Mockingbird: Bringing the Gospel to a Theatre Near You (pt 13)

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Rom 7:21-25)

Exploding Dog

I have no idea where Sam Johnson, creator of the Exploding Dog webcomic, is coming from theologically, but there seems to be a lot of gospel in his drawings, particularly in the identification of sin and our crushing inability to self-improve. If he doesn't explicitly identify with the gospel, then his work is all-the-more an affirmation of how universally applicable these themes are. Check out all his work at www.explodingdog.com. Here are a few of my favorites:

"I Knew She Was a Liar, but I Loved Her Anyways"

"It Is Such a Chore to Get off the Floor"

"I Want to Be a Better Robot"

And my personal favorite:

"Take It Everywhere"

Update: He just added this one yesterday. Talk about the bound will!

"It's Always Been a Choice, but I Need to Go Fast"

Mockingbird on Your TV: The Bachelor's Rose

As you're all well aware, I'm a reality TV junkie. I watch Top Chef, Project Runway, Little People Big World, Dirty Jobs, Mythbusters, Dinner: Impossible, Ace of Cakes, What Not to Wear, and even (gulp) The Hills. But, of course, the class of the reality shows, at least as far as Gospel theology goes, is The Bachelor. Clearly, it's not the best hour of TV entertainment on this list (in fact, other than The Hills, I prefer ALL these other shows), but it so clearly illuminates the Law vs. Gospel distinction that we talk about in these pages. I should note that frequent contributor JDK deserves a lot of the credit for these ideas, generated in conversations during the best of the seasons of The Bachelor: Charlie O'Connell's. I think I still have a crush on the girl he chose: Sarah B. We wish you the best, Charlie and Sarah B.!

Picture it: A man and a woman go on a date. Will it work? Is there chemistry? On the old-school show Blind Date, the climax was always when the participants turned to the camera and said whether or not they would go out on another date. As you might imagine, the men almost always said they would, and the women almost universally said that they wouldn't. On The Bachelor, the question is, "Will he give her a rose or won't he?" This is how a bachelor lets us know that he wants to go on another date with this woman. The wrinkle is that if he DOESN'T give her a rose, she has to go home immediately. She has to be packed and ready to go before the date.

The hilarious (and profound) addition on the Bachelor is that they turn the ethereal pressure of a date into a physical object: a rose. And then, they have the rose sitting there for the whole date! Both people comment about how the rose ruins the evening. They can't stop looking at it, wondering what the outcome will be.

We've said before, and in fact, we say often, that judgment kills love. It's one of the maxims that we live by. The presence of the rose is the embodiment of judgment. The sword of Damocles (will he or won't he) hangs over the date from the very beginning. The knowledge of impending judgment kills any possibility of love. Rather than discovering whether or not she is in love with the bachelor, the woman toils under the weight of being the kind of person who gets a rose. And, so, love dies.

The conclusion? Love can thrive only without judgment; without roses. What if The Bachelor gave the rose to the girl at the beginning of the date? Before she proved her worth? What might happen then? They could get to know one another without the pressure, without the judgment, and see if they might fall in love.

Take a Theologian to Work Day

One of the difficulties of trying to communicate something like the distinction between law and gospel is that it is notoriously hard to pin down. Like my supervisor says, if knowing German made you a theologian, then it would be a simple matter. Likewise, knowing (or even acknowledging) the difference between Law and Gospel (indicative vs. imperative, promise vs. accusation, cashmere vs. merino) is simply the first step. In fact, it is just this little amount of knowledge that, without further and constant reflection, can be just as pastorally dangerous than ignorance of the two altogether. It doesn’t matter if you change the “application” section of a sermon to the “indicative;” what looks like the Law, walks like the Law, quacks like the Law—you get it.

What we are involved in here, to varying degrees of success, to be sure, is a virtual practicum of sorts, where this distinction is being worked out and applied across all manner of disciplines. Sometimes, it may seem that we trivialize the seriousness of God’s Law by equating its demands with speed limits or Gold’s Gym or Singapore, so I went to the Lutheran Horse’s Mouth: Jonathan Mumme, (pictured to the right) a good friend of mine who is currently living in Berlin and writing a PhD under the supervision of Oswald Bayer(!). His thoughts on this issue were too good not to share with you all. Enjoy, or else. (law or gospel?) I’ve turned our email conversation into a hypothetical interview---this is his answer.

Dear Jonathan,
I hope you are well. Thanks for “helping” me work through these questions. Although, as you know, I’m fully versed and completely capable of answering all questions on my own, I thought that I would double check with you to see if we agreed on how distinguishing the Law and Gospel was more an issue of pastoral discernment than systematic categorization. Could you explain?

Jady,
An oversimplification of the distinction between Law and Gospel is something of a labeling method – a bit like if we were to run through the Bible with a red pen in one hand and a blue pen in the other, marking some things one color and some another. Words cut two ways, as two words. For example: "The Son of God died for your sins." That is one sentence. Red or blue? One person may hear that God's Son took upon himself the deadly burden that he has been bearing. Another will hear that they are guilty of the death of the Son of God. And the same person might hear both of those at different times. So too "Be perfect, for I the Lord your God am perfect." Would tend to work in the way of the Law, but can it not cut the other way also?

Demand or God speaking someone into perfection, making them perfect by his saying so? Think here on "Let there be light"/"Be light!" or "Be healed!" or "Take up your bed and walk!" "Fear not!" This is more complex than a red pen and a blue pen; it is living people with living problems and/or lively attempts at self-justification. What they are hearing and what is going on with them is in need of our ears and our distinguishing, of the proper portion given at the proper time.

If I may make a poor analogy, it is a bit like going to the gym: This game is for lack of a better way of putting it (the quantity works in the way of the Law and leads to the breakdown of the analogy) 90% about form and 10% about the weight you lift. Distinguishing Law and Gospel comes first and foremost in the listening, then and only then in the speaking. The text and the person in front of you are waiting for careful exegesis; when that goes on then we are faithful stewards meeting out proper portions to the proper persons at the proper time. But this is an art that you can find going on in Luther all over the place, though not all scholars may see it. "Command = Law, Promise = Gospel" and they may not get much further than that. But Luther can be found distinguishing these all the time without ever using the only terminology the most people would recognize. His "Von den Schlüsseln", 1528, for example, (editors note: or in this sermon, here) is an absolute masterpiece, as is the Large Catechism on confession; but even many Lutheran scholars will not quite see what is going on there.


Perhaps we could sum our conversation about Luther yesterday up like this: There is a different dynamic between when Luther is talking about the Law and the Gospel and their proper distinction and between his applying that distinction without talking about it. A first step is to hear someone talk about it. In some ways it is a vocabulary lesson ("Law, Gospel, command, promise, accuse, free" etc.) A further step is hear it and see in being applied, or not, which in some ways begins with an expanded vocabulary lesson (for example the workings of the modal verbs and mathematics).

But the paradoxical pendulum keeps swinging further and further out, opening the distinction ever further, ever more (for example things operating by force or coercion, or not - and if not, how would we then talk about? What drives things when they aren't being "driven"?). Going back to what we were talking about - we might posit that Luther is difficult to systematize precisely because the motor of his theological workings is to be found in the way in which he goes about things (for lack of a better term, applied theology, theo-logia applicanda). Others sometimes attempted the systematizing somewhat on his behalf. . .

Ok, so those are just some thoughts from our "man on the straße":) to add to the conversation. Law and Gospel are much, much more than conceptual placeholders for two ways of speaking; they are descriptions of two ways of existing—either by works or faith—that can turn any and every event into an opportunity for joyful witness or painful doubt. Our work here is to try to interpret the day-to-day life in light of the Law/Gospel; consequently, we are trusting that “by the renewing of our minds” we continue to learn what it means to have been Justified “by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit," one movie review, NYTimes Article and YouTube clip at a time!
I'll leave you with the Law (or is it the Gospel?), you decide:
Romans 7:7-8:

Fundamentalists and the Atheists Who Love Them

Before I catch my plane down to sunny FLA, a fantastic blog entry over at the NY Times - catch it while it's hot (i.e. before they charge you) - from Ross Douthat, discussing Richard Dawkins' recent defense of Pat Robertson's sadistic comments about Haiti. The first time I've seen the Westminster Confession quoted in the Times. The conclusion reads (ht RF):

[Dawkins' defense of Robertson reveals] the symbiosis between the new atheism and fundamentalism — how deeply the new atheists are invested in the idea that a mad literalism is the truest form of any faith, and how completely they depend on outbursts from fools and fanatics to confirm their view that religion must, of necessity, be cruel, literal-minded, and intellectually embarrassing.

p.s. If you haven't registered for the Pensacola conference but would like to come to all or part of it, that's more than okay (click here for the full schedule etc). Since online registration is now closed, simply email Jeff Hual at jhual1969@gmail.com and give him the heads-up. Hope to see you there!

p.p.s. To give to the ongoing Haiti relief, click here.

Casuistry, Business trips, Rationalization, and other Barriers to the Gospel

A recent article from the WSJ described how Resorts and Hotels are dropping the word 'resort' from their names in order to attract business. As tolerance for corporate excess becomes less fashionable, companies want to 'appear' to be scaling back on business trips and conferences.

This does not mean anything about the hotel or the business trip has changed at all. It just looks better to the public. It is also another example of 'casuistry.' Casuistry is "resolving of specific cases of conscience... through interpretation of ethical principles or religious doctrine," (m-w.com). The second definition is "specious argument or rationalization."

Casuistry is making highly nuanced arguments or defenses to explain away what you know (at some level) is wrong. Casuistry is what Jesus inveighs against when speaking of the Pharisees and their traditions (Mark 7:1-13). They use reasoning with their tradition to 'outwit' the word of God.

These theological self-justifying gymnastics may get us off the hook or even makes us feel better. We all use casuistry and rationalization to give reasons why we fail to keep a diet, exercise, or give more to Haiti. But in the end they are minds games that act as barriers to the gospel. Jesus and St. Paul want our word to be enough and our yes to be yes, not just because we should be people of integrity, but because strait talk is honest talk. And honest talk puts the focus on us which takes our sin into account (Mk7:14-23). And awareness of sin leads directly to the sweet sound of forgiveness. There is no better destination than that.

p.s. I humbly request a casuistry competition. Please comment with some of the more intriguing examples of casuistry you have found.

From the "What the?" File

Fever Ray's Karin Andersson, described by the A.V. Club as a "Swedish weirdo," gave the following acceptance speech last week. Watch. Be astounded.

By the way, here's a real pic of Andersson.

Quote from Erik Erikson

An interesting tidbit on anthropology from the first chapter of the great psychologist's controversial book Young Man Luther:

"Psychoanalysis has tended to subordinate the later stages of life to those of childhood. It has lifted to the rank of cosmology the undeniable fact that man's adulthood contains a persistent childishness: that vistas of the future always reflect the mirages of a missed past, that apparent progression can harbor partial regressions, and firm accomplishment, hidden childish fulfillment. In exclusively studying what is repetition and regression and preservation in human life, we have learned more about the infantile in the adult than was ever known before. We have thus prepared an ethical orientation in human life which centers on the prerservation of those early energies which man, in the very service of his higher values is apt to suppress, exploit, or waste."

January Playlist

I'm pretty proud of this one:

1. Are You Ready? - U.N. of S.
2. Lord, If You're A Woman - Darlene Love
3. Laura - Girls
4. I Want Some More - Colin Blunstone
5. No Doubt About It - Hot Chocolate
6. I Ain't Hiding - The Black Crowes
7. (Wish I Could) Hideaway - Creedence Clearwater Revival
8. Powderfinger - Neil Young
9. Winter Winds - Mumford & Sons
10. Two - The Antlers
11. Mighty K.C. - For Squirrels
12. Don't Fall In Love With A Lonely Girl - Freedy Johnston
13. Berlin, Without Return - Voxtrot
14. Modern Guilt - Beck
15. Ill With Want - The Avett Brothers
16. Man Overboard - Ian Hunter
17. Love And A .45 - Chris Knight
18. I Love To Tell The Story - Robert Duvall & Emmylou Harris

(More) Terence Rattigan: Deep Blue Sea pt 2 and The Browning Version

This may sound familiar to some of you, though it may require multiple readings before it sinks in/makes sense. It comes from Act III of "The Deep Blue Sea" by Terence Rattigan, first performed March 6, 1952 (ht PZ):

HESTER (wildly) How do I know what's true. I only know that after tonight I can't face life any more....

How can anyone live without hope?

MILLER. Easily. To live without hope can mean to live without despair.

HESTER. Those are just words.

MILLER. ... (He twists her roughly round to face him. Harshly) Your Freddie has left you. He's never going to come back again. Never in the world. Never.

(HESTER wilts at each word as if it were a physical blow)

HESTER (wildly) I know. I know. That's what I can't face. (She breaks away from Miller, falls on her knees across the downstage end of the sofa in a paroxysm of grief, burying her head in her arms)

MILLER (with brutal force) Yes, you can. (He moves above Hester and stands over her) That word "never". Face that and you can face life. Get beyond hope. It's your only chance.

HESTER. What is there beyond hope?

MILLER (after a pause) Life....

Damn. On a slightly less intense note, I finally got around to watching Rattigan's The Browning Version (1951), on the strong recommendation of trusted contributors to this blog (ahem, John Stamper, ahem, JAZ, ahem, Browder). I had seen the David Mamet-directed(!) version of Rattigan's Winslow Boy many years ago, and it has always been one of my favorites. But The Browning Version blows it out of the water - people, put this film on your Netflix queue now! To say that it illustrates pretty much all of the themes that we love to explore on this site - death and resurrection, judgment and love, grace in relation to human bondage/suffering, yes even Law and Gospel - would be reductive. This is a beautiful and profound work of art, from top to bottom. Michael Redgrave gives an astonishing performance. And if the final scene does not leave you in tears, I'm not sure I want to know you...

I Want to Preach Like Chris Knight

Badge number 301
Sits in his car and stares at his gun
He wipes the blood from his shirt,
The sweat from his brow
He got out this time but he don't know how

Well he'd go on home but nobody's there
No one to hold; no one to care
There was a time he had someone
But one day he came home, she was gone

Recently, I had the pleasure of seeing Chris Knight (who has long been one of my favorite artists) play in person at a little bar here in Columbia, SC (one of the advantages of not being mainstream in musical taste is being able to see these folks play up close and personal). He is a former coal mine inspector from Kentucky and speaks and sings with that region's deep accent. It projects a big heart, full of compassion, insight, and understanding. But he is not sweet. "Boy, this group over here is a talkative group...(pause)... what I'm trying to say is shut the f&%# up while I'm singing." (Followed by uproarious laughter from the crowd)

The Decade of Naught has been one that has seen massive flux in my life. Good, bad, and indifferent. Chris Knight is one of the two artists who has unknowingly accompanied me through this. I found out at his show recently that I am not the only one.

The audience was almost entirely composed of men. There was a smattering of girlfriends and wives (mine being one) but, as I looked around, all of the men were captivated by Knight's presence and songs. They were college kids, burnouts, good ol' boys, high-level lawyers, businessmen, and retired men. We were singing along together to the stark stories about criminals, regret, frustrated dreams, and love in the midst of it all. No exhortations to progress. No lying. No superficial platitudes. No repression or denial. Just the futile cycle of human striving. All with isolated affirmations from the crowd: "Yep, that's me", "That happens to me all the time", etc. Catharsis and abreaction. How rare it is to see folks who would otherwise be barroom toughs stand visibly moved.

One of the tests of truly powerful art is the universality with which it connects. Heart, insight, unflinching reality, a view from the precipice, understanding, compassion, mercy. This is what a preacher should be.

I want to preach like Chris Knight.

Love and a .45
Are all you need to get through the night
One'll kill you one'll keep you alive
Love and a .45

Pensacola Mini-Conference - THIS WEEK!

Final reminder: our first ever mini-conference happens this Friday and Saturday at Christ Church in Pensacola, FL. The illustrious Dr. Mark Mattes will be our speaker, and there will also be breakout sessions from Jeff Hual, Gil Kracke and David Zahl. To view our full-length invitation, click here. For more details, or to register, please visit the mini-conference website (only $20/person or $30/couple). It should be amazing.

IMPORTANT: The online registration deadline is this Wednesday, January 27th. If you decide after the deadline - on Thursday, or even (gasp!) Friday - that you'd like to join us for all or part of the conference, email Jeff Hual at jhual1969@gmail.com, and he'll pull the necessary strings. Hope to see you there!

Darwin's Daughter and The Question Beneath The Question

A theology of glory strikes again: in an interview on NPR, Randal Keynes, the great-great grandson of Charles Darwin, talks about the events preceding the publication of On the Origin of Species (major ht JD).

You may have known this already, but Charles and Emma Darwin had a daughter named Annie who suffered from a terminal illness, likely tuberculosis. Darwin was extremely upset when she died. Emma Darwin was a devout Unitarian and believed her faith would allow her to see Annie in the afterlife. The author frames the story of the Origin of Species as a tale of one man's breakdown from faith into rational skepticism, largely based on his own disappointment with God.

The new movie Creation is based on Keynes's book/Darwin biography, Annie's Box (now re-titled Darwin, His Daughter and Human Evolution.

Sweetgrass

This movie sounds really lovely.

Available at NetFlix.

Another Week Ends: Whole Foods, Heidi Montag, Colombian Eunuchs, Dostoevsky vs Marquis de Sade, DFW

1. A fascinating profile in last week's New Yorker of John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods, sort of a footnote to JDK's recent post on environmentalism. There is a lot in the article worth mentioning, but for our purposes, I thought it was particularly interesting that Whole Foods was founded as a self-consciously non-judgmental health food store (ht RJH):

"[The first Whole Foods store] was ten thousand square feet. They stocked not just lentils and granola but, in contravention of the co-op ethos, indulgences like meat, beer, and wine; there were aisles full of five-gallon bottles of distilled water, to avoid the embarrassment of empty shelf space. The idea was to go beyond the movement’s old tofu severity, the air of judgment and self-abnegation."

The rest of the article then details the enormous backlash Whole Foods has provoked - primarily because of its non-severe ethos - from the more Pharisaical elements within the Green movement. Not that Mackey is really worth defending, as there are plenty of other factors at play here, but it does appear that he has touched a major nerve, that the granola folks may not be as granola as they appear...

2. In the denial-aint-just-a-river-in-Egypt department (and no, I can't believe I'm dignifying this either), the Good Morning America interview with Heidi Montag this week about her recent plastic surgery has got to be seen to be believed. Poor girl. Even she doesn't appear to buy the Christian rhetoric she tosses out at the end (ht AZ).

3. Next, this kindly Colombian farmer may be a sincere believer, but man oh man... He takes the concept outward righteousness to a whole new (and disturbing) level. If only someone had read the Sermon on the Mount to him before it was too late. [Warning: not for the faint of heart - especially those of the male persuasion].

4. Finally, and in keeping with the rather saucy tone this week [sorry!], a philosophically riveting and relatively PG-rated article entitled "Dostoevsky vs. Marquis de Sade". One notable excerpt (ht DB):

"Put in another way, Dostoevsky now sees man much as Sade does: self-willed, desiring unfettered free choice, prone to commit irrational acts to transcend determinism, lacking moral sense, and a potential sadist. Moreover, "progress," blinking man's need for moral order and spiritual fulfillment, is lethally wrongheaded, inciting sadistic transgressions."

BONUS TRACK: Just because it has generated about 34 more comments than I thought it would, here's another quote from David Foster Wallace about the self- perpetuating nature of depression. The opening to his brilliant and harrowing short story “The Depressed Person":

“The depressed person was in terrible and unceasing emotional pain, and the impossibility of sharing or articulating this pain was itself a component of the pain and a contributing factor in its essential horror.”

Mockingbird at the Movies: Hope, Deliverance, and a Shotgun

I saw these two posters not a foot apart in a subway station the other day. They are as stark a representation as any of the two words we hear in life: Law and Gospel (or: Requirement and Love).

The Law is the tagline of Extraordinary Measures: "Don't hope for a miracle. Make one." In other words, you are on your own. Your salvation, however you define that word, is up to you. Don't hope, for there is nothing to hope in. Make your salvation, and if you fail...when you fail...you will have no one to turn to.

The Law is devoid of hope.

The Gospel is an answer to a plea like this one: "Deliver us." The Gospel is God's answer: "I have." When we forget that miracles happen, when we believe that we must make our own, failure delivers a crushing blow.

The Gospel abounds in hope.

We can say, "Deliver us," and hope...and know...that God has done it.

I need hope. I have been crushed under the weight of the expectation that I create my own miracles. I have tried. I have failed. I have called out to someone, "Deliver me." He has done it.

A True Mockingbird Moment

After over a year of being involved with this blog, I have started to see things that scream to be posted. I'm sure many of you can relate! Even so, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this book at a New Jersey Turnpike rest area:

My favorite part is the back cover blurb:

"You can be positive--no matter who tries to bring you down. Unfortunately, the world is full of screwed-up people. But the good news, says Elizabeth B. Brown, is that your world no longer has to revolve around them. With brilliant insights and a keen sense of humor, this trusted author shows you how to: take back the power from the difficult people in your life, respond productively when confronted, remain poised and in control when everyone around you loses it, win fairly in unfair battles, let go of the past and live triumphantly now. Dozens of real-life success stories, brief diagnostic tests, and practical tools are included to help you assess your own unique situation and gain the confidence to live successfully with screwed-up people. You can stop being the victim of others and start loving life in spite of them."

So basically, you're not screwed up (thank goodness), but everyone else is. Here's a roadmap to dealing with them.

I have nothing to say that hasn't already been said on this blog, but COME ON!

Oh Lord, It's Hard to Be Humble

David Foster Wallace on Depression and Powerlessness

From a very early, as-of-yet uncollected short story "The Planet Trillaphon As It Stands In Relation To The Bad Thing". He's writing about depression (i.e. the Bad Thing), but one could almost substitute "sin" for "bad thing". As we all know, it is easy to cling to human agency and willpower when it comes to less significant problems. But depression (or anger or addiction for that matter) is not one of them. DFW paints a perfect and frankly rather horrifying picture of man in need of a solution outside of himself:

“Because the Bad Thing [depression] not only attacks you and makes you feel bad and puts you out of commission, it especially attacks and makes you feel bad and puts out of commission precisely those things that are necessary in order for you to fight the Bad Thing, to maybe get better, to stay alive. This is hard to understand but it's really true. Imagine a really painful disease that, say, attacked your legs and your throat and resulted in a really bad pain and paralysis and all·around agony in these areas. The disease would be bad enough, obviously, but the disease would also be open·ended; you wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Your legs would be all paralyzed and would hurt like hell ... but you wouldn't be able to run for help for those poor legs, just exactly because your legs would be too sick for you to run anywhere at all. Your throat would burn like crazy and you'd think it was just going to explode ... but you wouldn't be able to call out to any doctors or anyone for help, precisely because your throat would be too sick for you to do so. This is the way the Bad Thing works: it's especially good at attacking your defense mechanisms. The way to fight against or get away from the Bad Thing is clearly just to think differently, to reason and argue with yourself. Just to change the way you're perceiving and sensing and processing stuff. But you need your mind to do this, your brain cells with their atoms and your mental powers and all that, your self. And that's exactly what the Bad Thing has made too sick to work right. That's exactly what it has made sick. It's made you sick in just such a way that you can't get better. And you start thinking about this pretty vicious situation, and you say to yourself, 'Boy oh boy, how the heck is the Bad Thing able to do this?' You think about it - really hard, since it's in your best interests to do so - and then all of a sudden it sort of dawns on you... that the Bad Thing is able to do this to you because you're the Bad Thing yourself! The Bad Thing is you. Nothing else: no bacteriological infection or having gotten conked on the head with a board or a mallet when you were a little kid, or any other excuse; you are the sickness yourself. It is what 'defines' you. You realize all this, here. And that, I guess, is when if you're all glib you realize that there is no surface to the water, or when you bonk your nose on the jar's glass and realize you're trapped, or when you look at the black hole and it's wearing your face."

Weds Morning Rock N Roll: Richard Ashcroft/The Verve

After years of flirting with Christianity, it appears that Richard Ashcroft (singer of seminal shoegazing britpop band The Verve) is going public with his faith. The subject of the new single "Are You Ready?", released under his The United Nations Of Sound moniker, is - you guessed it - the second coming of Christ. Thankfully the song itself rocks, a slightly grittier take on the Northern Soul/Gospel/Groove he's been pursuing in his solo work. The video cracks me up - sort of a Mike Tyson's Punchout take on the "Bittersweet Symphony" clip, complete with a Sympathy For the Devil guitar solo and a lot of praying. Check it out:



Best line:
Yes I'm ready cause I've lived a life of sin
And I heard that us sinners have got a chance with him

Nine Favorite Ashcroft Tunes Other Than Bittersweet Symphony
1. History
2. The Drugs Don't Work
3. Songs For Lovers
4. Lonely Souls (w/UNKLE)
5. The Miracle
6. Man On A Mission
7. On Your Own
8. Science Of Silence
9. (Could Be) A Country Thing City Thing Blues Thing

Two things I did this weekend... (Beck meets Avatar)

This weekend I finally got around to seeing Avatar. It's only been out for a month, but it feels like I'm behind about 95% of the country. I also bought Beck's Modern Guilt on vinyl. Although the two are seemingly disparate items, I came out of Cameron's 2.5+ hour Tour d'FX resonating more and more with the the postmodern hippie's title track:

Modern guilt - I'm staring at nothing
Modern guilt - I'm under lock and key...

Don't know what I've done but I feel ashamed...

Modern guilt is all in our hands
Modern guilt won't get me to bed
Say what you will
Smoking my cigarette
Don't know what I've done but I feel afraid

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and much has already been said about it on this blog, but all I felt leaving the movie was intense guilt dropped in my hands... and I wasn't really sure what I'd done. Now maybe that's more of a reflection of my own psyche than anything else, but the pairing of the two struck me.

Also it's pretty sweet how Sigourney Weaver's character lights up a "cigarette" the second she gets back from the "natural air" of Pandora into the manufactured breathable air of their facility...

The Gospel According To Pixar III: Finding Nemo's Resurrection

Continuing Mockingbird's fascination with all things animated (and anything even remotely related to uber-genius Brad Bird), we present The Gospel According to Pixar, volume 3. To read previous entries, see Volume 1: Wall-E, and Volume 2: Toy Story.

I'm planning a Sunday evening series for the next few months called "Jesus at the Movies" (stop by if you're in Jersey City)... so I've been spending a lot of time standing in front of my movie wall. I've ripped a bunch of clips from my collection, and am ready to start some good theological conversation. But I missed one. A parishioner asked me about the movies, listened to a few that I'd chosen, and then started talking about Finding Nemo. And he's right...FINDING NEMO!

Remember the scene where Marlin (Nemo's dad, played by Albert Brooks) and Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) are trapped in the mouth of the whale? Aside from the obvious Jonah parallels, there is a lot of good stuff goin' on in that whale's belly. First of all, Marlin tries to get out of the whale's mouth by pushing through the baleen plates (the toothbrush bristle-like stuff they have instead of teeth). See, he's trying by his own effort. He can't do it. He fails. His own effort fails him.

The water begins to drain from the whale's mouth, and neither Marlin nor Dory know what is going on. Dory, who "speaks whale," tells Marlin that the whale is asking them to "go to the back of the throat." Marlin, a notorious worry-wart, says, "Of COURSE he wants us to go to the back of the throat...he wants to EAT us!" Suddenly, Marlin and Dory find themselves hanging on to taste buds on the whale's tongue, with no water in the whale's mouth at all.

The whale makes a noise, Dory (who, remember, speaks whale) says, "Okay," and lets go. Marlon refuses to, thinking he'll be eaten...but Dory tells him that it's time...time to let go. Of course, this is a story point: Marlin has to realize that he's been holding on too tightly to his son. He has to realize that he can't protect Nemo from life. But the Christian parallels are actually pretty stunning.

Marlin, by his own effort, fails to escape from the whale's mouth. In the end, if he holds on to the taste bud, he'll die. There's no water in the whale's mouth. But Marlin THINKS that he has to hold on to live. The very thing he thinks is keeping him alive is killing him. He must let go, succumbing to "certain death" in order to be blown out of the whale's blow-whole, his life saved. We try to save ourselves by our own efforts. We try to "be all we can be." We can't. We keep trying, we hold on. This holding on, the thing that we think is saving us, is actually killing us. It is keeping us from our Savior. Letting go, giving up, and succumbing to certain death is the only way we can live.

If Finding Nemo supports the necessity of death and resurrection, who are we to argue?

Some funny (but good) Law

One of my favorite "grab a quick bite" restaurants in Charleston is run by a little Korean lady named Mama Kim. Mama Kim is a born again Christian who is very religious and who takes her faith quite seriously - to the point where she has several mission and outreach donation jars that make the tip jar almost invisible. She is very opinionated and sometimes will change your order if she doesn't like what you have ordered. I am a big guy, but sometimes I like to just get one of her smaller items called a small bowl. If she is working the counter, she never lets me leave with just a small bowl. I end up walking out with gobs of food, but only having paid for the small bowl, go figure... She has a big mouth, but her big heart, giant sense of humor, and endless love for the Lord are worth a million bucks.

I always laugh when I walk into her restaurant because she is all about telling you her opinion and is unashamed in doing so. Notice the door, it looks like any take-out restaurant door with the name adorned on it along with some hand written signs. Take a look at one of the handwritten signs noting the Sunday hours (below). I just love the little bit of Law she gives to all of her customers who enter her restaurant.

If you are ever in Charleston, SC, stop by and see Mama Kim on Calhoun Street across from Marion Square. It is well worth the trip and the food is great! and....Go to church!

NetFlixPicks (vol 1)

Subscribing to Netflix, a mail-order movie rental service, also entitles you to unlimited online viewing (with Mac, PC, PS3, Xbox and, coming, soon, Wii) of a fairly wide selection (thousands) of movies and television shows. From time to time, I will offer my picks of the best of online streaming. Just to put this into perspective, with a Netflix account (they start at $9/month) and a high-speed internet connection, you could watch any of these right now, for free. That is cool.

Today's picks:

Friday Night Lights, seasons 1-3. Along with Mad Men, Friday Night Lights is my favorite drama on TV today. Revolving around High School Football in small-town Texas, it features a killer soundtrack and the best marriage you will ever see on any screen. An absolute must see. Watch the pilot and you'll be hooked.

This American Life, season 1. Ira Glass' much-loved public radio show about the extraordinary lives of ordinary people comes to the screen, to great effect. If you want to know what people are actually like, watch this show.

Dexter, seasons 1&2. If you can stomach a drama about a serial killer, this show compellingly illustrates what we Mockingbirds call the bondage of the will.

A large selection of Kirosawa just became available as well, but I haven't jumped in yet. Enjoy!

The Law of Time Magazine

Also, for a blast from the past (ht Krugman from NYTimes), read Time's double portrait of Cyndi Lauper and Madonna that picks Lauper to be around for the long haul.

"[Cyndi] has the whole package. But Madonna has the look."

Going green isn't the problem...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/18/science/earth/18family.html?pagewanted=1&hp

I found this article on the New York Times today and thought it gives a telling account of what happens when we try to change others by demanding that they do this or that. While our intentions may well be very good and noble (in this case, saving the planet), our demanding that they change their ways can at best prove Law to our friends, loved-ones, and spouses.

I think it interesting that this article calls bickering about environmental issues a 'new' kind of relational trouble, but the end result is the same as ever: saving the planet becomes Law that one person inflicts upon another and inevitably drives a wedge between the two!

Another Week Ends: Phantom Hollywood, Pat Robertson, Conan vs Leno, The Book Of Eli

1. Wrapping up this week's heavy film talk, I thought I'd post some provocative recent thoughts from controversial New York Press film critic Armond White. If you're not familiar with White, he's a bit of an agitator - frequently unfair but never boring and definitely coming from a sympathetic point of view (ht LF):

". . . from early on, I knew I was different. Our parents raised us Baptist, then they got saved and became Pentecostal. There was always a lot of religion around. It had a big effect on me. I’m a believer. I think God is the force for ultimate good in the universe. He made the movies, didn’t he? If you cut me open, that’s what you’d find: the movies, Bible verses, and Motown lyrics.”

Anyhow, he used his review of the recent rom-com "It's Complicated" as an occasion to give some pointed analysis of contemporary Hollywood. Check it out:

"No film school teaches about the Phantom Hollywood genre: mainstream movies that sneakily validate the personal foibles of film industry professionals. These movies—usually about divorce, infidelity, broken homes, power-and-sex addictions—are contrived to look like they’re about average folk. Nancy Meyers’ 'It’s Complicated' is the latest. Its story of a middle-aged divorced couple—Jane and Jake—who get back together despite other new attachments, bears little connection to actual human behavior or recognizable lifestyles. Each 'adorable' yet unreal scene is more offensive than the last.

"Art is supposed to be personal expression, but Phantom Hollywood movies deliberately avoid self-examination. They’re about self-pity and their plots navigate self-absolution for mistakes made through permissiveness, privilege and sheer vanity. 'It’s Complicated' is textbook Phantom Hollywood, starting with its establishing shot of sun-baked gabled roofs and manicured lawns—the middle-class world that once was the setting for boulevard comedies written for the theater to entertain the bourgeoisie. Recently this Los Angeles luxe has become the default milieu for fantasies about Hollywood’s nouveau riche (see any Judd Apatow-directed film).

"Meyers couldn’t be more false if she was trying to overlook complexity, difficulty and toil. Her slick, easily managed complications are no more credible than the myth of domestic happiness, which promiscuous Hollywood refuses to endorse. 'It’s Complicated' endorses analysis. Jane’s therapist session basically asks for permission (“It can’t hurt”)—the Hollywood alternative to prayer or religious counsel. No spiritual quest occurs in Phantom Hollywood movies, that’s why its characters are vapid."

2. Mike Horton responds briefly to Pat Robertson's truly detestable comments about Haiti. A lot more could be said, but how much do we really want to dignify Robertson's predictably anti-Gospel bile...

3. The Leno vs Conan debacle. While Conan certainly has all of my/our support, the "letter-of-the-law" tone of this whole thing is starting to lead where these things always lead - sanctimony, schadenfreude and litigation (ht TB). At least the jokes are still funny! What do you think?

4. The Book Of Eli. As a shameless post-apocalyptic junkie, I've had high hopes for this one, and The A/V Club's review only stoked the flames:

In the wake of The Passion Of The Christ, the expected deluge of big-budget Christian entertainments has never quite materialized, but the logline for the post-apocalyptic thriller The Book Of Eli—about a Biblical warrior who protects the last known copy of the Good Book—suggests a late start. Working from a script by Gary Whitta, the Hughes brothers, Albert and Allen, have made a stark affirmation of faith as a guiding light for a broken, lawless civilization, but to their credit, the film stops well short of proselytizing.

5. Finally, in financial news, apparently this is real (ht AZ). Invest with conviction!

Haiti Earthquake Relief

Here are a couple of different ways to support relief efforts in Haiti.

To give online: Anglican Relief & Development Fund (many Mbird contributors are Anglican/Episcopal, but I'm sure that just about every denomination has set up some sort of relief conduit): www.anglicanaid.net

To give $10 via text message through the Red Cross, text "Haiti" to 90999.

Of course, above all, pray.

R.I.P. of the Day #2: Jesus Dread

Turns out that Christo-centric reggae legend Yabby You died yesterday too. Check out this little wiki quote about him:

His Christian beliefs were markedly different from that of his Rastafarian comtemporaries, which often prompted debate on religio-philosophical matters, and it was after one of these discussions that Jackson first headed towards a recording studio, having heard music "like a strange ting, inside a my thoughts - like an angel a sing".


Here is his classic "Jesus Dread":


Yabby You emerged from severe malnutrition with a permanent handicap, which ultimately led him into the music field, and he was known for performing with the aid of crutches! Check out this touching clip of one of his final live performances. The song is: "Love Thy Neighbor". While the sound quality is poor, the imagery is still quite moving.



p.s., Did you know that Bob Marley was baptized in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church at the end of his life at a church in Brooklyn? How about that?!

From Charles Dickens' Dombey And Son

"Harriet complied and read -- read the eternal book for all the weary, and the heavy-laden; for all the wretched, fallen, and neglected of this earth -- read the blessed history, in which the blind, lame, palsied beggar, the criminal, the woman stained with shame, the shunned of all our dainty clay, has each a portion, that no human pride, indifference, or sophistry through all the ages that this world shall last, can take away, or by the thousandth atom of a grain reduce --" (pg 892, ht PZ)

Ill With Want - The Avett Brothers

I've finally gotten around to the amazing no-longer-so-new Avett Brothers record, I And Love And You (great title!). Highly recommended. One song in particular, "Ill With Want", has to be the Romans 7 anthem of 2009: the bondage of the will put in remarkably beautiful, affecting and ultimately true terms, it definitely captures some of what we'll be talking about at the upcoming NYC Conference (i.e. "Guilt, Forgiveness and Freedom"). Repentance with a capital R, the overwhelming need for a savior writ very, very large... (ht NH):



I am sick with wanting and it's evil and it's daunting
How I let everything I cherish lay to waste
I am lost in greed, this time it's definitely me
I point fingers but there's no one there to blame

A need for something, now let me break it down again
A need for something but not more medicine

I am sick of wanting and it's evil how it's got me
And every day is worse than the one before
The more I have the more I think I'm almost where I need to be
If only I could get a little more

A need for something, now let me break it down again
A need for something but not more medicine

Something has me, oh something has me
Acting like someone I don't wanna be
Something has me, oh something has me
Acting like someone I know isn't me
Ill with want and poisoned by this ugly greed

Temporary is my time, ain't nothing on this world that's mine
Except the will I found to carry on
Free is not your right to chose
It's answering what's asked of you
To give the love you find until it's gone

A need for something, now let me break it down again
A need for something but not more medicine

Something has me, oh something has me
Acting like someone I don't wanna be
Something has me, oh something has me
Acting like someone I know isn't me
Ill with want and poisoned by this ugly greed



p.s. Word has it The Avetts will be making an appearance on the upcoming Johnny Cash: American Recordings VI album!