you can do this hard thing...

The wise Parker Palmer recently posted "The Soul of a Patriot" over at Krista Tippett's excellent sight: On Being (http://www. onbeing.org/blog/parker-palmer-the-soul-of-a-patriot/9146) The essay cuts to the chase with these words:

On January 20, 2017, the country I love will inaugurate a man who embodies many of our culture’s most soulless traits: adolescent impulsiveness, an unbridled drive for wealth and power, a taste for violence, nonstop narcissism, and massive arrogance. A man who has maligned women, Mexicans, Muslims, African Americans, immigrants, members of the LGBTQ community, people with disabilities, and Mother Earth — a man who’d sooner deny the obvious than apologize for the outrageous — will become President of the United States.

How do I stay engaged and whole on the shadow side of democracy? I’ve been putting that question to my soul, and the response has been unnerving. It seems I’m being called to become a “patriot,” a word I scrapped years ago when it was co-opted by the “God, Guns, Guts, and Glory” gang. But a passage about patriotism by pastor/activist William Sloane Coffin — who spoke in the voice of the soul — has me looking for ways to reclaim that word for myself: There are three kinds of patriots, two bad, one good. The bad ones are the uncritical lovers and the loveless critics. Good patriots carry on a lover's quarrel with their country, a reflection of God’s lover’s quarrel with the world.

That gets it as right as can be gotten for me:  in an hour a vulgar, pseudo-populist authoritarian huckster will be sworn into the office of President of the United States. Mr. Trump's claim to credibility is his business acumen - what America needs is a savvy business man he tells us - although his track record is dubious and his business ethics appalling. What he's really selling, of course, is nostalgia and fear under the barely disguised mantle of white supremacy. He has seduced American evangelical Christians into making a bargain with the Devil (see Mt. 4:8-11) and crudely lied to the world about his business finances, conflicts of interests and all too cozy

relationship with Russia. And to add insult to injury has nominated a slate of cabinet officers as his policy enforcers who are fundamentally unqualified and woefully ignorant of the tasks they have been assigned to implement. Betsey De Vos for Education? Ben Carson for HEW? Rick Perry for Energy? (To be fair, a few others are wise and potentially credible, even if I disagree with their political perspective.)  Ironically, this inauguration is as if Mr. Trump decided to parody Gil Scott-Heron's biting proto-hip hop masterpiece, "B Movie" without understanding that Mr. Heron was pimping Ronald Reagan as a cheap imitation of John Wayne. 

To engage our new reality instead of denying or degrading it, Palmer offers four ways to live as a patriot as we enter the Age of Trump. His insights are worth reviewing.

First, it must be a quarrel about what is and isn’t true. The president-elect’s enablers have proclaimed truth passé. To cite three of them:

“There's no such thing…anymore as facts.”
—Scottie Nell Hughes

“You [journalists take] everything…so literally. The American people…[understand] that sometimes [like at a bar] you’re going to say things [with no] facts to back it up.”
—Corey Lewandowski

“You [reporters] always want to go by what’s come out of his mouth…”
—Kellyanne Conway

We who hold the quaint belief that it’s often possible to tell whether what comes out of

a mouth is true or false need to assert the facts every chance we get. Last week, for example, the man who says that only he can save our economy claimed that there are “96 million… wanting a job [who] can’t get [one].” False. There are “roughly 96 million people not in the labor force, but that includes retirees, students and others who don’t want jobs. Only 5.5 million of them want work.” The unemployment rate, which neared ten percent every month of 2010, was five percent or less every month of 2016.

Facts are so tedious, aren’t they? And they won’t change the minds of true believers. But we need to preserve them for the same reason Medieval monasteries preserved books: the torches have come to town. Let’s try to remember that science and the Enlightenment gave us ways to test the truth-claims of potentates and prelates, laying the foundations for our little experiment in democracy. Until someone blows up the lab, we must proclaim the facts, then tuck them into a fireproof vault until we need them again.

Propaganda and intimidation depends on our ignorance, laziness and fear so let us not throw in the intellectual and ethical towel just because we feel defeated. As Winston Churchill used to say:  In defeat - defiance!  Let it be so among those who cherish compassion and truth.

Second, we must engage in civil discourse across political divides, without compromising our convictions. That’s been a daunting task to date, it’s going to get even harder for a while, and we’re not very good at it. But this much is clear: for dialogue to succeed, participants must have something in common.  I believe we have all kinds of shared interests. We breathe the same air, use the same roads and bridges, depend on the same institutions, and must find ways to live in harmony for the sake of our children and grandchildren. But appeals to the obvious have yet to bring us together. So my hope lies in a shared condition that isn’t yet with us, but soon will be, I believe.When he fails to deliver, people who were political enemies in 2016 will find common ground, and a Coalition of the Disillusioned will become possible. I’m disillusioned by the shell game that took this man to the White House. People who supported him because he promised to bring back lost jobs, revive the middle class, restore law and order, and kill ISIS will become disillusioned soon enough. That prediction brings me no joy, but it seems highly likely.

Less than two weeks ago, over 2000 Berkshire citizens came out in sub-freezing weather for the Four Freedoms March and Rally. As they filled our Sanctuary and streets, it became clear that these good souls were hungry for solidarity. They wanted to know they were not alone in holding out for compassion and hope. They ached to community. And as countless participants said at the closing, "I just needed to be here. Knowing that there are so many others who live and feel the way I do is healing enough for this day."  Bonhoeffer, whom I am currently studying again, used to teach that in every society there were a majority of people who may not be a part of a faith community, but who aspired to the values of Christ. They consciously chose to live for life rather than death, hope instead of despair, compassion in the face of oppression and violence. This is the hour when our work must reach out to this community:  they are waiting and will respond but need encouragement. 

Third, this lover’s quarrel needs to surface what’s not being said. This is a form of

fierce-love truth-telling as critical to the health of our civic relationships as it is in our intimate relationships. Amid all the talk about the “why” of the election results, we’ve not talked enough about the fact that, by mid-century, over half of U.S. citizens will be people of color. After 250 years, we’re at the beginning of the end of white dominance in this country. It’s no coincidence that white votes were key to the election, nor that white nationalists and supremacists rallied so enthusiastically to the winner’s banner, with precious little push-back from him. We’re either in the death throes of a culture of white supremacy, or resuming our unfinished American Civil War. Either way, we who care about the fate of this land and all who live in it need to invoke the soul’s help in trying to steer these death-dealing energies toward life-giving outcomes.

Finally, if it’s going to be a lover’s quarrel, we need to keep the love alive.Paradoxically, this means remembering that this country we love has forever fallen short of its own values and visions. I can truly love another person only if I don’t romanticize him or her. The same is true of loving my country.The next time you hear the fanciful notion that we must make America great again, think slavery, the Civil War, Jim Crow, the New Jim Crow, the Great Depression, Vietnam, Joe McCarthy, Iraq, homelessness and hunger, the greed-driven financial meltdown of 2008, and much, much more. Then note how we double down on our illusions by claiming that we are “a shining city upon a hill.”

There is new and exciting work to be done in this age of despair. It is soul work. It is the work of cultural healing - and truth telling in tenderness - for this is the age of reclaiming integrity from the inside out and sharing it with courage and trust and humility. Like many of my sisters and brothers, I won't be watching the inauguration today. I will be listening to Carrie Newcomer and other doctors of the soul who invite me into the "beloved community."  We can do this hard thing...

... both alike forgiving.

One of the gifts I have discovered of late is Bonhoeffer's fierce commitment to the dialectical reality of Christian faith. Some might speak of faith paradoxically, too but this might blur the important tension in the dialectic. A poem from Letters and Papers from Prison, DB gives expression to the both/and of this challenge when he wrote this in July 1944.

Men go to God when they are sore bestead, Pray to him for succour, for his peace, for bread, For mercy for them sick, sinning, or dead; All men do so, Christian and unbelieving.

Men go to God when he sore bestead, Find him poor and scorned, without shelter or bread, Whelmed under weight of the wicked, the weak, the dead; Christians stand by God in his hour of grieving.

God goes to every man when sore bestead,
Feeds body and spirit with his bread;
For Christians, heathens alike he hangeth dead,
And both alike forgiving.

In Letters and Papers it is called "Christians and Unbelievers." In a 1990 reworking from A Testament to Freedom: The Essential Writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (eds GB Kelly and FB Nelson (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1990), p. 549, the poem becomes "Christians and Pagans."

People turn to God when they’re in need,

plead for help, contentment, and for bread,
for rescue from their sickness, guilt, and death.
They all do so, both Christian and pagan.

People turn to God in God’s own need,
and find God poor, degraded, without roof or bread,
see God devoured by sin, weakness, and death.
Christians stand with God to share God’s pain.

God turns to all people in their need,
nourishes body and soul with God’s own bread,
takes up the cross for Christians and pagans, both,
and in forgiving both, is slain.

In spite of the exclusive language, I favor the first rendering even as I appreciate the intent of the second. What is clear in both, however, is the dialectical nature of grace: God shares grace with all whether we grasp, understand or commit to responding in gratitude. Others have said that verse one describes the human condition, verse two sheds light on the calling of the committed, and verse three points to the radical nature of God's love. "For Christians, heathens alike he hangeth dead and both alike forgiving." describes the essence and activity of the one who is Holy..

In another section of Letters and Papers, Bonhoeffer confesses that all we can know about God has been articulated in the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus as Christ. What I find compelling in this, even in its challenge, is the unsentimental weaving together of Christ's humanity and divinity. It is not one or the other, but always both at the same time. This keeps me away from making pious statements about Christ that are not born out in his flesh. When I ask myself, "How have I learned about humility?" for example, I know there is a strong correlation between experiencing humiliation and eventually discovering the humor of my state of being. Maybe irony, too. At any rate, I have fundamentally learned to be silent after failing, sinning, and falling on my face. Humiliation. From sorrow, pain and disappointment, too. My working hunch, therefore, is that what is true in my flesh, was equally true for Jesus. For the past week I have been making a list of what human experiences may have helped Jesus grow in humility through the humiliations he experienced as a child, a refugee, a fatherless boy with questionable paternity, a Jew living under Roman occupation and so much more. 

By doing this, I am discovering that my faith and trust grows - Christ's weakness does not diminish my faith, but strengthens it - as I have come to experience in the foolishness of the Cross and all its emptiness. There's more to say about this, but for now the wisdom of the dialectic is helping renew my faith in this strange journey called life.

credits

1) Deborah Bird Rose

2) The C.Pate Jr Art Blog

trading places - the united church gets it right - and I am grateful...

I have made it clear over the past 18 months that I see the Trump movement as akin (but not identical) to the rise in fascism in what became Nazi Germany in the 1930s. I am not flip nor facile with this analogy. There are significant differences in the 21st century versions of the current authoritarian populism that is rising to the surface in Western democracies and we should not blur the truth to bolster our emotions or advance our partisan politics.

At the very same time, however, let us not be blind or optimistic about this moment in time. Neither let us be pious or sentimental about the office of the President of the USA. Our German relatives chose to excuse, ignore and appease National Socialism in the Wiemar Republic only to act stunned at the deadly consequences.  One of the Christian spiritual disciplines that mature believers practice is "saying yes and saying no." Understanding that we must take a stand beyond propriety from time to time, we let the Cross clarify that our stand will not be driven by fear or self-aggrandizement. Bonhoeffer spoke of Jesus as "the Man for others" and that must always be our standard for evaluating our yes or our no.

My church, the United Church of Christ, released an on-line video today that speaks to this challenge. It is entitled, "Trading Places." It is not coincidental that it was released just two days before the Trump inauguration. It may be the best gift the national church has given to our nation in decades. Today I give thanks for this strong, tender but boldly clear-headed invitation to compassion and solidarity in these trying times. Please share with abandon.

returning thanks and thinking deeper about mlk...

Marking MLK Day is a sacred ritual in my life of faith. Too often, however, the Dr. King I hear about in public ceremonies and newspaper testimonials bears little resemblance to the man who was martyred. Equally troubling is how MLK's birthday has been transformed into yet another three-day weekend. Small wonder King's colleague, Vincent Harding, called him "an inconvenient hero." For most Americans we have frozen MLK in time, sanitized his history, stripped away all revolutionary temperament, and recast him as a humble Black preacher singing "Kum Ba Ya."  Such a caricature emasculates King's complex challenge and call to justice for too many among us who thrive on social amnesia.  Quoting poet Carl Wendell Hines, Dr. Harding cuts to the chase saying now that King is safely dead:

Let us praise him
build monuments to his glory
sing hosannas to his name.
Dead men make
such convenient heroes: They
cannot rise
to challenge the images
we would fashion from their lives.
And besides,
it is easier to build monuments
than to make a better world.

It is clear that America's quest to overcome our racist history and habits has entered a new phase. Neo-Nazi and and white supremacist allies of  Mr. Trump and his ilk have awakened a new struggle against white privilege in 2017. We would be remiss in our quest for a more perfect union if we ignored the wisdom Dr. King has to offer about race relations, equality and the pursuit of the American dream for all people. Nearly 50 years after his assassination, however, MLK's more radical agenda demands a hearing, too. You see, he was not gunned down in Memphis like an animal because of his dreams, but rather because of his deeds. 

After starting to dismantle American apartheid in the South, he moved North to take on the issue of housing and job discrimination. He called out the connection between our military-industrial-technological wars in developing nations and the fact that most of our cannon fodder came from communities of color.  And, he was organizing the Poor People's March on Washington to help us all dismantle the greed and fear that poisoned our whole nation not just the wounds of the most oppressed. "Whatever affects one directly," he told us, "affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality."  

Let us not sentimentalize this all too human hero nor put him on a shelf to be dusted off once a year and then ignored. Rather, let us choose to let MLK make us uncomfortable so that we that his dream becomes our deeds.

blessed are those who mourn...

And so it begins, the dismantling of our social safety net, just as they promised:  an all night Senate session started the process to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act. It will, of course, not all take place at once. Nor will last night's act immediately penalize those with contracts through 2017. But if the Trump regime acts in such a way as to keep the US Treasury from funding carriers, then insurance companies can and will bail from their commitments even in the middle of the year. TIME Magazine wrote that this could mean life or death for cancer patients in the middle of treatment. Senator Bernie Sanders said it will likely mean 36,000 unnecessary deaths every year. 

Next door, President Obama awarded VP Joe Biden the Presidential Medal of Freedom in a surprise farewell to his comrade in compassion. The dignity and love -the gravitas, humility and humor - of this ceremony stood in such stark contrast to the cowardice actions  of Congress - not to mention the recent press conference of the PEOTUS - that I felt impelled to share with you this poem by one of my favorite writers: Diana Butler Bass. These are grave times, unlike anything the US has experienced in our long history, for this is our era of American fascism. I read this poem and wept because it resonated with my heart - and the way of the Cross my Lord calls me to follow . In ten days white people of conscience and faith will begin to live into the truth of what people of color and social vulnerability have always known in the US::  we may deeply love our country and be hated and despised by its practices.: 

Inaugural Parade
Diana Butler Bass c. 2017

Stripped naked,
hungry, left in a ditch

to die

They paraded by
All of them,
Gold-plated glories
hailed by reluctant bands
and choirs of tear-stained angels
anointed.

We are great again

Dig deeper.
There - at the side of the road -
leave the losers there.

Untouchable
Unimportant
Unrighteous
Unworthy
Unhuman really

They marched forth flaunting their spoils:
No food
No doctor
No aid
No help
No equality
No rights
No peace
No justice
No truth
No Samaritans
No Jews
No Muslims
No Mexicans
No Women

No black, no brown to obscure the whitened perfection of the Unconquered Sun.

The crowd swelled the litany:

No NO
No NO NO
No NO NO NO
NO NO NO NO NO
We have NO king but Caesar!

Yet one: yes

lifting the wounded toward a different light
and whispering: this is the Way

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted credit: Ted De Grazia

four freedoms coalition takes aim at hatred and fear...

I would never have prayed for the arrival of Mr. Trump as the President-Elect of the United States - and genuinely fear for many of us when he takes office in ten days. Nevertheless, as I experience people of conscience and compassion responding to his threats with creative, compassionate and constructive vigor, I must confess that I am grateful to be living in these times. Let's be clear: these next two years (before mid-term elections offer a corrective) will be trying and ugly for many of us. This is especially true for people of color, women, the LGBTQ community, immigrants and refugees.  

Now is the season defined by inaugural hubris during which a host of mean-spirited and cruel actions are certain to take place. Some will involve legislation, others will come from individuals and groups who feel free to act out their fears and hatred. After eight years of well-funded Tea Party hate talk,race baiting and legislative obstructionism, we should expect nothing less for the United States is reaping what we have sown. And yet, o felix culpa (happy/joyous sin from the Easter Vigil liturgy), there is a growing resistance taking root throughout this land in a variety of religious congregations, arts councils, solidarity alliances and more that will surround our vulnerable neighbors with love and join them is securing safety, hope and dignity in the face of all threats. It is genuinely a unique moment in our history. This past weekend 2000+ Berkshire citizens marched and gathered in our Sanctuary on a frigid afternoon - 1% of Berkshire County - to dedicate ourselves to opposing the bigotry, fear and hatred that has been unleashed by the new administration.
In ways I never imaged some are reclaiming a commitment to nonviolent action and public resistance to evil. Others are learning to integrate community solidarity with alliances beyond ideological barriers. And still more are starting to plan strategically for nourishing a deep moral center that simultaneously takes politics and legislation seriously but is not limited to the confines of any political party. Check out our local story @https://theberkshireedge.
com/edgecast-four-freedoms-rally-in-pittsfield/

ain't gonna let nobody turn me around...

The darkness of winter feels especially profound to me tonight: we were able to extend the joy of Epiphany for two full days in our home first by celebrating with two thousand plus Berkshire friends and neighbors in the Four Freedoms March and Rally; and then by feasting and opening Christmas gifts with our Brooklyn family last night. The light was ecstatic - making the darkness even more pronounced.

Tomorrow I will likely return to my Bonhoeffer reflections. In less that two weeks the USA begins the official era of Trump-mania. Brother Dietrich once said: Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act. He also made this stunning observation: Jesus Christ lived in the midst of his enemies. At the end all his disciples deserted him. On the cross he was utterly alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers. For this cause he had come, to bring peace to the enemies of God. So the Christian, too, belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes. All too soon, we who choose resistance and love will know explicitly what this means for our generation.

For tonight, therefore, I choose to bask in the goodness of love, solidarity and the tenderness of this Epiphany weekend knowing that they will soon become public acts of resistance. At no time in my life have I felt the paradox of Christ's Cross so vividly. And like Bonhoeffer, I give thanks to God. Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence, arbitrariness, and pride of power, and with its plea for the weak. Christians are doing too little to make these points clear ... Christendom adjusts itself far too easily to the worship of power. Christians should give more offense, shock the world far more, than they are doing now.

Here are some pictures from the light of our Epiphany weekend...

it IS a new dawn...

I love me some Nina Simone - and this is one of my favorites. Tomorrow, for those in the Ecumenical Christian tradition , is the Feast of the Epiphany. It is not coincidental to me, therefore, that on Saturday, January 7, 2017 we are hosting the Four Freedoms March and Rally. Christians, Jews, Muslims, nones, atheists, Wiccans, labor, business, arts groups and everyone in-between are invited - and have responded - to the call to express our deepest values in public. It is not a coincidence either that the event starts at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church and concludes at Pittsfield's first faith community:  First Church of Christ on Park Square.

Compassion shared in public is called justice.  Prayer shared in public is called solidarity.  Join us if you can.

hymn to freedom...

Here is a note I shared with my congregation yesterday...

Blessings and Happy New Year First Church!
After a full and satisfying Advent and Christmas Eve/Day, I took some down time to for

reflection and refreshment. While I was away, I began what will be a lengthy review of the legacy and writing of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Some may know him as the German Lutheran pastor who first opposed the rise of fascism in his country in the 1930s and later became an active resistor against Hitler in the 1940s. He worked to help Jews escape the Holocaust and was eventually imprisoned and hanged for his commitment to Christian love. To say that I see parallels and relevance in Bonhoeffer's words and deeds in 2017 would be a gross understatement.

Consequently, I have been closely working with the Four Freedoms Rally since its inception

before Thanksgiving 2016. What started as a few people talking about strengthening our deepest values of respect, compassion and solidarity with those who are vulnerable, threatened or hurting has now grown into a huge coalition of Jews, Christians, Muslims, arts organizations, civic leaders and more. Two things are important for me to share with you about our participation in this event (which will take place this Saturday, January 7th in our Sanctuary.)

+ First, you may recall that last year at Christmas time I spoke out about the rising bigotry and the consequences of fear in America. I called for Christians to stand in solidarity against registering Muslims and demonizing immigrants. The Berkshire Eagle ran an extended article on this challenge - and we welcomed Muslim sisters and brothers, Jews and others, to last year's Christmas Eve late worship. The rally on Saturday, therefore, represents another step in our commitment to standing with and for the powerless. This commitment is greater than nationality, gender, partisan politics or economics. For me it is grounded in the fact that Jesus was a man for others and his life, death and resurrection must be my standard of faith, too.

+ Second, it is my deepest conviction that faithfulness to Christ is not simply about right belief (doctrine) but enfleshed love. The Word of God was revealed in Jesus. He made it flesh - and so must we. Bonhoeffer used to say: "The church must come out of stagnation. We must move out again into the open air of intellectual discussion with the world, and risk saying controversial things, if we are to get down to the serious problems of life." Our calling is to make visible the costly love Jesus gave to the world. For this is how faith is evaluated: living compassionately for others - especially the most vulnerable among us.

I hope to see some of you at the march and rally (it begins at St. Joe's Church at 12:30 and concludes with speakers at First Church starting at 1 pm.) Afterwards, various groups will have information tables set up in the Fellowship Hall to help you learn about ways to stand up against bigotry and prejudice. Already close to 700 people have indicated they will be present - so don't be late!

As a child born in the 1950s I remember when white privilege ruled the day: my grandparents freely used the "N" word about people of color without hesitation. De jure apartheid was the law of the land in the South and de facto segregation was real throughout the North. Given the witness for love and peace of Dr. King and others, a cultural shift took place that made it unacceptable to advocate for hatred and prejudice in public. To be sure, these onerous realities only went underground for a season and reappeared with the Tea Party after the election of President Obama - and now the current so-called "alt-right" organizations. 2017 has become another time to not only challenge this hatred, but to dismantle some of it with sacrificial love.

Later today I spoke with one of my musical colleagues who sensed that just before our rally at First Church begins, he should share a rendering of Oscar Peterson's "Hymn of Freedom." I had been thinking the very same thing last night. So to hear of his desire today gave me goose bumps of synchronicity in the presence of the Spirit. At midday Eucharist, a friend prayed for me as I prepare to move into part-time ministry and retirement. I was so moved I almost wept. My peeps are kind but this was particularly tender. Then, after breaking bread and sharing the cup of blessing, another person said, "Look at the communion plate... it is a dove!" Pretty wild, yes?  My closing meeting today was with a person who has recently moved to the area and wants to host a time of nonviolence training after this coming Saturday's rally. We both agreed that we need to start NOW cultivated a commitment to disciplined nonviolent resistance given our growing sense that the Trump regime will likely evoke violence and necessary civil disobe-dience.  AND... I heard back from my friends in Ottawa re: L'Arche whom I hope to visit in March or April!

four freedoms rally: saturday, january 7, 2017

Last Christmas, I preached - and then was published in our local paper - a message deploring the rising acceptance of hatred, fear, bigotry and violence.  At its core, my concern last year was this:

In the Christian tradition, we are encouraged to "Rejoice in the Lord always." This has too often become disembodied sentiment without regard for the pain of real life. In a recent editorial, The Eagle concluded that citizens must stand up to the demagoguery of Donald Trump. I would argue that this is a moral imperative for Christians who have often been used to fuel religious fear and violence rather than solidarity and justice.

Untold millions of our people are afraid of domestic and international acts of terror. But rather than nourishing peace and compassion, some spiritual leaders are supporting xenophobia and bigotry. Take Franklin Graham — Billy Graham's son — who last week tweeted that American Muslims represent a frightening evil that is tearing apart the security our nation. Consider Jerry Falwell, Jr. — current president of the largest Southern Baptist University in the US — who not only encouraged students at Liberty University to carry concealed weapons to class and dorms, but is on record as saying: "I've always thought, if more good people had concealed-carry permits then we could end those Muslims before they walked in killing ... Let's teach them a lesson if they ever show up here!"

And then there is Trump: current front-runner for the Republican nomination for president in 2016, a multi-millionaire, self-acknowledged Evangelical Presbyterian and master manipulator of the media who continues to insist that Muslims be banned from entering our nation. Trump has called for surveillance of US mosques, a prohibition of Syrian refugees and the registration into a national database of all who practice Islam as a religion. And now he is advocating banning immigration because of one's religion.

Small wonder that bastion of progressive journalism, the NY Daily News, ran a front page attack editorial stating: "When Trump came for the Mexicans I did not speak out because I was not Mexican — and when he came for the Muslims, I did not speak out because I was not a Muslim " Those words are, of course, a satirical restatement of Martin Niemoller's poem written after his incarceration by the Nazis. Pastor Niemoller began his ministry in support of Adolf Hitler. But as the Fuehrer became more aggressive — and broke his promises to the German Church — Niemoller abandoned ship and was arrested in 1937.http://www.berkshireeagle.com/stories/rev-dr-james-lumsden-stand-up-for-others-lest-they-come-for-us,294457

A short year later, the danger that we hoped would pass has come to pass in the election of Donald Trump to the Presidency of the United States. His most vulgar supporters have taken this to be their "get out of jail" card as acts of racial violence, bullying and bigotry have skyrocketed since the November election. His more refined allies have been drawn into his proposed Cabinet representing a reversal of civil rights for America's most vulnerable citizens. The legal safeguards against organized money will go largely unchecked in this administration. And who knows what will happen to both the Affordable Health Care Act and Social Security?

As a witness to solidarity in these dangerous times - and as a call to action against those who feel empowered to act out their fears and hatred - a broad, non-partisan coalition has been formed in our community:  The Four Freedoms Coalition. Embracing the 76th anniversary of FDR's call to freedom of speech and religion and freedom from want and fear, a march and rally will take place this Saturday, January 7, 2017.  The schedule is as follows:

12:30pm: Gather in front of St. Joseph's Church, 414 North Street, Pittsfield

1pm: March down North Street towards Park Square

1:30pm: Indoor rally at First Church of Christ on Park Square, 27 East Street 

2:15pm: Community open house featuring info tables from many four partners

Speakers for the rally include: U.S. Senator Edward Markey,Tahirah Amatul-Wadud, member, Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women, James Roosevelt, grandson of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Elizabeth "Liz" Recko-Morrison, 2015 Berkshire Labor Person of the Year, Dennis Powell, President, Berkshire County Branch of the NAACP, Eleanore Velez, BCC Multicultural Center Director  To date the following groups have signed on in endorsement:

Lead partners:

Berkshire County Branch of the NAACP

Berkshire Central Labor Council

Berkshire Brigades

Community organizations:

350Mass - Berkshires

Barrington Stage Company

Becket Democratic Committee

Berkshire Citizens for Peace & Justice

Berkshire Community College

Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT)

Berkshire Family YMCA

Berkshire Immigrant Center

Berkshire Museum

Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition

Berkshire Theatre Group

Cafe Palestina of the Southern Berkshires

Community Access to the Arts (CATA)

Congregation Ahavath Sholom

Elegant Stitches

Elizabeth Freeman Center

First Church of Christ on Park Square

First United Methodist Church of Pittsfield

Great Barrington Democratic Committee

IS183 Art School of the Berkshires

Jewish Federation of the Berkshires

Knesset Israel

Lift Ev'ry Voice

Living the Change Berkshires

MadJacks BBQ

Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center

Manos Unidas

Morningside Neighborhood Initiative

Multicultural BRIDGE

Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires

Out in the Berkshires

Pittsfield Democratic Committee

Progressive Democrats of America

Rites of Passage & Empowerment (R.O.P.E.)

Sheffield Democratic Committee

Sheffield Historical Society

Temple Anshe Amunim

Unitarian Universalist Meeting of South Berkshire - Social Justice Committee

United Africans of the Berkshires

United Educators of Pittsfield

WAM Theatre

West Stockbridge Democratic Committee

The White Rose Party

Williamstown Democratic Committee

Women of Color Giving Circle

Young Democrats of Massachusetts

Youth Alive

For more information, please see this article from the Berkshire Eagle (http://www.

berkshireeagle.com/stories/with-jan-7-rally-in-pittsfield-countywide-coalition-unifies-around-four-freedoms,493084 or visit the Four Freedom Face Book page @

https://www.facebook.com/fourfreedomscoalition/

a quick trip north for new year's...

Ever since I fell in love with Montreal I have wanted to see the city in winter.  Everyone told me it was rigid and oppressive - and I suspect that if it is -0 for months on end that is true - but this place can be frigid and bleak, too.  And, with the proper gear, the snow is magic (at first and then, of course, it becomes dirty and ugly everywhere.) So, we made a point to schedule a few days in-between Christmas and New Year's Day to be away.  We left in what amounted to a blizzard - Montreal got 8" or more by the time it was over - but the roads were not terrible for most of the trip. And after a quick nap upon arriving on Thursday, we spent two hours walking in the dark and the snow taking in Parc St. Louis, Boulevard St. Laurent and eventually St. Denis. There was no wind, the snow was relentless and it felt and looked like heaven.

On Friday, it was freakin' freezing with a bitter wind - so we spent the better part of the day exploring the Underground City. Mile upon mile of Montreal conceals shops, eateries and walk ways below street level designed to make life interesting and endurable during the wicked cold. And thousands of Montrealers were taking advantage of the end of the year end holiday. Once again both Di and discovered we need about two weeks of vigorous immersion en français
before our ears (and eyes) can get back into the groove. So, we got lost time and again - and that increased our frustration level. Funny how one's equanimity is directly related to adequate rest, caffeine, food and safety.  It was yet another lesson in humility and listening carefully. We closed out the evening, after another nap, however, at our favorite haunt:  Dièse Onze (check it out:  http://www.dieseonze.com/) The Nomads o Swing were playing and were they ever on firet! What's more, we found ourselves invited back for Saturday's five course French dinner on New Year's Eve. And we struck up a conversation with a young Quebecois doctor who had studied acupuncture at Harvard. After a lovely conversation, we made plans to share a meal together again this coming April when we return for Dianne's CELTA studies. C'est bon!

Saturday was spent at the Old Port in the bitter cold. We wound up buying massive scarves like the locals to hide all but our eyes.  By early afternoon it was snowing again - another five inches hit the city by midnight - and the place felt like something out of a fairytale. New Year's Eve was spent taking in incredible jazz, wonderful French food and meeting yet another
Massachusetts guest at the bar. We walked home in the light snow and gave thanks to God for the time, resources and blessings that allowed us to take this quick trip North.

Two things were clarified during our time away for me: first, I REALLY have to do some work learning Quebecois French!  We're adventurous, most of the folk we meet are kind, patient and bi-lingual and if they speak slowly I can figure most things out reasonably well. But, everyday conversation? Quelle horreur! So, over the next few years that will become a priority. Second, given my dreams and prayers, when I move into full-time retirement it is clear that we're going to spend serious time in this part of creation.  That's not news to our friends, but it continues to be a place of refreshment and renewal that I ache to explore more deeply. Now we are home:  I picked up Lucie from the kennel, took Di to work and finished a new Epiphany liturgy for Sunday. Later, I'll get some bass practice in, too. Blessings and Happy New Year to you all.