Saturday, May 24, 2014

The Man in Black

For the past two years or so I have been intrigued and interested in where people find faith or God in pop culture. Previous posts of mine have gotten at this when I have discussed film or music. However, pop culture is so much bigger than those two genres. Pop culture includes fashion, fads, art, and so much more. To help feed my interest in these areas of life I recently started reading a book, Don’t Stop Believin’: Pop Culture and Religion from Ben-Hur to Zombies, edited by Robert K. Johnston, Craig Detweiler, and Barry Taylor. In this work these editors, along with a multitude of authors, attempt to find theological words for 101 of the most influential pop culture happenings by tracing them through recent decades (starting in the 50s and progressing through today). So far it is a stimulating read because each entry is not terribly long and provides excellent food for thought. In order to further engage this work and the cultural items addressed I thought it might be appropriate to lift up one of the entries each week starting in the 50s. While this will take a bit of time to complete, it will not restrict other entries that may come to mind! So let’s look at the 50s with the legendary Johnny Cash.

The 1950s: Johnny Cash


Johnny Cash is heralded as one of the best musicians in country music by many people, though his musical talents also expanded to the genres of rock and roll, blues, gospel, and folk. Despite his musical prowess and success he faced a serious addiction to drugs, alcohol, and even attempted to commit suicide in 1968. However, from that experience he was able to articulate that he felt God’s presence with him in the darkest moments of his life. But does it take such extremes to find God? Maybe, maybe not. God’s presence is everywhere, we just sometimes turn blind eyes and deaf ears to that still small voice calling out to us. Sometimes it takes extremes to wake us from the stupor that can be the mundane of everyday life to realize that life is in fact full of the divine. And yet maybe we need to simply take hold of those ears God gives us to hear the divine’s melody in the everyday.

After his suicide attempt Johnny Cash tried to turn his life around by resisting alcohol and drugs, however it was a battle he waged for the rest of his life. But by the early 1970s Cash had become “the man in black,” which was in stark contrast to the flashy rhinestone suits and boots of many of his contemporaries. Barry Taylor reports on this distinct way of dressing as having deep meaning:

He wrote a song, “The Man in Black,” to explain his dress, saying, “just so we’re reminded of the ones who are held back / up front there ought to be a man in black” He went on to sing that he wore black on behalf of the poor and hungry, the imprisoned, the elderly, and those betrayed by addictions and the “lives that could have been” (6).

One could say that Cash lived his faith and values on his sleeve in a clear and tangible manner. Do we dare do the same? And if so how do we it? I can think of two very visible ways in which some do this: tattoos and clerical collars. Tattoos, especially of the religious type, seem to communicate a Christian leaning in faith life. However, we all know that humanity lives in the paradox of being both saints and sinners and such tattoos may not accurately describe our faith or how we live it. Many reality TV stars have crosses on their arms or backs, but they can be seen doing some rather, well, stupid things. Wondering around drunk, engaging in meaningless casual sex, and fighting other people. It seems that in such situation the cross is relegated to an accessory. But there are other who do commit to a religious tattoo and live a less extreme life, but a life of the saint/sinner paradox none the less.

Yet, in my experience the clerical collar is the most tangible way people can see my faith, although it is a mixed bag. Some people have called me “father” or “padre,” others look at me and smile, some just look at me and scoff, and worse some look at me with suspicion. The clerical collar communicates different things for different people. But I like to think of myself in tune with Johnny Cash’s song for wearing black. I want my black shirt with a white tab to be a symbol of a God who stands up and acts on behalf of the poor, oppressed, sick, and suffering. A God who lifts up the lowly, scatters the proud, fills the hungry with good things, and sends the rich away empty (see Luke 1). If such a faith can be communicated by a man in black, I hope it can be communicated by me in a clerical collar.


Wearing our faith is a difficult subject to discuss because we all have our good days and our bad. And yet we are continually drawn back into conversation with God. My prayer is that God inspires us all to be so bold to wear our faith for the world to see as well as ears and eyes to witness God’s work in the world. But if we find ourselves struggling to find these instances of God’s presence, I hope we have the patience and imagination to awaken to that still, small voice calling us by name. 



Peace,
Tom

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Celluloid Dreams

"The same God who spoke through dreams and visions in the Bible is still communicating through our celluloid dreams - the movies."     
-Craig Detweiler, Into the Dark

At my internship site we have what we call "God Moments" in the liturgy for each worship service. One of the pastors or a member of the congregation is invited to identify where they have recently found God in their life. It could be as simple as attending a grandchild's first communion, getting into college, or finding strength while being unemployed. These God Moments are ways in which we can share the divine in tangible ways from our life, ways in which we have likely shared a similar experience. But God does not occasionally break through the din of the world to speak to us, God is always working in the world. So why not look to everyday mediums to find God? In a culture that is extremely visual, movies seem to be the best way to look for God. Such a discourse needs to happen because God is not trapped within the confines of a congregation, God is out and about doing big things! We need to get caught up.

When we look at movies to find God, faith, inspiration, or ethics we need to do so through the lens of general revelation. This term can be defined as God revealing something about the divine through the created order. It is general because it gives indirect information about God that is available to all humankind. For example, when someone sees a sunrise or a sunset they might be filled with awe and come to know that there is higher being that has created such a majestic world. This is different than special revelation which focuses on God's revelation of salvation history within Scripture. General revelation tends to look outside of the Bible, though there are instances of general revelation within it. Such an approach makes sense because we find God not only in Scripture, but also within our lives. It is by being open to God's general revelation that we can notice God sneaking up on us through unlikely people and unexpected situations.

However, we must also be literate of the nuances in film that communicate such revelations from God through the writer, director, editor, make-up artist, cinema photographer, etc. In Robert K. Johnston's excellent work Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue he notes a few things for people to take note of when viewing a film alongside theology. Among them are editing, setting, composition, lighting, color, camera, special effects, imagery, opening credits/sequence, and the ending. To put all of this in practice is a lot of work. But with continued use it becomes easier to pick up on these things. Let's engage such a task with an example.



Last night I watched The Pianist (2002) for the first time and I was impressed to say the least. This film is about Wladyslaw Szpilman (played by Adrian Brody), a Polish Jew, who is a brilliant pianist and the movie follows him as he witnesses the encroachment of the Nazis into Warsaw. As the Nazis gain control, he is forced into the Jewish ghetto with his family only to be shipped out to labor camps. However, he escapes and tries to live within the ruins of Warsaw. But what is God revealing in a film focusing on the past?

The Pianist forces us to look at matters of perseverance, how much we can tolerate, and what courage can we muster in the face of wartime horrors. In this film Brody's character does not become one of the resistance fighters in the Warsaw ghetto uprising, rather he blends into his surroundings in order to survive. Craig Detweiler notes, "The Pianist represents a rare instance when passivity in a title character works. We cheer for him to vanish, to go unnoticed" (Into the Dark). It seems to me that this works because such passivity is the experience of many people. Yes people have convictions, but when action is necessary some prefer to blend into the background and vanish as opposed to risking their life for vocal expression. It begs us to reflect on what we would in his situation. It shows us that God was most certainly present with those in the death and labor camps of the Nazi regime, but also in the frantic hiding of so many others.

This movie also reveals the divine through music. So often we find holiday music in congregations moving and inspirational. It holds a certain nostalgic quality that brings us back to a time when things were better, when innocence was maintained. Music in this film plays a similar role. As a musician Szpilman lives to play, but can't when he must keep quiet to evade detection. However, later in the film he must play for a German officer in order to live, and play he does. The piece is haunting yet life giving, frantic and peaceful, beautiful and tragic. It is this song that saves his life. It is through music that God's hand is at work.

However through our lens of general revelation we must also take into account that the German officer becomes the source of salvation (as opposed to the cruelty of other Nazis throwing a man in a wheelchair out of a window for not standing to greet them). God works through Szpilman's enemy to give him life and sustenance. Such a twist in the narrative forces viewers to look to "the other" as a means of divine activity in the world.

More can be said about The Pianist, but this was just a cursory exercise. My intention was to awaken sleeping eyes to God working through unconventional means, the movies. Paying attention to film and television may then serve as a primer to looking for God throughout our entire lives. Music, relationships, work, chores, sports, hobbies, eating, walking, breathing. God is in all of it, God is in our life redeeming and reconciling the world in fantastic ways. May we discover such love everyday.

Peace,
Tom