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?

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?

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Terry Gross: Do you think in responding to religious extremism you’ve become like an anti-religious extremist?

Maher:  I’m not an extremist at all.  I believe in the doctrine of ‘I Don’t Know’ when it comes to the afterlife.  And to say ‘I don’t know’ about the afterlife is really the only reasonable, and also humble, opinion you can hold. Anybody who believes in personal gods that are really the result of a long, 2000-year-old game of telephone–personal gods who you pray to and who perform miracles and fight with devils and so forth–that’s extremist…extremism.  That’s extremely irrational.  So I don’t think I’m the extremist, no.

TG: Did you read the old and the new testaments before making the movie?

Charles: Yes, actually, a number of times over the years.  And again just before we made the movie.  And we carried, of course, we carried all these holy books with us because we would cite things, cite quotes and so we were, we became pretty conversant in them..

Maher:  I took a course in the Bible at Cornell when I was in undergrad…. 

TG: did you find anything in the old or new testaments that you thought, well this is actually beautifully written, or this is actually a really interesting thought that I should keep with me whether I practice religion or not?

Maher: The prescription against eating lobster, I think, is excellent.  Because I don’t like lobster….

Charles: To me it reads like a Pynchon novel.

**************************************

You may or may not be having a reaction to these quotes. Again, there’s quite a bit more to be heard if you’d like to listen to it yourself (download or listen).  I had a variety of reactions, ranging from sad to frustrated. But one of the final comments by Maher stopped me in my tracks.  (Well… figuratively. I was on a elliptical machine at the time and, well, yeah…) This quote comes out of the continued conversation about impressions of the Bible:

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Maher: I mean, the New Testament is obviously different. The New Testament, if you strip away all the magic tricks and the bells and whistles and the nonsense, the message of Jesus is not only beautiful but revolutionary: the idea that the meek shall inherit the earth, and the poor and the powerless have just as much dignity as the powerful and the rich.  That was a very new idea at the time, and it has not gone out of style, I might add. And It’s a wonderful message.  It’s a shame it gets lost amidst all the other nonsense. (emphasis mine)

**************************************

Did you get that? A person who does not believe in God… who does not believe the Bible makes a case for needing a relationship with any kind of god… this person hears a nugget of truth in Jesus’ message.  And wonders why the beauty of the message ‘gets lost amidst all the other nonsense’.   What’s the nonsense he’s referring to? Have we attached things to Jesus’ message that He never meant to proclaim?  What do YOU hear in the message of the New Testament? What do YOU think is getting lost? What do YOU think could be done about that?

I recently listened to an interview with Maher and Charles on NPR’s Fresh Air (download as a podcast here or listen on NPR’s site here). After listening, I interpret the film’s basic premise to be this:  all religion is ridiculous and irrational and possibly dangerous. Despite my disagreement, it was incredibly interesting to hear Maher & Charles’ impressions of religion generally, and the Bible specifically.  Here are a few excerpts from the interview:

**************************************

Terry Gross: Do you think in responding to religious extremism you’ve become like an anti-religious extremist?

Maher:  I’m not an extremist at all.  I believe in the doctrine of ‘I Don’t Know’ when it comes to the afterlife.  And to say ‘I don’t know’ about the afterlife is really the only reasonable, and also humble, opinion you can hold. Anybody who believes in personal gods that are really the result of a long, 2000-year-old game of telephone–personal gods who you pray to and who perform miracles and fight with devils and so forth–that’s extremist…extremism.  That’s extremely irrational.  So I don’t think I’m the extremist, no.

TG: Did you read the old and the new testaments before making the movie?

Charles: Yes, actually, a number of times over the years.  And again just before we made the movie.  And we carried, of course, we carried all these holy books with us because we would cite things, cite quotes and so we were, we became pretty conversant in them..

Maher:  I took a course in the Bible at Cornell when I was in undergrad…. 

TG: did you find anything in the old or new testaments that you thought, well this is actually beautifully written, or this is actually a really interesting thought that I should keep with me whether I practice religion or not?

Maher: The prescription against eating lobster, I think, is excellent.  Because I don’t like lobster….

Charles: To me it reads like a Pynchon novel.

**************************************

You may or may not be having a reaction to these quotes. Again, there’s quite a bit more to be heard if you’d like to listen to it yourself (download or listen).  I had a variety of reactions, ranging from sad to frustrated. But one of the final comments by Maher stopped me in my tracks.  (Well… figuratively. I was on a elliptical machine at the time and, well, yeah…) This quote comes out of the continued conversation about impressions of the Bible:

**************************************

Maher: I mean, the New Testament is obviously different. The New Testament, if you strip away all the magic tricks and the bells and whistles and the nonsense, the message of Jesus is not only beautiful but revolutionary: the idea that the meek shall inherit the earth, and the poor and the powerless have just as much dignity as the powerful and the rich.  That was a very new idea at the time, and it has not gone out of style, I might add. And It’s a wonderful message.  It’s a shame it gets lost amidst all the other nonsense. (emphasis mine)

**************************************

Did you get that? A person who does not believe in God… who does not believe the Bible makes a case for needing a relationship with any kind of god… this person hears a nugget of truth in Jesus’ message.  And wonders why the beauty of the message ‘gets lost amidst all the other nonsense’.  

What’s the nonsense he’s referring to? Have we attached things to Jesus’ message that He never meant to proclaim? 

What do YOU hear in the message of the New Testament?
What do YOU think is getting lost?
What do YOU think could be done about that?

Go to the Watercooler today for more discussion on arts and culture.

Go to the Watercooler today for more discussion on arts and culture.

When you were a kid were there tv shows you weren’t allowed to watch? what were they? Are you surprised now by what you could or couldn’t watch? If you have kids of your own now, do you have rules about what tv/movies they watch? what’s off limits? do you have questions about your own rules? Leave a comment and share your answers.

This post is part of Watercooler Wednesdays.  Check it out!

So.  I have questions.  When you were a kid were there tv shows you weren’t allowed to watch? what were they?

Are you surprised now by what you could or couldn’t watch?

If you have kids of your own now, do you have rules about what tv/movies they watch? what’s off limits? do you have questions about your own rules?

Leave a comment and share your answers.

This post is part of Watercooler Wednesdays.  Check it out!

A few weeks ago I had the privilege to be a part of a panel charged with answering questions asked by senior high students on whatever topic they wanted. It was a great experience, filled with insightful, brilliant, and terrifying questions. (Fortunately, most of the inquiries about the book of Revelation were addressed to other panel members.)

In answering one particular question, I mentioned being interested in developing the arts, and artists, from within the church. I mentioned Kalein, the dream and vision to develop a place to encourage and equip gifted artists to discover, develop and discipline their calling. After the q & a was over, a student approached me with questions about Kalein. He was very interested in my thoughts about developing artists from within the church. He shared that he has, for several years, attended the MasterWorks Festival.

This festival…. … is a four-week classical performing arts training program that offers advanced students of music, dance, opera, and theatre the opportunity to learn from professional Christian performing artists in their respective field. … strives to combine the classical performing arts and Christianity so that students from a wide variety of Christian backgrounds can come together to glorify God in their art and grow deeper in their faith, personally and corporately. …features over 40 performances during the festival including two weekly orchestral performances, a full length dance program with orchestra, a fully staged theater production, a full length opera production, chamber music recitals, and more.

I learned more about this festival after the conversation, but what I learned during the conversation astounded me. This student comes from a large family, with siblings and parents who are accomplished musicians. There’s a part of me that always wonders about kids raised in a scenario like that…. are they really choosing their passions? He relayed to me that the MasterWorks Festival is a highlight of his summer, especially because the experience integrates faith and spiritual growth with artistic instruction and performance. I asked him what instrument he plays. French horn, he told me. And then, without a trace of arrogance or embarrassment, this very eloquent, sincere high school guy said this: “I worship most completely when I’m playing the horn. I never want to stop.”

I love that. A 16 year old who completely ‘gets’ artistry and faith. He has much to teach us.

This post is a part of Watercooler Wednesdays, a blog gathering about arts & culture.

A few weeks ago I had the privilege to be a part of a panel charged with answering questions asked by senior high students on whatever topic they wanted. It was a great experience, filled with insightful, brilliant, and terrifying questions. (Fortunately, most of the inquiries about the book of Revelation were addressed to other panel members.)

In answering one particular question, I mentioned being interested in developing the arts, and artists, from within the church. I mentioned Kalein, the dream and vision to develop a place to encourage and equip gifted artists to discover, develop and discipline their calling.

After the q & a was over, a student approached me with questions about Kalein. He was very interested in my thoughts about developing artists from within the church. He shared that he has, for several years, attended the MasterWorks Festival. This festival….

… is a four-week classical performing arts training program that offers advanced students of music, dance, opera, and theatre the opportunity to learn from professional Christian performing artists in their respective field.

… strives to combine the classical performing arts and Christianity so that students from a wide variety of Christian backgrounds can come together to glorify God in their art and grow deeper in their faith, personally and corporately.

…features over 40 performances during the festival including two weekly orchestral performances, a full length dance program with orchestra, a fully staged theater production, a full length opera production, chamber music recitals, and more.

I learned more about this festival after the conversation, but what I learned during the conversation astounded me. This student comes from a large family, with siblings and parents who are accomplished musicians. There’s a part of me that always wonders about kids raised in a scenario like that…. are they really choosing their passions? He relayed to me that the MasterWorks Festival is a highlight of his summer, especially because the experience integrates faith and spiritual growth with artistic instruction and performance. I asked him what instrument he plays. French horn, he told me. And then, without a trace of arrogance or embarrassment, this very eloquent, sincere high school guy said this: “I worship most completely when I’m playing the horn. I never want to stop.”

I love that. A 16 year old who completely ‘gets’ artistry and faith. He has much to teach us.

This post is a part of Watercooler Wednesdays, a blog gathering about arts & culture.