Monday, January 14, 2013

Who's Got Next?


From the Heart of the Minister – January 2013   Who’s Got Next?
I often like to say that everything I learned, I learned on the schoolyard.  That is of course a bit of an exaggeration. However I learned many core values through those experiences.  I was not very athletic as a youth, but after school the main activity that my friends and I participated in was playing sports in the schoolyard.  When we would play basketball, two captains were picked and then they would each choose 4 other players. Often I was the tenth person picked or if there were more than 10 people, and if I wasn’t picked, I would shout “next”, meaning I would be the captain of the next team to choose four players and play the winning team.  And thus the last became the first.  The lesson I learned was patience, and by watching others play I learned the ability to spot talented players to choose for my team.  When the game was over someone would shout “Who’s Got Next”
It never bothered me if I wasn’t chosen, as I knew I would get a chance to participate.  I knew I wasn’t as good a shooter as the other players in the schoolyard.  But when I got on the court, I was tenacious, playing full court defense, and using every ounce of ability I had.  I learned the value of hard work. I learned the value of teamwork by learning how to pass the ball to others who were better shooters.  I learned the value of both humility and perseverance when I would drive to the basket and take a hard foul, and get back up and keep going.  It taught me when you are in the mix of things, sometimes it isn’t easy.  It also taught me to stay engaged even when things didn’t go my way.  The most important lesson I learned was not only to understand what my limits were but that my limits could grow over time.  I knew I would never be a great basketball player.  What I learned was playing with other more talented players made me a better player, and that I could win by just playing my part.
I took this wisdom into the world with me as I helped build organizations.  Any organization is only as good as the people participating in it.  Some individual’s talents are more suited to different areas but everyone is welcome to try something new as a way to learn and grow.  I found that for an organization to be successful,  all the people involved needed to work together, making each other better, and keeping the focus of the organization on its mission and vision. 
First and foremost, I want to take this space to thank our paid staff for everything  they do and to let them know how much I appreciate their hard work.    As well  I want to thank all the volunteers  who without which this Congregation could not function in the manner that it does. Even when I forget to plan for something, I know people will jump in and help.   For years, we have had many of the same people doing a tremendous amount of the volunteer work.   We have worked hard this past year to encourage newer and different members to participate in various volunteer opportunities.  I am grateful for the many who have answered that call.   For those who have been sitting on the sidelines, now is the time to step forward. We need you.  For those who have questions about how things work and how to get involved, now is the time to ask.  Your participation in Congregational Life will impact in a positive way your experience in helping build this beloved community.  In order to sustain and continue to add more programs, to have our message reach others who desperately need to hear it, and to have our values impact the larger community,  we need everybody to participate in whatever part you can play.  So I have one question: Who’s Got Next?

Monday, January 07, 2013

A Tale of Two Movies


When I was on vacation, I spent some time catching up on movies.  Of the movies I viewed I will mention two big productions.  Les Miserable - an 8 on the JWo movie scale and Life of Pi, a 7 on the JWo scale.  Two very different movies and both worth the price of admission.

Of course I had read the reviews for Les Mis and they were decidedly mixed.  I will not go into detail about the storyline.  Its themes of redemption, faith, commitment and hope are right in my wheelhouse.  But really the story is irrelevant, it is about the music.  Having seen the Broadway show 3 times,  I knew I would be predisposed to like the movie.   Almost all the reviews panned Russell Crowe, and although his voice is not operatic as the Broadway productions. since my expectations were lowered it was nowhere as bad as I was led to believe it was going to be.  My biggest disappointment was Sacha Cohen.  Let me say this, the movie was not great film-making, but it was a great film.  Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway were just superb. The movie brought actual tears to my eyes numerous times.  Not in some manipulated way, but for empathetic joy and sorrow of the characters, noticing within the story symbolic echoes of my own life.   This is what a good film should do.  I could go on about the negative technicalities of the movie, but the raw emotion of its music is the stuff of legends.  It is a must see movie.

The Life of Pi, is a very different movie.  Whereas Les Mis was a good film but poor film-making, Life of Pi was just a beautifully made film.  The Cinematography was superb.  It was just a visual delight to watch this film.  The film's religious content was also intriguing.  Its discussions about pluralism vs. mono-theology were interesting.  The question about surrendering to God at our deepest point of suffering is always challenging.  As well, how we tell stories about God and why that can be meaningful was insightful.  Although enjoyable to view, I found the movie unsatisfying.  Much needed to be inferred  and so much of the movie's explanation happened in the last five minutes of the movie that it felt rushed. Of course the need to use an author talking to the main character as a mechanism to explain the story also seemed a bit contrived. But I loved the animals and the ocean. Worth seeing, but as much as I appreciate good film-making, I will take a good film over film-making any day.