Pictures. Help. Me.
I take a lot of pictures. I take most of them with my phone.
I take pictures of my family. I take pictures of happenings at work.
I take pictures of funny, silly, trivial things.
I take a lot of pictures. Read more
Posts from the ‘culture’ Category
Jul 8
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Sep 14
Are there really only two kinds of stories?
I recently heard this quote from American actor/writer/director/producer Garry Marshall:
“Write this down, filmmakers: all stories are ‘Cinderella’ or ‘The Little Engine That Could’”
I have to figure out if he’s right. Help me. Do these stories fall into only 2 types? Or are there more?
‘Pretty Woman’
‘You’ve Got Mail’
‘Pride & Prejudice’
‘Braveheart’
‘Lord of the Rings’
‘Shawshank Redemption’
‘It’s a Wonderful Life’
‘Finding Nemo’
and super duper bonus question:
The story of Jesus Christ.
and double super duper bonus times infinity squared:
What do you think about the idea that all of humanity’s stories distill down to the question of rescue and the question of determination?
What say you?
Dec 7
Permission to Christmas.
So I have this friend. She is incredibly smart. She loves being a mom, serving her God, and having a great theological discussion. I learn about all of those things every time I’m with her.
So I was somehow relieved to learn this friend has gone ’round and ’round with how to celebrate Christmas. Like me, she has worked hard to find new meaning within Christmas year after year in the past. Like me, she has felt the weight of trying to create a meaningful, tradition-filled experience for her kids.
She, however, has landed in a place I didn’t know existed. She would very much like to de-emphasize Christianity at Christmas.
Her decision is not flippant, nor is it to be construed as an abandonment of faith. Through theological study, she has come to believe strongly that we should honor and celebrate the fact that God took on human form. She believes we should tell and retell the story of God saving and healing us. She believes we should live in gratitude and praise for God’s gift of new life. It’s just that she believes we should be doing all of this every day; this should be the way we live, not a thing we talk about once a year on Jesus’ birthday.
Not that December 25 actually is Jesus’ birthday, which is another notch in the ‘what is this Christmas thing?’ column.
My friend acknowledges that it’s hard to manufacture a new spiritual high each Christmas, when she has disciplined herself to acknowledge the full truth of God’s presence in the world every day. It seems redundant to try to force extra amounts of faith and joy through her kids once a year, when it is a value in their family to live that way all the time. And it’s hard enough on a normal day.
Where my friend’s perspective spun me by surprise is that she feels almost a sense of relief. She can fully enter into the cultural celebration of Christmas without guilt that she’s not doing enough to make it ‘extra spiritual’. She will still participate in their church’s Advent & Christmas events… she is still decorating like a crazy person… she is still entering in to all the traditions she and her husband have established for their family.
But super-Christian Christmas? no. She has given herself permission to ‘Christmas’ freely.
My friend may be on to something.
Or it may be that we all are just thirsty for an Advent season that really IS about waiting, a quiet, melancholy state.
It may be that we all are aware that the air around a newborn baby in a barn would be quiet and a bit confused.
It may be that we wear seasonal expectations like heavy, weighted coats, when really it is a time to stop, remember, and celebrate God’s beautiful story. Period.
What do you think?
Nov 17
a winter’s night…
So I bought a new CD this week and had an unexpected encounter with a bit of theology written by the artist:
Implicit in the story of the birth of Christ is the knowledge of his death and his subsequent Resurrection. This is what connects it to the secular songs about the cycle of the seasons. We are reminded that there is light and life at the centre of the darkness that is Winter–or conversely, that, no matter how comfortable we feel in the cradle, there is darkness and danger all around us.
Amazing insight, that.
The writer of this paragraph, and the artist behind the CD, is Sting.
The CD is ‘If On A Winter’s Night…’
The project is inspired by traditional music from the British Isles, and celebrates the many facets of winter.
There is, as you might imagine, quite a bit of folklore wrapped up in ancient songs from the British Isles. Sting writes about the background of each song with a clear respect for the history and mystery of each one. It is not a collection of Christmas music… it is ‘winter’ music. But he does allude to The Christmas Story, saying…
Since the first millennium the festival of Christmas has become the central and defining event of the winter season; the story of Christ’s birth contains many magical elements, prefigured by ancient prophecy… I appreciate the beauty of these stories and how they have inspired musicians and poets for many centuries. It was my desire to treat these themes with reverence and respect, and despite my personal agnosticism, the sacred symbolism of the Church’s art still exerts a powerful influence over me.
After describing the songs which come from the Christmas story, he wrote the paragraph at the top of this post. You might want to read it again.
Do you see it? A man who respects the story of Christ but does not hold the belief still sees how God’s story of redemption is echoed in the cyclical nature of the world around us, and in the art we have created across the centuries.
Do you feel it? A simple sense of awe.
Oh that we who know this story and do believe may keep this same sense of awe.
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I do, by the way, highly recommend the CD… it sounds like this…
Finding inspiration.
Don’t know where you find it, but this week… for me… it’s in watching performances like this. Sara Bareilles, “City”
What inspires you?
