Being Hungry

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled."
                              --Matthew 5:6

A few times in high school and college, I participated in a fundraising event through World Vision called The Thirty Hour Famine.  It was something like a walk-a-thon in that participants collected pledges per hour of fasting up to 30 hours (thus the 30 Hour Familne) and the donations would go to help feed children in third world nations.  It was a good cause and a fun way to help others in a small way.

I have to say, though, that around the twentieth hour, people are getting pretty edgy, myself most definately included.  The empty stomach has a powerful effect on everything else for the body.  Tempers fail more easily, fatigue sets in even after a good night's sleep, the brain gets foggy.  And this is only 30 hours!  I have to say, that first meal after a fast is probably the most satisfying meal you can have.  Everything tastes better and the satisfaction of the stomach being filled, the senses sharpening, the energy rising is unparalleled.  Again, only 30 hours!

Oh to feel that same kind of satisfaction from drawing near to God.  To long so much for His presence that it is like a cool drink after days in the desert; the taste of a morsel of food after days of hunger.  Oh to wake up in the morning thinking, "I've gone seven or eight hours without reading God's word."  To hunger and thirst for the righteousness that comes from the very presence of God!  To want Him more than food and drink.  To need Him more than the very air we breathe! 

And what a promise to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness:  they will be filled.  They will be completely satisfied in the Lord for He is the ultimate provider of what we truly need.  May we all grow to hunger and thirst for more of Jesus and be satisfied by Him alone.

"As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?"
                                        --Psalm 42:1-2

The Meek

"Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the earth."
                                    --Matthew 5:5

Being meek is not particularly a prized quality for us nowdays.  When a person is asked in a job interview waht their best qualities are, I doubt very many people say "Well, I'm meek."  But the think is, I really don't think things have changed much.  After all, Jesus is speaking out against the status quo all throughout the sermon on the mount.  I'm fairly certain that the meek were looked upon at that time much as they are today:  as weak, doormats, patsies, or as Paul Newman's character in the Coen brothers' most overlooked film, The Hudsucker Proxy, says, "some jerk we can really push around."

Here is how Webster's defines meek.

1: enduring injury with patience and without resentment : mild

 

2: deficient in spirit and courage : submissive

 

3: not violent or strong : moderate

 

The first and third definitions practically cry out for pictures of Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and Mother Theresa next to them.  So, here they are.  But the middle definition is hardly fitting for these people.  Looking to these men and women as examples, we can scarcely say that they lacked courage.  I would also argue that submission does not mean weakness.  As we can see even with the people above, they were willing to submit to just authority, but through nonviolence and long suffering protests against unjust authority.  It's funny, all of these people have much louder voices today than the "strong" who acted violently to achieve their means.  It could be well argued that the early Chistian Church toppled the Roman Empire through their meek acts of loving their enemies and praying for those that persecuted them.

 

So there is great power in being meek.  Not being a pushover, but taking the meek road to justice by loving one another, the poor and needy, and yes, even the enemy within and without our gates.  Jesus himself was meek and humble and submitted to authority becoming obedient to death on a cross.  As we can see in Phillipians 2:

 

"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who:

Being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

But made Himself nothing, taking on the very nature of a servant

Becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.

Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name above every other name

That at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth

And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."

 

Amen and amen.

Blessed...

For the next several days, I'd like to focus on each of the Beatitudes found right at the beginning of Matthew 5.  That word beatitude is pretty archaic, but put simply it means blessed.

The first beatitude that Jesus shares is this: 

"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Being poor in spirit implies something apart from monetary wealth or poverty.  The person poor in spirit may be homeless or a millionaire.  To be poor requires a complete reliance.  Some poor put their reliance in the government, in charities, the sweat of their brow, or the kindness of people blessed with monetary gifts. 

The poor in spirit know that they have a complete and utter dependence upon God.  Everything comes from Him.  He is their creator and sustainer.  He will see them through.  This requires a laying down of dependence upon myself and a complete, childlike trust.  The poor in spirit have the courage to step out in faith when they don't see a landing point because they know that the Lord will provide.

I have to bring in a movie.  The great illustration of walking by faith is in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.  You know the part I'm talking about.  Indy steps up to the edge of a cliff and must get to the other side.  Their is an endless chasm between him and his goal.  He consults his fathers diary, which will help him overcome the challenge and reads "Only in a leap from the lion's head will he prove his worth."  "It's a leap of faith," he mutters, but knowing that the life of his father is on the line, he prepares himself and steps out into thin air and his foot stops on a bridge that had been there the whole time but blended into the rock of the canyon wall.

Learning to be poor in spirit is learning to trust.  It is learning to depend wholly on the Holy One.  As Jesus says, come as a little child--the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.

The Mourning

"Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted."
                                 -Matthew 5:4

We don't particularly like the idea of mourning.  It brings up images of death, black, ashes, graves, depression and various other uncomfortable things.  We are blessed to live in a time and place where people generally live long and robust lives.  Even people who are very ill now have years where they once had days.  Sicknesses like pneumonia, strep throat, and flu are now little more than minor annoyances where they were once death sentences.  Major plagues like polio and small pox have been all but erradicated. 

But it wasn't all that long ago even in the US and Europe where death was all around.  Charles Dickens wrote his novels between 1830 and 1870, roughly 150 years ago and almost all of them include orphans, sick and dying children and the like.  These things were commonplace even then which is fairly recent in the span of human history.  There are places in this world still today where death is all around and mourning the norm rather than the exception.

But even in our priviledged time and place, mourning is near us.  We mourn the loss of loved ones to death, of course, but we also mourn the loss of friendships, career, innocence and many other things.  To dismiss the lament is to dismiss an important part of who we are.  Our sadness is felt by Jesus, who was no stranger to mourning himself.  He mourned the loss of his dear friend, Lazarus; He mourned for Jerusalem which had strayed like a child from the heart of God; He is called a man of sorrows. 

Those who mourn will be comforted by One who knows grief.  He holds them close and has an ear open to listen to their cries.  He sees where everyone weeps. 

So we, too, are called to comfort those who mourn.  We are called to bear each others burdens and to weep with those who weep.  As God's heart is tender to those who weep in their loss, ours' should be as well.  No matter who they are.  Even if our enemy mourns we should be prepared to wipe his tears.  I read recently that it is impossible to hate your enemy when you know where he weeps.  The compassion of Christ permeates us when we are there to comfort those who mourn; and we know that where there is mourning, Christ Himself is also there ready to comfort.

Swindled?

I love the show The Music Man.  I usually prefer the modern, edgy musicals, but as I sat in the audience at the 5th Ave. Theater in Seattle last night watching the show with my wife, I couldn't help but fall under its spell; much like the characters in the show fall under the spell of swindling travelling salseman "Professor Harold Hill." 

If you're not familiar with the story, it is about said salesman coming into a small town in Iowa in the early 20th century claiming to be able to start a boys marching band--as long as the townsfolk are willing to pay for the instruments, uniforms and instruction books.  He manages to pull the whole town to his side with very few exceptions.  When he is found out as a crook, the townspeople have to ask themselves if they are better off with him having come to town or not.  After all, the bickering members of the schoolboard are now an inseparable barbershop quartet, the gossipping ladies are now seeing others in a positive light and have started a dance troupe, the young troublemaker has become an enterprising salesman and inventor, the shy boy afraid to talk because of his speach impediment is now talking up a storm, and the woman who thought she could never love has now fallen deeply into it.  Even the swindler himself has a change of heart.

Okay, it sounds corny, and maybe it is, but it is also very entertaining--like a Frank Capra film (Think It's A Wonderful Life or Mr. Smith Goes to Washington).

It also got me thinking about how the devil tries to swindle us.  He is crafty, deceptive, and sure can trick us if we're not careful.  But, no matter what kind of a tricky snare he pulls us into, God can work all of it for our good.  To paraphrase the writer St. John of the Cross, we can fall into a dark night of the soul only to come out more devoted to Jesus on the other side.  It really is a beautiful thing that even the schemes of the devil can be thwarted so easily.  Not by us, of course, but by the Lover of our soul.  It makes the devil look pretty darn weak and powerless in light of the power of God.

So, when you find yourself tangled up in knots, know that God will come to your cry.  It may not be the outcome you would most like, but it will surely be for the best (which reminds me of a song from another musical--can you name it?).

Learning to Love the Church

It is very fashionable these days to disparage the Church.  Books like Life After Church and The Shack have been runaway bestsellers.  These go far beyond critique bordering on disdain.  Honestly, there have been many times in my life when I can relate.  I think I have experienced more hurt, more criticism, more judgement in the Church than anywhere else.  I have shed many tears, felt great stress and anxiety because of Her.  I'm not talking at all about a specific congregation, but the universal, invisible, worldwide Church.  Sometimes, it is awfully hard to love the Church.

But what does Christ say about the Church?  We are the Church, we are the Body of Christ, the Church is the Bride of Christ.  What did He do for the Church?  Ephesians 5:25-27 says "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." (emphasis added).  

St. Augustine said "if God is your Father, the church is your Mother."  In this passage in Ephesians, it is made clear that you cannot claim to love your Father and hate your Mother.  Take a look at Revelation 21.  Here are verses 9-14: 

⁹ One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” ¹⁰ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. ¹¹ It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. ¹² It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. ¹³ There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. ¹⁴ The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

So, what are we seeing here?  First of all the Holy City is called "the bride, the wife of the lamb."  The Lamb is Jesus Christ, but what else is scripture is called "The Bride?"  The Church!  Notice the number twelve repeated several times here.  The number twelve is the number of tribes of Israel, the number of Apostles, in other words, twelve is a number representing the people of God.  Again, the Church!  The chapter goes on to describe the jewels (again, twelve), the very same jewels in the breastplates of the Levite priests.  The dimensions of the city make a perfect cube.  The only other perfect cube described in the Bible is the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle and eventually the Jerusalem temple.  It is the dwelling place of the earthly presence of God and nothing impure may enter.  The walls are described as being made out of gold so pure it is transparent!  What does all this mean?!

It really shouldn't be too much of a mystery if we know our scriptures.  The people of God, the Church, is being described here.  A Church that has been cleansed and purified and made holy by the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. 

I hope this gives you a new perspective of the Church as it did for me when I first heard this great news.  Now, the Church is imperfect because it is made up of imperfect people.  But praise be to God it has been clothed in righteousness by the sacrifice of the Lamb, Jesus Christ!  And will on that day be perfected and wholly purified.  Remember, Christ died for the individual, but, beyond that and, perhaps before that, He died for the Church.  If you love God, you must love the Church, warts and all, as He loves the Church and gave up His very life for her.

What to Say, what to say...

I'm finding myself coming to the keyboard today not really knowing what to say.  But then, don't we sometimes come to God that way?  Sometimes, the point is not coming to God knowing what to say, but just coming to God.  On the occasions where my wife and I have moments alone, we sometimes don't have a lot to say, but the point isn't to talk, but to be together. 

God calls us to the same thing.  The psalmist wrote "be still and know that I am God."  Stillness isn't easy for us.  There always seems to be something going on.  Even in the quiet, it's easy to fill that time with reading, thinking about the schedule for the coming days, listening to music.  You might say, "bout those things are being still."  Well, that's not what the psalm says. 

Have you ever allowed yourself to be completely still and simply take in the wonder that is God?  The amount of time I have spent in complete stillness in my 35 years would probably total less than one hour.  Less than one hour to ponder on knowing that He is God!  Of course I've filled much more time than that in prayer, Bible reading, reading of Christian books, etc., but to just be still and know seems to be among the most difficult of spiritual disciplines.

In writing this, I'm finding that I need to challenge myself.  Perhaps you are thinking the same thing.  To be still and know God.  Not to read, talk, fill the air with any sounds, but to be truly still.  It seems to me that in that kind of stillness is when we'd most be able to hear.  So often, the Lord does not speak in the hurricaine, the thunder, or the fire, but in the still small voice, but we are so occupied expecting the burning bush that we fail to hear it.

Be still.  Be in His presence.  Listen.  Be. 

Who Am I?

For the past ten plus years, I have been a church worship director.  It was everything I knew in my work life.  Looking back, it seems as though my entire life was a trajectory toward being a worship director.  I started playing guitar at a young age, took on singing in Junior High, fell madly in love with Jesus in High School, joined the woship team at church at age fifteen, went to college and got a music degree, and got my first church job right out of college.  So much identity was wrapped up in the fact that I was a worship director.  It was what I did, it was who I was...and then it was over.

The next week, I was sitting in a pew with my wife at a new church listening to the words of institution before taking communion and I had a rush of panic.  My wife could see the change happen and asked what was wrong.  All I could say was:  "who am I?"  As if in answer, the band started playing a song called "Your Beloved."  The words to the chorus go:

I am Your beloved,
Your creation,
And You love me as I am.
You've called me chosen
For Your kingdom.
Unashamed to call me your own-
I am Your beloved

I almost started laughing it was so clear an answer.  Yes, I am His beloved.  And apparently because I needed more reminding of it, a good friend, former co-worker and fellow former worship director gave me a book called Abba's Child by Brennan Manning.  There is so much in this book I wish I could share, but I'll just share this one quote: 

"Living in awareness of our belovedness is the axis around which the Christian life revolves.  Being the beloved is our identity, the core of our existence.  It is not merely a lofty thought, an inspiring idea, or one name among many.  It is the name by which God knows us and the way He relates to us."

God made each of us with attention to the smallest detail.  He knows our uniqueness, our frailties, our passions, our dislkes.  He longs for us to love Him and for us to know we are loved.  He blesses us with family relationships and relationship with friends which, at their best, demonstrate only the faintest glimmer of His love for us.  You are beloved, I am beloved, we collectively are beloved.  To deny God's love for us is not only foolish, it is sinful.
It is much easier to wrap our identity up in what we do than in who we are. I must admit, that I have done it for years without even knowing it. Yes, I am "husband," I am "father," I am "believer" and many other things. But above all, I am beloved.

Not As Strong As We Think We Are

One element of Lent that comes to the forefront of my mind often is the remembrance of the frailty of life.  I think I am especially in tune with this in my Lenten focus over other times of the year for several reasons, but today in particular, I know exactly why. 

Over the past week or so, I've been listening to all of the Rich Mullins that I have in my ipod, which is pretty much all the songs he released.  I find his work to be beyond description, his lyrics so challenging and profound, his music (in general) timeless in its execution.  If you're not familiar with Rich Mullins's music, start with his greatest hits collection, simply entitled "Songs."  It's a great sampling from the span of his career from the beginning in the late 80's to about 1994.  Rich died in a tragic car accident on his way to a youth rally in 1996, but he remains a powerful voice.

Anyway, last night I heard one of the songs on "Songs" (along with well known hits like "Awesome God," "Sometimes by Step," "Hold Me Jesus," and "Sing Your Praise to the Lord") for the first time in a long time; a song recorded just for the "Songs" collection called "We Are Not As Strong As We Think We Are."  In general the song is about how conflict can drive a wedge between people so easily.  The chorus reminds us of the paradoxes present in every element of life:

"We are frail, we are fearfully and wonderfully made
  Forged in the fires of human passion
  Choking on the fumes of selfish rage
  And with these our hells and our heavens so few inches apart
  We must be awfully small and not as strong as we think we are."

Another thing contributing to my focus on frailty today is a movie I watched last night called Requiem for A Dream.  It is the story of four people seeking the American dream in their own way and destroying themselves in the process, particularly through various forms of addiction.  The ending in particular got so under my skin that I still haven't been able to shake the feeling I got from watching the film.  It is scary, heartbreaking, and definately not for the faint of heart, but it is also an unforgettable illustration of how easily we fall victim to ourselves and the sinful nature that plagues us all.

 It's all a reminder that the mantra of "you can't trust anyone, but yourself" is so destructive to who we are made to be.  We are not made to go through life alone; God made us for relationships, first to Him and then to one another.  This is clearly stated in the great commandment:  "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength...and love your neighbor as yourself."  Yet, so easily I go back to that old lie that I can do it better on my own.  Yes, I am frail, but He is strong, always has been and always will be.  From eternity to eternity, He is God! and He is more trustworthy than we are to ourselves.  We may not be as strong as we think we are, but He is stronger than we can possibly imagine.

Finding Jesus

I've been thinking about all the surprising places the Savior can be found.  He's everywhere!  He's a lion, a wizard and a ranger and a hobbit, a convict imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, a robot 700 years in the future, an alien lost on earth.

Okay, so you've probably guessed that I'm talking about the movies.  It is amazing how pervasive and powerful the story of Christ is.  It can be found everywhere.  Stephen Spielberg (a self proclaimed "good Jewish boy") has made several films with Christ-like characters:  E.T., Oscar Schindler, Captain Miller and Private Ryan (though Jesus wouldn't say the line "earn this").  Just take one of those.  E.T. comes to earth, teaches, heals wounds--visible and invisible, is captured, dies, ressurrects, and flies back home. 

More recently, there is Wall-E who opens the eyes of passengers aboard the Axiom to the real world that they haven't paid attention to in their entire lives, focused instead on constant media and pampering to the point of total laziness.  He then sacrifices his own existence to save this ship of fools filled with the descendents of the people who left him behind 700 years before without a thought.  Wall-E has something of a ressurrection as well.

Other examples of this are Harry Potter (who allows himself to die in order to save others), Aslan the Lion (whose sacrifice saves an entire world), Andy Dufrense (from the Shawshank Redemption who crawls through a sewer pipeline and comes out "clean on the other side" as the narrator of the film says), and of course the three major figures of the Lord of the Rings (Gandalf--who sacrifices himself for the fellowship, dies, and comes alive again to greater power; Aragorn--the King with healing in his hands, and Frodo--the frail, suffering being who climbs a hill with a great burden to destroy a great evil).

All of these analogies break down at some point of course, but the point is this:  the Savior is everywhere you look, even in our stories and entertainment.  If we can see Him there, we must also seek to find Him in our world.  In the sacrifices of everyday people, in the faces of those in need, and hopefully in ourselves.  To the people we come in contact every day, we may be the only Jesus they encounter.  And though we are filled with weakness, God has chosen us to be Jesus for them and He doesn't have a Plan B. 

On day 5 of lent (because Sundays are celebrations of Christ's ressurrection and don't count into the 40 days of lent) look for Jesus.  You might be surprised where you find Him.

I Gotta Be Me

This morning, one of my favorite movies was on TCM, so I spent my Saturday morning snuggled up with my oldest son, who was seeing it for the first time.  The movie was Singin' In the Rain, which is, in my opinion, the greatest movie musical ever.  There is so much energy, humor and just fun in it; mixed in with great songs, dance numbers, acting, beautiful photography, snappy dialogue...everything a great musical should have.  This morning, one scene in particular struck me.  Toward the end of the film there is a long sequence usually called "the modern sequence" or "The Broadway Melody."I have to admit, that I've always found the scene interesting if not a bit out of place in the larger picture of the movie.  Today, I found it not only great, but also somehow quite profound and moving. 

It begins with Gene Kelley dressed as a poor aspiring Broadway performer, just off the bus, knocking on agents' doors singing "gotta dance!" and having door after door slammed in his face.  A bit discouraged, he heads off to a nightclub where he is enchanted by a beautiful woman (Cyd Charisse) who he seems to have won over until a scarfaced mafia don, flipping a coin (an homage to the 1932 version of Scarface), lures her away with a diamond bracelet.  The young hoofer is then ushered into a stage door where he is seen climbing the rungs of stardom.  He walks into a high class nightclub where he is now the man with the wealth and the fame.  He spies the same woman once again and thinks he will be able to win her over with his newfound station in life, but she is still attached to her mafia don and flips a coin to our hero who slinks of into the street feeling empty.  A young man just off the bus, dressed exactly as he used to, catches his eye and he is reminded of his real joy.  And begins shouting into the streets "gotta dance!"

How easily we lose ourselves.  The troubles of life, and often the successes of life, distract us from the reason we pursued our passions in the first place.  God wants us to love what we love.  He gave us joy in our gifts and talents for a very good reason:  to serve Him with them.  What joy we can find in that service!  On this fourth day of lent, remember when we lose our way that God put the dance in our hearts, and we just need to remember why it was in the first place that we "Gotta Dance!"


By the way, my son was so entranced by the movie from beginning to end that he asked before the end if we could watch it again when it was over.  The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.

Preach It, Brother

On this third day of lent, I want to share a quote about God's attitude toward us from a classic work.

"I consider myself as the most wretched of men, full of sores and corruption, and who has committed all sorts of crimes against his King; touched with a sensible regret I confess to Him all my wickedness, I ask His forgiveness, I abandon myself in His hands, that He may do what He pleases with me.  This King, full of mercy and goodness, very far from chastising me, embraces me with love, makes me eat at his table, serves me with his own hands, gives me the key of His treasures; He converses and delights Himself with me incessantly, in a thousand and a thousand ways, and treats me in all respects as His favourite."  Brother Lawrence in Practicing the Presence of God.

We are each of so much worth to God.  He loves the individual with "a reckless, raging fury we call the love of God." (Rich Mullins "The Love of God")  Moreover, He loves the community of believers, the Church, so much that He gave His life up for it, cleanses her, and makes her His bride.  What glory we can find in this great gift.  An incomparable, inconceiveable, love that we must never doubt, or we make God out to be a liar.   

I know this is basic stuff, but we must keep His love before us always and be constantly reminded of its strength.  I hope this gives you encouragement today on this journey toward the Hill of God's ultimate display of forgiveness.

Give up, Take up

As I'm sure most of you know, it is customary to give something up for Lent.  I have to admit that I haven't done this in years.  Not because I don't think it's a good idea; Lent has just always snuck up on me and I haven't been able to come up with anything to give up.  Usually I hear things like "I'm giving up sweets" or "I'm giving up reality TV."  There is nothing wrong with that, of course, in fact those are pretty noble things to give up. 

As I got to thinking about lent and what I might give up (besides my job, but that was just a coincidence that I gave it up for Lent), I started to think about deeper things.  But instead of things to give up, I started to think about things to take up as well as give up.  Perhaps I can give up judgement and take up grace; give up conflict and take up peace; give up my comfort and take up service. 

Isn't this what Jesus called us to in every season?  In Luke 9:23 He says, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me."  The meaning of this verse gets mangled in our modern society.  We use the analogy to say that some ongoing sin is "my cross to bear."  This is not at all what Jesus is saying. 

He is saying that if we want to be his disciples we must be willing to take up a burden.  To be passionate about the things that He is passionate about.  To love and care for the poor, to give grace to the humble and compassion to all, to decrease that He may increase.  He is asking us to be willing to take on suffering.  To be willing to have our hearts broken by the brokenness of the world.  He is asking us to be willing to give up our very life.

And, like a true leader, He is not asking us to do anything that He wasn't willing to do Himself.  Our crosses are figurative, His was literal.  But the wonder of it all is that His compassion is so great that He gives us the better deal.  He carried His cross alone:  He carries ours with us.  He was despised and rejected:  He has given us a community (the Church) to help us bear each others burdens.  His burden bore down on Him:  He has given us a yoke that is "easy" and a burden that is "light." 

So, what will you take up for Lent?  If you're comfortable with sharing, let me know so I can pray for you and help bear the burden.    

Lent what to who?

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.  These 40 days leading to Ressurrection Sunday (that's what I like to call Easter, but I'll get to that later) are to be a time of reflection on the journey of Jesus to the cross.  It is a time to get real about who we are as people.  It is a time to see the darkness of our sin exposed by the light of Christ.  It is a time to lament.

In the American Church today, we are not particularly good at any of these things.  The idea of having our darkness exposed feels like an invasion of privacy--something we as Americans truly despise.  In some circles within the church, sadness is an admission of defeat; the lack of a smile, near blasphemy (just look at the cover of any Joel Osteen book).  Yes, the scriptures to call us to joy, but have we lost the distinction between joy and happiness?

I'm not trying to condemn, but I am trying to show that we need to experience seasons of life.  One of the most beautiful poetic passages in the scripture is in the often neglected book of Ecclesiastes:

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

     a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
     a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
    a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
     a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
     a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
    a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

 

How can we possibly just take the things we like.  How can we joy in birth without acknowledging our frailty.  How can we appreciate peace without the horror of war.  How can we know the joy of the dance without the ashes of mourning.  How can we know the wonder of forgiveness without the pain of confession.

 

This Lenten season, I invite you to join me on the journey to the cross.  Come with me as we explore what it means to mourn in order to experience joy; to suffer pain in order to experience the healing; to die in order to be raised to new life.

 

A good starting point on this journey is to spend some time in those portions of the Bible that are often neglected as being "depressing:"  the books of Ecclesiastes and Lamentations, the mourning and confessional Psalms like Psalm 51 among many others, if you've not recently read the Gospel accounts on Holy Week, read them again (Matthew 21-27, Mark 11-15, Luke 19:26-Luke 23, John 12-19.  Each of these passages end at the grave.  I encourage you to save the ressurrection passages until Easter morning.  I know it's hard, but try to place yourself in the place of the disciples and reflect on the lament of that time.)  As you read these sections, find the joy within them.  Find meaning in the words from Ecclesiastes that say "everything is meaningless."  Find hope in the laments of the exiled prophet.  Find renewal in the confessions of King David.  Find glory in the cross.  Find comfort in the tradional words of Ash Wednesday, drawn from Ecclesiastes 3:20:  "Remember, dust you are, and to dust you shall return."

The Persisting Vision

Back in the day, movies were commonly called motion pictures.  This is actually a very accurate description of what is happenning when we see a movie.  We are technically not actually watching anything move, but a series of still photos in rapid succession.  The reason this all works is because our eyes trick us into thinking we're seeing motion by a momentary delay in the senses called "persistence of vision."  There are some films that take this idea of pictures to a masterful level.  They could almost be called moving paintings.  Films that are so striking visually that they move us to the deepest parts of our souls.  Here are a few of my favorites.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968 directed by Stanley Kubrick)

I know a lot of people who have tried to watch this movie and just couldn't make it.  There is no doubt, it's long and slow; in fact, most of the movies I'm talking about here are long and slow.  I list this one first because, in some ways it is such a quinticential example of visual storytelling.  Music, sound effects, and image work together with very sparse dialogue to tell a simple, yet sweeping story about nothing less that who we are, where we came from and where we're going.  One of the issues with the movie that many find difficult is the sterility of the settings and the long takes and sequences of routine.  This is Kubrick's way of  taking a totally new direction in the 'spaceman' story.  Up until 2001, science fiction movies were action packed (and usually mediocre) space operas about the excitement of space travel, encountering strange creatures and blowing them up.  2001's approach is realism and the reality is this:  much of space travel is dull and routine.  Several NASA astronauts have even gone on record saying that 2001 is the most accurate depiction of space travel on film.  Of course, the great visual masterwork of the film is the final "stargate" sequence in which Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea) is hurtled through a portal of magnificent vision and scope that has been often imitated, but never duplicated, finally arriving in a place that ultimately hurtles him to be reborn as the next stage of human evolution.  Ironically, when athiest Stanley Kubrick was asked what 2001: A Space Odyssey is about, his reply was:  "God."  As a person who does believe in God, my perception of the film changed drastically after viewing it through this lense.  Despite all of it's dogmatic assertions about about evolution and the guides (and perhaps creators) of human beings being alien overlords, 2001 remains a monumentally spiritual movie experience.

Keir Dullea about to take the ultimate trip

 

If you get through 2001 give these a shot Solaris (1972 directed by Andrei Tarkovsky and don't bother with the Steven Soderbergh remake),  Star Trek:  The Motion Picture (1979 directed by Robert Wise--don't laugh!  This is a highly underrated, serious science fiction film that actually touches on many of the themes of existence central to 2001),  Blade Runner (1982 directed by Ridley Scott--the dark beauty of this film is unsurpassed.  Be sure to check out Alien and Prometheus also by Ridley Scott for more twisted beauty, especially the Alien work designed by H.R. Geiger.)  Wall-E (2008 directed by Andrew Stanton.  The best science fiction film in a decade is also the best love story in a decade and the best family film in a decade.  One of my favorites ever.)

The Red Shoes (1948 directed by Michael Powell and Emerich Pressburger)

 The Red Shoes was a life changing experience for me.  No, I didn't decide to become a ballet dancer, but I realized just how beautiful a movie can be.  I didn't expect to even watch the film in one sitting the first time I sat down to watch it.  After all, how much could I possibly like an old British movie about a ballet troupe.  The answer turned out to be:  a whole lot.  I could not pry my eyes away from this film for a second and this was seeing it on the lousy, faded, pre-restoration DVD.  Watching it again in its restored version on Blu-ray brought it to life even more.  The most conventially narrative film of those named here, the story is a simple, backstage story about a chorus dancer and a bohemian composer both rising to the height of fame in the ballet world and all the bumps along the way.  The execution is nothing short of astounding.  Much of the credit is due to Jack Cardiff, the legendary cinematographer, and his brilliant Technicolor photography on this and several other Powell/Pressburger films.  If you have never seen this film, trust me, take a chance and watch it.  I am generally not a fan of dance movies, but The Red Shoes jumped into my top ten favorite movies immediately after I finished watching it.

The Red Shoes influenced many, many films.  Here are a few others to check out.  Singin' in the Rain (1952 directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly and still the greatest movie musical of all time.  So much fun it should be illegal.)  An American in Paris (1951 directed by Vincente Minnelli--George Gershwin and Gene Kelley:  not a bad combination.  The American in Paris ballet sequence in particular is evocative of The Red Shoes.)  Black Swan (2010 directed by Darren Aronofsky.  I really like the first part of this movie.  I don't think it works as well when it heads into weirdsville at about the halfway point, but still worth a look.)

The Tree of Life (2011 directed by Terrence Malick)

The Tree of Life plays out like a person looking back on a long life experiencing snapshots of memory that shaped who they became most profoundly and finding that those things are not only the big events, but the details of life.  The death of a brother plays alongside planting a tree with a father and a mother washing her bare feet with a hose.  The film does no less than go back to the origins of the universe and forward to a heavenly reunion.  The sweeping epic is about the biggest questions most of us ask at one time or another:  why does God allow bad things to happen?  Why should I forgive?  Where is God when I am in pain?  It is important to note that the film begins with this quotation from Job 38:  "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the Earth, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" A moment that is echoed by the mother (magnificently played by the luminous Jessica Chastain--yeah, I think I may have a movie star crush) calls to God in prayer after the death of her son "where were You?"  This moment leads us into the breathtaking sequence starting with the creation of the universe and leading up to the very lives of individuals.  There isn't much use talking about the movie, it simply must be seen.  And be sure to take the advice of the text at the beginning of the video release and play the film loud.  The subtlty of the sound is as important as any of the magnificent visual elements.

There is really nothing else I can compare The Tree of Life to except for the possible exception of The Thin Red Line from 1998 also directed by Terrence Malick.

Metropolis (1927 directed by Fritz Lang)

One of my absolute favorite silent films (along wth Buster Keaton's The General), Metropolis stands as the greatest of the German Expressionist films of the 20's, which is quite a feat considering other Expressionist films like the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu.  It paves the way for all science fiction to follow from Frankenstein to Star Wars, its influence can be found everywhere.  The story deals with extremes in class.  The rich live in highrises in the beautiful city while the poor live and work as slaves underground, providing the works to the city above.  The images of totalitarianism evoke George Orwell's 1984 which would be published twenty-one years later.  The other major element is the story of a mad scientist (crazy hair, black glove and all--Dr. Strangelove anyone?) who toils to create a mechanical version of his dead wife.  The robot woman then leads a worker's uprising that threatens to destroy the city, but is stopped by our hero, who, in the end, manages to bring the workers and the rich together before the closing epigraph:  "The mediator between the head and the hands must be the heart."  If it sounds melodramatic, it's because it is.  Most silent films are, they are, after all, conveying story, theme, and everything else movies convey through facial expression and without dialogue.  Sure, title cards are a part of almost every silent, but only sparsely in the best of them.  Film is, after all, a visual medium and few films are as visual as Metropolis.  The visual effects still hold up and many of the methods used in the film are still in use today.  For decades, huge sections of the film were lost.  Recent discoveries around the world have restored virtually all of its original three hour length.  Thankfully, Fritz Lang kept meticulous notes which aided greatly in the reconstruction of this near perfect film.

After watching Metropolis, see how much it influenced other films like Frankenstein (1931 dir. James Whale) Dr. Strangelove:  Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964 dir Stanley Kubrick) and Star Wars (1977 Dir. George Lucas--you'll notice that C-3PO looks an awful lot like something that came before, and yes, it was on purpose.)

Ran (1985 directed by Akira Kurosawa)

I'll wrap up this post with a true masterpiece, created by one of the few true artists of the film medium.  Japanese master Akira Kurosawa's Ran (which, roughly translated means Chaos) is both sweeping and intimate, dealing with nations and family, old age and youth, war and peace.  It is a film of contrasts pitted against one another.  The plot is drawn loosly from Shakespeare's great tragedy King Lear and transplanted from pre-Christian England to feudal Japan on the cusp of modernity as the samurai began to set aside their bows and take up the rifle.  Like Lear, the story begins with an elderly ruler setting aside his power and divinding it among his three children (sons here, rather than daughters as in Lear), the youngest of whom refuses it and is therefore banished.  The old man, Lord Hidetora (Tatsuya Nakadai), is then betrayed by the two older sons (prodded to do so by the same conniving and vengeful woman played with luster by Mikeo Harada) and is himself sent into banishment along with his fool where he soon goes insane.  His only benefactors are people he severely hurt before relinquishing his power including a man he blinded who has become a beggar, a woman whose family he murdered and the very son he banished.  Like Shakespeare, Kurosawa cuts to the heart of human nature and holds the mirror up to life hoping that we can see the same flaws in ourselves, but make choices that will lead us into light rather than darkness.  Visually, there is little that compares with Ran.  Each shot is composed with a painter's eye.  In fact, Kurosawa, while trying to secure financing for the film, painted on large canvases each shot for what would become Ran, essentially storyboarding with oil and canvas each composition and every detail for the final product.  Despite its bleak subject matter, the film is one of the most beautiful, vibrant and colorful films ever made.  Yes, the film is subtitled and the performances are drawn from the classical Japanese noh theater style, which is very different from what is normally seen on film, but don't let that throw you.  Ran is truly one of the ultimate film viewing experiences.

Also check out Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000 dir. Ang Lee), Kwaidan (1964 dir. Masaki Kobayashi--a collection of traditional Japanese ghost stories) and Kagemusha (1980 also directed by Akira Kurosawa--sometimes called the dress rehearsal for Ran, Kagemusha is a great film in its own right).


This is just a start.  I haven't even touched on Citizen Kane, Vertigo, The Last Laugh, Apocalypse Now, and many, many other films that could be discussed in the category of great visual films.  So, if there's anything here you haven't seen, give it a shot and let me know what you think.

Stones Immaculate

I've been listening to the Rolling Stones a lot over the last few days.  This year marks 50 years for Mick and the boys.  It's pretty amazing that they've lasted this long...in more ways than one. 

There's a moment in one of my favorite music movies Almost Famous--which takes place in 1973--where Jimmy Fallon, playing Dennis Hope, prospective manager for the fictional startup band Stillwater, is conveying the short life expectancy of any band.  While doing an imitation of Jagger's signature moves, he says, "If you think Mick Jagger will still be out there trying to be a rock star at age fifty, then you are sadly, sadly mistaken."

Yes, that is Jimmy Fallon!

It's a funny line, sure, but what is it about the Stones that makes them endure while so many others fall by the wayside.  The only other band from their era that still tours at all is The Who and half their members are dead.  Obviously, it's not the original line-up of the Stones either, but who would have thought that Keith Richards would still be around today and not John Entwhistle (the Who's famously clean living bassist until he finally indulged in the rock-n-roll lifestyle in his 50's). 

I think what it all comes down to, really, is the songs and the magic of their comeraderie.  Sure there is the classic love-hate (or hate-love) dynamic that the sadists in us all like to see going on in the band, but it's always been the music that was the ultimate focus.  Song after song, album after album, decade after decade, the Stones have delivered songs of amazing quality and sheer infectiousness from "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" all the way up to "Don't Stop."  This rauckus band famous for gritty songs like "Brown Sugar" and "Street Fighting Man" also gave us the moving "Wild Horses" (covered by Susan Boyle for goodness sake!) and the intellectual (for a 60's rock band) "Sympathy for the Devil" and "Gimme Shelter."  The riffs are memorable,

the grooves are hot, the recordings and live shows are

rolicking events.  Happy Birthday Rolling Stones and here's 

to another 50 years because Keith Richards is going to outlive us

all--come on, you know it's true. 

Welcome to my Brain...

So, I'm Brian and these are my Brainwaves.  I thought about calling this blog "Brianwaves," but I thought people might think it was about surfing or something.  Many (or most) of the Brainwaves I'll be sharing are about movies, books, music, and faith.  Maybe that's your thing, maybe not, but we'll have some fun together if you're up for it.

I'm at a place and time in my life where I don't know what on earth I'm doing...and somehow I don't think I'm the only one in that position.  Since I don't have a job, my time will be filled with other things:  family, reading, movies, and now, writing.  (I'm sure a few other things will creep in from time to time.  What can I say, I'm a man of simple pleasures).  Don't worry, I'm not a writing novice, I do have a sense of what I'm doing; this won't be completely aimless or something.  I hope this can be a forum to talk (civally please) about things on our minds.  Maybe we can start a conversation about the big stuff and the small stuff, but mostly about the fun stuff. 

This is a new adventure for me...let's Indiana Jones this sucker!