a passion for social justice
A native of a steel town near Pittsburgh, Penn., the Rev. Robert Brashear got his first taste of life in New York City in the early 1980s, during a brief stint working at the Presbyterian Church’s national headquarters, then located in Morningside Heights. “In ‘82-’83, New York City was crazy,” Brashear recalls. “I developed a real love affair with it, and felt that if I could ever get back here, I wanted to.”
When West-Park Presbyterian Church had an opening for a pastor in 1995, Brashear jumped at the opportunity. He has led the West 86th Street congregation ever since, driven by his passion for urban ministry.
“If one loves people, the greatest and widest diversity of people are found in cities,” he says. “When I sit on the New York City subway and look up and down, I see the whole world gathered around me. There’s nothing richer than that. If you think people and human beings are where we see God revealed, there’s no greater place than the city — and New York City — to be able to find that experience.”
Apart from its location, Brashear was drawn to West-Park by its history of leadership on issues of social justice — among other examples, West-Park’s congregation was among the first to advocate for the Presbyterian Church to ordain openly gay clergy. Brashear has built upon this legacy during his tenure.
Brashear chairs the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing and works with his congregation to provide food to those in need through the West Side Campaign Against Hunger. Under Brashear’s leadership, West-Park has always sought to open its doors to anyone without a place to sleep, from homeless individuals to first responders after 9/11 to Occupy Wall Street protesters expelled from Zuccotti Park.
A warm smile comes over his face as he describes the volunteer work the congregation does monthly at the shelter run by the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew and Congregation B’nai Jeshurun. He says, “People who do it from this church want to provide a big meal — one of our members says, ‘Everyone deserves Sunday dinner,’ so she makes a full four-course meal. People really love that.”
The opportunity for interfaith collaboration, as Pastor Brashear sees it, is one of the great blessings of the Upper West Side community. “I love the fact that the various churches and synagogues in this neighborhood work together in a really close way,” he says. “That’s a joy, to have colleagues that support one another and that work together across those boundaries.”
Brashear explains that hosting performances by groups like Noche Flamenca, which recently finished a multi-week run of “Antigona” at West-Park, is a way for the congregation to examine how social justice extends to arts and culture. He explores this connection himself as a singer and guitarist — he played in every borough last year and is a regular at the Wednesday night open mic at Maggie Reilly’s in Chelsea.
New York, where Brashear raised his three sons and has lived for 22 years, always has something special in store. He says, “There’s a richness that you get from being here that’s really hard to find anyplace else.”