Second Sunday After Christmas/Epiphany:......WORD.......

1/3/16

The gifts of the Magi

I arrive at church ready to wait for Pat and Larry to arrive and decorate only to be surprised that the stage is already set. Dion apparently stayed after Antigona finished last night and set things up.  And I breathe a little easier. 

The stage is set

We are small again. But it lifts my spirits to see Eric from the Noche family back again.

After reading the story of the Magi in Matthew, I share my own little bottles of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Remember past celebrations of El Dia de los Tres Reyes Magos in this place.  And after singing We Three Kings, it’s time for reflection.

We are three days into the new year. I’m guessing more than a few resolutions bit the dust already….but we’re still at THE BEGINNING….as we are every year at this time…a new beginning…so John 1 is a good place to BEGIN…

In the beginning was the WORD…echoes Genesis 1….God says it and it IS….

What does that mean?

For my kids' generation, when someone  says something you agree with, the response is WORD…I have a friend in Washington Heights…down the street from the Presbyterian Deli, I love that….she’s on the board of a coop called WORD UP Bookstore…they tutor, they do workshops, open mics, readings…a completely community based store. As for WORD UP,  it means I totally comprehend what you’re saying, doing…in Greek, it’s almost the same, logos....the ultimate inherently visible  logical reality….

In open mics now we have singers and we have spoken WORD…which is poetry or story or improve or rap without music…like my friend Joel Gold with his 1950’s beat improv…and our man Dion does spoken WORD…stand up, another form

John says, In the beginning was the WORD….

If Christmas is about incarnation, John’s Christmas story is about the WORD becoming FLESH….a WORD that is LIGHT in the darkness….

We speak about the Bible as the Word of God…and Jesus is the living WORD….

What am I up to here?

In my tradition, I’m now called a Teaching Elder…I used to be called a minister of WORD and Sacrament…when I preach I bring the WORD…

We Protestants tend to think in didactic ways…we tend to use music and art  to illustrate the WORD, like pictures in a children’s Bible…but in  fact, a work of art is its own WORD…

Something like Noche’s Antigona doesn't illustrate anything, it simply is. It is it’s own WORD to be in dialogue with the Bible’s WORD or my WORD…and when you see Soledad dance, it doesn't symbolize anything…like you can't take a painting and say, What does this part here mean?  It just IS…You see Soledad dance and all you can say is YES…or, as the kids say, WORD…WORD is given, TRUTH is told.

Which is why it’s appropriate to epiphany…literally

·    Epiphany means: a Christian festival held on January 6 in honor of the coming of the three kings to the infant Jesus Christ or…

·    : a moment in which you suddenly see or understand something in a new or very clear way

You see, it’s the same thing…you SEE something and all of a sudden you GET It…like a light switch goes on…

That’s what it was with Jesus apparently…..people saw it….they got it

St. Francis said ….preach often, use words when necessary

When I see you, I see the WORD. When Dion visits with the homeless people or John walks Rachel home or when Kate and Hope and Marsha serve a meal at a shelter….you see it, you know it….

That’s what I long for, ache for …to be a community that is a living WORD…that when seen is like an epiphany where we see what is is to be WORD…

And that my friends, is  my word for today.

And for our offertory, I play, what else:

                                                                        The WORD

We will pray. And celebrate Eucharist, another visible WORD.  We will hear a WORD of peace, and then out into the world…

"The Word"

Say the word and you'll be free
Say the word and be like me
Say the word I'm thinking of
Have you heard the word is love?
It's so fine, it's sunshine
It's the word, love

In the beginning I misunderstood
But now I've got it, the word is good

Spread the word and you'll be free
Spread the word and be like me
Spread the work I'm thinking of
Have you heard the word is love?
It's so fine, it's sunshine
It's the word, love

Everywhere I go I hear it said
In the good and bad books that I have read

Say the word and you'll be free
Say the word and be like me
Say the word I'm thinking of
Have you heard the word is love?
It's so fine, it's sunshine
It's the word, love

Now that I know what I feel must be right
I'm here to show everybody the light

Give the word a chance to say
That the word is just the way
It's the word I'm thinking of
And the only word is love
It's so fine, it's sunshine
It's the word, love

Say the word, love
Say the word, love
Say the word, love
Say the word, love

The Word Became Flesh

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In him was life,^[a] and the life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. ⁸ He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

⁹ The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. ¹¹ He came to his own,^[b] and his own people^[c] did not receive him. ¹² But to all who did receive him,who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ who were born,not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) ¹⁶ For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.^[d] 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God; the only God,^[e] who is at the Father's side,^[f] he has made him known.

The first Sunday after Christmas: that in between time

12/27

It is the first Sunday after Christmas…..and attendance is small…. A young man from Australia by way of Toronto has come to visit.

Today we have the only story (see below) about those in between years (at least only officially recognized one…). It only comes up every 3 years…and I don’t believe I’ve ever preached on this one before. Usually this day is the  feast of the Holy innocents..commemorating those children who died for Jesus due to Herod’s fear.  We forget that these children died for Jesus. The church called them the first martyrs. 

I’ve just learned that in Spain, this day is like an April Fools’ Day. You try and trick each other…as innocentes…..a typical Spanish way of bringing lightness to a dark day….

What does this story tell us? That Jesus was raised  in a tradition… to be a Jewish child in the Jewish tradition, celebrating the holidays in community…

We have the anxiety of parents…what parent of teenagers hasn’t known that 2 AM haunting feeling? (Although once could ask, but why didn't they know? Why did it take more than day to realize he was missing?)

There are questions and answers …notice  that he is 12 years old…a year before his bar mitzvah …and he is already beginning his preparation…

      

To his mother’s anxious question he replies, But where else would I be?...The words we have translated as In my father’s house are translated in the King James version as “Did you not know I must be about my fathers’ business…” To which the expected response might be

            What, not carpentry?

You have to wonder, How does Joseph feel about this? And Mary? This child she nursed, whose diapers she changed, she knows and does not know. As much as this is true for any mother, so much more for her as his mystery grows.

We are told he  continued to grow…As he was fully  human,  he did not come with full knowledge of everything. He had to grow…

And then we are told he was obedient. That’s the last we know until he heads out on his own…at 30….a long time in that day…to begin his own ministry…even in our day, we expect our kids to be on their own before 30…

So the question for us is, What does it mean for us to be about our fathers’ business? That is for us to figure out in the year to come. May that question always be before us.  To guide us.  And may we help each other find the answer…

During our prayers, the young man explains how being about the right business led him to Canada...not to return....

GOSPEL LUKE 2:41-52

⁴¹Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. ⁴²And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. ⁴³When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. ⁴⁴Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day's journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. ⁴⁵When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. ⁴⁶After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, "Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety." ⁴⁹He said to them, "Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" ⁵⁰But they did not understand what he said to them. ⁵¹Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.

⁵²And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.

Christmas Eve 2016: Merry Christmas. Happy Christmas. Feliz Navidad

Christmas Eve 
12/24/15

It’s Christmas Eve. And warm. Outdoor cafes are full. The pre-Christmas rush at Barney Greengrass.  Almost…a big almost…as busy a time as then High Holy Days. One of the customers there jokes, Yeah Jewish Christmas…breakfast Barney Greengrass,  a movie and Chinese food…Yesterday when I stopped in for coffee, I even joined in the relay line awhile…

Earlier today. Pat and Leila and Dion all helped get the place ready.

Leila and Pat decorated

Now Jed is rehearsing at the piano and Dion, Berik and Leila making farolitos for our front steps. A taste of navidad en estilo de santa fe right here in the Upper West Side.

Farolitos light the way

Tells people we’re here. Welcomes them. Makes me happy.

As always, I am anxious. Who will be here? Will it be OK? Will my boys feel good about it?

Pastor Brashear and sons

They’ve lived through the year of the service on the steps in front of locked gates. Years with only them and a few homeless. Then the signs of returning hope…two years ago with Ralph Farris of ETHEL and last year with Carman Moore and his premiered new carols.

Not to worry. A couple comes by at around 6:30. We’re still getting ready. The people start to stream in. There’s my bandmates Pat from Ireland and Rabbi Steve, Ted and Asya from the Center. Tourists. Neighbors. All will be well. 

The service begins. We light the Advent candles. With other music, Jed and I do the Lo How a Rose/The rose medley again. And its time for my reflection. I hold my light up lotus blossom and ask who knows what it is ? John R knows.

John R, Pastor Bob, Dion and Berik

I tell how our predecessors used this design from the Buddhist tradition for  our baptismal font back at he turn of the last century. Very rare form the time. And how back in early December, I  was at Riverside Church for a Buddhist transmittal of the light ceremony.. With Some 500 Chinese Buddhist priests, and an equal number of others. There was my friend TK as a Japanese Buddhist representative. And an imam. And me, representing the Christians.

Lotus blossom light

I could only understand a small portion of what happened. Although the chants were intoxicating. But there was this moment. The altar was filled with these lotus blossoms. Priests came to the altar. Took the blossoms and passed then out through the congregation. And I watched as the lights came on and their glow spread throughout the sanctuary. 

It was still early enough in December to be Hanukkah. I spoke of how their ceremony reminded me of our Christmas Eve ceremony. And how in Hanukkah, even though the miracle was about oil that lasted 8 days before running out, it had been decided to add a candle a  day instead of the other way because light in the world must always grow.

Just like in Advent, we add a candle every week. The light must always grow.

There seems to be a need deeper than any of our traditions to celebrate light in the darkness of winter. Something archetypal, primordial even. Deep. 

It’s been a dark time. Baghdad. Paris. Beirut. The shootings in San Bernadino. And all across the country. An average of one a day. Police violence and Black Lives Matter. Refugees and migrants in flight, across the globe, even as the Holy family had to flee a homicidal despotic ruler. More than enough darkness. But we celebrate light. 

We celebrate God’s full humanity in the midst of ours. Coming to know us fully. Know our hurts and pains. Joys and sorrows. Announced first to shepherds. Those who work outside the gates. Those who are looked on with suspicion when they come inside. Born in a makeshift shelter in the midst if animals. Shelter where it can be found.

I wonder where the child would be born tonight. To workers in the back of kitchens where Christmas Eve dinners are served. To the deli and bodega workers in the middle of the night. In a van belonging to Christmas tree sellers from Quebec. Or even in the midst of the homeless, gathered on church steps. Here God dwells with us. And there is light.

The tradition used to be we’d darken our sanctuaries at this point, light a candle from the Christ candle and then pass it out through the sanctuary. As if the world had been all dark but then Jesus came and presto –changeo, LIGHT. 

But here it is….the light has always been here, always. Since the very first day when God said, Let there be light, and there was, and God saw that it  was good. Light when the children of Israel aid enough and walked out of the empire with Moses and light when the prophets called on their own people to return to justice, it’s sometimes dim, sometimes hard to see but always there. Even in our own time. 

So tonight, we won't bring our sanctuary to darkness. But we will each share our own light until all the candles glow. And as we pass the light, we will sing Silent Night.

In this silent moment, as we share our light. Listen…to the sounds of traffic out on the street, to the tree sellers from Quebec loading up to return to their families, on such a night the human one comes…

As you look at your own light, see it glow, take it with you. Let the light of your life be light for others…

And from up front , I watch as the light grows. 

As always, we end with Joy to the World. I’ll linger. Greet every visitor. One woman tells me it’s her third visit this week, came and was surprised by Fools’ Mass. Then came back for Antigona. Then had to come for Christmas Eve.  Linger with Pat and Ana and my boys. Many, like rabbi Steve, walk out to the street carrying their light with them.

Rabbi Steve, Pastor Bob, Jed Distler

On the steps, Pat reminds me in Ireland, it’s Happy Christmas…

Many of the Antigona cast members are from Spain. Spending Christmas away from family. So Martin has invited the Noche family to gather at a Spanish restaurant for una grande celebracion de Noche Buena. My boys and I, Dion and his lady will join them. There will be endless tapas, free flowing vino y cerveza y sangria. Pollos estofados y flan y postres. And around 11, the flamenco singers will burst into song, deep, dark and passionate. 

Canciones flamencos

Feliz navidad. Merry Christmas. 

Martin, Pastor Bob y Xianix

The Fourth Sunday in Advent: Fools' Mass

12/20

Fools' Mass

 There has been an aggressive and angry man hanging out on our steps. Speaks only to me in Spanish. Has one bad eye. Heavy beard. The other day he followed me into the Bean. I don't know what to make of some one yelling No necista tenga miedo de mi. Aggressive yelling is not a way to reduce fear. I kept looking for someone there to notice but no one did.  Yesterday when I told he would need to move before the performance, he got in my face, poked me in the chest and called me maricon. Faggot is just as offensive in any language.

Today our friends from Theatre Dzieci return for their annual Advent performance of Fools’ Mass. As I arrive, they’re already getting into character. Happily, the chapel is filling up. We’ll eventually need to get more chairs. A new character offers me a program, but won’t let go.

The basic plot is the same every year. It’s an asylum during the days if the plague. Kindly father Jose has cared for this cast if characters with their various mental and emotional issues. And bad teeth.  And now he has died. And the inmates have to figure out how to do the mass themselves. Got a real Peter Brooks kind of feel to it.

And what a cast of characters. The leader who keeps tapping his head and saying sorry. The one who just stares off into space.  A new blind character. The one who wants to hug. The new blind character. I have noticed how subtle changes year to year. For awhile  a new Spanish speaking woman appeared. Now, in this year of Muslim bashing, one of the fools is constantly intoning Allah u akbar.

But when they sing, the ancient church songs are perfect. It's the phenomenon I experienced in nursing homes where a room full of people would be virtually vegetative until an old hymn was played and all of a sudden, the room fills with song.

The dramatic high point comes when a pregnant woman gives birth to a loaf of bread which is then stabbed and then shared.  My friend Jean described it as the perfect representation of incarnational theology. And another friend says that it is the most faithful representation of the deepest truth of the mass she has seen. Grotowski praxis at its best.

Visitors are profoundly moved. The characters maintain character even as the congregation leaves. My 94 year old friend Rachel completely gets it and almost glowing. Later she will tell me how it took her back to her own days working in an asylum. That it was so accurate, they must have spent hours in an asylum just observing.

I’ll always remember Teddy (who passed away 4 years ago this week) saying, I get it, when the one who has taken care of us is no longer there, we have to take care of one another…

I miss him still.

Five days until Christmas.

The weather outside feels like spring.

Dzieci's Matt Mitler and Pastor Brashear