June 10, 2011 · 11:56 pm

The next wave

Without warning,
memories bubble to the surface,
absent faces loom before me,
grief crashes remorselessly into my heart,
rips at my spirit,
reopens unhealed wounds,
provides painful reminders:
words regretted as they passed my lips,
unsaid words forever rued,
deeds neglected,
love denied.
Shortcomings, missteps,
failures, and betrayals
wash through my memory,
flood my mind.
Tears flow freely
as I slowly,
painfully
rebuild my defenses
until the next wave,
until the next wave.

10 June 2011
Shire on the Hudson

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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!

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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.

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June 8, 2011 · 2:40 am

Bouncing

“The ball is really bouncing around out there.”

That seems a rather obvious observation to make about a basketball game.

If it was bowling or billiards, bouncing balls might seem worth a comment. Balls should not bounce in billiards or in bowling.

But basketball? Seems like bouncing is pretty much in order.

Or maybe that’s just me.

See you along the Trail.

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June 7, 2011 · 3:24 pm

Children laughed and smiled

In a place,
a place like too many others,
where poverty stalks the streets,
grinding the people in its deadly embrace,
children laughed and smiled at me today.
1997
Guguletu Township
Cape Town, South Africa

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June 6, 2011 · 6:12 pm

Jump


“Jump,” he said.

His khakis neatly pressed,
the white man held the copper coin
just above the outstretched fingers
of the small black child
whose ragged jeans flapped in the breeze
as he vainly sought
to reach the treasure.
“Jump.”
“Jump,” they say.
Suffocating in affluence,
they hold up meager morsels –
paltry offerings, contingent upon their whims –
to sisters and brothers in need,
forcing them into games they do not understand
to obtain the pittance
which may allow them to survive.
“Jump.”
“Jump,” we say.
The rich, the powerful, the strong:
unwilling to challenge the status quo
seeking not justice
which recognizes relatedness
and brings enlivening co-equality
but offering only the charity
which demeans, denies, degrades.
“Jump”

8 September – 10 September, 2001

 Pinetown, South Africa and Louisville


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June 6, 2011 · 3:00 pm

Questions

When simple kindness
and common decency
become worthy of praise,
it is good to ask:
How deeply
do wounds cut?
How sharply
are lines drawn?
How tightly
are doors closed?
How scarred
are human souls
How broken
are human hearts?
How violated
are human spirits?
How strong
are hatred and fear?

7 September – 10 September, 2001

 Pinetown/Durban, South Africa; Louisville


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June 6, 2011 · 2:50 am

Somewhere west of Albuquerque

Somewhere west of Albuquerque,
one star hangs defiantly
above the far horizon;
the sky turns
forty shades of blue.
A coyote mournfully howls
as I surrender to night’s embrace
and gentle dreams of you.

Summer 2001
West of Albuquerque

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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!

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June 5, 2011 · 3:25 am

That words do not come too late

Spent the day writing a sermon. Tomorrow I preach at St. James Presbyterian Church. I am looking forward to that.

The day also brought a cleaning surge here at the Shire on the Hudson. Things had been getting pretty grungy. Now they are just kind of grungy. One step at a time. The laundry did get done. That’s always a good thing.

A number of movies have been viewed over the past few days. Some oldies that I have seen before – Batman: The Dark Knight (Heath Ledger is amazing – and then there are Christian Bale and Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine and Gary Oldman and the list goes on); The Bourne Identity, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

The most interesting new one was Get Low with Robert Duvall. He turns in a strong performance and the cast supports him well.

The story, supposedly based on truth, is fascinating. Duvall’s character, Felix Bush lives as a hermit. And he decides he wants to hold his funeral – before he dies – while he is able to attend.

I found myself recalling one of my favorite scenes from Waking Ned Devine. Jackie O’Shea is speaking at the funeral for Ned Devine – and when the lottery man arrives, Jackie quickly changes the focus because the town has told him that Ned is still alive. Michael O’Sullivan is masquerading as Ned so they can cash in Ned’s winning lottery ticket.

Jackie pauses for a moment and then says, “Michael O’Sullivan was my great friend. But I don’t ever remember telling him that. The words that are spoken at a funeral are spoken too late for the man who is dead. What a wonderful thing it would be to visit your own funeral.”

In Get Low, Felix Bush decides he wants to do just that (as he did in real life, apparently). Of course there are some twists and turns to get there. But get there they do. And the truth is told – painful, heartbreaking, hard truth – truth from the past – truth that has shaped, distorted, truncated Felix’s life and the lives of many others. And it seems that forgiveness and some measure of reconciliation occurs.

Felix’s tale in Get Low took my thinking in two directions. 

Direction One.
I don’t want to attend my own memorial service. At least that’s what I think at the moment. I also don’t want that memorial service to happen any time soon. And I realize that memorial services are for the living not for the one who has died. But I do have an idea what I would like to see happen at that service – years and years from now.

That idea comes from Waking Ned Devine. The memorial service should be a time of celebration and giving thanks. And after the service, all of my family and all of my friends should gather for a party – a mighty party – a party with music and food and drink – a party with stories told and memories shared – a party filled with tears and laughter – a party that lasts through the night. Then, in the morning, the still quiet darkness of the morning, all who are able should fill their glass and make their way to the highest point that is nearby and their they should toast me as the sun rises.

Direction Two.
I need to be sure that my family and friends know what they mean to me. I need to make sure that my words do not come too late. May it be so.

See you along the Trail.

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