{"id":888,"date":"2011-08-04T11:22:19","date_gmt":"2011-08-04T15:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stlydias.org\/blog\/?p=888"},"modified":"2011-08-04T11:22:19","modified_gmt":"2011-08-04T15:22:19","slug":"crystals-sermon-on-psalm-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/crystals-sermon-on-psalm-9\/","title":{"rendered":"Crystal’s Sermon on Psalm 9"},"content":{"rendered":"

Crystal Hall is a congregant at St. Lydia’s, and a Master of Divinity candidate at Union Theological Seminary with a concentration in biblical studies. She is also a candidate for ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), and is a Fellow with the Poverty Initiative at Union Theological Seminary. At the Poverty Initiative, Crystal is the coordinator of the Homeless Union History Project of the Poverty Scholars Program.\u00a0 Crystal shared this sermon on Psalm 9 with us at dinner church on July 31.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

To tell a story is to remember it. \u00a0In telling a story, you remember its parts: the beginning, middle and end, and how they\u2019re each connected. St. Lydia\u2019s story\u2019s has many beginnings. \u00a0It was first conceived as an idea. \u00a0That idea was birthed into reality in Advent 2008. \u00a0St. Lydia\u2019s first began meeting in a Financial District apartment. \u00a0After taking those first steps, St. Lydia\u2019s began gathering here at Trinity Lower East Side.<\/p>\n

This church has a definite sense of place in its story. \u00a0It\u2019s difficult to forget, especially when we worship outside, that this church is across the street from Tompkins Square Park.<\/p>\n

The first time I set foot in Tompkins Square Park, I felt that I was walking on sacred ground. \u00a0As if I should take my shoes off. \u00a0This may seem odd, as many of New York City\u2019s public parks have a decidedly secular quality about them. \u00a0It was already dark at 6:30 on a February Sunday. That night I decided to leave my shoes on. \u00a0I noticed the rats rummaging through the garbage cans, the smell of that enormous dog park, and the lights glaring from the brick pavilion. \u00a0I also noticed that I felt as though I was paying my respects. This surprised me. \u00a0I felt the kind of reverence I feel when I visit the grave of a family member. \u00a0Standing beside a grave is, for me, a moment to remember. \u00a0It is a reminder of where I\u2019ve come from.<\/p>\n

Walking through the park that first night evoked my sacred memory. Before I even knew it, the story of this place was becoming part of my story. \u00a0Just the month before I had read excepts from Ron Casanova\u2019s autobiography Each One, Teach One. \u00a0Cas\u2019 story didn\u2019t begin in this park. \u00a0But he wound up here, homeless, in the summer of 1989. \u00a0He writes of his experience that summer:<\/p>\n

Our community grew, and we soon gave it the name \u2018Tent City.\u2019…It started as a place where people came because they needed a place to stay…Tent City was open to anyone and everyone who rejected the city\u2019s so-called solutions to homelessness. \u00a0We had a slogan: \u2018No Housing, No Peace.\u2019 \u00a0Now that did not mean that we wanted a violent confrontation with the authorities. \u00a0That meant we were not going to allow ourselves to be quietly put out of sight and mind in jails or dangerous shelters.<\/p>\n

Cas and many others were thrust into a struggle for survival in the summer of 1989. \u00a0The police and the Parks Department conducted over a dozen raids on the 300 to 350 people sleeping in Tompkins Square Park on any given night.<\/p>\n


\nRead the rest of Crystal’s sermon here.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Crystal Hall is a congregant at St. Lydia’s, and a Master of Divinity candidate at Union Theological Seminary with a concentration in biblical studies. She is also a candidate for ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), and is a Fellow with the Poverty Initiative at Union Theological Seminary. At the Poverty Initiative, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":890,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions\/890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}