lost passion

so in reflecting a bit on easter, good friday, lenten fasts etc, i was drawn back to an old blogpost from 2005.

i have a question: why the recut?
mel gibson's controversial film 'the passion of the Christ' has been recut with the more 'offensive' stuff removed.

i have another question: feel better now?

once again we have opted for a tidy retelling of the story- as if there aren't already enough of those. about a month ago my marcy and i were tossing around some of film's more comical (:-0) portrayals of Jesus' story.

***
marcy said
This all started when I started asking people who they thought the worst ‘Jesus Actors’ of all time where. I mean, we’re talking from Mel Gibson’s ‘The Passion’ on down through ‘The Robe’ and what-not, the worst Jesus Actors of all time.

We’re talking the worst method actors known to cinema: “A November Boston Globe review of Jesus Christ Superstar called the non-Equity show "so unspeakably awful it's enough to make a writer give up theater criticism forever and set up a shoeshine stand in the middle of a mudslide."

Anyways, here’s a partial list of Jesus Actors:
Willem Dafoe in The Last Temptation of Christ
James Caviezel in The Passion of the Christ
Jeremy Sisto in Jesus (made for tv)
Brian Deacon in Jesus (from '79)
Claude Heater in Ben-Hur
Kenneth Colley in Life of Brian
Ted Neeley in Jesus Christ Superstar
William Powell in Jesus Of Nazareth
Max Von Sydow in The Greatest Story Ever Told
Jeffrey Hunter in ‘The King of Kings’ (61)

Okay, but Willem Dafoe also played the mad scientist in the Spiderman movie. Enough said there.


to which i felt compelled to reply:
as for willem dafoe, thank God actors play roles, rather than live them (another plug for "Jesus of Montreal" yay!) because a bunch of the guys on this list have either taken bizarre/embarrassing parts somewhere along the way, or have never worked again...

ted neeley played 'curly' (the creepy cowboy with a glove full of vaseline) in the 70's version of john steinbeck's "of mice and men"

"max von sydow was 'brewmeister smith' (a deranged scientist who goes for global mind control by adding hallucinogens to canadian beer at oktoberfest)in bob and doug mckenzie's "strange brew" (major canadiana piece there) and has portrayed mostly malevolent authority figures ever since, in mind-bending psychological films like "minority report" and "shutter island"

jeffrey hunter went on to be commander pike in the "star trek" pilot, returning to the little screen in a recut version of it called "the menagerie"

there's probably many more great laughs we could have over the aesthetic folly/curse (it's kinda interesting that in casting the new superman, both jim C and willem D were not even considered because they had both already played JC. darned do-gooders!) attached to playing Jesus- i just don't have my big fat cross-referenced movie book handy to go digging further.

i am just glad that malcolm mcdowell has never played the Christ (unless you include "a clockwork orange"- but that one's probably just conjecture) because i don't think that i could see "Caligula Christ" without becoming really uncomfortable.

and on it went...
***

point is, there are already a bunch of 'biblical epic' type portrayals of Jesus' passion which just don't rate, and clearly it's not about visual desensitization, because desensitized people would dismiss the flogging scene as merely running too long without moving the story forward...

it's about letting love in. we hate that a good person could be so cruelly treated; or we hate that people will watch a film and weep, but will eat supper on the couch while watching wars and their atrocities chronicled on cnn; we hate the idea that such horrific torture could be undergone by the son of God on our behalf (although that is still too personally and spiritually problematic for many- let's just stick with the good person part; it permits filtered consciencing.) telling a story is one thing, but depicting a troubling historical event in such extreme detail is somehow too much.

give us 'kill bill.' we know that that's silly. we know that that isn't supposed to get into our hearts. we know that people are not, as presented (brilliantly, i might add) by tarantino, huge sacks of blood just waiting to explode, and therefore we can laugh at our mortality rather than fear losing it to face a loveless forever, completely absent from the presence of God.

don't kid yourself- none of us has any idea how dark the darkness really is. how dark can you imagine? does it compare to what we find offensive about the original cut of the film?

Jesus said 'forgive them, for they have no idea...'

sometimes it feels like we've given up truth for lent.

setting captives free

(click here to view this dramatic piece by edward poitras in the context presented)

it's always interesting to monitor just how things link up.

a deterministic theology? perhaps.

here's the thing: whether we believe in coincidence or co-incidents, there is a challenge for us to do something with events, words etc that seem to harmonize with each other, taking us in a single direction. just as many streams form one great channel to the sea, these complimentary happenings serve as invitations to consider glory, design and the will of God.

for him who has ears, let him hear, right?

so this sunday, as part of our 'turning towards the kiss of God' we were moved to look into 2 Chronicles 7.1-16 and meditate with singing upon the words:

If we'd ask, you would come.

Lord send your rain on everyone

That we'd see your glory here.

and on monday i received the email message below which deals with a movement across the country to set the captives free: free from the bondage of non-forgiveness.

what might God be whispering through these co-incidents?

if God is speaking, what can we do to be part of the great channel of unity, restoration and deep social, spiritual and cultural healing that God longs to bring to this land and these peoples,

regardless of ethnicity,

regardless of shameful backstory,

regardless of the obscene injustices that have been inflicted in his name by one people upon many others...

the restoration of broken relationships and identity sets those on both sides of a conflict free by God's grace.

***

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

(2 Chronicles 7:13, 14)

Saskatchewan call to 3 days of prayer and fasting
February 11, 12, 13, 2010

February 13 Gather corporately to pray

Regina
Healing Hearts Ministry
766 Angus St
Saturday February 13, 1-4 pm

This tour is to present the message of forgiveness as a national response to the Prime Minister's apology in 2008 to Residential School Survivors and their families. Several national leaders have felt the need to offer a national response and will do a 3-day summit in Ottawa in June 11-13, 2010. This tour is to simply bring the message to people across Canada who have experienced Residential schools and the families who have also been affected. This is seen as a way to bring healing to our people as an opening step for our community as well as others in Canada to embrace the healing we all want and need.

(Jean Hill, provincial co-ordinator)

"The release of forgiveness will not only be a major landmark in the journey of Canada towards our destiny to bring healing to the nations, but it will be a new beginning in covenant relationships within the family of God for kingdom authority purpose for our nation; and Canada will be a blessed nation under God even more!"

(Gathering Nations International leader, Kenny Blacksmith)

Saskatchewan House of Prayer is calling the province to seek the Lord for three days February 11, 12, 13.

• As we humble ourselves to pray "Forgive us as we forgive those who've sinned against us" FORGIVENESS will be released in the spirit realm.
• Pray for Jean Hill and her team.
• Pray for Kenny Blacksmith and his team, those travelling with him.
• Cry out to God for healing upon our 1st Peoples, the people of this province and upon our land.

Words/visions/dreams can be sent to freedomwords2010@gmail.com

Gather together in your local areas to pray with others on February 13.

"If My people will . . . . then I will"

raise and release

so the struggle with sharing vision is to try to translate this sharing into different media. all fine and good to speak passionately before an assembled crowd, quite something different to post those same thoughts somewhere to be read without the benefit of all the things that make listening to an inspiring speaker inspirational.

the benefit, however, is the hindsight that is afforded in the process of somehow transcripting spoken words into written ones. there are shining sparks of revelation not found in the notes which take on major significance as God moves in the live moment of interaction, making apparent to all assembled (even the one speaking) that this is what he wanted someone to say.

example: a three word phrase that did not occupy a whole lot of space in the wildly scribbled, footnoted, annotated and even roughly illustrated notes that i brought with me to the front at a recent gathering of our people:

raise and release

that was it. so simple. buried amidst gathered quotes and ministry opportunities and examples to be shared with our missionally-minded, yet progressively active crowd at the annual 'society meeting.'

yet these words say so much.

raising requires investment work. it requires a discipling/mentoring relationship to be forged which is, at its centre, collaborative.

releasing requires trust and affords validation. whether the release is internal, releasing one to pursue his/her piece of the mission locally, or external, being allowed to leave the shelter, comfort and safety of the nest, that the larger picture would be realized.

yes, to raise and release is to invite, inspire, equip and empower. it is to place words of vision and challenge before people, then to walk alongside them, all the while sharing your pieces of the picture with them, that their own would be informed by it while not being controlled or restricted. it is to afford people the opportunity to meaningfully engage in the ongoing work as part of their own journey to self actualized, entire sanctification. to boldly go where no man has gone before...

transformation to a better way

in his book God Bless You, Mr Rosewater , kurt vonnegut tells the story of a millionaire philanthropist who, in his quest for the meaning of life, decides to spend his life and the family fortune on society’s throwaways at the risk of losing control of the foundation’s millions upon being proven insane for doing so. in the book, vonnegut (ever the idealist cynic) makes some wry observations about the way people deal with wealth…

Think about the silly ways money gets passed around now,
and then think up better ways. (Kurt Vonnegut Jr)

on january 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake tore through the ‘poorest country in the western hemisphere.’
I found myself journaling...

O God, what is our role in the relief of this disaster?
the answer was given in psalm 20, my devotions for the day.

this psalm is a song of blessing akin to something that might have been traditionally sung in an irish pub down the road. within the lyric are many 'fare-thee-wells', but it was the first couple lines that had a specific word for me, for us. i mean, if we are comfortable referring to the world as a global village, then we need to accept the responsibility that goes with the metaphor: we need to take care of the people in our village.

in your time of trouble, may the Lord answer
sending help from his sanctuary (psa20.1-2)

the word for 'help' is 'ezer.
it is a noun meaning succour/aid/support/relief.
relief from his sanctuary

in other words, the way God chooses to bring help and relief is to provide some within his sanctuary, his place of solace, refuge and protection, having both means and opportunity to actively and faithfully distribute his grace and mercy to those in need

and yet, in sanctuary, we are so accustomed to be blessed and protected that we can frivolously throw the blessings out into the street on folly and still sleep at night. this is the danger of being entrusted with so much, i suppose.

in Jesus' early ministry days following his baptism and temptation in the wilderness, we find the Lord celebrating at a wedding. someone has made a grave error of calculation, and the party grinds to a halt as the announcement is made that the celebration is over as they are all out of wine. Jesus' mother motivates her boy the way only a mother can, and he gets up, protesting the whole time, goes over to where the big jars for ceremonial washing are standing and promptly changes them into an award-winning chardonnay.

important to note: it isn’t that the water is multiplied- Jesus does plenty of multiplication on other occasions- it’s that it is transformed from

• something common to something miraculous
• something meaningless to something meaningful
• something of social utility to something of social gravity…

what has been basic water, fit not even for drinking but for washing, is transformed into something not simply drinkable, but surprisingly good.

perhaps God intends to do the same with the cash that we keep making and keep throwing away on ridiculous luxury. we know, after all, that the interest against the loan we have taken out to pay for contentment so gravely outweighs the principle itself that we'll never be truly free of the debt. what if we were to take the common currency of commerce and let Jesus have a go at it?

relief is a God thing. God wants to provide it for people and he wants to use the generosity that he has placed in people to be its distribution system. God wants to use his church- his people today- to be part of this action.

*note: this post was drawn from a talk that i gave the week following the earthquake in haiti. at that time, the board of northview community church agreed to simply give that morning's entire offering to the relief effort, releasing our human grip on the cash that God has entrusted to our care in faith. the good people of our local church responded generously and, with matching from the CIDA, a goodly sum was sent to haiti. we have chosen to partner with World Relief and would invite anyone who has not yet done so to participate in the haiti earthquake relief effort by giving generously to the cause.

www.worldrelief.org

the unforgettable fire

What is it, Papa?
Nothing. We're okay. Go to sleep.
We're going to be okay, aren't we Papa?
Yes. We are.
And nothing bad is going to happen to us.
That's right.
Because we're carrying the fire.
Yes. Because we're carrying the fire.
(from 'The Road ' by Cormac McCarthy, p83)

***

when john the baptiser speaks of the long-awaited messiah, (soon to be revealed as his own cousin Jesus in luke 3.15-17), he speaks of someone operating on a higher plane, affecting exponential change to the world. whereas john baptizes with water, he reminds the people of the scriptures they have already learned, announcing that Jesus, will anoint people’s very hearts with the oil of royalty and then flambé them. like Moses’ bush in the wilderness, they will be set afire to burn brightly in the darkness of a fallen, cannibalistic world, but will not be burned up- instead, offering the warmth, illumination, guidance and hope of God's unforgettable fire in the darkness.

however, sometimes we start to be a bit territorial and protective with this flame that has been entrusted to us. although Jesus reminded all who had ears to hear that they were not to hide their light under a thick shade, in fact this is often the case within today's church.

yet in the words of the prophet recorded in isaiah 49.6, we are challenged with the phrase “It is too small a thing…”

"It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."

it is too small a thing to restrict our focus to our own people, our own programs, our own facility. it is too small a thing to engage only with those who believe as we do, that we would be mutually encouraged. it is too small a thing to protect our traditions in deference to the cries of irrelevance from a world in pain. it is too small a thing to only read christian books by christian writers, only listen to christian songs recorded by christian musicians, only support christian businesses listed in some exclusive christians-only directory. it is too small a thing to, as steve taylor put it in a song over a quarter century ago, "only drink milk from a christian cow."

in the luke 3 account of Jesus' baptism, the whole narrative begins by saying We are challenged to bear this light, to carry this unforgettable fire of God’s love and presence into every situation requiring it. To live with eyes wide open for opportunity to share his hope, that those who are ‘Gentiles’ to us (those who do not know the name of Jesus in a life-changing way), would experience the salvation of a relationship freedom from sin and relationship with Almighty God through Jesus Christ, rather than be somehow swallowed up by the calamity that befalls us all.

as we carry the unforgettable fire of God’s love and presence, let us run fast and sure, that this light would reach into every life and bring warmth, hope comfort and freedom there.

***

You have to carry the fire.
I don’t know how to.
Yes you do.
Is it real? The Fire?
Yes it is.
Where is it? I don’t know where it is.
Yes you do. It’s inside you. It was always there. I can see it.
(from 'The Road ' by Cormac McCarthy, pp 278-9)

the road

my son made an observation recently. apparently all literature placed on high school reading lists has to do with biblical themes- in particular, Christ’s redemptive work through his incarnation, his passion and his resurrection. he brought a few examples, the most recent of which was 'The Road ' by cormac mccarthy.


this got me thinking. if all great literature seems to, in some way, grapple with the common theme of existence: that we feel rather helpless facing the harshness of our physical reality, rife with pain, sickness, betrayal, violence, vengence and death. that we long for a little help as we travel along a mostly cold and impersonal, often completely unexplained road, upon which we often aspire to little more than basic survival with dignity. well what if it’s also true that all scripture is about life?

2Tim3.16 claims that all scripture has a point and is useful, but if we neglect to explore it outside of our own knowledge of it then we might be guilty of reducing the bible to little more than a comic book.

Thy word have I kept in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee (Psalm 119.11)

we’ve gotta be putting it in
if we want to live it out
on the road.

nativity scenes

while stopping in at some friends' the other evening for eggnog, i noticed something for the first time. my friends collect nativity scenes. displayed there on the header, these are engaged in a veritable parade of nativity, each float telling the same story but doing so with style and aesthetic nuance that separates it from the others.

now THERE’s a collection idea: something that you can bring out once a year at a time when everyone displays theirs…
i have some Christmas albums (listed here in no particular order) that accomplish the same thing:

Band Aid:
Do They Know It's Christmas? (1984)
a band of pop musicians drawn together by bob geldof (of the boomtown rats) and midge ure (of ultravox) on november 25, 1984 to record a special benefit song written by geldof and ure to raise money and awareness for the victims of a famine of biblical proportions in ethiopia that year. a larger live concert event called Live Aid was staged the following summer for the same cause. through the concert tickets, recordings, books and other merchandise, as well as the benefit moneys that were raised during the actual global 'telemiracle'-type concerts, over $300 000 000 was raised. the band aid record and the live aid concerts, although not the first benefits of this type (george harrison of the beatles staged The Concert for Bangladesh on august 1, 1971 which probably served as a helpful model for geldof's Live Aid event) they seemed to usher in a new era where pop musicians began to use their celebrity and their influence as a conversive, rather than subversive force for world change.

Various Artists:
A Very Special Christmas (1987)
many pop stars who met each other for the first time either in the recording of 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' , the american music industry's benefit song 'We Are The World' (written by Michael Jackson) the canadian music industry's contribution 'Tears Are Not Enough', or in the blur that culminated on july 13, 1985 with Live Aid, rallied to put together an album of Christmas favourites old and new for Special Olympics.

Jon Anderson:
Three Ships (1985)
the singer of the progressively epic art rock band 'yes' and longtime collaborator with vangelis (electronic composer of the oscar awarded soundtrack to the film Chariots of Fire) put together a particularly spacey, mid 80's-esque collection of Christmas songs and justice anthems. The record was dedicated to raising awareness for 'Beyond War' which continues to be a voice for justice and peace even today.

John Denver & The Muppets:
A Christmas Together
the soundtrack of a 1979 television special of the same name, this muppet record features a rollicking version of the beach boys' christmas hit 'little saint nick' (which follows the same formula as their earlier tune 'little deuce coup') that i worked up with a group of grade 7's during my internship at lakeview school in 1987. yep, our performance featured puppets as well. those 'kids' are now all 34 years old... 11 years older than i was when i taught them.

Boney M:
Christmas Album (1981)
okay, i do NOT know why i have this album. i've never actually bought the record, yet have somehow owned 3 copies. however, speaking of christmas concerts, how would we live without 'mary's boy child' at least once in the holiday season?

Zero Mostel/ Alan Mills:
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1957)
the grinch story is great, but only takes up one side of the record and, in truth, i've never played it. i bought this record at value village because of side2: Christmas Songs From Many Lands, sung in english by alan mills. see, my brother-in-law used to play this folk record when we would come to visit at Christmastime to play games and drink egg nog. terry was twelve years older than his baby sister, vonda, and was the closest thing to a true modern day renaissance man that i will probably ever meet. a brilliant artist, athlete, musician, leader, educator, dad and friend, his friendship and approval were kind of a big deal to me as i was trying to find my place in my wife's family...we played tennis together and talked about God and the beatles and i always said i wanted to be like terry when i grew up. he was killed with his wife by a drunk driver on october 11, 2003.

George Frederick Handel:
Messiah (1741)
handel wrote this entire oratorio over a three week period. a powerfully spiritual encounter for the composer resulted in one of the most famous and well respected pieces of music ever to feature words and music by God.

Michael W. Smith:
Christmas (1988)
orchestra, choir, synthesizers and some basic guitar, bass and drums come together in an album so rich in classical texture and (with the exception of, perhaps a painfully 80's rendition of 'angels we have heard on high') timeless in its delivery that it can be played outside the Christmas season and still bring about a rich awareness of the presence of God in the room.

each of these tells the same story- albeit the details and priorities may vary from telling to telling, each one of these bears tidings of great joy which shall be to all people…for unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you: ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying
‘Glory to God in the highest- and on earth peace, good will towards men!’ (luke 2.10-14)

i know these words almost verbatim because linus has recited them yearly as part of A Charlie Brown Christmas since 1965.