Beats and Beatitudes

7. "Awe Cracks the Mind's Shell"

Matthew 5:10

First Presbyterian Jamestown

The Rev. Karen Lipinczyk

August 3, 2008

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To the Oracle at Delphi

Great Oracle, why are you staring at me,
do I baffle you, do I make you despair?
I, Americus, the American,
wrought from the dark in my mother long ago,
from the dark of ancient Europa--
Why are you staring at me now
in the dusk of our civilization--
Why are you staring at me
as if I were America itself
the new Empire
vaster than any in ancient days
with its electronic highways
carrying its corporate monoculture
around the world
And English the Latin of our days--

Great Oracle, sleeping through the centuries,
Awaken now at last
And tell us how to save us from ourselves
and how to survive our own rulers
who would make a plutocracy of our democracy
in the Great Divide
between the rich and the poor
in whom Walt Whitman heard America singing

O long-silent Sybil,
you of the winged dreams,
Speak out from your temple of light
as the serious constellations
with Greek names
still stare down on us
as a lighthouse moves its megaphone
over the sea
Speak out and shine upon us
the sea-light of Greece
the diamond light of Greece

Far-seeing Sybil, forever hidden,
Come out of your cave at last
And speak to us in the poet's voice
the voice of the fourth person singular
the voice of the inscrutable future
the voice of the people mixed
with a wild soft laughter--
And give us new dreams to dream,
Give us new myths to live by!

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

When Tom asked if I’d like to preach while we were back seeing family and catching up with my Florida son Matthew at Darren Houck’s wedding, I figured it’d be great fun.  And then he explained a bit about the sermon series this summer.  The Beats huh?  One of the things I miss most working alone is that wonderful sharing of ideas that lead to things like this series.  Although my guess is that I could be working with any other colleague and this connection – The Beats and the Beatitudes would NOT be one anyone else would make. I love it.

So I said yes and then went like, what do I know about the Beats?  I remember Dobie Gillis.  I remember Maynard Creb playing those bongos and kind of reciting a kind of poetry.  After I met and fell in love with Gary , most folks – especially in Posey County, Indiana, which is that far southwestern county tucked in next to the Wabash and the Ohio consisting principally of corn, soy and wheat fields – most folks look at us and Th.

Ferlinghetti was one of those beat poets. He wrote the poem I read over “Stella by Starlight” played by Miles Davis’ – one of earliest Beat musicians – in 2001.  Does it get more contemporary than

Great Oracle, sleeping through the centuries,
Awaken now at last
And tell us how to save us from ourselves
and how to survive our own rulers
who would make a plutocracy of our democracy
in the Great Divide
between the rich and the poor

Far-seeing Sybil, forever hidden,
Come out of your cave at last …

And give us new dreams to dream,
Give us new myths to live by!

This sounds like Isaiah – or Jesus.  For if the Beatitudes are not about giving us new dreams to dream – God’s ancient/new dreams reiterated by the Nazarene Prophet – then they are just empty words.  As institutional Christianity wrestles with her demons and angels at this next transition point in her evolution, First Presbyterian, a small cadre of folks at St. Peter’s in Parker Settlement, Indiana – and thousands of spiritual seekers around the globe are meditating, contemplating, chanting, drumming and praying toward manifesting Deep Truth which Ferlinghetti named far-seeing Sybil and we, here today, call the God of the Universe.

Matthew records Jesus as saying, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  Back in the days of the great Hebrew prophets they spoke these words for God in the face of the might of Assyria and Babylon, words to reassure the people that outward appearances to the contrary, dwelling in daily consciousness of the presence and power of to the God of the Universe was more to be valued than conceding to the apparent power of the new secular rulers.  “Ahh!” the Psalmist sang,  “One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after, to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.  In the earliest days of Christianity these were words of encouragement and support as our ancestors faced the arrogance and ire of Rome in the dens of lions.  Pastor John pointedly roared, “So because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”  Then Emperor Constantine was baptized, centuries passed.  At the point of a sword and on their knees our Jewish brothers and sisters recited these words to the last breath: blessed are you when you are persecuted for righteousness sake.  The Rabbi from Nazareth wept.  At one point in ecclesiastical history Protestant Christian missionaries stole Native American and Native Alaskan children from their villages under the guise of providing a superior – read “white European, Christian” – education only to exacerbate the crushing of identity that continues to create generational poverty, alcoholism and abuse in Native communities to this day.  And Jesus wept – until he joined in the dancing with the elders as they “took back” their native heritage for the sake of those future seven generations.

And now it is 2008.  And we have the unholy – and irrational - alliance of apocalyptic Christians with the nation of Israel, our Apocalyptic Christian sisters and brothers seeing in the ongoing decimation of the Palestinian people the final and complete return of the Hebrew people to the land spoken of in Genesis, thus fulfilling all prophecy (according to their absolute interpretation) and setting the stage for Armageddon and the physical return of Christ to usher in the end.  We have politicians across America denouncing faithful folks like you and me – and Jeremiah Wright and Sister XXXX – because we believe God is still speaking and that there is yet more light to spring forth from the Word; because we believe we DON”T have a lock on the God of the Universe; because we believe Jesus meant it when he said love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; because we live into each day expecting miracles of compassion and justice to bring equity; because we believe blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek, the pure in heart and the peacemakers.

The Beats flagrantly and outrageously burst upon the scene shouting “bull shit” and “hell no.”  And broke all manner of boundaries in a kind of drivenness to break our culture open and save us from the mendacity of our monochromatic culture.  I actually believe WE have the opportunity to carry – no – we ARE carrying that same energy in our time.  WE – First Presbyterian Church, St. Peter’s UCC, Trinity Episcopal in downtown Cleveland, UU in Tennessee Glide Memorial UMC in San Francisco and a growing number of other faith communities across the world who, in the face of appearances to the contrary, are flagrantly and outrageously holding fast and singing “God of the sparrow, God of the whale…”

The language of our Jesus’ beatitudes is not hortatory; the beatitudes are not instructions: “be meek” or “be poor in spirit” or “hey, go therefore, and be persecuted.”  The language is performative; that is, the pronouncement of blessing actually conveys the blessing: hey, you who are persecuted for righteousness sake, you are BLESSED and the realm of God is yours.  These statements of Jesus paint a picture – and therefore help to create – a world turned upside down where those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are satisfied, not ignored or shouted down, where the meek inherit the earth rather than being ground into the dust, where those who are persecuted are already living right now, right here, into God’s new creation.

 Denise Levertov got her start among the Beats.  One of her later poems is glorious in its insight into our faith walk.  

It’s when we face for a moment

the worst our kind can do, and shudder to know

the taint in our own selves, that awe

cracks the mind’s shell and enters the heart:

not to a flower not to a dolphin,

to no innocent form

but to this creature vainly sure

it and no other is god-like, God

(out of compassion for our ugly

failure to evolve)entrusts,

as guest, as brother,

the Word.

So to end this morning Brother Bob Dylan, who also owes much to the Beats, sings the same ancient/new message echoing Isaiah, Jesus, Matthew, Ferlinghetti, Levertov, Tom, Don – and you….

When Tom asked if I’d like to preach while we were back seeing family and catching up with my Florida son Matthew at Darren Houck’s wedding I figured it’d be great fun. And then he explained a bit about the sermon series this summer. The Beats huh? One of the things I miss most working alone is that wonderful sharing of ideas that lead to things like this series. Although my guess is that I could be working with any other colleague and this connection – The Beats and the Beatitudes would NOT be one anyone else would make. I love it.

So I said yes and then went like, what do I know about the Beats? I remember Dobie Gillis. I remember Maynard Creb playing those bongos and kind of reciting a kind of poetry. After I met and fell in love with Gary , most folks – especially in Posey County Indiana which is that far southwestern county tucked in next to the Wabash and the Ohio consisting principally of corn, soy and wheat fields – most folks look at us and Th

Ferlinghetti was one of those beat poets. He wrote the poem I read over “Stella by Starlight” played by Miles Davis’ – one of earliest Beat musicians – in 2001. Does it get more contemporary than

Great Oracle, sleeping through the centuries,
Awaken now at last
And tell us how to save us from ourselves
and how to survive our own rulers
who would make a plutocracy of our democracy
in the Great Divide
between the rich and the poor

Far-seeing Sybil, forever hidden,
Come out of your cave at last …

And give us new dreams to dream,
Give us new myths to live by!

This sounds like Isaiah – or Jesus. For if the Beatitudes are not about giving us new dreams to dream – God’s ancient/new dreams reiterated by the Nazarene Prophet – then they are just empty words. As institutional Christianity wrestles with her demons and angels at this next transition point in her evolution, First Presbyterian, a small cadre of folks at St. Peter’s in Parker Settlement, Indiana – and thousands of spiritual seekers around the globe are meditating, contemplating, chanting, drumming and praying toward manifesting Deep Truth which Ferlinghetti named far-seeing Sybil and we, here today, call the God of the Universe.

Matthew records Jesus as saying, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Back in the days of the great Hebrew prophets they spoke these words for God in the face of the might of Assyria and Babylon, words to reassure the people that outward appearances to the contrary, dwelling in daily consciousness of the presence and power of to the God of the Universe was more to be valued than conceding to the apparent power of the new secular rulers. “Ahh!” the Psalmist sang,  “One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after, to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. In the earliest days of Christianity these were words of encouragement and support as our ancestors faced the arrogance and ire of Rome in the dens of lions. Pastor John pointedly roared, “So because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” Then Emperor Constantine was baptized, centuries passed. At the point of a sword and on their knees our Jewish brothers and sisters recited these words to the last breath: blessed are you when you are persecuted for righteousness sake. The Rabbi from Nazareth wept. At one point in ecclesiastical history Protestant Christian missionaries stole Native American and Native Alaskan children from their villages under the guise of providing a superior – read “white European, Christian” – education only to exacerbate the crushing of identity that continues to create generational poverty, alcoholism and abuse in Native communities to this day. And Jesus wept – until he joined in the dancing with the elders as they “took back” their native heritage for the sake of those future seven generations.

And now it is 2008. And we have the unholy – and irrational - alliance of apocalyptic Christians with the nation of Israel, our Apocalyptic Christian sisters and brothers seeing in the ongoing decimation of the Palestinian people the final and complete return of the Hebrew people to the land spoken of in Genesis, thus fulfilling all prophecy (according to their absolute interpretation) and setting the stage for Armageddon and the physical return of Christ to usher in the end. We have politicians across America denouncing faithful folks like you and me – and Jeremiah Wright and Sister XXXX – because we believe God is still speaking and that there is yet more light to spring forth from the Word; because we believe we DON”T have a lock on the God of the Universe; because we believe Jesus meant it when he said love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; because we live into each day expecting miracles of compassion and justice to bring equity; because we believe blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek, the pure in heart and the peacemakers.

The Beats flagrantly and outrageously burst upon the scene shouting “bull shit” and “hell no.” And broke all manner of boundaries in a kind of drivenness to break our culture open and save us from the mendacity of our monochromatic culture. I actually believe WE have the opportunity to carry – no – we ARE carrying that same energy in our time. WE – First Presbyterian Church, St. Peter’s UCC, Trinity Episcopal in downtown Cleveland, UU in Tennessee Glide Memorial UMC in San Francisco and a growing number of other faith communities across the world who, in the face of appearances to the contrary, are flagrantly and outrageously holding fast and singing “God of the sparrow, God of the whale…”

The language of our Jesus’ beatitudes is not hortatory; the beatitudes are not instructions: “be meek” or “be poor in spirit” or “hey, go therefore, and be persecuted.” The language is performative; that is, the pronouncement of blessing actually conveys the blessing: hey, you who are persecuted for righteousness sake, you are BLESSED and the realm of God is yours. These statements of Jesus paint a picture – and therefore help to create – a world turned upside down where those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are satisfied, not ignored or shouted down, where the meek inherit the earth rather than being ground into the dust, where those who are persecuted are already living right now, right here, into God’s new creation.

Denise Levertov got her start among the Beats One of her later poems is glorious in its insight into our faith walk.

It’s when we face for a moment

the worst our kind can do, and shudder to know

the taint in our own selves, that awe

cracks the mind’s shell and enters the heart:

not to a flower not to a dolphin,

to no innocent form

but to this creature vainly sure

it and no other is god-like, God

(out of compassion for our ugly

failure to evolve)entrusts,

as guest, as brother,

the Word.

So to end this morning Brother Bob Dylan, who also owes much to the Beats, sings the same ancient/new message echoing Isaiah, Jesus, Matthew, Ferlinghetti, Levertov, Tom, Don – and you….

When Tom asked if I’d like to preach while we were back seeing family and catching up with my Florida son Matthew at Darren Houck’s wedding I figured it’d be great fun. And then he explained a bit about the sermon series this summer. The Beats huh? One of the things I miss most working alone is that wonderful sharing of ideas that lead to things like this series. Although my guess is that I could be working with any other colleague and this connection – The Beats and the Beatitudes would NOT be one anyone else would make. I love it.

So I said yes and then went like, what do I know about the Beats? I remember Dobie Gillis. I remember Maynard Creb playing those bongos and kind of reciting a kind of poetry. After I met and fell in love with Gary , most folks – especially in Posey County Indiana which is that far southwestern county tucked in next to the Wabash and the Ohio consisting principally of corn, soy and wheat fields – most folks look at us and Th

Ferlinghetti was one of those beat poets. He wrote the poem I read over “Stella by Starlight” played by Miles Davis’ – one of earliest Beat musicians – in 2001. Does it get more contemporary than

Great Oracle, sleeping through the centuries,
Awaken now at last
And tell us how to save us from ourselves
and how to survive our own rulers
who would make a plutocracy of our democracy
in the Great Divide
between the rich and the poor

Far-seeing Sybil, forever hidden,
Come out of your cave at last …

And give us new dreams to dream,
Give us new myths to live by!

This sounds like Isaiah – or Jesus. For if the Beatitudes are not about giving us new dreams to dream – God’s ancient/new dreams reiterated by the Nazarene Prophet – then they are just empty words. As institutional Christianity wrestles with her demons and angels at this next transition point in her evolution, First Presbyterian, a small cadre of folks at St. Peter’s in Parker Settlement, Indiana – and thousands of spiritual seekers around the globe are meditating, contemplating, chanting, drumming and praying toward manifesting Deep Truth which Ferlinghetti named far-seeing Sybil and we, here today, call the God of the Universe.

Matthew records Jesus as saying, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Back in the days of the great Hebrew prophets they spoke these words for God in the face of the might of Assyria and Babylon, words to reassure the people that outward appearances to the contrary, dwelling in daily consciousness of the presence and power of to the God of the Universe was more to be valued than conceding to the apparent power of the new secular rulers. “Ahh!” the Psalmist sang,  “One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after, to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. In the earliest days of Christianity these were words of encouragement and support as our ancestors faced the arrogance and ire of Rome in the dens of lions. Pastor John pointedly roared, “So because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” Then Emperor Constantine was baptized, centuries passed. At the point of a sword and on their knees our Jewish brothers and sisters recited these words to the last breath: blessed are you when you are persecuted for righteousness sake. The Rabbi from Nazareth wept. At one point in ecclesiastical history Protestant Christian missionaries stole Native American and Native Alaskan children from their villages under the guise of providing a superior – read “white European, Christian” – education only to exacerbate the crushing of identity that continues to create generational poverty, alcoholism and abuse in Native communities to this day. And Jesus wept – until he joined in the dancing with the elders as they “took back” their native heritage for the sake of those future seven generations.

And now it is 2008. And we have the unholy – and irrational - alliance of apocalyptic Christians with the nation of Israel, our Apocalyptic Christian sisters and brothers seeing in the ongoing decimation of the Palestinian people the final and complete return of the Hebrew people to the land spoken of in Genesis, thus fulfilling all prophecy (according to their absolute interpretation) and setting the stage for Armageddon and the physical return of Christ to usher in the end. We have politicians across America denouncing faithful folks like you and me – and Jeremiah Wright and Sister XXXX – because we believe God is still speaking and that there is yet more light to spring forth from the Word; because we believe we DON”T have a lock on the God of the Universe; because we believe Jesus meant it when he said love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; because we live into each day expecting miracles of compassion and justice to bring equity; because we believe blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek, the pure in heart and the peacemakers.

The Beats flagrantly and outrageously burst upon the scene shouting “bull shit” and “hell no.” And broke all manner of boundaries in a kind of drivenness to break our culture open and save us from the mendacity of our monochromatic culture. I actually believe WE have the opportunity to carry – no – we ARE carrying that same energy in our time. WE – First Presbyterian Church, St. Peter’s UCC, Trinity Episcopal in downtown Cleveland, UU in Tennessee Glide Memorial UMC in San Francisco and a growing number of other faith communities across the world who, in the face of appearances to the contrary, are flagrantly and outrageously holding fast and singing “God of the sparrow, God of the whale…”

The language of our Jesus’ beatitudes is not hortatory; the beatitudes are not instructions: “be meek” or “be poor in spirit” or “hey, go therefore, and be persecuted.” The language is performative; that is, the pronouncement of blessing actually conveys the blessing: hey, you who are persecuted for righteousness sake, you are BLESSED and the realm of God is yours. These statements of Jesus paint a picture – and therefore help to create – a world turned upside down where those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are satisfied, not ignored or shouted down, where the meek inherit the earth rather than being ground into the dust, where those who are persecuted are already living right now, right here, into God’s new creation.

Denise Levertov got her start among the Beats One of her later poems is glorious in its insight into our faith walk.

It’s when we face for a moment

the worst our kind can do, and shudder to know

the taint in our own selves, that awe

cracks the mind’s shell and enters the heart:

not to a flower not to a dolphin,

to no innocent form

but to this creature vainly sure

it and no other is god-like, God

(out of compassion for our ugly

failure to evolve)entrusts,

as guest, as brother,

the Word.

So to end this morning Brother Bob Dylan, who also owes much to the Beats, sings the same ancient/new message echoing Isaiah, Jesus, Matthew, Ferlinghetti, Levertov, Tom, Don – and you….

Return to the Sermons and Articles Page

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