paper for our printer. And there’s none at CVS. And none at PC Richard’s. Finally racing back from Goldleaf Stationers, I’m on the verge.  By the time I get back with the bulletins, everyone is sitting in te sanctuary, anxiously awaiting. 

The girls do their annual Seven Last Words presentation. I feel distracted. Heading home, the accumulated weight of the week has begun to wear me down.

It's Good Friday.

Maundy Thursday: Economically unsustainable, but beautiful

 4/3 and 4/4 

Teddy and I struggle to get Wesley and Antonia moving off the steps...short time at the office, working with Danielle, the daily visit of our US Post Office mail carrier who always greets us cheerfully and stops for a chat....

4/5

Meet with Don to talk about church, how Disenchanted is going and how he enjoyed Newsies with its working class themes...

There’s that middle aged white guy asleep on the steps again. Marc Greenburg of Interfatih Assembly drops by to pick up a check from the Halbreich Foundation. Chris feeling a bit down, imprtessed that no one has left a mark in the new concrete sidewalks. 

Runi has much on her mind. I feel the swirl that is racingg around her head. I know what that feels like. I try to get her to focus in on just one thing, find one issue that Danielle and I can help her with. And keep thinking about the days that I’m not too far removed from that feeling. Like most of the week, with everything that’s going on, not always sure where to begin.

People gathering for Maundy Thursday. Tables set up in the the sanctuary. Soft candlelight. Simple meal of bread, cheese, grapes, wine...Mark fron the UN has joined us, pitching in to help set up. David and Donna from the  Occupiers have joined us for the first time. Jane, Jamie, Anna and Puppy, Hope, Arcadia and Hugo,Teddy. 

While we are gathering, I ask each person to talk about the most interesting thing that happened that day. I mention that Don had lunch with Katherine’s friend Bonnie, who had produced the play about the Triangle Shirtwaist fire at Judson. How she was one of the first who said we had to come back into the church, start living there even before repairing everything.  We talk about the Passover story. How the Hebrew word for Egypt, mitzrayim, means the narrow place, the tight place...and we share the tight spaces we all are living in. Jane mentions the birth canal, a metaphor we can all respond to. And Jamie has trouble getting past God’s killing of the first born. And I completely get it. Even though in the passover seder, a drop of i eis taken ffor our cups to symbilize our joy dimished by the suffering if the Egyptians, you just can’t nuance your way around the angel of death. What kind of God are we dealing with here? 

We talk about footwashing and I remember the first time I ever did that with Kevin, a Seventh Day Aventist student of mine back at the University of Bridgeport. When  Deacon Ken introduced us to the ritual here at West-Park. The times we did it right here in the sanctuary. For me the sense of uncomfort combined with humility.Talk about the foot ministry of First Presbyterian, Atlanta. Pedicures, new socks for the homeless. How important the treatment of feet...and shoes.... are for the poor.

Tonight we share a handwashing ritual, perhaps more appropriate in our own day. Remembering the ritual created by Scott Matheny for the haggadah-like Maundy service at Good Shepherd-Faith  that has inspired our own. Thinking about all the places  our hands have been over the course of the day, subway poles, metal straps on buses....we symbolically wash each others’ hands. 

We use the matzoh and celebrate the last supper like Jesus and his friends. Connecting the passover story and Holy Week. The paradigm stories, the ur stories for each of our tradtions. I read the Corinthians words we use to institute the eucharist. Jamie asks about consecration. And its a good discussion. I mention that I come from the left end of the reformed tradtion and Jane and others laugh a bit. Really? But I explain that I’m talking about Zwingli. That it’s us who get transformed into the body and blood, not the bread and wine. 

 Jane smiles, says how beautiful it is.

We finish with our simple meal. Anna has brought a variety of pies. As if to make everything perfect, Bobby comes in and sits at the end of the table. Teddy leans over, whispers to him, helping him to clean up a little. He is gentle, firm, caring. Hope and Jane and I looking down the table. Someone says it feels like da Vinci or Vermeer, the candlelight, the deep red mahoganys of the wood. 

 I laugh and say, yeah, economically unsustainable, but beautiful. Like the conmmunion of saints.The kindom of God. The way its supposed to be. 


All that's left is to strip the altar and pepare for Good Friday.

Thirty-fifth day of lent: Thin lines

4/2

The day begins with a meeting of the Center Executive committee to analyze the formidable   array of cahllenges now facing us. It seems unsurmountable,but there is no alternative to digging in with courage and creativity.

Next is a  meeting with Mary and Jessica, social workers with #ows. They want to review the situation with our coop. Nothing I didn’t expect. We’ve got a lot of folks with a lot of needs. Lots of folks recovering from a wide variety of traumas. Some military. Others closer to home. Or home itself,  to be exact. One or  two who need special attention. Several who have grown incredibly and shouldered responsibility and taken care of others.  And that some who are higher functioning have become frustrated and need to be more realsitic as to what can be acomplished. 

Need to get contact info for everyone. Perhaps they’d be open to some leadership development, or better, team building. An orientation to everything available from medical would also be helpful. Our clinic has a lot to offer. 

We also do some more review of the M17/18 actions. The internal wrangling of #ows over strategy, tactics, commitments. Remembering what Sekou said about how in the US in 2012, only the non-violent approach can capture the American imagination. We need to continue to build with those ready to make that commitment. If even small steps at a time. But then back to our coop.

At first, I feel I have to stretch to find the political content. I recall what Max Bean had said about his being drawn to the possibilitites of a social movement. And thinking about it, that social project  itself does have politcal content. Perhaps even radical content.

Hope and I are talking about this when Anna approaches with her little dog, Puppy. The early part is solid, about Dan. What he left at her apartment. The paintings from Berik. But it continues. And continues. Hope goes back inside. I remain.

Later in the day, Hope, Danielle and I meet with the Coop. Time to talk about an  exit strategy, the need to set a goal, progressively moves towards it. There’s a lot of frustration on one side, silence on the other. Interpesonal issues arise. I rewind. Go back to how much they’ve accomplished, grown since they’ve been here. How much they’ve added to our community.How much they are appreciated. Then get back to the agenda for movement that we began with. (Truth is, I don’t look forward to their leaving, they’ve brought life and community into the building.)

Later, as Hope and I are talking, we reflect on what is happening. Even normal people (whatever normal means) would get frayed under their current living situation. Their dysfunction only a matter of degree from what we experience in our own Session. And lets not even talk about Presbytery and its endless acrimony filled meetings with acting out through ecclesaustical polity games. We’re talking thin lines here. 

Tonight’s Bible Study focuses on the Seven Last Words of Jesus as drama and story.

1.Father forgive them, for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34)

2. Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43)

3. Woman, behold your son: behold your mother (John 19:26-27).

4. My God, My God, why have you forsaken me, (Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34).

5. I thirst (John 19:28)

6. It is finished (John 19:30)

7. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit (Luke 23:46). 

I see Anna and Puppy coming in and immediately get anxious. Her question before  we begin with a quasi-scientific medical theory about the resurrection doesn’t help. But when we begin, she’s on target like a laser. She quckly notices that the first two and last two are inner directed and the middle three inner directed. We talk about what if these were the only words we had? What plot line could we discover?

And of course, much discussion focuses on My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me? Which leads to a a close reading of Psalm 22. Tracing its arc, we find the basic plot line of the crucifixion story with its beginning with personal abandoment and anguish, excruciating physical agony. Then personal redemption. Then cosmic signifcance. Then we looked at each Gospel writer, their own selection of words. Finding pieces of Psalm 22 in the other gospels.

Was it just masterful literary craftwork? Did God make it happen that way? Or is there something deeply archetypal about this? Or maybe all three....

I think of Anna. My prejudices. The lesson she taught me. Outside, Wesley and Antonia are settling in for the night. In the midst of it all, all the chaos and craziness, I see he truly loves her and that there is tenderness there. 

Thin lines,thin lines....

Palms to Passion Sunday 2012

4/1

There are some days that start as if the universe has stripped a gear. Like you are out of sync with the cosmos in some way. Or maybe it’s just April Fools’ Day.  85Copy’s closed when I go to get the bulletins. There’s no one around when I first get to the church. Wesley and Antonia are still on the steps and it’s after 10:30. Later, Rafael will help me move them, Andre looking on, shaking his head. I think thet're incapable of following the guidelines you've set up, he says.  I’ve left my cell phone at home and Dan has left for church already so I’ll have to cab home and back to get it. People are waiting and ready When I get back, Amy has just arrived. 

The service is a little shaky gettig underway. It’s an adaptation oif a sevice  Katherine and I came up with years ago in which the liturgy moves with Jesus through  Holy Week with Stephen Mitchell’s telling of the Gospel as its text.

We read of the triumphant entry, singing Hosanna.  I remember other times, processing around the sanctuary following Greg Beyer with the berimbau. Jed Distler’s amazing creation with Katherine of the Great Round Dance of the Cross. When in the narrative Jesus prays, we pray. When they sing a psalm, we sing a psalm (118) When he breaks bread with his friends, we break bread. 

When we reach the time of  reflection, I’m starting to feel more at ease. I ask everyone to raise their palms, wave them. I ask them  I ask what it feels like to be on a march? At a rally?  For Stephen, there’s the excitement of the crowd, the chanting. For Hope, the feeling of togetherness. And for Rafael, who works security,  the stress that comes from having  to watch everything. That’s what the front end of this was all about. Palm Sunday was not a religious event. It’s not like Jesus said well next week is Easter so we need something to kick off the week....maybe something special for the children....

Check this out....Palm Sunday was primarily a political event.....what were the issues?

• The Roman Empire occupying their country, back when occupy was only a negative word.
• Taxation without representation, money going to support the Empire
• Support of local leaders for the empire, the ethnarchs, the Herods, who ruled over their own people on behalf of the Romans.  

The event itself was many things...symbolically a mocking of a Roman victory parade, with #OWS cutting humor style. Imagine signs, chants, down with the empire, Rome go home..Some were hoping it was the start of the revolution...and Jesus was the guy who was going to be the leader...there bits of evidence  here and there in the Gospel that seem to indicate an underground movement with coded signs, this man with a colt, that one carrying a water jug... 

OK...so why do we do it this way? How did Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday get mashed together? Palm Sunday used to stand on its own, then you woud have to go through a long week of church services. As more and moe people stopped doing that, those who set the liturgical calendar wanted to make sure that we don’t just jump from one high to another. Palm Sunday straight to Easter. Pablo Richard, a theologian from Costa Rica, says that his problem with North American  Chirstiansis that they  want to jump too quickly to the happy ending.  We need  to remind peopl that to get to Easter, you have to pass thru Good Friday, that there is  no resurection without crucixion .... so we jam it all up into one day, two liturgies, one of the Palms, one of the Passion. Can’t we have just one day to  enjoy the feeling that we might win? 

In the middle we find the story of the woman who shows uo and anoints Jesus’ head  with costly  oil. Though not named, from medieval pop culture to Jesus Christ Superstar she’s ben associated with  Mary Magdalene . The hardcore ideologues complain. Jesus is clear that the poor will be with us always. Not that they should be, but given human nature, they will be. There will always be ample opportunity to care for them. But Jesus will not be with us long. What she brings is extravagant loving....and that is to be honored...

Don’t follow leaders
Watch the parkin’ meters

said Dylan..long before #ows. When did Jesus get that he  wasn’t  going to be the new Che Guevara? Last Thursday night, here, Cornel West said that  No one should want to be a leader, leader’s get killed...instead we should be lovers...who love the people relentlessly...

People aren’t necesarily ready for that kind of leadership. look how fast people get pulled dowh by their own..Jesus gets himself betrayed by one of his own. And yet he embraces the moment and goes with it. 

This week is a journey ..open yourself to it...pass through the valley..see what might be on the other side..We finish with these words from the Gospel of Thomas:

The disciples of Jesus said to him, "When is the kingdom going to come?" Jesus said, "It is not by being waited for that it is going to come. They are not going to say, 'Here it is' or 'There it is," Rather, the kingdom is spread out over the earth, and people do not see it."

Jesus said, “I stood at rest in the midst of the world. And to them I was shown forth incarnate. I found them all intoxicated. And I found none of them thirsty. And my soul ached for the children of humankind, for in their hearts, they do not see. Empty did they enter the world, and again empty they seek to leave the world. Now they are intoxicated. When they shake off their wine, then they will have a change of heart.

This week as we gather in our circle there are no Alleluias, just a simple Amen. 

Hope and Ana teaching Sunday School. The Session meets to review the events of the week, discuss Melissa's proposal.


We leave palms on the steps. Across the course of the aftrnoon, they are all taken. 

The Thirteen Grandmothers

Late in the afternoon, I come back for  Jane’s showing of For the Next Seven Generations. It’s a film produced and directed  by Carol Hart (Sesame Street, Free to be You and Me...) about the 13 indigenous grandmothers who have come together to pray for peace, pray for the earth. The scenes shot at El Santuario de Chimayo bring me back to that special place where, as they say, the veil is thin. Two grandmothers form the Mohawk nation, Iroqouis Confederacy, sing native songs of blessing. 

Wesley has been listening. Now that’s interesting, he says.

Thirty-second day of Lent: Cooking experiences, pets, fermented horse's milk and two small women's shoes

3/30

We’re ready to have a meeting with Melissa around her booking proposal but Antonia and Wesley are blocking the door. Again, an apartment’s load of stuff around them. It's becoming a serious problem. I’ve spoken with Reachout about them, but its complicated. Very hard to get a place for a couple. Would be easier if they were married or at least domestic partnered. I talk to Wesley about this. They had the papers but she lost them...he even tried breaking up with her to make it easier but...I have a meeting to get to...

Melissa and her partners are there. And John H. And Jamie. We walk through the whole proposal. Financials, programming, etc.  John as usual is blunt and uncensored. I’m wondering how Jamie will react. She’s impressed by their youth , their enthusiasm, thier willingness to take risks. Positive.

While we’re waiting, I see Elizabeth walk in and upstairs to meet with the Occupiers. She’s brought their portraits for them to see. When I see her going back out again, I go out and talk with her. She’ll be coming back next week to take more portraits. 

Rafael is pleased with the way everything worked out last night with Wesyt and Sekou. Jane and Ingrid and Tia are happy too. We’re waiting to see Tia’s picture with Cornel West. We allow ourselves to bask a little in the glow of a good night, even if it was a wash financially. Story of our lives.

A woman comes in  to see Leila’s art show, but it’s already come down. She leaves disappointed.A casualty of a difficult week. 

Mim has brought lunch again. She takes really good care of us. I’ve drawn up a list of the overwhelming challenges now facing us. We at least take  a shot naming some priorities. A few short term plans. 

Hope puts in several hours working on cleaning things up.  

Jason, faithful as always, comes by to leave his tithe. Part of who he is, even when working on Sunday morning, he wants to respect the church. Rose reports some stomach virus running around. Deacon James comes in. We know he’s been struggling with chemo. He looks thin, but with his goatee, and new teeth, quite distinguished.

We’ve got a congregational dinner. Just to get to know each other  better. It’s the session. And John.And Berik. And Jamie. And Stephen S. A good gathering. We talk about cooking experiences. Pets. The power of Kazakh fermented horse milk, which maybe combines several categories. There is warmth. Laughter. I wanted to go to Tracy’s celebration of women in Chinatown, but this is important. A step in strenghtening the bonds of our members. 

There were two women’s shoes left on the steps in the afternoon. They were still there a night.