Sorry folks, I worked on my Sabbatical

This morning, as every other - apart from Sunday when I went to church uptown - I was at St Bart's, Fourth Avenue for Morning Prayer. Only thing was the service leader failed to show up so I stepped into the breech. The two (sic)congregation members appear pleased and it did seem important that we prayed on this the most important of days.

Joy, hope, laughter, tears and an elementary mistake - the inauguration of Barack Obama

I witnessed this historic event in or, strictly, outside Trinity Church, Wall Street with a large crowd of Americans who, along with the majority of the US, seem thankful to have said "good bye" to Bush & Cheney and excited the prospect of what the 44th President can bring. The occasion was distinctly American and the better for that. Thoughtful,enthusiastic, upbeat, slightly cheesy, but with a very positive thrust.

Rick Warren, not much liked by many outside the evangelical church
here because of his views on abortion and same sex marriage offered, I thought, a very well crafted and inclusive invocation prayer with thoroughly Christian content (incidentally, he spoke yesterday at
Ebenezer Baptist, Martin Luther King Jnrs old church on MLK Day, an invitation given before the inauguration and one he said was & personally more important) Aretha Franklin sang "My country tis of thee to a tune "America" which soounds very like the British national anthem. I for one had a lump in my throat. Then came John William's piece. A groan in the crowd, "Let's hope it's not long!" I thought it lent dignity and breadth personally.

The inauguration proper was marked by a moment of humour and the elementary mistake I mentioned as the Chief Justice offered Obama far too long a sentence to repeat. Has this guy never taken an oath before or is he hung up on split infinitives? It would have been obvious to anyone who has ever conducted a wedding. Nevertheless, seasoned pro that he obviously is, Obama laughed it off.

Then the speech. Rhetorically brilliant, possibly promising too much as politicians always do, but honest, constructive and conciliatory. A good start. Then a cleverly thought out poem and an equally considered prayer - who is Rev Joseph Lowery? - and we were done.

Large amounts of applause, several people sobbing and a collective rendition of the Battle Hymn of the Republic accompanyed by Trinity's magnificent organ recently restored following 9/11. This followed by a peal of bells outside and 'Here we go' within as the crowds began to disperse.

Now the real work begins.

Why do liberals pray and care for the poor better than us? Part I

Of course this is a generalisation - there are honourable exceptions - but not one can dispute the overall truth of the assertion.

Liberals pray more because more, I believe, because they are committed to a structure of daily prayer and weekly Communion. Even on a public holiday - MLK Day - there was a service of morning prayer at St Barts where I am attending at 8am (led by a Reader by the way)

The consequences of my observation are twofold: first, evangelicals
should be slower to judge the faith and motives of more liberal
Christians. True lots of people pray, including those of other faiths, but this is specifically Christian prayer accompanied by bible reading (though interestingly no confession as such in the order we used) Second, we should be willing to learn from more liberal Christians. Here is the spiritual pattern and discipline we frequently lack. Even when we do pray publicly our prayers can often lack the depth and resonance of more traditional forms e.g. the intercessions at Redeemer last night, whilst thoughtful, had less power and substance than most of those I hear back home. Happy to report that there are signs that
this is happening, not least in the Emerging church, even if we have a way to go.

I was once told by a clergyman that he was refused permission by his College principal to be absent from chapel to attend the birth of his first child. Sounds crazy on our terms of reference and I'm not saying it was right, but is there not a danger that the pendulum has swung too far the other way? We fit prayer around our timetables whereas our timetables should be fitted around prayer

And still they came....

Was scheduled to help pack foodstuffs for low income families tonight with folks from Redeemer Church where I'm visiting this Sunday. The distribution point was the NY Rescue mission.

Then this afternoon got a reply by email to an enquiry of some days ago asking if I could also help out in the Mission diner serving meals. I had to hotfoot it downtown - my first subway journey - and get stuck in. Cleaning walls, moving supplies, setting up tables, preparing cups containing napkin, fork and spoon etc Naturally I had to wear a hat and apron.

And then they came... In the end 170, plus the inmates (their term). Men, women, even a five year old child. Old and young; black, white and asiatic; hungry and not so hungry. Each clutching their plate with it's turkey, veg and mash. Wondering why tonight there was no cornbread. Virtually all unfailingly polite and well ordered and yet each carrying the haunted expession of those who knew themselves to be at the bottom of the barrel. Profoundly moving.

Before we served out we prayed as a team that the food would be a sacrament of God's love. May it have been so for each one of them.

I'm back there Tuesday

Afterthought: my OT bible reading this morning included these words

...let right be done in the public place... (Amos 5.15 BBE). As Christians we can't hide from our responsibilities to others. How easy it is to do so even, or perhaps especially, in the name of religion

It's a retreat stupid!

I wasn't really sure why I'd chosen to go to New York. I needed to go somewhere different, Central Asia didn't work out and so why not. This morning everything became clear. What happens in a retreat? You get lots of time on your
own to think about things, read and pray. You leave behind day to day stuff in order to try and gain a wider perspective. You engage in regular worship. I've done all that and more today Even my small but comfy room has a retreat feel to it

OK this retreat begins in a diner and ends at Starbucks, but hey I'm not going to let that detract from it.

Very cold but very cool

Last night did the open top bus tour. Fortunately they ran one with a perspex top as temperatures were approx minus 10 without windchill. It's still minus 10 this morning by the way! Warmer than the Hudson River though - a miracle those people got out of that plane

I suppose in many ways NYC is like London - huge commercial and retail activity spread across lots of districts. However the street pattern makes it a whole lot easier to grasp as well as to move around. On that note there's not, from what I've seen, the same congestion as London and the drivers are far less aggressive which surprises me. Generally the people seem friendlier too

Just off now for morning prayer followed by breakfast.

I've been here before

Strange to say it, but I have in a thousand films and TV shows. It
looks so very familiar and yet - even on a very superficial
acquaintance as I'm still on the bus - there are very definite
cultural differences.

The only sign of religion so far - apart from looking down on a few
churches from the air on descent which had shades of Legoland due to
the gridiron street layout - was driving by a huge container lot where
three stacked units spelt 'God Bless America'

Will post again soon