Noah, the Jewish Film Festival and Twenty Dollars

10 April is the birthday of one of my favorite authors, Anne Lamott.

If you have never read her…..sigh…..to remedy might I recommend Traveling Mercies or Help, Thanks, Wow.

In light of this birthday, I figure…sigh….what a perfect day to once again, in the midst of a ridiculously stressed (April is National Stress Awareness Month ---- I’m aware….you?) schedule to once again post to the blog.

I went and saw the film, NOAH. I liked it. I recommend it. Mind, it’s not the Noah of Sunday School nurseries with a kindly, old gentleman with a long, well-groomed white beard, smiling as a pair (of course) of cuddly bears and gregarious giraffes provide the backdrop.

Aronofsky’s NOAH is dark in tone….then again, the story is about the destruction of the world, so if you’re in the mood for a Romantic Comedy….not your film. What I liked about the movie was the statement made about human beings. I found certain bits like how Noah and clan managed to keep all those carnivores from eating the herbivores fascinating. See the film. Discuss. Ponder.

Being a lover of film, I see a lot of movies and always keep my eye out for the variety of film festivals offered in Pittsburgh. A favorite is the Jewish Film Festival and a friend and I went to the debut of the powerful movie, THE GERMAN DOCTOR.

Planning on buying our tickets at the door, we arrived and were told it was a sell-out, yet, we were in luck because there were still a few tickets available. As we approached the ticket window and pulled out our credit cards the cashier stated, “Cash only.” Between us we had $3. Tickets were $10 each. Looking behind us, the line was long and leaving the theater to visit an ATM would mean no chance of getting a ticket.

At that moment, a gentleman whom neither of us knew, pulled out a twenty dollar bill and handed it to me saying, “Here. You’re good for it.”

I was completely blown-away by this act of kindness, generosity and trust from a stranger. How did he know I was “good for it?” Would I be so generous?

There comes a time when one person must trust another.

There comes a time when one person must actively assist another.

There comes a time when one person must simply and profoundly be kind to another.

There is always a choice --- fear or trust, ignore or assist, apathy or kindness.

Choose wisely and build a better world.

sj;

Sprung

Could it be that we have been sprung from the long winter of our discontent? On this the first full day of Spring, I do feel released.

Amazing fact: the Farmer’s Almanac, to which my grandmother referred, referenced and trusted was spot-on accurate about this winter!

At the risk of admitting that a certain softness has crept in --- I must confess that in comparison of the winters experienced in my youth this one wasn’t so bad. Confession number two --- I enjoyed this winter until about mid-February….then I had enough.

Spring is a glorious season! There is something about a long winter that makes spring even sweeter. This morning I made it a point to take note of some little flowers that have bloomed and touched the furry bulb on a magnolia tree --- I needed a few tangible reminders as the snow swirled….sigh…

My favorite quote about spring comes from Anne Lamott who writes, “Spring is when God tarts it up.” Go ahead and make note of and celebrate this season of show-off-ish-ness. Take note of the blooms and the breezes and the birthing. Make time to take in the vibrant colors and the growing greenness.

Whatever the season, we are compelled to live with the intention to notice and to be thankful. Spring with its flowers and colors and life bursting out all over makes it easy to do; the challenge is to do so when God is not so flashy in appearance and when the colors fade and the blooms fall to the ground.

On this start of spring here’s a challenge for each of us --- every day take five minutes and look out that familiar window, on that known street and find something whose beauty makes you pause. Tell someone about it.

Happy Spring!

sj;

Hmmmm.....

I was just waking this morning when I heard the following story on NPR. Garrett Peterson, a 16-month boy born with a defective windpipe would go through phases when he turned blue from being unable to breathe. Obviously, this was a critical, life-threatening decision that had his family at the edge. Doctors, using the technology of a 3D printer, constructed a device to hold open Garrett’s windpipe and help in to stay in place until the windpipe becomes strong enough to work on its own.

Amazing!

Yet, what caused my pause was this quote from the doctor, “We’re talking about taking something like dust and converting it into body parts.”

I applaud the wonders of technology and the doctors out-of-the-box thinking and persistence in finding a way to help Garrett. It was the whole dust to body parts thing that got me. Call it a Lenten season response, yet, quotes like that bring me to a line from a man whose birthday we just celebrated, Albert Einstein, who said, “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.”

I have set my dvr to record the episodes of the new Cosmos series featuring Neil deGrasse Tyson and I do believe members of the faith community must have ongoing conversation with science and that we need to balance and compliment one another.

Perhaps, I am missing the voice of faith being shared and highlighted and listened to in the key conversations of our lives. I find myself frequently asking, “Where’s the voice of the faith community?”

The role and perspective of faith needs to be invited into the conversation, the view from the faith lens needs to be shared and we need to be ones who boldly think, who use our reason and our experience and our tradition and the stories foundational to our faith need to be part of the dialogue.

Technology moves rapidly and sometimes I think our humanness has a hard time keeping up. The faith voice can serve to re-mind us who we are.

Thoughts?

sj;