Coffy Time Blues : 

Writing from a Spiritual Source

We plan to offer a home for poetry and essays of a spiritual nature here soon! Submissions welcome! Submit to : Amina Wolf, 1320 Addison #C140, Berkeley, CA 94702 Or email to aminajessy@gmail.com  and be sure to put in the subject line Coffy Time Blues  submission.  

ESSAYS: (I will start this out with one of my own sermons)

 

Sermon GNC 2/23/14 On Perfection

I wanted to talk about perfection, and what it means to be “perfect as our Heavenly father is perfect.”  But then, I was severely challenged in my own perfection this morning by my brother who has some excuse for the way he acts. He is dying of liver disease and also suffers from manic depression. While I was sitting there at my computer, still working on my sermon-- he messaged me, calling me all of my previous names, and telling me how imperfect I am because I never talk about my ex-husbands on facebook, and I don’t call him, and I don’t visit our mother enough.  He sent me a picture of my ex-husband and asked if my grandson was proud of me for being a lesbian. 

I found myself entering one of those never-ending self-justifying conversations that I was always doomed to lose—or at least, never bring to a close.  I was getting angry. Jesus said we should love our enemies and here I was having a hard time loving my own brother.  So I took a break and looked at facebook.  I found that the televangelist Joel Osteen had some advice posted.

 “You have a choice. You can give away your joy when things don’t go your way, or you can make a much better decision and choose to live each day happy.

Don’t talk about your shortcomings and what you don’t have. God is not interested in that. Simply use what you do have and let Him do the rest.”

Thank you Joel.  When I read the gospel for today, and thought about the meaning of being as perfect as Jesus, I had a vision pop up in my mind.  Maybe some of you remember a movie or the book it was based on, The Joy Luck Club.  I saw in my vision the scene of the New Year’s crab dinner cooked by Jing-Mei’s mother for her family and friends.  

The back-story is that Chinese consider it bad luck to eat a crab that was not alive and perfect when it was cooked.  As they shopped for the crabs, one lost a leg and later died before being cooked. But they had to use it or there would not have been enough for all the guests.  Jing-Mei has always felt she was not good enough in her mother’s eyes, and that she was especially not good enough compared to her very successful cousin Waverly.

When the crab is served on a big platter, Waverly takes the biggest crab, and gives the second biggest to her husband, third biggest to her own mother. All the other guests take the best remaining crabs in turn until only Jing-Mei and her mom are left with the two smallest crabs, one of which is the bad-luck crab.  Jing-mei tries to take the bad-luck crab, but her mom takes it from her and then throws it away when no one is looking. Throughout the dinner, cousin Waverly is pretending to be kind but is actually saying very cruel things in a clever way.  At the end of the dinner, Jing-Mei is washing up, in tears.  She tells her mom she is sorry for being a disappointment to her and her mom says this:

“That bad crab, only you tried to take it. Everybody else wants best quality. You, your thinking different. Waverly took best-quality crab. You took worst, because you have best-quality heart. You have style no one can teach. Must be born this way. I see you.”

That is being perfect. That is being perfect like Jesus.  

I remember when Jerry Brown won the election for mayor and instead of a big fancy ball for his rich supporters, he had an open barbeque in a parking lot and everyone, including the homeless was invited.  It was a wonderful celebration, and there was plenty of barbequed chicken for everyone. I bet it still cost less than the fancy ball for rich people would have.

That is being perfect, like Jesus.

I once worked with a Jehovah Witness who tried hard to convert me every time we worked together.  I never really minded because I knew that in his heart he thought he was doing as God wished. As a part of these conversations, he told me that he didn’t miss birthdays and other holidays because in his church, they had spontaneous parties with huge dinners and gifts for each other that they called “love feasts.”  The purpose was to let the other members of the community know they loved each other. They were practicing Paul’s advice to the Corinthians, living the reality of being God’s temple and knowing God’s spirit lived within them.  

That is being perfect, like Jesus.

My son Antonio is not a Christian—he might be a sort of Buddhist.  But he doesn’t really practice any religion and is unsure about the existence of God.  He has struggled all his early life, and put himself through college.  I was not always there for him.  But he has forgiven me. He says that he and his brother talked about it and decided they know I loved them—and that I had always loved them, so that was my only job and I had succeeded. Now, he takes care of me. He gave me a car several years ago and every time it breaks down he pays the bill to have it fixed. He has paid close to $20,000 in car repairs over the years.  He never makes me feel bad about it—he does sometimes say he wished I would give him warning before the car breaks down and a couple of times he said I should get a new car but he always fixes the car anyway.  I can rely on him; he takes care of me, even though I was not a perfect mother. I know he loves me.

That is being perfect, like Jesus.

My partner Nellie acts very gruff but I know she collects clothes and toys and has for several years. She takes them to Terra Bella, a farming community near Porterville, and gives them to the poor people. Some of these people are illegal aliens; many of them are farm workers.  She first started this when we lived there and down the street was a family of illegal immigrants, who worked as farm workers and lived in a home, rented from the boss at an exorbitant rate. The home had rats, and holes in the wall to the outside where animals could enter. It had only two bedrooms for a family with five kids and the rent was as high as a nice three-bedroom house in the area. Nellie helped that family get out of that situation without immigration being called on them.  She has seen kids grow up who call her grandma Nellie because she has regularly visited and brought toys, clothes, food, and treats to them for many years.  Some of them would not have any nice clothes, or any treats or toys, without Nellie. They would not have any grandmother, because they came here to make a better life and left grandmothers behind. She doesn’t make a big deal—most people don’t know she does this. But I know it—I see her.  She is practicing the law from Leviticus, “to love your neighbor as yourself; to leave the fallen grapes of the vineyard for the poor and the alien.”

That is being perfect, like Jesus.

I saw on the news a little boy who invented a Brail printer using Legos.  It is amazing that he could make something so complicated using simple toys as a base. But what is even more amazing is that he announced that his technology would be free to blind people who need and could use it.  He could be making a lot of money from a new technology—and instead he is offering it for free. His parents must have agreed, since he is a minor child. So they also are being very generous. Their child’s invention grew out of play.   He is practicing the words from the Psalm to be led in the path of God’s commandments because it is delightful, turning his heart to God’s word and away from selfish gain. 

That is being perfect, like Jesus.

Rather than worry about all the rules, which change with time and location and community, we should listen to the poet Hafiz. 

“Every child has known God


Not the God of right and wrong,


Not the God of laws and rules,


Nor the God who has ever done anything weird, 


But the God who knows only four words,


And keeps repeating them, saying, 


"Come, Dance with Me. 

Come, Dance with Me."

Jesus, I believe, is not calling so much for us to act in perfect ways, which none of us are able to do consistently, but to be perfect in our hearts, to desire to be the best that we can be, to love each other and to love God. We are called to have the kind of heart Jing-Mei has in The Joy Luck Club.  We are called to have the Best Quality Heart. 

 There will always be many rules to follow, but the most important one is to remember we are all one with God. We are all part of the community of the creation. We are asked to love each other in the same way that God loves us.  In the Psalm that is part of the lectionary readings today, the King James translation of line 40 is: “quicken me in thy righteousness.” Bring God to life in our hearts. Let us dance with God, as he calls us into the community of creation with love.

Let us pray:

Oh Beloved, thank you for the great gift of the creation. Thank you for the gift of your love, and thank you for the gift in our hearts of the love we are able to feel for others.  Thank you for the example we have of Your Perfect Being and for helping us to move towards that perfection within our own hearts.  Most Merciful and Compassionate Being, give us Thy Great Goodness, Allow Your Loving Spirit to grow within us, Teach us to let go of our differences and Unite us in your Perfect Peace.  Amen.

POETRY:  (One of mine to start) 

(previously published and copywrited)

Creation Story:

Woman’s Meditation

the angels dance

a kabalistic chant

across my body

and blood sings

ke-ther  

mal-kuth 

hod  bi-nah

hokh-mah  

net-zach 

tza-doi  

ye-sod

send my being

to the core 

to the center 

where I find

First Mother

in life in death

in the deep dark center

of the earth

She comes 

and She’s hot 

She’s passion 

She fills 

my belly

my bowels 

my womb 

Eve!

sends fire 

up my spine 

through my body

to my crown

RED  orange yellow 

GREEN  blue indigo 

purple

and white

white is all the colors

all the colors are white

they spill

in a fountain  

from my crown 

to the ground 

absorbed 

by the Mother 

and renewed

in Her

clear and bright

my light 

is a rainbow

I am filled with Eve!

she is 

filled with me!

I send

my spirit

all the way 

to the Moon

First Woman

in the full in the round 

loving body 

of the moon 

She smiles 

and she’s ice

She’s spirit  

She touches

my crown 

my mind 

my tongue

Lilith!

Her breath 

fills my lungs

frees my voice 

sings my body

I see

starry night

wild moonlight

dark mystery

deepest

inner me

three times three

luna ecstacy

Rainbow Chakra 

Wild Moonlight

they meet in the middle

they meet in me

Lilith 

gives the blessing

of the fruit to

Eve

the seed of the fruit 

is planted in me

watered by a snake,

the flower grows

a blossom opens

the jewel 

in the heart

of the lotus

glows

Isis, Aphrodite,

Hecate, Inanna, 

Kali, Boudicea,  

Erishkagal

are revealed

in the jewel

at the heart of the lotus

that is born from the seed

of forbidden fruit 

I am Eve!

living earth

rainbow chakra

I am Lilith!

wild moonlight

dark mystery

we are free

Blessed be the Goddess

and the mothers

and the daughters

and

Blessed be ME!