Category Archives: New York

August 11, 2011 · 3:13 am

Ribbons proclaim hope on September 11

Today I sent a 9-11 “Ribbon of Hope” to Ground Zero to mark the tenth anniversary of September 11. I used the online option.

To commemorate the anniversary, Prepare New York and partner groups are sponsoring the Ribbons of Hope project. People are invited to bring a ribbon to Battery Park in New York City between the hours of noon on Friday, September 9 and dusk on Sunday, September 11. On the ribbon, write a thought or prayer or hope for the healing of the city and for the whole world. In Battery Park, ribbons of all colors, shapes, sizes and textures will be joined to form a large tapestry symbolic of the marvelous mosaic that is New York.

How can I participate?
Individuals, families, groups and organizations can gather ribbons in neighborhood settings, in clubs and congregations and can then designate a messenger to come to lower Manhattan and afix the ribbons to the tapestry. People of all ages can participate. There is no fixed size or shape or width or length. The diversity of ribbons received is a large part of the point. This walk of healing to downtown Manhattan is symbolic in that it reverses the fear-filled path that so many experienced as they fled Ground Zero a decade ago.

I don’t live in New York, how can I participate?
People from across the country and around the world are invited to also collect ribbons in the weeks leading up to 9/11 and send them to Intersections International. They will be included in the tapestry as well. Send ribbons to:

Intersections International
274 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10001

Be sure they arrive at Intersections by September 7. Include your name and contact information, the name of your organization and any interesting story about making your ribbons that you’d like to share with others.

You can also participate by “sending” ribbons online through Groundswell.

Find additional ideas for observing the 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001.

See you along the Trail.

Leave a comment

Filed under Current Events, New York

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

July 28, 2011 · 2:08 am

Baseball in Grand Central

Dark hair curls appear from underneath the Yankees cap
pulled tightly down on his head.
He stares at a point beyond the escalator as
his left hand cradles his gloved right hand.
Tensed, ready,
he sees not the crowd but
watches and waits.
For a long fly ball?
A long departed ghost?
A long lost love?

27 July 2011
Shire on the Hudson

Leave a comment

Filed under Baseball, New York, Poem

Tagged as ,

July 27, 2011 · 11:24 pm

10 Million

Reports from UN agencies on the ground in the Horn of Africa estimate that 10,000,000 people are experiencing a severe food crisis.
That’s more people than live in New York City (not including urban area). 
That’s more people than live in Wyoming, Washington D.C., Vermont, North Dakota, Alaska, South Dakota, Delaware, Montana, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine combined. 
Here are some ideas of how to respond: 
10 Ways You Can Help
Give to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
Pray
See you along the Trail.

Leave a comment

Filed under Current Events, New York

Tagged as , ,

June 25, 2011 · 7:13 pm

Timing 1.0

I’ve got to work on my timing.

While cruising through the basement after a successful hunting and gathering outing to the local grocery store, I discovered to my deep dismay that I had missed a huge apartment sale.

And only a few weeks ago, I failed to add to my ginormous flea collection when I missed a sale.

Of course buying a huge apartment would, in all likelihood, only result in my creation of a huge(er) than usual mess (mess inevitably expanding to fill the available space). That would not be good. And, should I think things through, remembering that would lead me to put down the huge apartment and walk away. But it would be nice to have the chance to ponder the possibility.

I need to increase my monitoring of the basement signs.

See you along the Trail.

Leave a comment

Filed under New York

Tagged as , ,

June 10, 2011 · 7:05 pm

June 19th: Bridge to Restoration Concert

In New York? What are you doing on the evening of Sunday, June 19?

Check out the “Bridge to Restoration” concert at West-Park Presbyterian Church (165 West 86th Street New York, NY 10024). I have my tickets and hope to see you!

The “Bridge to Restoration” presents Andre Solomon-Glover. Andre’s career has spanned the genres of classical, art song, jazz, and musical theater, most notably starring in Showboat on Broadway and internationally. Joining with Andre will be eclectic musical artist Dana Hanchard, Erasmia Voukelatos, Ashley Horne, Greg Beyer and Jed Distler. The evening’s program will express the underlying connection in different genres even as The Centre seeks to live out the connections between different peoples, cultures and disciplines. The host for the evening is the Interfaith Assembly on Housing and Homelessness. The Assembly is the only organization of its kind in the city working for both the transformation of individual homeless people and of society.

Andre Solomon Glover sings regularly at West-Park services on Sunday mornings at 11:00 am.
Dana Hanchard founded The Music For The City program following 9/11, bringing musical artists into residence at inner-city schools to share their gifts.
Erasmia Voukelatos was founder and artistic director of the critically acclaimed West-Park Chamber Society.
West-Park was one of the three original founders of the Interfaith Assembly on Housing and Homelessness in 1976, and Rev. Brashear continues to serve as board chair. 
Date: Sunday June 19th, 2011 from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Tickets: tickets can be purchased for $25 each from Brown Paper Tickets here!
See you at the concert! See you along the Trail!

Leave a comment

Filed under Music, New York

Tagged as , , ,

June 8, 2011 · 3:53 am

The best?

After tonight’s meeting of the Council on Witness to Society and the World, DeLaina Gumbs and I went out to dinner. We had some plans, but as we approached the place we had originally selected, we noticed a Five Guys Burger and Fries.

“Do you want to go to Five Guys?”

“I have heard they make good burgers. But I have never been to one.”

“So do you want to go?”

“Sure why not.”

We ordered. Talked. Got our food. Started eating.

“So is it a good burger?” DeLaina had opted for another entree. I alone tried the burger.

“It’s a good burger.”

“The best burger you have ever had?” she asked. One sign proclaimed that; friends had told both of us that.

“The best burger I have ever had?” I reflected. “I don’t think so.”

“Where was the best burger you ever had?”

“Well . . . here’s how I answer that question. Memory can be a funny thing. We often romanticize experiences from the past – including food. First experiences – early experiences take on a glow and aura over the years that sometimes they don’t deserve.”

“OK. That makes sense.”

“So realizing that I may be remembering things as better than they were . . . I would say that the best burgers I ever had were in college. There was this bar. Every week or so, a group of us would go there. We would call the trips ‘2-buck-nights.'”

“2-buck-nights?”

“Well you have to remember that this was long ago.” I proceeded to demonstrate how long ago by stumbling over the number of years, finally realizing that it had been about 35 years ago or so.

“And what I remember is that for 2 bucks, you could get 2 beers and 2 burgers.”

“Really? That seems pretty cheap.”

“That’s what I remember. And there has been a lot of inflation in 35 years or so. Of course I could be wrong. But whatever the price was, those burgers are the best I remember having.”

“What made them so good?”

“I am not sure. I suspect that it had as much to do with the people – the friends, the owner, the bartender – as it did with whatever the taste might have been. At any rate, those will always be the burgers I identify as my favorite.”

Five Guys makes a good burger, but memory still burns strong.

See you along the Trail.

1 Comment

Filed under Food, Friends, New York

Tagged as , ,

June 5, 2011 · 8:06 pm

When you can be found – Ascension Sunday

I preached today at St. James Presbyterian Church in Harlem.

It was my second time.

In March, I remembered with joy and humility that St. James Presbyterian is where the Rev. Dr. Lenton Gunn served faithfully and well for many years. I had the privilege of working with Lenton on the Presbyterian Hunger Program’s Advisory Committee. It was an honor to be in the pulpit where he had stood.

Today I returned.

Again I preached – and I led the service welcoming a member into the congregation by reaffirmation of faith. It was a moment of joy. I had forgotten how great a blessing that aspect of ministry is.

Very early in the service, came the prayer of adoration (I did not write the prayer although I truly wish I had). The prayer included the sentence: We gaze at the sky looking for you, when you can be found in the laughing play of children; we wonder where you have gone, while you are all around us in our sisters and brothers.

I prayed those words with the congregation and realized immediately that they summed up what much of what I wanted to say about the Ascension.

Almost at the same moment, I remembered a song by John McCutcheon – Picture of Jesus – that reminds us we see Jesus in everyone we meet (a theme echoed by many others through the years including Leo Tolstoy in the short story Where Love Is, God Is.)

I scrapped the first two pages I had written and rewrote on the fly. I started with the lines from the prayer. Then I retold a version of Picture of Jesus.

I noted that the Ascension tells us what not to do: we are not to look for Jesus in some indefinite future; not to look for him in heaven; not to focus our attention away from this world and the places we live (I mentioned the corner of W. 141st and St. Nicholas in Harlem and I also mentioned Argentina, France, and Italy – the places where some of those visiting St. James this morning live).

I also noted what the Ascension is. It is an invitation to see Jesus we encounter every day in all the places we find ourselves. It is a call to discipleship – to follow Jesus – to live as Jesus lived – to love as Jesus loves – to be his witnesses to the end of the world. It is a promise that we will receive the Holy Spirit who will gift us and accompany us in our living. It is the proclamation of God’s amazing grace and unshakeable love for each of us – for me. And that amazing grace and unshakeable love allow us to accept the gift of the Holy Spirit and live into the adventure of discipleship with all its challenges and perils as well as its wonders and blessings. Thanks be to God!

***
For the record, it seems like there is something going on with St. James Presbyterian Church, hills, and me. In March, the gospel lesson was the Transfiguration. Today the lesson from Acts was the Ascension. Both of those events take place on hills (mountains).

Also, when walking up Amsterdam from La Salle (where the Shire on the Hudson is located) to W. 141st (where St. James is located) there is something of a hill to climb. This seems a tad odd, since La Salle is located in Morningside Heights. But there you have it.

Of course as one of the members of St. James pointed out, the way back home goes downhill. And as another member told me, the walk on St. Nicholas is pretty level. And as a third member said, “If you came back more often, you would get used to the walk!”

See you along the Trail!

Leave a comment

Filed under New York, Worship

Tagged as , , ,

May 15, 2011 · 9:07 pm

A better answer

I think I have come up with a better answer.

The Shire on the Hudson was used for many years by interns serving the Presbyterian Church at the United Nations.

Neighbors apparently got used to this. They give very quizzical looks when they realize that I live there. And after a moment or two of thought, they usually come up with a profound observation along the lines of, “You aren’t an intern, are you?”

So far I have let people off the hook gently. I quote Nancy Reagan and then explain that I am not an intern and that we have reconfigured the ministry and its staffing pattern.

This happened again today and it makes me think that the time has come to make a change. After significantly less careful pondering that it deserves, I have come up with an alternative response.

“You aren’t an intern, are you?”

“Why yes. Yes I am. And think how old that must make you.”

I’ll let you know what happens if I try it.

See you along the Trail.

Leave a comment

Filed under New York, Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations

Tagged as ,

April 21, 2011 · 1:31 am

Get home safe

It happens almost every night.

I shut off the computer,
turn out the light,
and leave the office.

I walk down the hall to the elevator
and push the call button.

When the cab arrives, I push “1” and head downstairs.

Hector is there to see me out.

Sometimes we talk about weather or family.
Often we talk sports.
[Conversations got interesting when
my Steelers beat his Jets.]

Then I head for the door,
and I hear Hector’s final words:
always the same
always in the same, kind voice:

“Good night, Marko.
Get home safe.”

Get home safe.

We live in a world where so many have not a home
a tent in a refugee camp
a blanket in the back of a car
a cot in a shelter
a mattress in a brothel
a root of a tree
a spot on a subway grate;

a world where unsafe situations fill so many homes:
domestic violence
sex trafficking
war
exploitation
persecution
occupation

a world where the journey home
is unsafe
perils, dangers
known and unknown
lurk and strike
with regularity and ferocity.

In such a world, Hector’s words come as
a blessing
a benediction
a prayer that the day may soon dawn . . .
and a challenge that we work for that day . . .
when
every one has a home
every home is safe
and we all travel there safely.

Get home safe.

May it be so.

See you along the Trali.

1 Comment

Filed under Friends, New York

Tagged as , , ,

October 25, 2010 · 11:57 pm

The Name

I am sure that everyone has been anxiously awaiting this news.

Following some valuable and valued input; following the testing and weighing of several possibilities; following deep thought and careful reflection, I have decided for a name for my new abode.

At times this seemed a difficult decision. One that might not ever be made.

But then, suddenly, things crystallized. It became clear that for all the good options, for all the creative possibilities, there is only one choice. As clarity snapped into focus, peace descended.

And now it can be revealed. The name, the only possible name for the new abode is:

The Shire

There is a practical reason that this is the only name. I have realized that it is the name I am going to call where I live. Whatever other name I might try to apply to the place, I will call it the Shire. I have already found myself doing that. Why fight it? It is what is.

But there is another deeper reason – as I have worked through the naming process and reached this conclusion, I have realized that the Shire may be a place, but it is also a way of being – an attitude – an understanding – an ethos – a vision and practice of living. In affirmation of that reality, I proclaim my new place:

The Shire

While there remain two primary abodes for the Shire (Louisville and Manhattan), I will try to distinguish between them in writings to help people know where I am. Of course my practical side immediately tells me that I will not succeed at that. So be it. That is part of the reality of being a resident of:

The Shire.

In usage, there will be the Shire West (Louisville) and the Shire on the Hudson (Manhattan).

See you  along the Trail.

1 Comment

Filed under Family, Friends, New York

Tagged as , , , , ,