Smoke and Booze -by William Hay
D C G
My wife was my best drinking buddy
D C G
But I lost her to smoke and booze
A7 G
A heart can't compete with a bottle
D C G
And a drunk doesn't have a clue
I've been to Alberta and Arizona
I've followed the rodeo
It would have been good to grow old together
But love don't grow old on smoke and booze.
This chick flick with Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Marten is marketed to bitter unforgiving women. Man leaves self obsessed woman for younger woman. Man comes back to now ex wife and has an affair with her. She thereby trumps the original marriage breaker.Old woman beats young woman. She then destroys the husband who has come back to her and their family. Such sweet revenge.
Finally, she's supposedly the good mother. In the end all her kids are with her. It looks more like fear than love. She has the big house and gets the architect. It's such a cold hearted superficial movie whose only redeeming feature is Alec Baldwin's sensitive portrayal of a three dimensional character. American woman at it's worst. Reminded me of the Guess Who song. It's only wrong if the man does it.
DNA evidence shows a third of children aren't their father's in the increasing patrimony suits. Affairs take two. Jesus said, he without sin, should throw the first stone. She is definitely a stoner in this movie that celebrate marijuania promoting it as the solution for the geriatric set. But it's all vengeance. Family and community are secondary to the self centered individual. The culture of narcissim at it's ugliest, disguised in a veneer of fine food, wealth and 'sex in the city' clothing.
The new world order – Hedonism becomes Shedonism :"You've come along way, Baby" - "She who has the most toys wins." Thank you Hollywood!
John Malkovich's performance is sheer genius in this post modern South African allegory based on the novel by Nobel prize winning author J. M. Coetzee. The new apartheid is contrasted with the colourless world of mother and child. Terror and humiliation beyond an eye for an eye dominates the primitive tribal rule. Malkovich with utter realism plays Professor Lurie who seduces a college student, played by Natalie Becker. Later, he cannot protect his own daughter Lucy, played by Jessica Haines. Jessica Haines brings new insight, depth and toughness to the white woman in a Africa role, earning her place alongside Katherine Hepburn and Meryl Streep. It is a must see.
Today St. George's Anglican Church celebrated 100 years of serving the community. John Marsh is the Priest at St. George's but today Bishop Michael Ingham, on this special occasion, preached the sermon on St. George.
He began with his usual light hearted good humor saying, "when I was last here I was invited to plant a tree but I've since learned the tree died, so understand now why it's been so long since I've been invited back."
To paraphrase his sermon he began by making the observation that he liked that Anglicans and Catholics have named their churches after saints whereas other Protestant denominations were more likely to name their churches after the places where they existed in the world.
There are different types of saints, he said. These include those that exist and those that didn't….unfortunately for this occasion and church, St. George didn't…..it was the time of chivalry when the knights were intent on being seen as more useful, so St. George was said to be a great dragonslayer and to save damsels in distress. One might then wonder why the church kept him on as a saint, Bishop Michael Ingham continued. In the terms of the psychiatrist Dr. Carl Jung, the dragon represents that dark shadow of ourselves and our individual need to slay that archetypal dragon within. In Christian terms this is what Jesus Christ did for the world. So the symbol of the dragonslayer remains with us today.
At this time my little dragon, Gilbert the puppy, began to chew on my fingers and generally let me know that like a true Anglican he'd had enough sermon, even if it was the best sermon in the world. As he began to growl, like a little dragon to enhance the Bishops sermon, I thought we should best go outside where he promptly relieved himself. We were followed shortly after by another gentleman with his 1 year old child. Earlier I'd prided myself on Gilbert's behaving better as he child had wailed at one point during the hymns when I'd most feared my puppy might choose to join in. Outside we smiled sympathetically at each other in our, albeit, minor, modern chivalrous, St. George roles. Two manly men saving the congregations from our personal terrors, wailing puppies and screaming babies..
Later during the Peace, when everyone shake hands and hugs, we were back in the church and Gilbert was fondly greeted especially by the women, who said what a handsome fellow he was. He rather liked this warm and fuzzy church experience.
Later he had a private interview on the lawn with the Bishop who bent down and told him what a "cutie" he was. Thankfully Gilbert was on leash and didn't get a chance to lunge at the hanging bright cross the Bishop wore about his neck and certainly had his attention. Gilbert's parents were impressed that he had a meeting with the Bishop on his first day of church. Gilbert obviously liked him but he would have preferred to stay for the luncheon that was served after.
Vivian Seegers who is part of the clergy at St. George's brought Puka out of her car to join in the after church feast. As we were leaving Puka and Gilbert encountered each other in a sloppy dog fest. Gilbert thought St. George's was that much better a church with such another fine dog attending. Puka lifts his leg and Gilbert finds this 'styling' very impressive.
In the life of dogs this is truly 'high' Anglican.
Laura and I again loved the community spirit of St. George's, a truly beautiful church with real down home friendliness. It's always a joy to hear Bishop Ingham preach as he's world reknowned as most learned men in the Anglican world. His book Mansions of the Spirit is a fine Christian testimonial and a leading reference for the spiritually ecumenical.
http://www.canpages.ca/page/BC/vancouver/anglican-church-of-canada-st-georges-church/2408838.html
http://www.vancouver.anglican.ca/AboutOurDiocese/BishopMichaelIngham/tabid/54/Default.aspx
A truly gala event for Vancouver audiences. Mozart's, Marriage of Figaro ended tonight with standing ovations and uproarious applause. The symphony and conductor, Jonathan Darlington, were perfection.
Figaro, played by Daniel Okulitch, was a jolly performance with acting and characterization to go with a voice rich in tone and depth. Susanna, Figaro's bride, played by Nikki Einfeld was sweetness personified with whimsy and charm. Count Almaviva, played by Aaron St. Clair Nicholson, was simply rich with character and a voice that filled the auditorium with all the confusion of his mixed up love for both his wife, the countess and her maid, Susannah.
Countess Almaviva, played by Rosyln Jones was everything and then some. In her voice you could hear tectonic plates moving at the depth of the earth and the celestial spheres dancing in the heavens. She was as divine as Figaro was human.
The huge cast was hilarious in all it's shenanigans and intrigues.
First performed in Vienna in 1786, this opera is ageless today. Human love and mishap is a timeless tale whose joy and sorrow were captured time and again by this thoroughly delightful comic romance.
I loved the English subtitles over the stage. I loved that the audience at intermission were so fashionable as to be a whole other slice of entertainment.
Gilbert has his first Harley Davidson Motorcyle. It's a wonderful squeaky toy that matches his Harley leash and Harley collar. Gilbert is too young to know that he will one day be a passenger on a Harley. But that's his Dad's plan. One of the Harley squeaky toys even roars like a Harley. Maybe when he's older the growl won't scare him. For now he's content with the Harley rubber motorcycle. Gilbert is the latest member of Harley Owner's Group, probably the youngest gang member at 8 weeks. But he's really fierce when it comes to Harley puppy toys.
What a truly refreshing movie. So uplifting. A great romance. A truly wonderful slice of history. The Court of England at it's finest. People, just noble people, in lovely clothes and lovely surroundings. Doing their best. Family. I loved Albert Hall in London. Victoria and Albert were such a support to education, the arts and sciences. This movie is simply captivating. So much is in the characterization. The actors and directing catch every subtle detail. It was beautiful. Who said history was dull!
The movie was written by Julian Fellowes, directed by Jean-Marc Vallee and starred Emily Blunt as Queen Victoria and Rupert Friend as Albert.
I was recently asked a question about 'sex offenders'. My friend was initially perplexed by my response that this was a 'legal' and 'political' term and not a 'psychiatric' or 'medical' term. As a medical doctor and psychiatrist I can speak about sexuality and even 'offensive' sexual behavior.
"You know what I mean, pedophiles, priest, guys like Tiger Woods and Clinton, " said my friend who was truly interested in the subject academically, and mostly asking if there was some sort of 'epidemic' or 'pandemic' situation. I was tempted to respond as a comedian did, 'that indoor plumbling, cleanliness, and in door heating has contributed as much to modern day sexual abuse as increasingly 'leisure time' has.
Politics, the media and the legal system groups these very disparate entities under this one heading, "Sex Offender". A sex offender can be anything from a violent sadistic rapist to a person who keeps calling an ex after a restraining order. The term is a bit of a moving target too so that only lawyers or perhaps judges know what it really means from week to week. Within the category there are clearly 'specific' legal entities and sometimes these 'legal entitities' overlap with medical and psychiatric diagnosis.
Homophobia is a term commonly used when gay bashing breaks out like disease. It's not a difficult term to grasp.
Consider three attractive men standing across from three attractive women. Suddenly two of the men become amorous with each other. Does the third suddenly attack them. If he was homophobic he would. His interest in homosexual men would supercede his interest in heterosexual women. If he were a heterosexual man, however, he would naturally ignore the homosexual men or even encourage them, all the while gleefully delighted he now had three women for himself.
Tonight's monthly meeting featured Rebecca Wigod, Book Review Editor for the Vancouver Sun. This prematurely grey haired beauty wearing red blouse and slim black skirt was as refined and articulate as one could hope. She delicately explained how decisions about which books would be reviewed to a roomful of authors who could have turned hostile on a dime were it not for her sage diplomacy.
"Budgetary restraints" she told us, "required use of wire service reviews." Beleaguered newspapers already subscribed to these. Commissioned reviews were then coupled with these to fit the limited space in the already established format. Where once the paper was assembled locally, and there was potential for flexibility, now for the sake of cost saving, it was assembled offsite. They 'cut from the bottom up" she said. Several unpublished authors still wide eyed with enthusiasm paled at the thought of such barbarism.
Using Jane Hall's book Red Wall she told how current events involving the RCMP could make a book timely. "We're a newspaper and we like to write what is news." Sometimes receiving galleys could mean that a review could be planned to coincide with publication dates. Commissioned reviews could be six months in preparation. Alternatively she described reading a book and reviewing it over the weekend because it was so highly current.
"I like bookseller recommendations because sellers know what readers are reading." Asked about submitting other book reviews with the book, she said she appreciated this because it helped her to guage the level of attention a book was receiving.
A Canadian Bestseller was normally one which had already sold 5000 books.
Perry Wilson, from ebook publisher, Paperbox Books Publishing, asked if newspapers were ready to review ebooks. Certainly a novel idea, Rebecca was genuinely intrigued. Sylvia Taylor from BC Federation of Writers asked Rebecca's thoughts on the organizations that promote and support authors. Rebecca replied that she'd previously listed the many readings that were occurring around town when she had more space but now had to content herself with highlighting only the most notable, "like Dr. Kalla" she said.
In bringing the meeting to a close, Bob Mackay announced that it was apropos that Rebecca had mentioned Dr. Kalla as he was a member of CAA and the the guest speaker at the next CAA meeting May 11. Jean Kay received a round of applause for her continued great work organizing the Victoria, BC June 24 writers convention high lighting technology and writing, CAN WRITE 2010.
Nicholas Cage, Eva Mendes and Val Kilmer make this Werner Herzog New Orleans drugs and guns people movie a memorable experience. It's about recovery. There's are iquanas too. And AA features in it as well. Sort of. You really don't have to take the elevator all the way down. You can get off anywhere in the basement, or not.
http://www.pacifictheatre.org/
Refuge of Lies opened tonight to a packed Pacific Theatre audience. Ron Reed, the playwright, is to the Holocaust what Paul was to the Cross. The theological implications of this masterpiece were as profound as the acting was moving.
Terrence Kelly's performance as a Dutch war criminal Christian convert, Rudi Vanderwaal ,was sheer genius. Howard Siegel portraying Simon Katzman, his Jewish accuser, was equally outstanding. Anna Hagin's performance as Rudi's wife, Netti, was heart touchingly real. The whole cast, including Anthony Ingram as Rudi's pastor, Erin Mahoney as Simon's neice, and David Nykl and Kerri Norris as Rudi's loyal friends made this play a piece de resistance. Even the Jessica Howell bathtub prop was obviously a product of in depth consideration.
Refuge of Lies should be mandatory for every pastor, rabbi, iman or priest today. The Pope is struggling with sex scandals of the church, as state and religious authority collide. The Canadian military turning prisoners over to the Afghanistan military for torture and death beg the question of who is responsible. Israel builds settlements in East Jerusalem that Obama calls 'illegal' while Iran would have nuclear weapons to settle the "jewish question" once and for all. Refuge of Lies is a play for anyone who would understand the depth of news and how the Holocaust must be remembered lest we forget and repeat it's horrors
Refuge of Lies asks when is justice revenge and most importantly can Grace change a man. Can the murderer Abraham be redeemed by God? As the BC courts consider television coverage at trials the very question of what is private between man and wife and man and God is tested here in dialogue and acting.
Ron Reed's daring and challenging play is simply a must see and must feel play. It is truly a baptism of theatre and spirituality.
Karl Barth, a Swiss Reformed Theologian, though Protestant was described by Pope Pius XII as the most important theologian since Thomas Acquinas. As a country pastor during WWI he found that the 'liberal' theology of the day made little sense in the bombs and suffering that was occurring around him. This lead to a new theological path sometimes called 'dialectical theology" because it stressed the paradoxical nature of divine truth – eg God is both Grace and Judgement.
He has also been associated with the "theology of crisis". The 'judgement' of Jesus on the cross is without understanding in human terms, to come to terms with it, one must have a 'leap of faith' and literally 'surrender' to God's divinity in acceptance. To quote Barth, "Jesus does not give recipes that show the way to God as other teachers of religion do. He himself is." It is when one truly surrenders and turns to the grace of God in all human endeavours on a daily basis, seeing the cross in all our personal struggles that resurrection becomes possible. This is living in the presence and ever experiencing the sacred.
I find this most interesting as it's the thread that had been picked up so strongly by early AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) thinkers who insisted that only through great suffering by loss, illness or addiction could one find the humility to truly say, "thy will, not my will, be done.'
Barth insisted that the Church rely fully on the divine and criticized the formulations that make God and theology appealing to the 'cultured' and 'refined'. Liberal theology appealed to the sensuality of man and was sanitized. Equally though, Barth considered Jesus' death on the cross as central and was called 'neo-orthodox' by his conservatives critics who objected to his arguing that those insisting on the 'inerrancy' of the Bible were putting forward another lord. This was a kind of 'book idolatry'. For Barth, Jesus Christ was the sole Lord of Christianity.
Barth who was associated with the Christian socialism movement said, "To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of the uprising against the disorder of the world." Barth was the principal author of the Barmen Declaration which rejected the influence of Nazism on German Christianity and himself refused to sign allegiance to Hitler. He argued that the church's allegiance to the God of Jesus Christ should give it the power to resist allegiance to other lords such as the Fuhrer. This lead to the founding of the Confessing Church which saved countless Jews during WWII. Christians sacrificed their lives daily by hiding Jews and when the collection basket was passed around putting in their identity cards so these could be used to forge ones for Jews. Bonhoffer, Barth's contemporary in the Confessing Church, was just one of the untold thousands of Christians who died to save the Jews from Nazism.
Barth strongly believed in Christian political action and felt pacifism, unchristian, in face of the horrors of Nazism, arguing that Christians who did not take action at this time, 'were not only sleeping on their Bibles but on their newspapers as well". He would later be associated with 'christian socialism' though argued against the forces that called themselves 'Communist' and those who called themselves 'anticommunist' considering both of those forces during the Cold War as intrinsically evil.
His watershed work was "Epistles to the Romans' and later his unfinished life time work "Dogmatics" continues to provide new insights for theologians and students alike.
In my own life I first heard of Karl Barth from Dr. Karl Ridd, my first theological teacher at University of Winnipeg, whose life and thought so touched my soul. He made me want to be a better man. I would later reflect that my Christian teachers like Dr. John White, Dr. Phillip Ney and Dr. Willie Gutowski would have this effect on me. Not only would I want to be a better student but I'd want to be a better man. The surgeon Dr. Ross whose teaching I was most thankful for and who I so admired would say 'it's in the way you hold the flesh that affects the healing' and I knew he was speaking not in technical terms but in the most human way where the sacred and secular connect.
At the time I followed my calling into medicine I'd been reading Albert Schweister, the Christian missionary doctor to African. I had also been studying the 8 fold path of Buddhism reflecting on it's insistence that individuals chose 'right action' in terms of career. I'd been a bar tender and thanks to my study of Buddhism at the time felt that this was not 'right action'. As Jesus was a healer being a doctor was a safer bet.
Later Dr. James Houston would discuss Barth with us in his Christian Spirituality courses at Regent College. Jim would agree and disagree with Barth but always admire the way Barth shone the light on some aspect of thought that brought us closer in our relationship with Jesus Christ.
Barth is certainly the theologian to be considered around the time of Easter, this cross roads of history and calendar.
"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed." Peter 2:24
I confess this is a stumbling block in my own understanding of Jesus. It speaks to the essence of my own suffering. For as I suffer so does God. Equally as I experience joy so does he. Jesus therefore has a truly invested interest in my getting it right. The 'suffering God' does not want my pain.
I find it easy to imagine a tourist God coming to earth in human form and checking out his creation from the inside. I find it equally easy to see him being unimpressed by the likes of us who set about killing holy men for sport. I can even grasp his holiness as he says 'love your enemy' and 'forgive them for they know not what they do.' In the 'play of creation' we're all just actors and actresses on the stage and will wake up in the 'green room' of afterlife and go over our various roles together with much laughter.
But that Christ was a sort of 'scapegoat god for himself'. My first thought is,that's "twisted pharisean shit" .. It speaks to the congregation wanting to have a priest or minister as a 'fall guy'. But in the deeper theological context of righting the error in creation, in keeping with the idea of Old Testament judgement of the Sodom and Gomorrah kind, one Good Man can save Society on the day of judgement. Whereas in the old testament there were none sufficient to step forward, so Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. All one could do was escape. Just like Noah in the Ark.
This time round however there was no escape but God made a new covenant with man through his Son's sacrifice. Anything goes. We all get to live. Jesus died for our sins.
Yet here today is Jesus, the innocent man. We are saved because there was one good man. This new world exists because of his sacrifice. Without him perhaps there would have been total annihilation and God might well have begun another 'science experiment' this time using bunny rabbits for his template rather than us rude chimpanzees.
But the key to all theology is in the Now. At this moment Jesus is dying for my sin. Jesus, the God within, is crying out in pain for me to come home. I am the prodigal son. I am asked to heed the 'wee small voice', to listen to my own 'conscience', and trust this 'helper' to know what is right or wrong and choose right.
Jesus died for my sin. And he resurrected. He also descended into Hell and I believe by that message we know that God's love extends everywhere so there is no 'eternal damnation' but only 'isolation from God for as long as we want'. As Milton said of the devil, he preferred to look at his own shadow rather than turn to the light and that which is loving in me believes that even the devil can be redeemed. All he needs to do is turn to the light. So similiarly I can choose to walk in the light or walk in the dark, be a child of day or a child of night.
Given the vast accumulation of sin since Jesus' death wouldn't God think it time to send another human sin sponge? Instead we eat consecrated bread and drink grape juice blood. It's a mystery that's for sure. Symbolic and metaphorical, paradoxical and divine.
Perhaps if I think that whenever I do wrong an innoscent man is being cruelly whipped and crucified, maybe I'll finally mend my ways. If I won't do what's good for me for myself and I won't listen to the advice of my elders, maybe I'll do what is right because any error I make is absorbed into the body of Christ. Makes me almost think I'll choke on the next wafer in church. I'll be the guy up by the altar gagging and spitting on my own sin come full circle. "This is my body shed for you." "Lest we forget," comes to mind.
On the other hand I might choose to think that it was only with all that sin that Jesus could catapult himself out of this life and into a better one. Maybe he should thank me for sinning because without my sin he'd not have resurrected. Be stuck here on the earth to grow an old man and feel real humiliation, the unattractive aging, stinking, sort of dying naturally. Equally so he could have saved himself a trip to earth if I'd not been mucking up and brought in the architectural God police to fix what went wrong with a perfectly good creation. Give those humans anything and they break it. Stop giving the kids toys!
Today is Easter Sunday. The day of celebration of the Ressurrected Christ. This is the "New World Order". The Gospell, or Good News. We are saved. Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
There's a lot of diluted, bloodless, intellectual sanitized religion going around the tv talk shows these days. But Jesus is that "old time religion". "Give me that old time religion!" "Give me that old time religion!" Christianity speaks to the very heart of the matter. It's for the meek but not for the meek of heart. It is politically incorrect. Politically correct religion isn't Christianity.
We're born between piss and shit. As much as we like to deny it and as much as we want to keep our panties clean and our "Depends" tight the fact remains that life is bloody.
Christ is risen. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
This is one of the greatest movies of all time with the realism deserving of the subject. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335345/
The North Shore AA Round UP kicked off last night with speaker Tina H from Waukesha Wisconsin. The Hyatt Regency Hotel in Downtown Vancouver at Burrard and Georgia was packed with sober AA's and Al Anons. This Annual Event goes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday with some thousand or more people attending. Out of towners come early and stay at the hotel while locals come for all or part of the convention. There are books and tapes for sale, information booths, tourist events, and just for coffee meetings rooms. AA and Al anon meetings go on all day with local speakers sharing their 'experience, strength and hope' in recovery while out of town speakers like Tina are highlights of the conference. Each year a committee is formed to organize the next year's event. Committee members listen to countless speaker tapes selecting inspirational speakers who they feel 'carry the message' especially well.
Ti na's story was of alcoholism that began really early in a family of alcoholics with abuse and drugs and finally sex ,brawling and crime. At 14 Tina was in a coma from alcohol and thought not to live. She did. That was the turning point. She entered AA and joined all the 'old farts', "they wore flannel",she said in mock horror while I was dressed like Pat Bennatar with "4 inch heels, mini skirt and the tightest top I could find". "I didn't want to be there." The exciting part of Tina's story of Recovery was her service work for young people. She was part of the making of the video for young people for the increasing numbers of teens and 20 year olds who want out of their life of drugs and alcohol. It has been a real inspiration and fun for all those involved in the production and distribution. Claiming to be 25 years sober she doesn't look a day over 20 and is vivacious, refreshing and entertaining with a message that had everyone standing and all hands clapping when she finished.
The other highlight speakers are Theo F. from Calgary, Saturday night at 8, Kay L. from Los Angeles, Sunday 10 am, and Deb H. from Pioneertown California 12 noon Sunday.
Last night after the speaker and Serenity Prayer the carpets were rolled up and the dancing began. Upstairs the DJ Dance and Lightshow while downstairs the live Band, Promises, played anything from blues rock to straight rock with even a touch of country. Richard, over 6 feet tall with white hair and dark glasses reminded me of a Rock n Roll version of the Blues Brothers, supercool were it not for his great sense of humor. His harsh rangy world voice coupled with the beauty of the female singer whose name I missed in all the feet stomping and applause.
North Shore AA and Al Anon Round Up is a highlight event of the year for glamor and glitz. The girls just seem to go city sensational while the guys clean up surprisingly nice for a bunch of recovered drunks. All year round townships and towns hold AA one day, weekend, and camp out conventions and round ups. The North Shore AA Round Up just seems to start the whole process. Abbotsford comes up soon. Yaletown throws a fine party. Salt Spring Island, Kamloops, Chilliwack, Alkali Lake and Squamish are just a few of the favourites. Vancouver Island has their own and while locals flock to these real celebrations of the gifts of the recovery, there are tourists that make a point of coming to these all over the world.
The big AA Convention which happens every 5 years is going on this summer in San Antonnio Texas. Tens of thousands show up and wherever they're held it seems over and over again the city councils and police thank the AA people for being the most courteous with least problems, less than Shriners even, one city council man said, Who would have guessed with a group of drunks. People whose alcohol and drugs took them to jails and institutions, thanks to AA find their way back to a life that is 'joyous and free' with friends, community and purpose. The rounds up bring people together and 'by golly jeez' that person you met a decadeback who was carrying knives and stealing coffee and looked liked they'd not last a day more out of jail and would never stay sober is now happy, employed telling you about their travels overseas for vacation, and there with them is someone who loves them when years ago they'd have sworn no one could. Beside them is the famous movie star and sure enough a priest, a doctor, a lawyer and given the anonymity no one would know were it not for their sharing . It's the Miracle of the Recovery. A joy to see and be a part of.
And every year it's the same old joke, "imagine all of us here drunk and stoned and what a mess that would be." The girls laugh and the guys remember fights and everyone thinks of vomit and piss. Without the booze or drugs, everyone is having a good time. Without the cleavage, tattoos and leathers maybe with a stretch of the imagination you could think of a church convention. There's that much spirituality. However, AA is not a religious organization. "Religion is for people who don't want to go to hell while spirituality is for people who don't want to go back" is just one of the many sayings that members use. Like "keep coming back, it works if you work it."
North Shore AA Round Up surely works and the evidence of the success of AA is in the thousands of restored and happy lives.
Good Friday is the day that Jesus was crucified. This is the day of Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion of Christ. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335345/. This is a national holiday in Canada. http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/canada/good-friday Hot Cross buns are a popular Canadian Easter food celebrating the crucifixion. In Christianity the two most key elements of the faith are first that Jesus was born, ie God became man, which is what the Christmas or Christ Mass celebration is about, and second that Jesus, as man died on the cross. The final 'trilogy' of the Trinitarian religion of Christianity is that Christ Resurrected. It is common parlance in Mass to say, "Christ was born. Christ died. Christ will come again." This is the central subatomic Christian understanding of Creation as imminently and eminently playing and replaying the cycle of birth death and resurrection. Like the cycle of the Sun or stars through birth and death and the resurrection of a new day. The Gospel or Good Word taught that this was true for man and has shown us this in the life and death and resurrection of Christ. God was born man, died and was resurrected to return to God and we God's children, the adopted ones, 'brothers and sisters' of Jesus can have faith that we too have come from God and will with death return to God because life as we know it (St Paul said, " now we see through a glass darkly") is such a minuscule 'take' on reality which is so much more than we 'can ask or imagine'.
That said, the actual story of Jesus' death is a profound commentary on individual life and community. Each person in the Christian faith is asked to see themselves not just as the 'heroic' Jesus but also as Judas and Peter and Mary and Caiaphas. A profoundly moving Christian spiritual is "Were you there when they crucified my Lord….Sometimes I wonder."
Developmentally the child is central in their life and so often with their personal wishes thwarted by externals such as parents or gravity or the neighbour's kid feels themselves the outside,the genius Jesus, misunderstood, the good guy, coming into Jerusalem with all the friends real and imaginary, the fool of the Tarot deck, the carefree young man, the donkey rider. Then the bad world bites our ass and we are Jesus the Crucified , full of self pity and revenge, confused , angry and ultimately with no where to turn making a virtue of necessity, taking the high road, saying "forgive them for they know not what they do." (the bastards).
Identification with the aggressor means literally that since you can't beat them you join them even when they are ultimately against you. So here's Jesus, son of God, the 'chosen', the 'annointed' and while Buddha has had countless babes and Mohamed has had harems and Abraham has had wives, Jesus has had a monogamous probably celebate relationship with his friend Mary and a pseudo homosexual adolescent boys hanging out time with the bozo disciples who can't understand what he's saying because it's that original. Not nearly as exciting a life as a Roman Emperor. Certainly not Caligula by any means. Rather suburban and tame. An ordinary man except for the odd miracle here and there.
We get it but they don't get it. It is is this new news. It is that new. Like disco when everyone danced it like Elaine danced on Seinfeld till one day we could actually look like Travolta. Like hola hooping and computers. What Jesus taught was that new. Since then we've had 2000 years of Christian thinking, Bahai, mystics, eastern religions, C.S. Lewis, Popes galore, televangelists and Kennedy. We've even survived Bush and Clinton and Diefenbaker, Chretien, Mulroney and Harper. We're surrounded by Christians. The Passion is about the day the disciples got it. It's the day when this world, the physical reality, the concrete of Piagian pre abstract children, the money men of swords and missile wars, took a backward step as the day stood still and time changed. All creation in fact was altered as all creation is altered by every birth and death in the unfolding story of God.
The servant king washing the feet of his disciples the night before becomes the human sacrifice of the day and it appears this Friday that the High Court of the land, the Sanhedrin, the laws of men, the up tight House of Shammai, the might of the Roman Empire will reign. It's Darwin, and genetics and 'survival of the fittess' the rulers like Roman Pontius Pilate and his appointed lacky dog Annas , its old money families, the G8 and G to infinities of earthly power, they rule this day. They win the first round. They must have had a great drunken party after to, a little orgy of delight, chopped off a head of a forgotten St. John sort just for the sake of it, slept with little boys and girls, a good crucifixition. That's the day Christ died. There was surely celebration in the high earthly places well below the realms of heaven.
And we're asked to see ourselves as Pontius Pilate in the drama, as Mary, as Peter, as Judas Iscariot, as Caiaphas and Annas, even one of the outcast of the Hillel family of the day, ascendant today, probably as much thanks to Jesus's sacrifice and proof as any intrinsic philosophical discussion. We are asked to see ourselves as those who bind and those who loose. We are both the killer and the killed, the predator and the prey. It is on Good Friday that duality is lost in grief. In the Trinity we become One. The great drama of Jesus with the Three crosses and all the hints of mystery are unfolding today in millions of churches around the world as some billion or more Christians consider crucifixion, the crossroads of time, the day the world as we know it today began.
The charge against Jesus is "BLASPHEMY" . This is the charge of "IRREVERENCE". "You didn't take the earthly authorities seriously." You're an adolescent. You don't respect your parents. You don't kow tow to the police. You don't obey the law. You're a trouble maker. Brush your teeth. Do as you're told. Wear three piece suits. Your skirt is too short. We all are right and you're wrong. Obey. Obey. Don't question authority. Don't rock the boat. You've been questioning our teachings. You're hurting us where the money is. You're made fun of us in debate. You've called us hypocrites. Laws are made by us for you and we are above the law. We can have sex with whoever we please on company time. We can steal and do our own work on company pay. We can profit from wars we create. We can lie and falsely accuse . We can scream rape when we are ignored. We can deny, deny, deny. We can have sex with children. We can kill women and children. We can be racist, sexist and re write history because we are the winners. We can do whatever we please because we have power and you must respect our power or we'll kill you. And if you stir up trouble others might follow you and we'd better nip this in the bud because we've got a good thing going with the Romans. We're the capos of Auschitz. We're the 'appointed' Jews. You say you're a Jew but just because you were born of the line of kings we bow to the real emperor. The real emperor is in Rome. As Marx said, Our God is money. Whoever has the most money can buy us and we'll enjoy the droppings of his table. We like lording it over those who aren't "appointed'. We're the primal 'beaurocrats' . We're the "lawyers". We're the 'government'. We don't work for the people. We say we do and we really do worry about them but we're serving the Romans. We're serving whoever has the money and you're messing with the way things are. We fought hard to get to this gravy train. We're Ottawa and Washington, Paris and London, Moscow and Beijing, Tokyo, Berlin, and New Delhi. We are Jerusalem but mostly we are Rome.
And Jesus says he's not of this world. He says that there's this other world, the spiritual world, and that he's not interested in messing with the physical world. Indeed asked about a coin he says whose face is on it. Answered, Caesar. He says "give unto Caesar what is Caesars". The concrete unidimensional world is not the real world. Jesus was tried for Blasphemy. The English word for blame comes from the same root. And you can't 'blame' the government. The government is 'divinely inspired'. Only this century the pope was claiming that he was always right. So there's Jesus in the principal's office and he's being told by the Sheriff that the Mob isn't happy and the Hell's Angels are going to do their thing to him. This is the World Court. This is Geneva. This is the United Nations. These people are by world terms of the day Nanaimo or Brandon or Moose Jaw. Jerusalem isn't Cairo even. It's not Athens. It's the ultimate backwater boonies. These guys who are trying Jesus are as far out in the boon docks from the centre of the known universe as Saskatchewan is from anywhere. Their self importance is astonishing. Yet they've got an invading army in their hick town. This is the appointed powers in Iraq and the Americans are telling the local leaders to shut up that loud mouth Jesus because he could get more Canadian and British soldiers killed with his talk of another Kingdom. He's today's moderate Taliban if anything good could ever come out of Jerusalem.
And Jesus doesn't get a 'Dream Team" of lawyers to defend him. After he's dead he's supposed to be our lawyer in heaven which given his experience with lawyers on earth is a rather odd part of the story. He's a healer and a teacher but later he's an advocate. It's a mystery. God the father is a loose cannon in the minds of men but in his mind there's sanity and he makes the suffering and laws and all that is creation so Jesus is supposed to be a go between. He's like Krishna in this regard. He's the happy face of God after he dies. He's a Ganesh sort. He's the Christian "apologia'. God the father kicked man out of eden and Jesus argues that we should be allowed back in the Garden. The Shack by William Young really makes one think about this stuff in a new way and a very good way. http://theshackbook.com/
But that's getting a way ahead of the story. Friday is a very intense day in the life of Jesus. It's not TGIF. First the lower courts and then the supreme court with no civil rights and jailers that later become Rodney King's police. These are the prototypes of Nazi's and the worst of the Homeland Security sorts. We recently saw their pictures when they stripped all the moslem prisoners naked and piled them up. The American girl soldier whose picture we saw all over the world humiliating Iraqui prisoners was one of the people who spit on Jesus and gave him a crown of shorns, acupuncture torture by any stretch of the imagination. Just the sort of thing to shrink the big head of an arrogant manic psycho.
One of the guards was General Patton beating the mentally ill man. Another was the guy who flogged the dying horse in Doystoevsky's novel. Doystoevsky's Brothers Karamasov is really about the Passion as is so much great literature. The Bible is great literature. It's DVD and internet and musicals and dance and vaudeville all rolled in one.
But Good Friday this man who may well have been trying to explain that he came from another planet, "I'm not of this world", was killed as humans kill strangers or have sex with them like Sodom and Gomorrah. We're really perverted killing cowards if we look deep into ourselves and admit to our humanity. Of course the paranoid position is that I'm a good guy and everyone else is bad, or worse, I'm a good girl and everyone else is bad. Poor me.
And the fear of the Sanhedrin and the Roman Empire is shown in the killing of Jesus. His death was like the death of Sadam Hussein. His death was why a lot of folk don't want the State to have the power of 'execution' because despite what the State and Pope and Emperors and Presidents and Prime Ministers and especially Judges, and most especially Supreme Court Judges say about their "infallibility", there's the other side who think they've made a few mistakes in their day with nooses, guillotine, fire squads and crosses. But if there's one thing that's truly human it's that we're 'slow learners'.
And the Passion asks us to see ourselves as each of these people in this glorious play of heaven and earth and all that is. Carl Jung wrote about the Archetypes and took his collection from the European collection that's similar to the Tarot, the Greek and Roman images of different types of inner self in that European play and Mediteranean play that seems to progress in community and in individual lives.
But the Archetypes of Christianity are found in the actors and actresses of the Passion. They're also found in the psyche of Jesus through the Stations of the Cross. The via dolorosa. They're the journey. They're about suffering after triumphance. They're really about aging. The young man comes of age. He ages and dies in a day. One day at a time. In this last day of life he transforms.
Pontius Pilate, was the prefect of Rome, likely banished by Caligula to the armpit of the universe of the day Israel. His father was said to be an Ambassador to the Caledonians. What a poor lot for a military family, father stuck with Celts and son stuck with Jews. Now there's as much suffering as hemorrhoids by any genetic account. Bad karma. However Pontius Pilate and his family are truly one of the "historical facts" of the Bible cross referenced in Roman annals.
Pilate's primary function was military. To get a comparison of what he was doing at the time, one only has to look at the Canadian military leader in Afghanistan. A recent CBC scandal has the Canadian military giving their prisoners to the Afghanistanians who like the Sanhedrin torture and kill them making the Canadians accomplices. That's the way one Gospel portrays Pontius Pilate and certainly the way the Canadians are trying to get out of their responsibility for maryring the Taliban Jesus types. We don't know if any of the Taliban are like Jesus. They're probably more like Barabbas the criminal who is said to have been chosen by the Jewish people over Jesus when Pontius Pilate is said to have Los Vegas' the crucifixion process giving the sporting sort a chance to bet on who would die, the academic cleric doctor teacher sort or the theiving warrior sociopathic criminal sort. Of course the crowds chose the popular man and there is the great flaw in democracy which of course the Emperors of this world love to manipulate. Beware of stupid people in crowds.
And I walked the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem. I was a pilgrim to this Holy City. I walked across the fresh bloody streets where Jews had been killed by Palestinians and the world of the Gospel was daily fresh. I worshiped in the Holy Sepulchre at Golgotha. I received mass there from a Catholic priest with a small circle of devout. I cry now to think of that time. On my knees I prayed to be a better person than I am. It is so easy to see myself as Pontius Pilate, Peter, Judas, Caiaphas, the soldiers or even the poor guy who was forced to carry Jesus' cross when he fell on the Via Dolorosa. But it's hard to even think of myself as the thief who repented on the cross. And it's even harder to think of my self as Jesus. It's much easier to see myself as Seinfeld or one of the Friends.
Jesus Christ means God within and God will come again. We are made in the Image of God. The world Creatures of Creation are all made of the Creator. The Imagination of God. We are God stuff. We are the 'star dust' of Joni Mitchell's song Woodstock. We are divine shit if we are shit at all. And What Would Jesus Do or Say is not likely what I would do or say. When I was younger I thought more highly ofmy actions and words. Even Churchill has to look back on Gallipoli. Gandhi's moment of greatness begat the massacres of Moslems and Hindus. If you don't get wiser with age you stay an idiot. Thankfully when Churchill was challenged for changing his opinion he responded by saying that he had the intelligence to learn in comparison to his detractor who appeared to lack that capacity. Because in learning we must forsake our certainty. The greatest leaders have always been the greatest followers. Those who the most learned are also the ones who were able to take the most correction because as the Glass Bead Game of Herman Hesse teacher life is a series of letting go of old ideas, shedding snake skin after snake skin.
This is a day of reflection. This is a day of dying. This is the day when the aged are the most regarded in the Christian calendar because in the life of Jesus this was when he was an old man, a very old man, moments from his death. This was the time when we'd be known most by last words. This was the day when the tomb inscriptions were being made. This is our last day.
As Christians this is the day we may choose or choose not to believe. As one pastor said, "Either Jesus was everything or nothing." There is no in between.
This is the day when the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Iman, the Swami, the Pope and all the leaders of the governments, the Kings and Queens and Obama and Bush and Harper and Chretien and Tony Blair and whoever is in charge in England today and all those European leaders with their sexy mistresses and plush bank accounts of Eurodollars and the Donald Trumps and Oprahs and Jenifer Anistons, Nicholas Cages, and Paul McCartney and Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan and Madonna and Sting and all the other leaders of world either Crucified the King or stood by and did nothing. This is the day that Spock came to earth and Captain Kirk didn't greet him but killed him and probably would have eaten him if they didn't have a good crop year then. Sun baked long pig right off the cross.
This is the day that we should wear electric chairs around our necks on gold chains and celebrate the death penalty. This is the day that we know if we live another day we're human and not God. This is the day we consider our mortality. This is the day of immortality.
This is the day that time stood still. This is Good Friday. God's Friday.
And if I was in charge and you treated my son, or even my cat, or one of my tribe like you treated Jesus, like I treated Jesus, then I'd get a 'rocket launcher" like the one Bruce Coburn wanted in his song. And I 'd build a space highway through this part of the earth and wipe out the planet like the Adams' Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy solution for earth.
We're human. We're Gods' that shit. Our minds and our imagination are immortal while our body, the one's we abuse and forget, the brother asses of Saint Francis, are mortal and limited. Maybe this is just a kindergarden where we learn to control our tempers and possibly do as Jesus taught us, Love God and Love our neighbor as ourselves. Maybe Love will trump fear. Or maybe I should get another RRSP, invest in safer stock, buy a gun and lock my door. Maybe I can whack my neighbor and steal his stash. Better still I can get into government or own a bank or rule a country and fix the cash system. I can cheat and steal and call it "business' and I can kill in the "lord's name" too. Hell, I can kill and call it "love" like the Peacemaker Missiles. The mind of man is a ghetto and probably no one should go there alone. Least of all Michael Jackson. We all need adult supervision and the children are rarely safe.
Maybe today I'll get together with other people and consider the cross. Maybe I'll ask myself through out the day who do I remind myself of in the Passion Play. Am I being like Anas or Judas or Jesus. Do I poison with a kiss?
Do I believe? Is love real or is love false? Do I have hope? Do I have faith? This is Good Friday. Anything is possible. But it's a bleak and rainy day outside. Best to walk softly. Good Friday has also been called Sombre Friday. It's not a superficial day. It's a deep day.
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