A little less than a week ago i attended a memorial service for Kenneth P. Strong, who was my beginning acting professor when i was a freshman here at UNC. He had brain cancer. It was in remission when he taught my class and for another year after that. But it came back, and the few times i ran into Ken last semester, the toll it was taking on him was growing more apparent.
When we got the email saying he had died, i wasn't entirely surprised - he had resigned near the end of last semester, so it was really a matter of time. But at the specific moment i opened the email, Ken wasn't what was on my mind, so it still came as a bit of a shock.
And then the memorial service proved, well, more difficult than i had anticipated, given the inevitability of the situation. i was struck particularly by two remarks. the first came from McKay Coble, the drama department chair. she showed a picture of Ken in character as Uncle Vanya, screaming, and explained that it was both like him - in his tremendous talent - and unlike him because the picture looked so mean. Ken wasn't mean. She said he could not comprehend meanness. Why would someone choose that over kinder alternatives? Second, i remember Ray Dooley commenting on his ceaseless sense of humor. Even through the cancer, he found ways to make people smile, seeking out the laughs to be had.
What really got me about these remembrances was when i thought back to my time in class with Ken, really thought about what he was like, and i was reminded of all these things. His enormous kindness and humor. And how he ended ever class by telling us, "I love you!" And as much as i despise cliches, i can't get over the idea that this is precisely the kind of man that i should be trying to live like. So here i am, and i'm going to do my best to understand meanness less than i do, and to always look for the humor around me and share it with whoever is close by.
But don't worry, i'll be careful out there.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Christian Students Today
A few days ago at the first Intervarsity large group of the new semester, Alex Kirk told about this time he was asked to go to some place talk to a bunch of apparently important people (i've lost some of the nuances of the tale in the last few days) on the subject of Christian students today. While i don't remember what Alex had to say about Christian students today, i remember him mentioning something about the "challenges" we face. And that got me thinking. What are some of the biggest challenges to Christian students on college campuses? To the development of our own faith and to our ability to witness to other people. (i continue to be uncomfortable with words like witnessing and ministering.)
It is the second stumbling block that first came to mind - what are the things that keep us from being able to reach non-believers and seekers on our campuses?
And the conclusion i came to, first and foremost, was this:
Conservative Christian leaders on television. From pastors with megachurches on Sunday mornings, to talking heads with political ties on the Sunday news shows. (i'm always particularly struck by the irony that Christians on television come out most on the sabbath, keeping it holy in a delightful blend of the Church and the State, depending on which channel you watch.)
Using television to reach a large audience can be a wonderful thing, don't get me wrong. But there's some sort of flaw in the system. It appears that the people who most want to get the attention of the large audiences are the ones who are most extreme in their beliefs (and in the case of Christianity, that is usually a conservative extreme), and that in turn makes it so that the wider audience's primary view of what all Christians are like is directly influenced and skewed by the appearance of Joel Osteen telling us all how God wants us to be wealthy so that we can be happy (a rather interesting interpretation of the Rich Young Ruler story).
So, when us college students want to share our faith with our fellow students, not only do we have to deal with the issues of suffering, sex, pride, greed, and above all self-centeredness, but we have to do it while also trying to correct the image these fellow students have formed about where we're coming from. It's not always about saving souls from Satan.
We aren't trying to judge them just because the Talking Heads are. We aren't all discriminatory and we aren't all supporting our political opinions with our spiritual beliefs (or if we are, we at least know that they aren't always the same thing). And even if we pledge allegiance to the flag, we know that there are some allegiances that are more important.
Television has almost completely undermined any clean slate we Christian students may have to work with on the campus around us - and given the tarnish of sin, most of those slates are already pretty dirty. We have to take 3 steps back before we can ever take a step forward. And given the fact that Christianity is a religion that at its most basic level demands primarily that we love each other and take care of each other, it shouldn't be such a difficult thing for college kids trying to figure their lives out to be open to hearing about. But it is.
So in the meantime, we'll keep on doing what the apostles did. Looking for opportunities, sharing what we know to be true with the people who care enough to listen, and sharing meals with people as often as possible, because nothing is ever going to beat the impact that having someone sit down and engage with you like a unique and valuable part of God's creation can have on a person. Not blogging or reading books, not hearing sermons from men in expensive suits, and certainly not being talked at by a television screen.
It is the second stumbling block that first came to mind - what are the things that keep us from being able to reach non-believers and seekers on our campuses?
And the conclusion i came to, first and foremost, was this:
Conservative Christian leaders on television. From pastors with megachurches on Sunday mornings, to talking heads with political ties on the Sunday news shows. (i'm always particularly struck by the irony that Christians on television come out most on the sabbath, keeping it holy in a delightful blend of the Church and the State, depending on which channel you watch.)
Using television to reach a large audience can be a wonderful thing, don't get me wrong. But there's some sort of flaw in the system. It appears that the people who most want to get the attention of the large audiences are the ones who are most extreme in their beliefs (and in the case of Christianity, that is usually a conservative extreme), and that in turn makes it so that the wider audience's primary view of what all Christians are like is directly influenced and skewed by the appearance of Joel Osteen telling us all how God wants us to be wealthy so that we can be happy (a rather interesting interpretation of the Rich Young Ruler story).
So, when us college students want to share our faith with our fellow students, not only do we have to deal with the issues of suffering, sex, pride, greed, and above all self-centeredness, but we have to do it while also trying to correct the image these fellow students have formed about where we're coming from. It's not always about saving souls from Satan.
We aren't trying to judge them just because the Talking Heads are. We aren't all discriminatory and we aren't all supporting our political opinions with our spiritual beliefs (or if we are, we at least know that they aren't always the same thing). And even if we pledge allegiance to the flag, we know that there are some allegiances that are more important.
Television has almost completely undermined any clean slate we Christian students may have to work with on the campus around us - and given the tarnish of sin, most of those slates are already pretty dirty. We have to take 3 steps back before we can ever take a step forward. And given the fact that Christianity is a religion that at its most basic level demands primarily that we love each other and take care of each other, it shouldn't be such a difficult thing for college kids trying to figure their lives out to be open to hearing about. But it is.
So in the meantime, we'll keep on doing what the apostles did. Looking for opportunities, sharing what we know to be true with the people who care enough to listen, and sharing meals with people as often as possible, because nothing is ever going to beat the impact that having someone sit down and engage with you like a unique and valuable part of God's creation can have on a person. Not blogging or reading books, not hearing sermons from men in expensive suits, and certainly not being talked at by a television screen.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Cinephilia: The disease that needs no cure
Apparently, the thing that people are supposed to do at the end of the year is make a list. And this being the end of a decade, there are twice the lists out.
Now, i'm a bit of a cinephile.
cin·e·phile [sin-uh-fahyl] n. A film or movie enthusiast.
i really like movies. a lot. i watch a lot of them, a lot of the time. So i'ma give into the trend, and put up a list. here are 30 movies i have selected as my own personal favorite/best movies of the decade, divided into a few categories. it's a subjective list. all of these things are. i'm probably missing some awesome ones because i forgot. i've probably subconsciously left a few off because they're a little too obvious. but either way, if there are movies listed here that you've never seen, you should probably look them up. i own a bunch of them, so if you know me, ask and you shall receive.
The Ones You'll Probably See on a Lot of "Best Movies of the Decade" Lists:
Now, i'm a bit of a cinephile.
cin·e·phile [sin-uh-fahyl] n. A film or movie enthusiast.
i really like movies. a lot. i watch a lot of them, a lot of the time. So i'ma give into the trend, and put up a list. here are 30 movies i have selected as my own personal favorite/best movies of the decade, divided into a few categories. it's a subjective list. all of these things are. i'm probably missing some awesome ones because i forgot. i've probably subconsciously left a few off because they're a little too obvious. but either way, if there are movies listed here that you've never seen, you should probably look them up. i own a bunch of them, so if you know me, ask and you shall receive.
The Ones You'll Probably See on a Lot of "Best Movies of the Decade" Lists:
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind*
- The Lord of the Rings Trilogy* (yes, i'm counting it as one movie. because that's what it really is)
- Lost in Translation
- There Will Be Blood*
- Kill Bill (Volumes 1 & 2, because again, it's really one movie)
- Brokeback Mountain
- The Royal Tenenbaums*
- No Country for Old Men
- City of God*
- The Fountain
- The Pianist
- Once*
- The Passion of the Christ
- Moulin Rouge
- The Departed
- Black Hawk Down
- Gladiator
- Almost Famous*
- Gosford Park*
- Finding Nemo*
- Inglourious Basterds
- The Reader (i still believe this would have beaten Slumdog Millionaire for the Oscar if only a few people had actually watched it.)
- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
- Munich
- Finding Neverland*
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Billy Elliot
- Closer
- A Very Long Engagement
- Cinderella Man
Friday, January 1, 2010
It's Clobberin' Time
My new year's resolution: to get this thing going again.
i don't have a clue what i'll write about.
N.T. Wright is probably correct in his summation of blogging as little more than "intellectual masturbation"** But hey, i suppose there are worse ways to stimulate the organ of one's mind.
further, i'm 94% sure that not a single one of you will ever read this, so why not bother going for it anyway?
okay that's all.
peace in the new year, y'all.
**it is entirely possible that N.T. Wright never said that, and that it was said by someone entirely different, or that it was never said by anyone at all until i said it just now. i'm just giving fair warning, because fair warning is how i roll.
i don't have a clue what i'll write about.
N.T. Wright is probably correct in his summation of blogging as little more than "intellectual masturbation"** But hey, i suppose there are worse ways to stimulate the organ of one's mind.
further, i'm 94% sure that not a single one of you will ever read this, so why not bother going for it anyway?
okay that's all.
peace in the new year, y'all.
**it is entirely possible that N.T. Wright never said that, and that it was said by someone entirely different, or that it was never said by anyone at all until i said it just now. i'm just giving fair warning, because fair warning is how i roll.
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