Pieces of Magic

First of all I launched a website advertising the fact that I am hunting for a job, most specifically relating to Youth Work, but hey who knows, just check it out. http://www.maggiealmalee.com


As to my actual blog: Pieces of Magic


Several months back I gave a sermon at the Lighthouse in which I mentioned some of my greatest passions: Music- most specifically the band U2, Baseball-the Seattle Mariners, and Movies- almost any of them but I love historical dramas and anything with an Irish or Celtic bent.  Of course that sermon came only a couple weeks after seeing the M's play in Tampa immediately followed by an amazing U2 concert at Raymond James Stadium, also in Tampa Bay (it's good to have family up there!)  The particular movie I mentioned in my sermon was The Departed in which Leonardo DiCaprio's character is being asked by the undercover unit "Do you want to be a cop or do you want to appear to be a cop?" My text was from James' Epistle regarding true religion and my question was "Do you want to be a Christian, or do you want to appear to be a Christian." Some people who like to play up the 'persecution complex' might argue that people wouldn't want to "appear" to be Christian, it's not that popular.  I would argue that they should ask a politician about that.  Appearing to be a Christian gets you elected, it implies you have values whether you do or not, in *America* it makes you look good.  What I wanted to ask, was do you actually want to *BE* a Christian.  So, using Music, Baseball, and Movies I made my case.


I love these things because I find magic in them.  Not the "Oh no, demons!" sort of magic that hyperactive uptight Christians worry about, but a kind of beauty, love, joy, and maybe even hope.  They're all art to me.  Yes, even baseball.  A player's swing, pitch, catch or throw are all an art form that he perfects.  An aging player- once a legend- steps up to the plate, hoping that maybe this time he can prove that he's not washed up and that *this* time will show everyone that he's still got "it" whatever "it" is.   Baseball does this like no other sport, it's why they wrote the book and made the movie "For Love of the Game" although I think Brett Favre in his refusal to retire also embodies this sentiment.  Legends are better than rookies even if rookies are better players in this moment.  I love to see Michael Saunders play well but to see him hit a home run means nothing next to seeing Griffey do the same, Saunders hasn't earned it yet I suppose.  So I'll watch game after game and hope my boys win and I'll take that any day over a sure thing like the Sox, Rays and certainly over the Yankees.  Though I must admit after the Mariners, I am a bit of a Rays fan and am glad to see them do well I would still have preferred for *MY* boys to have won this last series when they visited Tropicana Field.  Throughout juicing controversies and player strikes over salaries  I still believe in this game, it still holds magic for me.  Maybe it's because I got hooked watching Edgar Martinez play, or maybe it's because I remember listening to the audio book of "For Love of the Game" on a road trip with my dad.  Nonetheless I believe in this game and the unifying effect it has on communities.  Consider what it meant to Seattle the day we were told that not only was it decided that our team would try to trade for Griffey but that he wanted to come back after that roller-coaster ride he put us on with Atlanta.  What about when that book came out claiming Boone was juicing?  Sure, I guess it's possible but I choose not to believe it.  But what if he was? we've learned that A-Rod was and like all Seattle fans I'm proud to say it was after he left us and it serves him right for getting caught.  Then there's McGwire, and Bonds and whoever else you care to name... and we start to ask the question... has it lost the magic? Has baseball lost the magic it once had?


No, it has failed, it has lost its way but it can be redeemed.  A number of players decided they wanted to "appear" to be baseball players, but they didn't want to be actual baseball players- they didn't want to work for it.  Baseball still has magic, there's still Edgar, Griffey, Ichiro, and Randy Johnson... pardon me if I just name off a handful of amazing Mariners and former Mariners.  There is still magic in the game, the good guys just need to reclaim it.  Maybe there's even room for the bad guys to redeem themselves but if they want to do it they'll have to admit that they were wrong in the first place, no more of this "but I didn't know" stuff.


Movies and music? Well they're a different story.  I recently wrote my senior thesis on how St. Thomas Aquinas viewed women and how that has affected the role of women in the church ever since.  It wasn't a great paper, I got a "B" which was suitable.  My area of history is much more in the Modern or Contemporary eras and yet the best senior seminar available to me last semester focused on Medieval Classics, so I took what I could get.  Aquinas, I argued, had a view of women as inferior not only physically but spiritually and intellectually as well.  This was disappointing because if he wasn't talking about women he had some profound and beautiful things to say.  Alas what I wrote about was Aquinas, Women and the Church.  So to movies and why that has anything to do with Aquinas and what he thought about women, I recently saw 'Robin Hood' and not only loved the strong Character of Maid Marion as played by Cate Blanchette, but loved the respect given her by Robin Longstride (Robin Hood as played by Russell Crowe) and simple dignity as should be afforded any human being.  I have similar sentiments toward the portrayal of Guinevere in 'King Arthur' by Keira Knightly (Arthur portrayed by Clive Owen) these are strong women who support strong men, not some distressed maidens in need of saving.  These are women like Ruth and Esther, Jesus' mother (need I go on?) Women who accept their call alongside or in spite of the men in their lives (who ultimately also take up the call if they haven't already).  I also recently re-watched "A Good Year" another Russell Crowe film.  In this movie Russell Crowe plays the epitome of a selfish jerk.  He's a risky and successful banker who trades stock in London.  He learns of the death of is beloved Uncle who lived on a beautiful vineyard and chateau in France.  Max (Crowe's character) must go to settle details with the estate and in the process rediscovers the simple life.  When people complain about the values pushed by Hollywood I tend to wonder if their lens is far too narrow.  Sure, there are problems to worry about with the exploitation of sexuality, but what about commercialism?  Isn't over consumption and greed also a problem?  Does Hollywood not deal with such issues appropriately? All of the sudden we see the transformation of a man from extreme greed, to simplicity and an appreciation of humanity.  Is such a transformation not to be celebrated?  I love this film, I find it beautiful and it makes me want to learn French, although it also makes me want to revisit German even though there is only one German word spoken in the whole film.


I also seem to have an extreme love for linguistics which is perhaps why I have yet to master any language other than my native tongue.


Music... I have the same problem with learning instruments that I have with learning languages... I love them all and want to learn them all at the same time.  Thus I can play a handful of notes (speak a handful of words) on a handful of instruments (in a handful of languages) but I have mastered none.  When I listen to music or go to a concert after appreciation I feel envy.  One of these days I will find the art form in which I can express myself like others do.  Bono talks about how he wakes up every morning with a melody in his head and while he can almost get it out with the help of his band (without which he finds himself helpless) it is never quite the same as what he hears in his head.  I know the feeling but at the moment I don't even have a mode of expression much less a band to help me.  Thus far I seem good at rambling in a blog. :-P
A recent song I've been enchanted by is by "A Rocket Summer" it's called "Do You Feel" and the lyric is beautiful, the Music Video to accompany it perfectly accents a quality not as common in the current music industry.  The song is about  our responsibility to change our world, to make it better in some way, but we have "our own things" our own problems and because we have "our own things" we can just push aside the rest of the world. It's fine, we can't deal with the weight of the world anyway. "Do you feel, the weight of the world singing sorrow?  Do you? Or is it just not real? Cause you got your own things, yeah we all got our own things I guess."  I have ADD (and *I* do) so I forget, and the world isn't my problem, I didn't start this "I guess my mind wanders off, from time to time, Sometimes I convince myself that all is fine, and the world It's not mine. Why should I have to try to fix things I didn't create or contrive?" Another question is asked "Can you feel the souls behind what's going on?"


What strikes me as important behind these words comes in the final line of the song, following the chorus "Do you feel, the weight of the world singing sorrow?  Do you? Or is it just not real? Cause you got your own things, yeah we all got our own things" is the line "And I can't get past these things."  Quite often what brings change in our society are the young people, and this is their cry.  The church tends to look at the youth and say "They are our future" which is SAD.  The youth are in the church NOW, they're right here and they need the body.  These are youth who can't see beyond "their own things" and it is the duty of the church to help them "past these things" so they can fulfill what God has called them to.  Does their mind wonder off? They could have ADD all that a kid with ADD needs is someone to remind them what is important, someone to keep them on task, a kid with ADD who can stay on task (especially without the aid of a drug) has a mind that is open to beautiful and creative things but by nature of their condition they cannot do it alone and their parents can't do it all the time AND put food on the table, can you help them?  What about the kid with a rough home life?  The one who doesn't fit in?  This IS NOT just their parents' job, or their youth director's job, it is YOUR job too!  It takes a village remember?  Maybe they need another brother, sister, parent, maybe they need another grand parent... what are *YOU* going to do about it?  Doe you have "your own things"? Or can you help?


Is it enough that they are financially successful?  Is it even enough that they married well and raise their 2.5 children properly?  Shouldn't we be here for more than money and procreation?  If you can access a computer and read my blog (even if you have to read it from a borrowed computer) then you are privileged and have a responsibility to the world because you are called to it.
True religion is this: To care for widows and orphans in their distress and to remain unstained by the world. - James.