Category Archives: Movies

Advent Prayer Day 6 – A Lament for the George Baileys

06 Saturday Dec 2014

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imageGod, it’s falling apart.
Money.  Love.  Everything.
Reputations are on the line.
It’s all a huge failure.
Life.
It’s not the way it was planned.

No more.
There is no future.
We can’t go on any longer.

Why does it matter if we are here.
If you are here or I am here or we are here.
What if I wasn’t born?
Would the world be better?

Unlike the lights of Advent
There is no hope in George Bailey’s land.
Would anyone care
If this George Bailey wasn’t around.
Would this life matter?
Would the world miss us?

And then we see it…
The ripples from our own little lives
How wonderful!
The waves clashing with other waves
Knowing that our life mattered.
Trusting that the sea or lake or sky
Would be different without us.

God who sits in the dust of depressive days
And dusk’s dimness,
Shine that light on our lives-
The one that helps us see the purpose
And the ripple-effect from our fingers.

May the one praying fervently
For direction,
For meaning,
For anything else that keeps them alive,
See the light within themselves-
The one that will see them into tomorrow’s dawn.
The one that keeps the universe moving.

There is a unique flame within you
That lights the world in a special way.

Advent Prayer Day 3 – A Charlie Brown Christmas Prayer

02 Tuesday Dec 2014

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1292306774God of the shadows and grey-snow days,
Hear the echoes in our souls
And the empty rings in the hallow chambers of our hearts.

For those who have the Charlie Browniest lives
Who can’t find the happiness in holidays,
And open empty mailboxes each and every day.
“I know I should be happy but I’m not.”

We cry to you, God, when we don’t feel loved,
When we feel like failures,
When we are engulfed in fears,
And when we feel the world would be better without us.

It doesn’t matter if the if the doctor is in
Or the friend is in
Or if joy is in.

There is no joy.
Our tree is sparse just like our spirits.

May those who can’t shake their inner Charlie Brown-
Who can’t form a smile in their souls-
Find the purpose of their lives,
The splendor of the season
And the love of a friend.

Inspired by Charlie Brown Christmas, 1965

Robin Williams, What Dreams May Come and Psalm 139

11 Monday Aug 2014

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Robin Williams. By John J. Kruzel/American Forces Press Service (Americasupportsyou.mil article) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Like many of you right now, I’m processing the death of actor Robin Williams.  His comedic timing and infectious energy permeated our hearts.  Reading many status updates in the past two hours, I see that this one death has left a very large hole in our culture.

It breaks my heart that someone who brought joy to thousands of others has endured a silent struggle with mental health issues.

In remembering his life, we tend to recall lighter comedies like Aladdin or Mrs. Doubtfire or significant mentor roles like Mr. Keating in Dead Poets Society or Sean McGuire in Good Will Hunting, overlooking some of Robin’s performances in lesser known roles.

In 1998, Robin Williams led the cast of What Dreams May Come, a feature film about a man who risks his soul to rescue his wife, Annie.  His character loses both children to a car accident, and then Chris himself dies in a similar manner. His wife cannot escape her depression.  She commits suicide to escape her life of pain.

On the other side of heaven, he hears that his wife decided to take her own life and that she is confined to hell.  Determined to be reunited and rescue her from her self-imposed eternal damnation, Chris sets out to explore each layer of heaven and hell to find her.

He uses every bit of his afterlife energy, and in her own Sheol, a shadow-filled underworld, he finds her.

Many in our society believe that people who kill themselves bring upon themselves eternal damnation or a self-imposed confinement to hell.  Yet I believe that God is much like Chris in What Dreams May Come: searching for us, sitting with us in Sheol and helping us find a way out.  God knows that mental illness is just that: an illness.  And God never abandons us no matter what illness and no matter if we are barely thriving on this earth or barely existing in the afterlife.  God’s pursuing love is chasing us on every level of the afterlife to help lead us to heaven.

Psalm 139:7-12 says the following:

“Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night’,
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.”

And that’s where I believe Robin Williams is: with God.  That’s where I believe all people who commit suicide are.  There is no afterlife hell for people who struggle with mental illness and commit suicide.  God’s grace is bigger than any condemnation or judgment.  God knows of Robin’ pain, and God is doing everything that God can do to be with him right now – from Sheol to heaven and everywhere in between.

Many people including some of you reading may be contemplating suicide because the pain feels too great.  However, there is help and hope if you struggle with depression or other mental illness.  Your life is valuable to many people.  Visit the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline website at http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ or call (800) 273-TALK (8255).  

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In God’s Eyes

28 Monday Jul 2014

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20140728-122211.jpg

 

This post is based on a sermon delivered at St. Paul United Church of Christ on July 27, 2014.

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love. ~~ 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

It was a cinematic grand romantic gesture that has been spoken about and referred to in pop culture throughout the past 25 years.  In the movie Say Anything, Lloyd Dobler, played by John Cusack, stands outside of his ex-girlfriend’s window at dawn holding a boombox over his head, playing the song “In Your Eyes,” in the attempt to win her back.

The act has been imitated in pop culture again and again.  It’s a very sweet deed.  Maybe a teen or twentysomething would think that this is the greatest act of love, and as a young person, we would expect someone to hold up a boombox outside of our window to win us over.  Maybe at 16, when this movie was released, I would have believed that this was the ultimate act and display of love.

But is this love?  And why do we see this surface love in so many movies and pop culture references?

Let’s move from the grand gesture of standing outside of a window with a boombox overhead to the song that’s playing on that boombox.  A few years before the movie came out, musician Peter Gabriel released the song “In Your Eyes” which was featured in that scene.

The lyrics of the song resound a love that goes deeper into the heart of God, a love that’s more than a grand romantic gesture:

“In your eyes
The light, the heat
In your eyes
I am complete
In your eyes
I see the doorway
To a thousand churches
In your eyes
The resolution
In your eyes
Of all the fruitless searches

Oh, I see the light and the heat
In your eyes
Oh, I want to be that complete
I want to touch the light
The heat I see in your eyes”

Both this song and today’s scripture are reminders of this complete self that exists in God’s eyes, and the hope to see each other through God’s grace-filled, unconditional loving lens.

Today’s text is one that is often read at weddings.  It was probably read at many of your weddings and if not, you have undoubtedly heard it at a wedding.  Unfortunately, the most important part, at least in my belief, is often left out.  Some people stop reading the text at the point where it says “love never ends.”  To me, the most sacred part follows this.  The text reads: “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face.  Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.”  I believe this is an extremely important piece of scripture to be read at every wedding.  It’s a great reminder to a couple that you won’t see each other as God sees you all of the time, and it’s something you’ll have to work at over and over again.  In this lifetime, we see God, our neighbors and ourselves through that dimly lit mirror.

Granted, true unconditional love is patient and kind, not envious, boastful, arrogant or rude.  But there is something deeper about this love that we are called to have – not only with our significant other but with all people.  It’s a love we can experience when we use God’s lens in seeing one another.

The second most important piece of this text, again in my belief, is the verse “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.”  The love we experience and give will transform over time.  Sure grand romantic gestures are a wonderful and refreshing surprise in a relationship – even in a marriage after 25 or 40 years.  But our understanding of love continues to evolve as we grow and as we continue to set aside our childish ways.  When we are a young person, we think love is the feeling we have when we fall in infatuation the first time.  We want to hold boomboxes over our heads as we proclaim to the world how we feel about this person.  But love is much much more than a feeling.  Our view of love continues to transform from fireworks going off in our hearts to something deeper – a relationship which indicates that we are trying to see the other person from the lens of God’s unconditional love.

The third most significant piece of this text in my view is the verse “It  bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”  The amount of hope that is in this verse can transform any type of relationship from one that could fall apart to one where possibilities can happen.  Looking through the eyes of God to our loved one, our neighbor, a stranger and our enemy brings about possibilities that we may never thought were possible, including healing and peace.

In our marriages and all sorts of relationships, we’re going to mess up.  We’re going to be our awkward, messy selves.  The question is: will the people who matter see us as God sees us?  Over time, we realize that in our health and in our illnesses, people show us love.  In our deepest grief and in our greatest celebrations, people are around to love us.  Love is greater than the chaos in our lives.  The people who see us in just the slightest way God sees us will stick by us in almost any situation.  They will see a more complete version of ourselves

The reaches of love as refer to by Paul extend to all sorts of relationships.  From that of a married couple to the relationship between Christian brothers and sisters, this love is one that calls for us to look through the lens of God’s eyes, to continue to grow in the way we look at love and to hold on to hope even when relationships seem hurt or broken.

How have you looked at someone through the eyes of God recently?  How did it change your view of them?  How have you looked at your spouse or significant other lately?  What about your children, other family members or friends?  And how about the person you can not stand?  If you were to close your eyes right now and put on your God-glasses, how could your relationships grow stronger?

Yes, God is the God of romantic gestures, of boomboxes overhead as music plays at dawn to woo a lost love.  God is the God who would hold the boombox outside of our window to draw us to Her or Him.  God is the God of weddings, of romantic moments that refresh us and first loves.

And God is the God of dimly lit times in marriages and shadow-filled friendships, of sickness and bad times, in poverty and loss.  God is the creator of hope and endurance in our relationship journeys.  God is the one who helps us see that we are complete in each others eyes.

May we embrace the romantic love of youth and the deep love that we find in the dimly lit spaces.  And may you find the lens of God to see others as God sees all of us.  Amen.

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Being a Neighbor in the Wilderness

07 Friday Mar 2014

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From Wikimedia Commons

This post is based on a sermon preached at an ecumenical Ash Wednesday service on March 5, 2014 at Hope Lutheran Church, Cincinnati.

Last week, I watched the movie Gravity.  In the film, Dr. Ryan Stone is on a space mission with about four other astronauts.  A satellite orbiting earth has been blown up, and now the remaining pieces are flying at high speeds towards their ship.  As the initial fragments propel towards them, it permanently damages the ship and leaves three of the astronauts dead.  One other astronaut is alive, and he is able to catch up with her and tether himself to her.  Eventually, however, he knows that the two of them will die if they continue to be tethered.  So he releases himself from her, and she remains on her own in space.

Dr. Stone can’t reach by radio Houston, so there’s no communication to or from earth.  The emergency pods in the International Space Station are damaged, so she can’t use them to return to home.  There are other possibilities to return to earth, but, again, Dr. Stone is working completely alone with damaged equipment.

Dr. Stone is in the wilderness.  It may seem different than a wilderness than any of us have experienced.  On top of this, Dr. Stone has lost everyone she had started the journey with because of the hurling fragments of satellite.  She is completely isolated from any other living thing, any of life’s comforts and the protection of technology.

This level of isolation reminds me of the wilderness that Jesus could have endured for days and nights on end.  The story goes that the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness.  Jesus had no supplies, had no friends in the midst of this journey and fasted from basic needs.  Like Dr. Stone, he is in the middle of no where, feeling distracted by tests and disruptions.

Like Jesus and like Dr. Stone, is no doubt in my mind that each of us are going to journey through wildernesses at various points of our lives.  Sometimes it will be a wilderness of grief or a wilderness of physical illness.  Other times, it will be one that might be from mental illness like depression or anxiety, and we don’t think anyone else can relate.  As our journey in pain continues, we may isolate ourselves more and more and inflict wilderness on ourselves.

There are some of us who enjoy extended times alone.  But imagine having no source of neighbor as we go through some of life’s roughest moments.  There is no one to talk us down from our anxiety, no one to physically be present and no one to even give us insight on how to make the wilderness more tolerable.

Unlike Dr. Stone and unlike Jesus, unlike what we’ve even experienced in the past, when we endure a wilderness, we don’t have to go through it alone.  We have our neighbors.  And if we keep our eyes open, we may see that God is also present.

This is the joy of the love of neighbor: knowing that we can journey through the good times and rough times together.  We are not alone in a desert.  We are not alone in space.  We are here in the midst of community, part of the body of Christ and part of a covenantal body.   We have others pointing to the presence of God in our midst.

Granted sometimes people pull away from us when we’re in a wilderness.  Or we pull away from others.  Sometimes we feel no one can understand our pain.  And even when we are in the depths of the wilderness, it’s hard to see that God is forever present with us.

I remember that at one point in the movie, Dr. Stone says out loud “I don’t know how to pray.”  The fear of not knowing how to pray could keep us from reaching out to God.  But God doesn’t care what we say or even how we say it, and it doesn’t have to be the most beautifully crafted prayer.  It just needs to be a conversation, because God is already fully present and is trying to let this Divine presence be known to us.

Furthermore, there’s a good possibility that many of us aren’t in the wilderness.  So what if we’re the ones who don’t feel isolated by life’s trials but God is calling us to attend to someone who is?  In our call to love our neighbor as ourselves, were asked to serve our neighbors with an open heart, mind and soul and to exit our comfort zones.  Maybe we don’t know what to say to them.   Maybe we want to place ourselves far away from them because we can’t understand their pain.   Staying far away from someone in distress is easy.  But that’s not part of our call in being a neighbor.

Being a neighbor means placing ourselves in discomfort.  It means speaking to someone we’ve never spoken to before.  It means listening even though we may want to talk, talk, talk and give advice.  It means not running away from our calls from God.  It means keeping ourselves in community, even when we completely do not agree with their beliefs or their life.  And it means entering the wilderness with someone else.

This why some of our churches of different denominations are gathering together during this Lent and focusing on what it means to be a neighbor.  It’s to connect with others at different spaces in their lives as we reflect together during this sacred journey of Lent.  It’s realizing that we have neighbors close to us, and that God is also our neighbor when we are in a desolate space.

In the next few weeks, we’ll reflect on what it means to be neighbor in different situations.  We’ll think about our time as literal neighbors – with those down the street or next door.  We’ll look at our virtual neighbors, how we act online as we comment on posts or pray with others in social media.  We’ll consider what it means to be coworker, classmate, or caregiver as neighbor.  We’ll reflect on being neighbors with other churches or people who may believe differently than we do.  And we’ll place ourselves as neighbors with God’s other children across this beautiful world.

And maybe we’ll see how God is asking us to bring our literal, virtual, coworker, classmate, ecumenical and worldwide neighbor out of the wilderness or sit with them as they endure tragedy.

This Lent, let us find ways to help someone else through their wilderness.  Let us celebrate with others when it’s time to celebrate.  Let us cry with others when it’s time to mourn.  But know that we’re never alone.  No matter what our beliefs, which church we attend or where we live… if we’re in space, in a desert or in our homes… we are neighbors on this journey through the wilderness and beyond.  Amen.

Our Ideal Selves… Transfiguration Sunday

02 Sunday Mar 2014

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This post is based on the text Matthew 17:1-9.

Lupita Nyong’o

Tonight, those of you watching the Academy Awards, or Oscars, will see someone nominated for one of her first roles: Lupita Nyong’o.  For those who may not know, she is a supporting actress in the movie 12 Years a Slave.  Lupita’s parents were from Kenya, and she is of Luo descent.

Recently, Lupita was awarded the Best Breakthrough Performance by Essence magazine.  When receiving the award, she gave a very moving speech on the beaming dark color of her skin.

When we see African American women on television and in movies, we often see women who are extremely light-skinned.  Yet Lupita’s skin is darker than most women we see in the media.  Growing up, she was discouraged by her skin color, praying that God would change that part of her:

“I remember a time when I too felt unbeautiful. I put on the TV and only saw pale skin, I got teased and taunted about my night-shaded skin. And my one prayer to God, the miracle worker, was that I would wake up lighter-skinned. The morning would come and I would be so excited about seeing my new skin that I would refuse to look down at myself until I was in front of a mirror because I wanted to see my fair face first. And every day I experienced the same disappointment of being just as dark as I was the day before. I tried to negotiate with God, I told him I would stop stealing sugar cubes at night if he gave me what I wanted, I would listen to my mother’s every word and never lose my school sweater again if he just made me a little lighter. But I guess God was unimpressed with my bargaining chips because He never listened.”

Eventually, through the slowly changing image on television, Lupita began to see beauty in a very different way.  She said “finally, I realized that beauty was not a thing that I could acquire or consume, it was something that I just had to be… What is fundamentally beautiful is compassion for yourself and for those around you.  That kind of beauty enflames the heart and enchants the soul.”  Lupita radiates as she smiles and presents her authentic self wherever she goes.

If we watch the pre-Oscar Red Carpet tonight, we’ll see people who look like everyone else attending.  Most people will be white.  Overall, women are required to be thin.  The ideal is lighter skin, unless you are a pale white woman, and then you need a spray tan.  Men need to be tall.  They are allowed to age a little more gracefully, whereas women in Hollywood are almost required to cover up the gray.

Undoubtedly, we are in a culture where there is an ideal race, gender, sexual orientation, class level, religion and even marital status.  We hold those standards often forgetting that the image of God abides in those who look and act differently than we do.

Today is Transfiguration Sunday, the day we recall the story of Jesus radiating on the top of a mountain.  It also marks the end of Epiphany, a season which begins with the magi finding the light of Christ and ends on a mountaintop with a beaming Christ.  Epiphany is a season that helps us to recall that the light is among us, whether in an infant child, on the top of a mountain or within us, as we are the light of the world.

The definition of transfigure is to “transform into something more beautiful or elevated.”  Jesus, a seemingly ordinary man, has a face begins to shine before his followers.  The disciples present, Peter, James and John, see this overcoming beauty and want to keep “beaming Jesus” on that pedestal or in an elevated state.  But Jesus knew that’s not where he beamed the most.  It’s not where he was the most beautiful, and that light radiating on the mountain needed to be spread around, not just kept far from others.

He radiated the most as he gave dignity to the marginalized, healed the sick and fed the multitudes.  Jesus was his most ideal self when he was serving the children of God.

However, I believe the Gospels give us a story of a Jesus who wasn’t perfect when it came to his perception of others.  Remember story of the Syrophoenician woman (or, as Matthew’s Gospel refers to her, the Canaanite woman)?   His disciples had such disdain for this woman who was greatly concerned for her daughter.  Even Jesus questioned her background and pretty well referred to her as a dog.  In the face of Jesus, she stood up for herself, her value and dignity.  I believe Jesus’ greatest transfiguration was the moment that he could see the Canaanite woman for the beautiful person she was – even though she wasn’t of Jewish descent like him.  In his transformation, he was a light to the Canaanite woman in front of him.

One of my favorite texts in scripture is 1 Corinthians 13:12: “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face.  Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I am fully known.”

On this side of heaven we can’t see people in the way God sees them.  We can’t see ourselves in the ways God sees us.  So we create much heartache in judging others and ourselves through our human eyes.  In every part of my soul, I believe that on that side of heaven, when we can experience God in our fullest, we will see everyone’s best selves.

Maybe it’s time we stop thinking that one type of race, religion, gender, orientation or class is more beautiful and transfigured than another.  Maybe it’s time to stop judging others because God knows every single cell of their body and feeling in their heart.  Maybe who we think is a sinful or lazy person is the individual who God needs them to be right now.  Maybe it’s time for us to embrace what God was saying about Jesus – – that God is well pleased with all of us.

Sure, we all have growing edges.  We all have ways to improve ourselves.  It’s good to be aware of those ways and work towards correcting them.  But maybe what God is requiring of us is to work on ourselves, give ourselves abundant grace when we fall short and look through the lens of God’s eyes as we love our neighbors.

Because God loves us all so much for who are at this very moment.  God sees our ideal selves.

Our flaws could be some of the most beautiful parts about us.  We should look at ourselves as stunning no matter what size we are or what we’ve accomplished in life.  It’s time to affirm that our neighbors are beautiful no matter what their skin color, who they love, what type of work they do, how they identify with gender, how they celebrate the presence of God or how much money they have in the bank.

And in doing so, we will notice others glowing like the radiating Jesus on a mountaintop.

Between the Mountaintop and the Promised Land

19 Sunday Jan 2014

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IMG_2820One of my favorite genre of movies and literature involves dystopian communities or worlds.  Wikipedia defines dystopia as

“a community or society that is in some important way undesirable or frightening. It is the opposite of a utopia. Such societies appear in many artistic works, particularly in stories set in a future. Dystopias are often characterized by dehumanization, totalitarian governments, environmental disaster, or other characteristics associated with a cataclysmic decline in society. Dystopian societies appear in many sub-genres of fiction and are often used to draw attention to real-world issues regarding society, environment, politics, economics, religion, psychology, ethics, science, and/or technology, which if unaddressed could potentially lead to such a dystopia-like condition.”

I personally love to watch them because, for me, they are a filter, a pair of special lenses which allows all of us to see the gaps in our world.  Dystopian movies are creepy yet challenging.  They force me to analyze where my social status would be in their world and how I can bridge the gaps of injustices.

Last week, I watched the dystopian movie Elysium.  Throughout the story, there are two distinct living places – earth and an orbiting home in space called Elysium.  For those who can afford it, Elysium is a place where the rich live far away from the poor, a place where any disease and most injuries can be healed by a machine.  The humans on earth struggle to stay healthy, and they do not have access to such machines.  The people and corporations on Elysium use the much poorer people on Elysium to make a profit.  The people on earth are kept in check and even treated in a much harsher justice system than on Elysium.

As I watched the movie Elysium I wondered: Would I be on Elysium or on earth?  What would happen if everyone on earth had the same privileges as the humans on Elysium?  What would happen if people on our earth had the same basic privileges?

Another dystopian tale is The Hunger Games trilogy, and some of us went to see The Hunger Games:Catching Fire film in December.  In this story, their country is divided into 12 districts plus the capitol.  The people who live in the Capitol are not required to enter the games; however, the games are entertainment for them.  They live in excess with flowing food, entertainment and drink.  Their clothing and makeup style is surreal while those in the districts live in poverty and must fight to stay alive.

The Hunger Games makes me wonder: Which district would I live in, or would I live in the Capitol?  What would happen if everyone in the districts earth had the same privileges as the humans at the Capitol?

In our society, we think we’re so far ahead of the curve but there are so many “isms” like racism and sexism that keep the playing field far from equal.  I’m still getting to know the racial climate of Cincinnati, so I’m going to speak to my experience in St. Louis.  The areas of north city and north county are predominantly African American while the areas of south county and west county are predominantly white with west county being wealthy white people.  White flight still happens.  People fear when others of another color move into their neighborhood.  Instead of getting to know their neighbors, they only see color.

East St. Louis, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, was known for the white flight back in the 60’s and 70’s.  When I’ve driven through parts of East St. Louis in the past few years, it feels like it’s another country – one ravished by war and poverty.

Furthermore, my friends at Eden Seminary felt uncomfortable going off of campus as people of color were often pulled over in Webster Groves.  Even Webster Groves had unofficial segregation: a predominantly white area and predominantly African American area.  As I am white, segregation and discrimination wasn’t something that I experienced, so all seemed fine from my position.  By my seminary friends sharing their experiences and their fears of simply stepping off campus, my eyes opened to the area’s dreadful reality.

As this is the remembrance of Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday, opportunities open up for us to reflect on racial justice issues.  I know this time of year gives me pause to ask myself how I could better stand up against unjust systems.  While I may not be intentionally a racist, I must still ask in what ways do my thoughts and life choices hurt people who are racial and ethnic minorities?  Are there things I could do to stand up against these unfair systems?  How are my sins of neglect and indifference hurting my neighbor with less privilege and the Body of Christ?

I thank God that in every generation, we have people who are willing to be prophets, to teach us how to better treat our neighbors.  They are willing to stand up to the unjust systems even to the point of death.  Of course, we have Jesus the Christ, the one who taught us how to love one another, how to risk when our surroundings are full of injustice and how to give dignity to the expendables in our society.

The prophets of the Hebrew Bible stood up for the poor, widows, orphans and aliens.  Throughout time, we’ve had people risk life and reputation to stand up for what they believe.  Recently, these modern prophets include Mahatma Ghandi, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King, Jr. whose birthday we celebrate this weekend.

Granted, because of the leadership by people like Martin Luther King, Jr., official segregation washed away with the Civil Rights Act.  Separate water fountains and restaurant counters ceased.  Schools were integrated.

But there’s still unofficial segregation as we see when areas are predominantly inhabited by one color or another, or when the poor must choose between medication and food or when women make nearly 30% less than men when working, segregation still happens.

Yet the story is not over.  There is still hope, a hope that Jesus saw in his lifetime and a hope that King preached about right before he died.  King closes his final sermon by saying the following:

“Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

Deuteronomy 34 is the text in which King’s speech is referring.  The day before he is assassinated, King gives this speech in support of sanitation workers who were striking in Memphis.  The end of the speech is haunting.  King is resonating with Moses at the end of Moses’ life.  Moses never makes it to the promised land, much like King

Instead, it’s Joshua who leads them to the promised land.

Just as King was like Moses, are we called to be like Joshua – leading people to the promised land?  Are we the ones called to be a true prophet and risk our lives to make sure all in our society have equality and dignity?

When I was thinking of a title, I originally decided to go with “Still on the Mountaintop.”  But I was wrong.  We’re so much farther than the mountaintop.  We’re miles past the mountaintop.  But we still have a ways to go to see a true new heaven and new earth, an actual promised land.  And when people will stop being abused or murdered because of their race, ethnicity, religion, gender and sexual orientation, then we’ve gotten to the promise land.  We will have created the Kingdom of God of which Jesus often spoke.

Let’s learn from our history – whether it’s the history of this country or the history of humanity.  Let’s even learn from these crazy fictional dystopian stories by realizing that some people will always try to suppress the rights of others.  Humans often feel like someone needs to lose in order for them to succeed.  Maybe if we try to help all people succeed we will find our own success.  As it says in Jeremiah 29:7 “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”

That’s the type of vision King had for us and that’s the type of vision Jesus had for all of God’s children.  There are no segregated neighborhoods.  People aren’t arrested or pulled over based on the color of their skin.

So here’s our challenge today – working together to usher in the new heaven and new earth that’s mentioned in Revelation 21.   We are called to usher in the promised land where all live together in love.  Let us seek the welfare for all of the Body of Christ.

Can you see this promised land?  We’re so close now… Close your eyes and listen to the Spirit of God inside of you… you will find it.

The Snowball Effect of Shame

30 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by in Life, Movies, Pop, Pop Culture, Religion

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20131030-160603.jpgThere is nothing harder in this life than forgiving oneself.

We all make mistakes. It’s part of the human condition. The “fall of humans” didn’t start from a major mistake but one that snowballed from a minor, stupid choice. The major problem that arose from the disobedience wasn’t the disobedience itself but from the shame they took upon themselves when making that choice. It wasn’t “God, we make a terrible choice. We’re sorry. Let’s just keep moving forward.” No. When they truly came to terms of the missteps in their life, they hid from God.

It becomes a snowball effect.

The man then blames the woman for the choices they made. In turn, the woman points her finger at the snake. There was no owning their issues and asking to patch their relationship with God. Instead, they embraced blame instead of responsibility and shame instead of grace.

Remember the movie Thelma and Louise? Thelma nearly gets raped by a stranger in a bar. Louise ends up killing the man. As Thelma wants to go to the authorities about potential rape and murder that followed, Louise reminds her that they wouldn’t believe they were protecting themselves from assault. Instead, they find themselves on the run, knowing that if they were to get caught or turn themselves in, their lives would be spent in prison.

They continue to commit crime after crime in an effort to live free from a definite jail sentence. Eventually, they are forced to turn themselves in or drive off of the Grand Canyon. Thelma and Louise choose the latter as they decide their death equals freedom.

I wonder if they experienced moral injury when they killed Louise’s assaulter. If they would have given themselves grace for the choices they needed to make, could have found a different way of living?

Are we like Adam and Eve or Thelma and Louise? Whether we make a mistake consciously, were manipulated had to commit an act to save our lives, do we hang on to the guilt of that one incident forever? Do we let one incident in our lives dictate the rest of the way our lives go? Do we hold on to shame from our past which destroys our future?

If we can embrace our mistakes soon after we make them, maybe we can embrace grace a little sooner.

I think it’s wonderful in the Jewish tradition that they have Yom Kippur, the day of atonement and a day to reflect upon reconciliation. In Catholicism, they have the sacrament of reconciliation as they process their deeds aloud. But in Protestantism, there is no particular day or sacrament where we ask for forgiveness. Some of our churches have prayers of reconciliation or forgiveness each week, but do we invest much energy in the effort to make all right with God, one another or ourselves? So maybe on Reformation Day, the remembrance of Luther’s mandate of “grace alone,” we can take the opportunity to allow hand our past mistakes over to God and embrace grace.

Veering from the Christian Brand

11 Wednesday Sep 2013

Posted by in Current Events, Life, Movies, Music, Pop, Pop Culture, Religion, Television

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I’ve never been one to follow the “Christian” brand.

Sure, I’ve read a few of the Left Behind books, seen one or two Kirk Cameron movies and listened to some Michael W. Smith in my time. (I actually still like those Michael W. Smith songs from the early 90’s.)

I never dated on the Christian website, mostly because quite a few of the men want “traditional” women. (Being a female member of the clergy and a feminist, I’m far from traditional.) I stay away from Christian programming because it seems preaching, self-righteous and judgmental.

My primary reason is that I like flawed characters with growing edges. I don’t want to see a character that starts believing in Jesus, and then immediately everything is perfectly resolved. Life doesn’t work that way. My faith is a journey with God. Some days are strong and others are weaker. Just like every other human, I’m flawed – and looking for ways to continue to grow closer to God.

In Christian pop culture, I often see easy resolutions and life in polarities. Good or bad. Clean or unclean. There is no grayscale. There is no flawed Christian who is born again.

And Christian pop culture makes it seem like there’s one Christian theology, one view of salvation, one type of relationship with Jesus. But my beliefs are far from that.

I don’t call God “father” unless I also refer to God as “mother.” I’m not “born again” but I find resurrections in my faith each day. I believe everyone goes to God at death – whether they are Christian, another faith or no faith at all. I believe in a woman’s right to choose and gay marriage.

I don’t follow the typical Christian mold. So why would I follow Christian pop culture that predominantly supports this way of thinking?

You will find me watching shows of flawed clergy (The Vicar of Dibley, Rev., The Book of Daniel). You will find me listening to music with implicit spiritual reference and reflections of the Divine (Peter Gabriel, Van Morrison, U2). You will find me viewing movies with challenging theological themes that force each of us to look at Christianity differently (Saved!, Dogma, The Last Temptation of Christ). I am authentically living my faith by looking for the Divine in mainstream, edgy culture rather than crisp clean “Christian” mediums. As I believe God is everywhere, God also abides in the edgiest of situations.

I think that’s where Jesus was too. He could have hung out with the clean people of faith but, instead, hung out with those on the margins – those who society and religion deemed unclean. By recognizing the Jesus who hung out on the margins, I know I am called to shine a light on the Divine in the unlikeliest of places.

What Movies Gave, Oscars Took Away

26 Tuesday Feb 2013

Posted by in Current Events, Life, Movies, Pop, Pop Culture, Television

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MH910216353Sunday’s Oscar performance was a spotlight shining on the differences between being marginalized and privileged.

Here are some of the ways Seth MacFarlane, the writers and producers of the Academy Awards distastefully chose to produce an evening intended to celebrate the accomplishments of artists.

People might say that MacFarlane was being an equal opportunity offender.  However, do we hear jokes at the expense of women as often as men?  Do we hear jokes from white people about white people as often as we hear them about racial minorities?  How about people who are Jewish, gay or overweight?  Are their lives joked about more about than people who are Christian, straight or thin?

The isms were solidly present within minutes of the broadcast.  MacFarlane performed a song about women being nude in movies.  He made a joke about a popular domestic violence relationship.  Then, over the course of the evening, he made jokes about women’s sizes and the way minorities talk (among other things, of course).

Abominable.

Sure that’s MacFarlane’s way, or at least that’s what people tried to tell me over and over.  I wondered why did the Academy choose to be represented by him?  Why did the producers of the show choose a person who will belittle people based on a number of various factors?

Again, as much as I love the Oscars, this year’s ceremony reflected greater issues in our culture.  For instance, when the media focuses on hair, makeup and wardrobe, we take the attention away from the reason that these artists are there: their brilliant accomplishments.  (Sure, we all love to dress our best, but criticisms do not have a place in dressing up to feel great.)

Throughout 2012, we’ve had some wonderful reminders that people of multiple races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, looks and ages have such amazing talents.  We are reminded by these accomplishments and efforts that no matter who you are or what you look like, you are able to accomplish great things.  We had storylines that lifted the human spirit.  And, yet, the people holding these awards decide to hire a host and a team of writers.  It was this “creative” team who chose to demean those who were celebrated.

These movies and performances helped us in seeing God’s grace, God’s presence, God’s love and God’s image within ourselves.  Unfortunately, the ceremony to recognize gifts in film achievement was clouded by disrespect.  Sad.