Fixing Lars

"Lars and the Real Girl" is a great movie. Dysfunctional guy buys sex-doll and relates to her as if she's real, but over time finds himself longing for something more alive than latex can provide; it might not sound very compelling, but it somehow is. Casting, acting, script, and direction all combine to create a film so well executed that I was completely drawn in.

"Lars", though, isn't really about Lars very much at all, and certainly not about latex lady. The main theme seems to be centered around the question, "How do we support, help, and empower those with mental illness to move towards healing?" That, of course, is a big question, answered by both the "Lars" film, and another recent film ("Reign Over Me"), in the same way: friendship and acceptance.

In both movies the theme seems to be that healing will happen, in its time, if the right conditions are provided for such. The right conditions, we learn, are: support, unconditional acceptance, love, and relationship. It was beautiful to see the community gather around "Lars" and play along, welcoming the doll into their small town as a genuine member of their community. Indeed, scene after scene illustrated the healing capacities a community can have when, together, they love those in their midst who are in need.

It's all very good and touching. But as much as I loved the movie, when it was over I found myself saying, "Really? Does it really work to simply play along with people's delusions until they come to sense reality? Is that really how this is supposed to play out? Are we supposed to let those who are stuck in fantasy world's remain stuck until, on their own, they see the destructive nature of it?"

I think of Nathan the prophet confronting David with his sin of adultery and subsequent cover up. Far from sharing a few beers and pretending that all is well, Nathan points his bony finger at David and accuses him. Paul does the same thing with Peter. Jesus does the same thing with his disciples...more than once.

No, I don't think that the road to healing always includes jabbing a finger into someone's chest and poking hard until they see the truth. But I don't think it always includes playing along with fantasies either. My problem resides in knowing when 'accept' and 'play along' and when to confront; when to speak and when to be silent. Surely love demands both responses, depending on the circumstance, but knowing which response is appropriate requires more than love; it requires wisdom.

Useless Beauty - An Aid for Ecclesiastes

If you're studying Ecclesiastes, and want to see how the text illustrates an interfaces with contemporary film, I'd recommend the book Useless Beauty. Several of these movies might find their way into this sermon series, but even if you don't have time to watch them, you'll find good synopsis in these chapters, as well as interplay between story and text.

Ecclesiastes, digested properly, leads to a most hopeful life - hopeful because it is rooted in a reality that refuses to lapse into either despondency or naive optimism. As I shared in the sermon, both options are the worst possible. The third way is a way that lives fully, every day, enjoying the gifts, and facing the losses - all the while holding on to the Source of life.

Carpe Diem...

As your own poets have said...

In Acts 17, when Paul wants to share Christ with the Athenians, he doesn't begin with Old Testament prophecy or history because that would be like opening a sermon in Nepal with an illustration taken from the Super Bowl. It's a matter of emotional intelligence more than anything else; the simply capacity to get inside the head of the hearer and share truth in a way that they'll be able to receive. We need this when we teach, and we need it when we marry and raise children.
The next time I want to explain to people how embedded demonic evil is in this world, I could talk about Daniel's prayers and the messenger who was delayed in bringing a response because he had to do battle with "Prince of Persia", but that might seem, for some, a little arcane. I could quote from Walter Wink's fine book: "The Powers that Be", but that too is overly theological for most people's liking. So the next time I want to explain the realm of principalities and powers to someone in an educated, movie going culture like Seattle I'll just say: "Watch Michael Clayton."

Finely written and acted, this is a film that reveals how the synergy of individual choices, each made for the purpose of preserving self-interest, conspire to create a monstrous evil that is larger by far than any individual would ever desire. I'm on the edge of my seat as it dawns on me what's going to happen, and then when it actually does I'm nearly sick to my stomach. Not for the faint of heart, the graphic language and sexual references bring a harsh dose of reality to the whole narrative. A little gambling here, a little shading of truth in a lawsuit there, a little learning how to script lies so as to gain a promotion (all for good of course, because perhaps my children need to go to a good college, or I need to fly to New Zealand for vacation and see where Lord of the Rings was filmed) - the convergence of innocuous looking evil germinates into dark destructive forces.

If you're trying to understand principalities and powers, if you're wondering who might win best picture, if you're trying to give flesh to the concept of the phrase "we live in a fallen world", then watch Michael Clayton. As our own poets have said...

Digest Amazing Grace

Don't just watch it. Watch it and learn a little history so that you know that there was a time when someone, on the basis of Christian conviction, stood against the overwhelming tide of a Christian nation in order to bring the social implications of the gospel to bear on society. Here was a person who understood the gospel's implications on:

1. the slave trade - that the dignity of each human is more valuable than the economic advantages of a few, gained by oppression.

2. the rush to war - that the lives of soldiers are vital enough, valuable enough, that all means of diplomacy should be fully exhausted before attempting war.

3. politics - that Christ and His kingdom reign, which invites justice for all, and the end of oppression for all people, must be a vision which spills out beyond the walls of our private lives and into the world we live, through art, literature, politic, music, education, health care reform, and more.

4. patience - because the real emancipation came 22 years after the first introduction of the issue in the House of Parliment. Between start and finish there were setbacks, opposition, discouragement, challenge. But William and others "ran with patience" the race that was set before them. So should we.

Each of the four elements above have very real application in the present, and so it seems to me that this a movie for our day. There's a scene in a worship service, where the pastor begins to speak about the necessity to end the slave trade and people walk out. "Give us salve for our spirits. Tell us we're forgiven. Keep it on a spiritual plane. But don't speak to us about the implications of the gospel on our pocketbooks, or our energy consumption, or the dangers of nationalism." Such mindsets among the faithful too often keep the salt and light of the gospel from becoming visible.

But Wilberforce kept going, holding forth the torch of truth in the midst of hostility. It's an encouraging example to me.

Wilberforce said: "I have two concerns: The suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of society"

Ranting about the caricature

I find it annoying that the artists of our world pick on fundamentalists. For an illustration of this you can watch "Driving Lessons", a British movie about a young by raised by what the cover of the DVD calls an 'evangelical Christian'. This evangelical mother wears a plastic smile, is rude, manipulative, fearful, deceptive, and clearly cruel. So once again, pop culture presents the fringe fanaticism at the wacky edge of the evangelical movement as 'normative'. It is from her oppressive regime that the son must break free which, of course, is the main theme of this coming of age film. He finds an alternative reality in the wild adventures of a burnt out alcoholic actress who, we are led to believe, is the one who really understands life as it's meant to be lived: a mystery which you celebrate when you can, and escape from through binge drinking when you can't.

So here's my rant: I completely understand how easy these fringe elements are to pick on. I'm as frustrated with them as anyone (did you read the previous post a few days ago about the convention in Everett?). But because the arts community paints people of Christian faith almost universally with this fanatic, fringe brush, many in our world lump all people of faith into this category. It's why sometimes, when I travel, I don't want to tell people what I do until after I've had a good bit of conversation with them. I want them to know that Christians can enjoy poetry, be politically informed, care about environmental degradation, and read the NY Times. More than once, people have said, "you don't fit my notion of a pastor", which has sometimes led to conversations about where they got their notion of what a pastor is, of what a Christian is. That's when it comes out; the parody portrayed in mainstream media has become 'the norm' in people's minds. Books like the Poisonwood Bible, the Brothers K (one of my favorite books), well written books by authors I respect, paint pictures of the faithful that reinforce this sorry caricature. Film, literature, television, the vision of Christianity as boring, petty, controlling, is relentlessly reinforced.

That's like saying that all baseball players are Barry Bonds, all female pop-starts Britteny Spears. Jamie Moyer is more common than Barry Bonds. And Christians who pray, love their neighbor, care for the poor, and interact with their culture are... what do you think? Common? Rare? Love to hear your thoughts! And would love to learn of good film and literature providing an alternative view!

Whatever we think though, it seems that our calling should include word recovery, so that words like church, Christian, and believer can be recovered from the trash heap upon which they've been thrown.

Another Great Movie

No weddings this weekend... so I watched a movie. I hope you'll watch Avenue Montaigne. It's a well put together French film about a time and place where several lives intersect, offering a glimpse into the lives of several people, and powerful commentaries on aging, love, loss, careers, and other things that matter a great deal.

When the pianist plays for the cancer patients... well, it's simply one of the best elements I've ever seen in film, but that could well be the bias of a piano player clouding the assessment. I often enjoy French films because they don't moralize. They don't say, "this person is good, and that person is bad." Instead they simply tell the story, and in the story you find beauty and ugliness, fear and courage, scattered throughout the characters. I wish more American films were made this way.

I'd love to read Ecclesiastes aloud with a few friends, and then watch this film -the things that matter.

The Lives of Others

We had a young woman who happened to be visiting us in 1989 precisely when the wall came down in Berlin. She was from west Germany, but the demise of totalitarianism in the east was no less significant for her, and somehow my friendships forged with Germans over the years have made the subject of East Germany a more personal matter.

So it was that I looked forward to seeing "The Lives of Others" and finally was able to do so this past week when it came out on DVD. It was, for me, by far the best movie of the summer. Ironically, in a movie whose main text is presented as an expose of intrusive listening and the violation of privacy, the more powerful message of the movie was about seeing - in particular about the realities related to the subject of redemption. Why is it that some people can go along a certain track in their lives, a destructive track, and then suddenly see with great clarity - while others, party to the same data and revelations, never end up "seeing" and remain blind to their own oppressions, addictions, and destructive behaviors.

Of course, Jesus spoke of those who had eyes but could not see. What he never seems to explain adequately is the why of blindness. I know that he speaks of people's love of darkness rather than light - but that doesn't go deep enough. I know that he goes deeper and says, "because their deeds were evil" but even that doesn't really satisfy me. ALL of us do evil deeds - and yet some of us snap out of it - at least for a moment, perhaps for a lifetime. We step back and see what we're doing - see who we've become and recoil in horror. Or.... we never get it - remaining forever stuck in darkness.

I can't say much more without giving the movie away - but suffice it to say that it's about both listening and seeing - about when pragmatism must give way to authenticity, and the ethical dilemmas that surround us when we're making choices about how to behave in a world that is broken and fallen, even as we ourselves are broken and fallen.

I've been to East Germany - and had numerous conversations with people who grew up there. But I don't think this personal knowledge is the basis of appeal for me with this movie - it's the story - and all the questions it approaches without resorting to trite or preachy answers. I hope you'll watch it - and offer your answer to the question: Why do some see and others remain blind?

The writing ‘life’

Sorry about the sparse entries for the past little bit. It’s a very busy season: 3 weddings in the next 4 weeks; The impending start of a new ministry year with all that entails, and a publishing deadline for a book I’m writing. It’s that last one that has occupied me most heavily this past week. I’ve been hiding away at a cabin, writing a third of a day, exercising another third (hiking, biking, about the go running up at the Mt. Baker ski area), and reading or watching movies the other third.

About the writing – I’m amazed at how easily it flows... sometimes. During those times I feel as if I’ve been writing for only a few minutes and I look at the clock and realize it’s been three hours. Other times, inspiration comes agonizingly slowly. I look at the clock it’s been fifteen minutes, but felt like three hours. “Inspiration” is a word I use pretty loosely in this context, because often I’ll go back and read what I was working on and think, who wrote that dribble? Sadly, it was me.

Largely though, I very much enjoy the discipline of writing as another means of giving shape to ideas and sharing them with others. I’m finding that I write better if I write more often, but that the writing needs, in my case, to be balanced with input: reading, movies, time in creation. Over the past week, while I’ve been in hiding, I’ve finished book six of Harry Potter (unbelievable!… I think there will be a twist in book seven whereby…wait… don’t want to give it away) Useless Beauty, a book about movies and Ecclesiastes, and the movie “Love Actually”. Richard Curtis, the writer/director of that movie was interviewed last week at the conference I attended, and I wanted to watch it. If you’ve not seen it, I’d recommend it as a shining example of both our longings to connect, and the barriers that prevent us from doing so. He’s a very interesting fellow, deeply committed to issues of justice and poverty (writer of another great movie: Girl in the Cafe, and terribly creative. His interview gave me a whole new appreciation for what are usually called, “chick flicks”.

It’s been a very good time away, as I’ve come to realize what a joy it is when all the pieces of my life are linked. The outdoor pursuits, the love of books and movies, and writing have all kind of melted together this week, each drawing on the other for various resources. Such seasons are a gift indeed! The sad part is that I’ve still a fair bit of work to do before completing the book, and there’s a publishers deadline looming in about 5 weeks! Off for a run… more later.