Some of you may know the story where Sister Helen Prejean was casually discussing the death penalty. Her opponent quoted a verse from the Bible to support his pro-death penalty stance. Building on his logic, she responded with a number of verses that countered his argument and demonstrated a fuller understanding of the relevant texts. This southern gentleman, knowing he outmatched, conceded by saying, “I ain’t gonna get into no Bible quotin’ with no nun.”
I’m not a fan of proof-texting (the quoting of individual scripture verses/passages as a sole method of winning arguments) but I am a fan of people building on each other’s points from a mutual adoration of the scriptural texts, as they wrestle over the meaning of the relevant passages.
Recently, Franklin Graham was invited to lead a festival in Winnipeg. The Mennonites in Winnipeg were among his greatest fans and his most vocal opponents. All the furor arose from comments he made in the wake of the September 11 attacks in New York City.
The tragic events took place on a Tuesday, and soon after, President George W. Bush called for a day of prayer for the following Friday. A special prayer service took place in Washingtong DC, which was attended by a number of political and Christian dignitaries. CNN reported from outside the chapel, and as the service was going on, they interviewed Franklin Graham, whose father Billy was participating in the service inside the church.
During that interview, Graham Jr. made a number of noteworthy comments. The more politically noteworthy ones include him saying that Islam was a “very evil and wicked religion” and his stating that America should “go after these guys with everything we’ve got”, “every hellish weapon in our inventory.” Those statements, while saddening, aren’t all that surprising, especially given the post-9/11 emotion that pervaded the national sentiment. The fact that he hasn’t apologized doesn’t surprise me either; given the sense of infallibility the broader church often gives to its leaders. What was the most surprising and intriguing part of the interview happened immediately after those statements.
In a role reversal from the Prejean story, the secular reporter for the secular TV news channel quoted scripture, and the Biblically trained scholar inadequately engaged her. It may have been pre-scripted by someone else, it may have been a way of goading him into saying more controversial things, or it may have been a genuine attempt to clarify something that didn’t jive, but the reporter quoted the sermon on the mount. “In the Bible, Jesus tells his followers to love their enemies. How do you think that applies to this situation?” It was probably the best question I had ever heard asked on CNN. I was on the edge of my seat. Was he going to redeem himself? Could he possibly justify his previous comments with that particular verse? It was as though a chess match had unfolded before my eyes, and this young woman with no street cred had just declared checkmate on Big Blue (sorry for mixing metaphors).
But rather than engage her, rather than use the opportunity to grapple with the text, he brushed her off. “That passage speaks to us as individuals, not to us as a nation.” Obvious questions spring to mind: isn’t a nation made up of individuals? Can a nation, which is made up of individuals who love their enemies, not love their enemies? What exactly does Jesus say to nations? etc. It isn’t frustrating that his opinion is different than mine, but that instead of responding constructively with complimentary texts, he acted as though she didn’t deserve to engage him in theological discourse.
I’m a supporter of Mennonite churches participating with other groups, including evangelical groups, on ecumenical efforts. Churches working together to spread the good news of Jesus is a good thing. I love Billy Graham. I think he is an engaging and powerful speaker, and a compassionate and respectable voice for Christianity. However, I cannot respect Franklin Graham, and I refuse to endorse the charities, including Samaritan’s purse, which bear his name.
My hat goes off to those who attended the Festival, wanting to hear and share the good news. However, a greater salute goes to those who stood outside the services and held an ‘information picket’. You can try to spread the good news with gospel festivals and Christmas goodies, but not with the hellish weapons in the inventory of the US military.
So, I started writing this post last week, and got pretty far. I was on a role, inspired, and of course, the computer crashed on me. I was so frustrated, I didn’t even want to get back to it, until now.
Maybe this makes the excitement and busy-ness of our lives seem exaggerated, but I feel compelled to use categories. Makes for easier reading, and certainly for easier gathering of thoughts.
1. Our Vacation
Will had saved his last week of vacation until this month, to kind of celebrate our anniversary, so off we went, at the beginning of November. We spent the first 2 days at our cottage with 2 friends of mine. We showed them the tornado damage, which still fascinated us, played games, went for hikes, and stayed close to the ever-crackling fire. While eating pizza on our make-shift cardboard plates (so as to not have to wash them later), we were amazed to see over a dozen wood ducks out on the lake. We were also dazzled by the winter wonderland that greeted us into the next morning. Wow.
We then went to Cobourg, where those same friends live, for the next 2 days. We shared more laughs, played many more games, watched movies and enjoyed good conversation. Will and I went out to Presqu-il Park, just a 15 minute drive away, which is a conservation area and natural harbour. We walked 4.5 km’s of hiking trails, and saw woodpeckers (the Woody Woodpecker kind), which we had never seen before.
Then we were off for Kingston, where we went to the Penitentiary museum, Canada’s only one, which is located in the warden’s old residence, right across from Kingston Pen. Y’know how when you go to museums, you usually just look at the eye candy, and don’t always read the information? Well, I read praticly all the information provided, it was so fascinating. There were confiscated make-shift weapons, like crossbows made of toothbrushes and lighters, knives carved out of random materials, guns made of wood, etc. There were two stacks of cafeteria trays tied together, with a hole in the middle that an inmate made for an escape hideout. What was most amazing was seeing how resourceful people can be when they are desperate. We saw home brewing kits, toasters, lighters, made out of whatever objects they could find. We spent the night with some friends there, and watched MANY episodes of “The Office”. If you haven’t seen it already, DO. It’s very funny.
Last we went to Toronto to meet up with a bunch of our friends for supper. It was great to see them all again, and meet their new significant others. We spent hours catching up, and eating good food.
2. The Shadows of Grossmunster
Well, the final draft of the script is almost finished, which means we will soon be binding it, professional-like, and ready for distribution among cast members. We gained a violin player, which is very exciting for me, so I have been busily writing violin parts to all the songs. We now have a promoter, which will lighten our load in that department, significantly. We have a few more auditions lined up, but we still need a few more interested guys! So, if any of you readers know of anyone, please pass on our web address: www.grossmunster.com
We are also on the hunt for a stage manager and choreographer, and still for other musicians.
3. My birthday
Yes…..I am another year older, as November 14 declared. Sigh. Time goes by faster and faster as each new year passes, and I wonder where it all went. I have no regrets, but man! In four years I’ll be 30! Anyhoo, got some nice phone calls (including the “Happy Birthday” song at 11pm from some Toronto friends–Those rascals).
Some signs of my age:
a) Worsening vision (the glasses I bought in India 2 years ago are almost out of date now)
b) Achy joints (particularly my left knee)
c) Sensitive teeth (although I’ve always had that, it’s not doubt getting worse–and I’ve got quite a few dental appointments to show for it). Sigh.
d) Memory loss. Never mind, I’ve always had a bad memory.
4. Christmas Craziness.
Okay, we all know Christmas is a crazy time of year, but as a professional musician, ’tis the season for work. I am not only playing organ every Sunday (since the other organist is busy), I’m playing various Christmas concerts at both nursing homes I work at, doing the Christmas programs at Doon Heritage Crossroads again (for the fourth year), and putting on a Christmas choir concert with my choir of seniors at work. Phew! Oh…and…finishing off the score for the musical..hopefully.
People always told me I should go to school for music, and I always resisted for some reason. Looks like music found it’s way into my life, anyway. Big time.
5. MCC term
As of now, we still don’t know where are are going. All we know is that our 2 top choices, Belfast and El Salvador are not available anymore. So, we are waiting till the new placements are revealed next year. In the meantime, we anxiously await our time of service.
That’s all for now. Better publish this before the computer crashes on me again.
Word is getting out about our musical, and we are often stopped by people who ask us about it. A lot of times, people are surprised by the amount of time and work that we’ve put into it. By the time it’s performed, it will be quite difficult to assess how much time we’ve spent on it, but we really don’t want to look at it that way. This has been a big part of our lives ever since we started working on it a year and a half ago. As the time approaches, it will become an even bigger part.
In many ways, this project has become a part of us, not in a self-sacrificing martyr sense, but in an identity sense. That’s a good thing now as we work toward making this project a success, but it makes us wonder what we will do after it’s done. Because of other things we’re hoping to do, it’s not likely that we’ll start writing another musical. Maybe we’ll just promote it in other places so that other people will start performing it in other places and we’ll get to travel the world watching our own show (yeah right). For now however, it is a project that adds meaning and motivation to the routine of the rest of our lives. We’ll worry about filling that void later.