Feast of John the Baptist
Friends,
Did you ever see “Lilies of the Field”? That’s the Sidney Poitier movie from the early sixties, about a man who stops to ask some nuns for water for his car and ends up building them a church. (It’s the movie that gave us the great song, “Amen”). The community served by the nuns is mostly Mexican. Until they get that church, their altar is the back of a truck, with a priest in full pre-Vatican II vestments celebrating, and everyone standing around.
I thought of that movie last week at our first Migrant Mass of the year, because our altar was a board resting on the back of a truck! Last year we used a big crate resting on some upended buckets, but we couldn’t find any buckets last Thursday. A couple of the guys are rebuilding a truck, and we decided that was the best surface to use (another option being the trunk of my car). Flat surface, white tablecloth: tada! It’s an altar.
There was time before Mass began to hang out and talk to people while others were finishing supper. The boy in the community showed me how he’s learned to ride a bike. I met a couple of new young men and had a chance to look at the garden. Not everyone could be there. Librada had another commitment, I couldn’t reach Michael who usually comes in from the city with me, and Santiago was working (until dusk, most evenings lately). So, it was just me and the guys, a chance to be church again after the long winter.
Like last year, we all stood through the Mass, right by the garden with its tomato and chili pepper plants. Birds were singing, and there was a bit of a breeze. The cards with the Mass parts that Caryl Marchand laminated for us last year still serve. Our chalice is a wooden ciborium with a lid, to keep the bugs out. We sang two new songs, and everyone picked them up pretty quickly. At the end, everybody clapped, and then we had brownies. It was lovely.
Tonight we will leave again from St Joe’s at 6:30, as we intend to do every Thursday. You are always welcome to join us. Tonight we’ll have the cookies that Karen and Mike Reimringer dropped off at my house yesterday. Last week the guys said we might move to the storage barn near the house, so I guess for now that’s where we will worship.
We come together to remember who we are: beloved children of God. We come together to remember that God is always with us. We come together to support each other in the hard times, and laugh together in the good times. Laughter – always lots of laughter. I pray that it will be life-giving for all who come.
And one of these days, maybe Sidney Poitier will show up and build us a church! Amen!
Love and light to all
Chava
PS I was asked to join a planning committee for the Rural and Migrant Ministries annual “Harvesting Justice” dinner, to be held at Temple B’rith Kodesh in November (date TBA). I’m wondering if some of the folks who are so skilled at putting on events like ordinations might like to help out that day. It’s a one afternoon and evening commitment, setting tables, decorating, helping in the kitchen, and clean-up. Likely a weekday in mid-November. Is that something you might like to do? Let me know and I’ll start gathering names to contact when we have more full details.
People have asked if the DREAM act is good news for our folks. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like any of them will fit the requirements of being under 30, having been brought here before age 16, and being a high-school graduate. But congratulations to the daring young people who risked their own well-being to bring about this change.
You are always welcome at St Romero’s: Sunday Mass at 11 am at St Joe’s, Migrant Mass leaving St Joe’s at 6:30 on Thursday nights.
“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.” – Mahatma Gandhi
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Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
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