exegesisfest09

ephesians 4:17-32 in my own 100 words or less:

The walk of faith sets us apart. No longer follow the crowd in the darkness of ignorance, alienation and arrogance. You learned of Christ, heard the good news and were taught to begin again, a fresh start, taking off the old and putting on the new. This new person was created by God—holy and in right relationship. Be true to this person—a sealed, baptized, believer in Christ—by giving truth, hard work, encouragement, love, grace and forgiveness, as God gave you, to each other for the growth and the good of the body of Christ.

ode to the public

a ninety year old african-american woman died, having seen president obama take the oath of office, but before his speech finished.

this i know from overhearing two folks (presumably family members) planning her funeral at a bar this afternoon.

this is why i love the public. if i had been studying at home, i would never have heard this story. i never would have gotten a deeper glimpse into the significance of the inaugaration.

most often when i see God, i am on the bus, on the BART, in a bar, in a park, in a coffeeshop, on the street.

i want to spend less time in my apartment and more OUT!

rev. dr. MLK mash-up

yesterday at MBCC, nick explored the word justice in his sermon, and i was charged with doing a communion liturgy (minus the magic must be ordained to say words) that integrated a remembrance to dr. king as well. and so, i can't claim original writing on much (if any) of this, but i mashed up john 13, online resources from dr. king, and a prayer from the book of common worship. let me know if you want the break of of what is what.

* * *

When we come to this table, we don’t always tell the whole story of the last supper. Often, we remember what Jesus did for us, but not what Jesus did for others.

In account of the last supper in the gospel of John, before they broke bread, Jesus wrapped a towel around his waist, poured water into a basin, and knelt at the feet of his disciples. Despite their protests, he washed each of their feet and said:

Do you understand what I have done for you? You call me teacher and Lord, but and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you should also wash one another’s feet. I have set an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. understood what Jesus did for us. He followed the pattern, and by doing so, gave us new ways to follow the pattern as well.

Listen audio from the King center here.

Let else develop the dangerous unselfishness that Dr. King encouraged and let it be fed by the Spirit of God present at this table.

Words of Institution/Breaking Bread etc. Bruce style

Serve communion

Prayer after communion:

God of grace,
you renew us at your table with the bread of life.
May this food strengthen us in love
and help us to serve you in each other.

Give us the strength to respond to this charge that Dr. King gave to us, the night before he died:

Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation.

We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.

Amen.

behold a new thing

the 2009 earl lectures at approaching fast and the theme... behold a new things: emerging expressions of faithfulness... is frustrating me. i am pondering space design ideas for the lectures and for worship, and find my self frustrated because in fact, nothing seems like a new thing.

and the passage for the closing worship (the valley of the dry bones from ez. 37) is one i love... for its literal imagery. which seems to be getting me no where.

so yesterday, after a brainstorming meeting at PSR, i played with paint along this theme. it felt so good to get back into it. it has been months. i didn't realized how starved i felt until i was covered in paint.

here's what i've got. let me know what you think, or if you have ponderings.

presence matters

next to this image were the words "golden state warrior".

helicopters buzz over head. storefronts and apartment buildings are boarded up--even though they are in use. the day care center down the street that is usually buzzing at 4 pm stood silent this afternoon with a sign: either pick up your child no later than 3 pm or do not bring them today.

the sign worked. the art worked.

last night, johannes mehserle was arrested and charged with homicide--unusual when a police officer commits a violent crime.

another protest was planned for 4 pm today, with plenty of police presence and civil control planned as well. i had to be in san francisco this afternoon, during that time... but walked to 14th and broadway to take the BART at the very time it was scheduled to start. didn't see much. did pass the artwork above and a cnn truck. lots of posters with oscar grant's face, demanding justice and promoting the protest. no foot traffic that seemed different than a normal afternoon. not even a cop presence, despite warnings that 14th street would be shut down all day long.

on my way home, i could not get off at two of my three BART stations because they were shut down. the station i did use was again quiet, with the exception of the news helicopters above. the macdonald's that a week ago was under assult via trash cans was dark, with its customary drive through line all the way to the street.

still, at last count, about there were fifteen broken windows and thrity damaged cars this evening.

all of the details make a community. these small things create the atmosphere in which i live. andi have been pondering, how do the presence of these details impact what happens?

what if, instead of boarding up windows, we asked customers to come hang out in the store for the duration of the evening?... make a party of it. what if instead of shutting down streets, we invited neighbors to look after each others cars? what if instead of telling parents to stay away, we asked for more presence from friends, neighbors and parents to ensure that our children always have safe place to received love and care while their parents work?

presence matters. we jump for the negative presence when we are afraid and forget what a positive presence can do. how powerful would it be for the city to warmly and lovingly stand by its neighbors to protect our community? it would be a much better memorial to oscar grant than boarded up windows, damaged cars, and inaccessible transit. he deserves better.

do something

after my ridiculously long post, i decided to do something, and so emailed the mayor, the BART board of directors, and the BART police chief. PLEASE join me and do the same. ask for justice. I got all the info to do that here, from Colorlines.

even if you do not live in the bay area, it matters that you can about this, that you are paying attention to this. if you are from cincinnati, urge them to learn from our mistakes.

in memory of oscar grant III

on january 1 of this year, perhaps even the first homicide of the year for oakland, a young man died with his face against the concrete on the platform of the fruitvale BART station.

from a gunshot wound.

from a cop's gun.

in his back.

i mourn the death of oscar grant the third. i grieve that his four year old daughter will grow into an adult without a father. i weep that his family is missing a son, his friends are missing a buddy, his church is missing a piece of their community, the world is missing him.

the same city and saw erupt on nov. 4 over the election of our fist african american president, i see erupt over the murder of a young african american man.

but what strikes me most is the familiarity of what is going on around me. in 2001, my senior year of high school, timothy thomas died from a gunshot wound to his back, from the gun of a cop named steven roach, on the streets of cincinnati. he was wanted for traffic violations. roach is still a cop, though no longer with cincinnati police... out in the burbs.

for cincinnati, as for oakland, it did not stop there, as it shouldn't.

thomas was the fifteenth in a string of deaths (not all shootings) of black men at the hands of police in about five years. what followed his death, and the subsequent inaction by the city, is alternately called protests, unrest, or riots, depending on your perspective. it made national and international news as race riots. there was marching. there were cops in riot gear, using tear gas, shooting crowds with bean bags. the city was put under curfew. information was incomplete even from close by. who knew if the news was telling the real story. as a high school student, i was unable to go to the neighborhood center where i usually tutored, as it was in the heart of the impacted neighborhood. i was frustrated that my parents and teachers would not let us continue to do what we do. i was fearful for the people i knew and loved in that neighborhood, but i sat comfortably far away. i was afraid of the cops. i had once walked through the riot cops downtown as they waited for protests against the WTO. not a protestor, downtown with my mother, we felt harrassed by one of the cops in his full gear.

but, the effects of the death of thomas, the pattern of abuse of power by the cincinnati police, and the community's response went far beyond that week in april. a significant rift, serious distrust, deepened between the police and the community. businesses in the impacted neighborhood took years to recover. and the deaths stopped. i do not know of a death at the hands of cincinnati police since (i could be wrong, i did move away). a liaison commission was set up between police and community, and this summer, when the NAACP met in Cincinnati for their national convention, they applauded the growth of the cincinnati police department. cincinnati is moving, growing and changing.

when i heard about the death of grant, i couldn't help but remember timothy thomas. when i heard that a peaceful protest shut down the fruitvale bart station, i was relieved that oakland seemed to be handling the rage better than cincinnati did. i thought this would be different. i thought that this powerful and organized community would be able to generate change and justice.

memory is often poor. in my emotional reaction, i forgot that the "riots" in cincinnati started this same way. looking out my window at a line of cops in riot gear moving down my street (where i didn't see any protesters), i remembered in my bones, the fear that i felt at eighteen. only this time, the cops were coming down my street.

theoretically, the cops were there to make me feel safe. to protect the people in the neighborhood from the mob in the streets. but what about when those in the neighborhood those the cops are protecting, are outraged too? also want justice? knowing what i saw in cincinnati, remembering the first time i came face to face with riot cops, i am much more fearful of the cops than i am of the protesters, than i am of the community.

the cops "have control" according to the news. the protesters are dispersing. they left my street because the mayor himself showed up on the street corner, not a hundred yards from my window, to talk tot he protesters, to walk with them, to try to negotiate in person. i never heard of anything of the sort coming out of city hall in cincinnati in 2001.

there is an investigation or two of three going on into grant's death. but, it has been a week and BART, the employer of the cop who pulled the trigger, "has not had a chance" to get a statement from him. and now he has resigned, and they have no way to talk to him.

on behalf of the family, a $25 million dollar wrongful death suit has been filed against BART.

through all of this, i have been pondering what justice is in this case. oscar grant III can not be brought back. his daughter will never again have a father. theories have been tossed about that the officer may have thought he pulled his tazer, and so the shooting was an accident. would that explanation bring any relief if it were true? would it be better for the officer to admit fear, aggression, or another motive for the shooting? will justice only be done if the officer is behind bars, if the family gets a $25 million payment? i do not know what can fix it... and i am a mere observer from afar. i cannot imagine what would "fix it", make it right, give to each their equal due, for those close to grant.

i do know that each and every one in this community should not stand for the death of anyone at the hands of cops, especially those most vulnerable, most likely to be murdered by those in power--young black men. no one in this country should stand for it. we should all be outraged. we should all demand justice.

My cloud

Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Hebrews 12:1

I am not a big fan of the artwork of jim dine but went in high school to a large retrospective at the cincinnati art museum anyway. Always in these situations I am surprised, because there i encountered a painting that has lived in my heart for the better part of a decade. It embodied this text from Hebrews. Though I cannot recall the title of the work, I can picture it clearly and recall the exact emotions of standing before it. It was almost exclduvely black paint and from far away recalled a swarm of bees or a giant flock of birds. Close up, the viewer sees that those birds of bees were names... Jim Dine's cloud of witnesses.

Being in the nati and Indy reminded me of the many many overlaping clouds that support me from that part of the world. returning to cali reminded me of the clouds that have formed here, much to my delight. without amy of these clouds, I would big be whom I am. Without all of them, I would be nothing.

So to all of you who are in those clouds in big and small ways, thanks for bringing me this far and I know that you will carry me farther, making the rest of the race possible

blog drought

post my attempt at blogging daily (i went 18/24), i was feeling written out. trying to write daily was harder for me than i thought. making time for God daily was harder than i thought (and i thought it was hard), but trying to helped me to figure out how to integrate that time into my day. praying during the commute, looking for the voice of God around me, finding joy in worship, etc.

yet it has been over a week since i have posted. i am re-adjusting to being at home in california, preparing for greek intensive for the next three weeks, and making a good attempt at not working much over those same three weeks. and so the blog slid to the background. as i try to get back into the swing, bear with me. for the time being, i present my recent adventures in liturgical art. first advent...
and my current in process project. communion table dressing for a series on the word of God inspired, lived and proclaimed...