Are You Ready for ExcelLENT?

No, that’s not our Lenten theme this year, although it would rawk.  But our fave season does begin one week from today.  We’ll do three worships here at Emmanuel at 7:30  am, noon and 7:30 pm.  7 am seemed a bit too early last year, and we used to get big crowds for 7:30 pm as opposed to 7 pm.  So there it is, now you know how we choose the times for these services. 

Two current events seem to feed into what I’m thinking of for Ash Wednesday.  Last night’s Frontline episode on WBUR (public television) was entitled “Inside the Meltdown”.  It was as riveting as “Frost/Nixon” was; crackling with the drama that we are all watching unfold daily.  But some of us are being honestly affected by these things.  To that degree, it’s systemic. 

When Bear Stearns collapsed last spring, and Lehman Bros. followed in September, the fear was for systemic risk.  If one of these banks failed, how interconnected were they so that their failure would cause other failures here in the US and around the world?  The failure of these investment banks is one of the big reasons that all the credit has dried up.  It’s cause-and-effect, or systemic.  In a system, there are multiple players: the leaders, the ones in charge, and those who work for the system deliberately.  There are others who participate unknowingly or circumstantially.  I would include myself in that group, even though I didn’t take out a bad mortgage or overextend myself in the housing market.  I have, however, lived outside my means.  So I am not guilt-free.  I am part of that system. 

Biblically, sin spread from Adam and Even to Cain and Abel, and by the time we get to Noah, it had become a systemic risk: something in which everyone took a part.  No one was guilt-free, not even Noah.  Now listen, I am not equating the current global economic crisis to the great flood, but I am saying that we reap what we sow.  If we are part of a system that runs counter to what God intends (for example, greed and avarice instead of sharing and communal thinking), it eventually catches up with us.  All of us.  We’re all swept up in it.  It’s like Mrs. Weeks, my old Catholic school teacher who always felt it necessary to punish the whole class for what Mike Crandall did. 

One of my favorite lyrics comes from Social Distortion frontman Mike Ness: ‘we’re not punished for our sins, but by them.’  I don’t think God is up there watching CNBC and saying that we deserve all this.  Rather, it’s up to us to live in a way that supports all of us, and nuture a system that’s not based on unlimited wealth or unlimited prosperity or unlimited consumption. 

The other issue that’s on my mind is Alex Rodriguez.  For such an unlikeable guy, I like him.  I don’t know why, but I always have had a soft spot for him.  So imagine my disappointment, not that he did steroids, but that he has made such a meal of this apology and defense.  I can tell you what goes into my body throughout the course of a day: some cereal, some tea, maybe some animal crackers.  An elite athlete should know EVERYTHING that goes into his or her body.  Don’t expect me to believe that his cousin just said “hey, this’ll give you some ‘energy’!”  and Alex said “sure” without asking what it was.  Imagine that, someone says to you ‘hey, you look like you could use a lift.’  “OK, what are you thinking of?”  and you’re thinking of a Coke or a cappucino, and they bring out a syringe.  Young and stupid, indeed. 

But to me, the art of the apology is lost in all this, as it has been in our society.  Instead of being sorry that he injected himself with banned substances, he’s really sorry that he got caught.  Even so, once you’re caught, you’ve got to come as clean as you can.  Lay it all on the table.  Don’t let anyone find anything else out.  Go over the top.  Apologize for causing the economic meltdown.  Apologize for having weird eyes.  A good example of this is Psalm 51, which we read on Ash Wednesday.  David apologizes for himself, for being a sinful person, for being part of the system of sin.  But he never absolves himself as an individual.  He does both, going over the top when he didn’t need to.

And why do we need to apologize?  Is it for our public perception?  I know the times I’ve had to apologize to people as a priest have mostly been to repair a relationship.  But that breach of trust, that hurt is always still there.  And I can’t control what the other person thinks, or says, or feels.  So all I can do is let my apology be my own forgiveness, soothing the hurt that I have caused myself.

 

Sermons from Mark

Catching up a bit this week after spending last week catching up from the previous four months.  Allison and Sarah went to Virginia to visit her family, leaving me to eat nothing but bean burritos and Lucky Charms.  Good times. 

We’re ambling through the Gospel of Mark this year, which is wonderfully quick and fast-paced.  There’s some John throughout the year, which is nice, but Mark’s my favorite Gospel, and I really wish someone would make a movie of this Gospel, as opposed to those from John and Matthew (and even Mel) that have already been made. 

I’ve also been trying to catch up on Oscar-worthy movies, and of course, Jack’s adventures on 24.  Allison and I saw what could be your winner for Best Documentary last night, Man On Wire.  It’s the story of the 1974 ‘coupe’  of Phillipe Petit, a French wirewalker who walked between the Twin Towers.  It’s really fascinating, and it held my attention more than other films (see Slumdog and Button).  Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post had it in her top five films of the year (along with Milk and WALL-E).  The documentary form was better than if someone had written a script telling the story, then cast with Nicolas Cage and Eva Green.  Do yourself a favor and check it out.  The fact that a man was on a wire between the Twin Towers for 45 (!) minutes is worth at least 90 minutes of your time.

I’ll write shorter Oscar Jones and 24 catch-ups this morning to follow!

 

Oscar Jones: The Wrestler

Full disclosure: I’m a closet wrestling fan.  Although the shine is off the apple now, from 2000 through 2005 I was pretty into it.  To the point to where I’d check out internet rumors.  Yeah, I’ve even ordered some pay-per-view.  I’ve been to a house show or two.  I’ve read some books, written by wrestlers.  Seen “Beyond The Mat”.  Yeah, I’m a fan.

So it was exciting to hear that so many pros had supported “The Wrestler”.  The worst thing is to make a movie about a certain craft, and then have those craftspeople say ‘you got it all wrong’.  Especially wrestlers.  There is a culture, a code, a lifestyle that can’t be faked.  Either it’s real or it’s faked.  And this was very real.

This didn’t get nominated for Best Picture, but it could have.  Mickey Rourke turns in a gritty performance, and although the story can become a bit formulaic, he is as real as it gets in this film.  Marisa Tomei is also up against Ms. Cruz (who stars with Rebecca Hall in “VCB”) for Best Supporting Actress.  Although I think Cruz is the frontrunner, Tomei would be worthy.  I liked her performance, although again, the formulaic nature of the script saps the energy a bit.

My eyes welled up twice…once less than Milk, but twice more than the others I’ve seen.  We’ve got nine days until the Oscars, and I’ve got a few more movies to see: Frozen River and Doubt come to mind.  I read something on Slate this week that made me rethink seeing “The Reader”.  It spoiled the hell out of it for one, but essentially the writer feels the movie diminishes the atrocity of the Holocaust by trying to balance Hanna’s crimes with the fact that she can’t read.  It’s not Holocaust denial, not justificiation, but it’s saying “there is redemption in this story, because she learned to read.”  Anyway, check it out on Slate.

 

Oscar Jones: Frost/Nixon

One of my earliest childhood memories was lining up from pre-school at a church in Columbus, Ohio and seeing a stack of newspapers with a headline about Watergate.  I think I knew about Watergate before I knew about Vietnam or Cambodia.  It was my coming-of-age story, at age 4.  Since then, I’ve been fascinated with Nixon, with the coverup and I never miss “All The President’s Men” when it’s on.  That being said, I wasn’t gung-ho for “Frost/Nixon”.  Was it the fact that Ron Howard was at the helm, and he always tends to make things bigger than they are?  Was it fact that I didn’t know anything about Frank Langella?  Or that the only people I knew in this film were Michael Breen and Oliver Platt? 

It was a terrific movie.  Howard’s direction never gets bogged down, the tension is ever present in the actual event, in the interview, and in the interpersonal struggle between Frost and Nixon.  Rebecca Hall is a revelation, and I’m looking forward to seeing her in “Vicky Christina Barcelona” for which Penny Cruz is nominated.  Let me say that again, only more bluntly.  Rebecca Hall is really hot.

But everything was in proportion in this film, like a good wine.  Humor balanced out the tension, pauses worked nicely with the action, and nothing was overdone, nothing was over the top.  It won’t win much, but it’s certainly worth your time.

 

24: 3 PM through 4 PM

After last week’s episode, it seemed like we’d be back on track.  We’re getting there, but again, I’m not sure what’s going to happen over the next…16 hours, so we’ll see.  Again, the earlier seasons seemed to build the drama; after the fourth hour, there’d be a little unresolved conflict at the end of a show and it would linger through the week.  Then a bigger one, and so on.  Now it seems like each show is a mini-season: conflict, resolution, move on to next conflict.  There was a wrestler, or maybe a fan I heard once, talking about the change in wrestling (yes, PROFESSIONAL wrestling) shows.  Used to be that two guys would have a problem, that problem would build over a series of weeks, sometimes months, before they’d get in the ring and settle it.  Now, conflict is created in minutes, and before it’s begun, it’s over.  No real drama is built.  Anyway, on to the show:

Plotline: B.  You can see everything coming together.  The dirty Secret Service guy, Dabaku apparently knowing everyone in DC and the White House, the First Gentleman.  We’re getting there, people.

Most Obvious Scene: Jack, Freckles and Agent Moss at the Reflecting Pool.  How ironic that the place we see ourselves most clearly is the site for another 24 pro-torture rant.  Moss is the fickle, Constitution-abiding American, and Jack is the protect-America-whatever-the-cost American.  Which are we supposed to side with?  It would’ve been funny if either Moss had thrown the keys like a girl, or if he fired them at Jack and Jack dropped them. 

For me, this has been one of the most intriguing sub-plots of the season: the justification of extraordinary measures to extract information from suspects.  In the show’s hiatus, the writers had to answer some sharp criticism from all over, including West Point.  When Jack says “they don’t play by our rules…” and things like “I follow the rules, but not today”, at best it makes Jack that hero that would do anything, even damning himself, to save the country.  At worst, it makes him no better than a murderous torturer. 

Best Character: Jack.  I’ve been wanting to hear him talk more this season than just yelling “we’re out of TIME!”  “You don’t HAVE another CHOICE!”  I think they can forgo a few minutes of “will Jack cover 20 miles of gridlock traffic in two minutes?” for a sit-down between Jack and Tony, or Bill, on what it is that they do. 

Best Line: When Jack says to President Cherry, ‘with all due respect, Madame President, ask around”. 

Thing I’m Stoked For Next Week: well, whenever we get to see Jon Voight again.  Possibly no more First Gentleman, although that was a Teri Moment, wasn’t it?  That and the shooting of Agent Vollsner.  And that’s a great thing the show has going for it; the element of surprise.  But it’s like cinnamon, you can only use so much before it starts to overpower everything (see Season Six)

Thing I’m Not Stoked For: Finding out who the mole is at Office Max.  I heard Dennis and Callahan (morning talk show on WEEI Boston) this week postulating that the mole will turn out to be the skeezy blonde, and not Creepy Sean as we all thought.  Either way, I’m not looking forward to more scenes from that office.