Movie Moment: Hey! It's --- Ian Holm

And Belated Purpose Statement: “Hey! It’s…:”

I am a fan of actors and actresses who are very versatile, and who often get second-billing in the credits. They are the ones who may not notice in the “talk about them on the way home from the theater” way the first or second or third time you see them in a movie, but sooner or later you start saying “Hey it’s…” Folks like Gary Oldman, and our former “hey it’s” guy, Sean Bean.

In this case, hey it’s…Ian Holm! Like Mr. Bean (heh heh) his most famous role was in Lord of the Rings, as Bilbo Baggins. (Whose name I always like to say like Gandalf says it when he’s chewing him out). But the man has been in a ton of movies! Some of them I did not remember him in – had to look up pictures to remind myself what he looked like in the role – dang chameleons!

The movies I have seen Ian Holm in:
Alien – the android Ash
Chariots of Fire – Sam Mussabini
Hamlet – Polonius (this was the one with Mel Gibson)
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein – Baron Frankenstein (the dad)
The Madness of King George – Dr. Wills
The Fifth Element – Father Vito Cornelius (he’s a good comedian!)
The Day After Tomorrow – Frozen scientist
Garden State – Zach Braff’s dad
The Aviator – Professor Fitz
Ratatouille – Skinner (the evil French chef! – comedy again!)

Movies I would like to see Ian Holm in:
Brazil
From Hell – the Jack the Ripper movie with Johnny Depp
eXistenZ
Lord of War

Watch out for Ian Holm – you never know where he’ll turn up!

The Gospel According to Huckleberry Finn

One of my favorite books is Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. And my favorite part of that favorite book is Huck’s aborted attempt to repent and become a good boy. I am going to quote a good portion of it and draw a conclusion or two, in spite of this introductory warning by Mark Twain: “Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.”

The incident occurs in chapter 31 – Huck’s friend Jim, the runaway slave, has been recaptured, and Huck ponders what to do now.

[Note: The novel is somewhat notorious for its liberal use of the ‘n’ word – set in the South in 1839, that shouldn’t be surprising. But, things being as they are in 2009, I’m going to use the slightly less offensive ‘Negro’ – although Huck himself would never have used such a high-falutin’ word.]

“The more I studied about this, the more my conscience went to grindin’ me, and the more wicked and low down and ornery I got to feeling. And at last, when it hit me all of sudden that here was the plain hand of Providence slapping me in the face and letting me know my wickedness was being watched all the time from up there in heaven, whilst I was stealing a poor old woman’s Negro that hadn’t ever done me no harm, and now was showing me there’s One that’s always on the look-out, and ain’t a-going to allow no such miserable doings to go only just so fur and no further, I most dropped in my tracks I was so scared. Well, I tried the best I could to kinder soften it up somehow for myself, by saying I was brung up wicked, and so I warn’t so much to blame; but something inside me kept saying, ‘There was Sunday school, you could a gone to it; and if you’d a done it they’d a learnt you, there, that people that acts as I’d been about that Negro goes to everlasting fire.’

It made me shiver. And I made up my mind to pray; and see if I couldn’t try to quit being the kind of boy I was, and be better. So I kneeled down. But the words wouldn’t come. Why wouldn’t they? It warn’t no use to try to hide it from Him. Nor from me, neither. I knowed very well why they wouldn’t come. It was because my heart warn’t right; it was because I warn’t square; it was because I was playing double. I was letting on to give up sin, but away inside of me I was holding on to the biggest one of all. I was trying to make my mouth say I would do the right thing and the clean thing, and go and write to that Negro’s owner and tell where he was; but deep down in me I knowed it was a lie – and He knowed it. You can’t pray a lie – I found that out.

So I was full of trouble, full as I could be; and didn’t know what to do. At last I had an idea; and I says, I’ll go and write the letter – and then see if I can pray. Why it was astonishing, the way I felt as light as a feather, right straight off, and my troubles all gone. So I got a piece of paper and a pencil, all glad and excited, and set down and wrote:
‘Miss Watson your runaway Negro Jim is down here two mile below Pikesville and Mr. Phelps has got him and he will give him up for the reward you send. – Huck Finn’

I felt good and all washed clean of sin for the first time I had ever felt so in my life, and I knowed I could pray now. But I didn’t do it straight off, but laid the paper down and set there thinking – thinking how good it was all this happened so, and how near I come to being lost and going to hell. And went on thinking. And got to thinking over our trip down the river; and I see Jim before me, all the time, in the day, and in the night-time, sometimes moonlight, sometimes storms, and we a-floating along, talking, and singing, and laughing. But somehow I couldn’t seem to strike no place to harden me against him, but only the other kind. I’d see him standing my watch on top of his’n, stead of calling me, so I could go on sleeping; and see him how glad he was when I come back out of the fog; and when I come to him again in the swamp, up there where the feud was; and such-like times; and how good he always was; and at last I struck the time I saved him by telling the men we had smallpox aboard, and he was so grateful, and said I was the best friend old Jim had in the world, and the only one he’d got now; and then I happened to look around, and see that paper.

It was a close place. I took it up, and held it in my hand. I was a-trembling, because I’d got to decide, for ever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: ‘All right, then, I’ll go to hell!’ – and tore it up.”

I hold this up as one literature’s greatest expressions of self-sacrificial love of one human being for another. It always reminds me of Paul’s lament in Romans 9:1-3, “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren…” What would you give up to save someone? This is the measure of love.

Twain in later years described Huckleberry Finn as “a book of mine where a sound heart and a deformed conscience come into collision and conscience suffers defeat.” Of course, Huck doesn’t know his conscience is deformed – at least, not in the way Twain meant. Huck only knows his vision of what is right doesn’t match up with what everyone else tells him – but therein lies his salvation.

I don’t know if there is room in heaven for fictional characters, but if so you shouldn’t be surprised to see Huckleberry Finn there. He would certainly be shocked, though.

Revenge of Bible Verse That Freaks Me Out #11 – Zaccheus’ Inner Child

A while back, I re-read a story that made me really love Jesus – when He invites Himself over for lunch, and it changes Zaccheus’ life. I was thinking about this again the other day – that Jesus didn’t preach to Zaccheus, or condemn him, or teach him anything. They weren’t even at his house yet, and Zaccheus had already committed to change his life. Jesus changed his life by being who He was, and by the act of befriending him.

I also said in that previous post that Jesus saw something about Zaccheus other people missed – that he was lost. Exhibit A was his being up a tree.

And then it hit me. What kind of person climbs trees? Little children. Grown-ups admire trees from a distance, and may prune them, or gather fruit from them, but they usually don’t climb them. That’s kid stuff. Is it possible that as Jesus was walking through Jericho, and he saw a man in a tree trying get a look at Him, that He remembered what He said a few days before? “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all.” (Luke 18:17)

So here is a man who is despised and reviled by everyone already, who has just climbed a tree just to see Jesus.

Undignified! Immature! Scandalous! The act of a desperate person! How the next person who he collected taxes from would snicker behind his back about this child-sized man acting like a child. “Look, there the goes the tax-collecting monkey!”

But apparently, Zaccheus didn’t care. Or if he did, he was willing to be undignified for a chance to get close to Jesus. Like a child.

In case anyone hadn’t noticed Zaccheus’ odd behavior, Jesus helpfully points it out to the entire crowd! And then He returns all the honor Zaccheus tossed aside for His sake by gracing him with His presence at his house, and his table.

God, grant us the faith to be undignified enough to let nothing come between us and Your Son!

Secrets of the Bible!!!

Today I want to talk about the part of the Bible that is least read. Even less than the minor prophets! Even less than Leviticus! Even less than the genealogies!!

That part is…the preface!!

“The preface?” you say, “That’s not really part of the Bible!” And in a sense you are right. Two gold stars for you! It is not part of the scripture, the record of the people of faith, the written part of what “God spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions in many ways.” (Hebrews 1:1) The preface is not, in any sense, "the word of God."

But, in another sense, you’re wrong! Minus two gold stars for you! Is the preface between the covers of your Bible? Then it’s part of the Bible. It’s not “scripture,” but it was included in the book for a specific reason, and that reason is to help you understand the Bible.

So, what’s in the preface? Well, it depends on your translation. If you have a New American Standard Bible (and if not, why not? – it’s great!) your preface contains 1) the story of where the NAS translation came from, 2) principles of translation, 3) explanation of general format, and 4) what all those abbreviations in the notes mean.

That’s pretty important stuff! If you have some other translation, your preface might be somewhat different, but it will usually contain information of a similar kind as listed above.

So – what secrets are revealed in the preface? Some fairly practical ones – for instance:

1. The translation of the name of God.
In the Old Testament, when you see “LORD” in your Bible, that’s the translation of the Hebrew word “Yahweh” – the proper name of God. The one from the burning bush. It means “I AM.”
When you see “God,” that’s the translation of the Hebrew word “El” the more common name for God, and, when it’s plural the word for “gods.” When you see: “Lord” it’s a translation of the Hebrew word “Adonai.” It’s a title for God. "LORD of Hosts" is a translation of "Yahweh Saboath" - literally, "Yahweh of the armies."

So what? For anyone, getting their name and title right is very important. Next time you read the Old Testament, see who’s talking and what name or title they are using for God. (My favorite is the book of Jonah – Jonah calls God by his proper name, but the sailors and the Ninevites all call Him “God.” El that is. The generic name for God. They don’t know God’s real name – because Jonah didn’t tell them!)

2. Quotes from other scripture.
When you’re reading the New Testament, and see a verse or a part of verse in all capital letters, that’s a quotation from the Old Testament (check your notes for the exact reference). Flip through the New Testament with this knowledge, and you’ll be surprised at how much of the New Testament is actually the Old Testament. And that’s just the direct quotes! We won’t even go into allusions. It becomes clear pretty quickly that the Old Testament (especially the Psalms and the prophets, with a heavy dash of the Torah) was where the first Christians turned to explain who Jesus was and what He did.

3. Words that aren’t in the original.
Anything in italics is not a word that is in the original Greek or Hebrew. Don’t worry – every single one of those is in there to make a sentence make sense in English that wouldn’t make sense without that word. An example, the first verse I turn to...John 19:25. I will type it like it’s written in the Bible.

“There were standing at the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas…” Wife is not the most important word in that sentence! In Greek it says “Mary the of Clopas” – a woman’s name, followed by a possessive and a man’s name, makes total sense in Greek. Mary is Clopas’ wife, duh. Not so much in English. “Wife” is added to make the sentence make sense in English. The fact that Bible translators take the time to point out which words aren’t in the original text should give you some indication of how seriously Bible translators take their jobs.

4. Asterisks
New Testament writers, especially the gospel writers, and especially Mark, write about the past in the present tense. This: “*” next to a verb tells you that originally it was in the present tense, but has been translated into past tense. An example: Mark 6:1. In Greek it says “He comes into His home town, and His disciples follow Him.” In English, both of those verbs are past tense, and they both have an asterisk.

Why would Mark and others use the present tense? To put the reader right in the middle of the story. We don’t hear this very often, but imagine someone from New Jersey telling you a story: “So my friend Frankie he comes to in the door and he says…” They used the present tense to talk about the past, as if it were happening right now, to heighten the drama of the story. Mark does the same thing, especially when Jesus is doing or saying something important.

These are just a few of the very useful insights you will find in the least read section of your Bible! And it will stay the least read until you read it. No preacher will ever say: “Please turn to the text for this Sunday, the preface.”
It’s technical. But when you are reading something that requires technique – like say, reading the word of God in a language other than the one it was written in, I think it’s useful to know the technical information!

May your reading of the Bible be fruitful, and multiply!

Bible Verses That Freak Me Out #23 – “And they said nothing to anyone” – Mark 16:8

First, a little background. Take a look in your Bible at Mark 16. There are probably brackets around verses 9-20. There may also be a footnote explaining why there are brackets. Mine says, “some of the oldest manuscripts do not contain verses 9-20.” A manuscript is just like it sounds – a hand written copy, in this case, a hand-written copy of the gospel of Mark.

Let’s take a moment and appreciate that the reason we have any of the books of the Old and New Testament is that a whole lot of people through Christian history, long before the printing press, took the time to write it the Bible by hand. Amazingly, all of these handwritten copies of all the books of the Bible are about 95% the same, across the board. The differences, you will happy to know, mostly deal with things like tenses of verbs, whether a noun is singular or plural, spelling of names, etc. No major doctrinal issues are at stake in the differences between manuscripts. And when manuscripts differ there are always footnotes to let you know. It’s not hidden. One of those manuscript differences is in Mark 16.

What the footnote means to verse 8 means is that in the oldest copies of Mark, the gospel ends at verse 8. The women who followed Jesus went to his tomb, and found an angel there who said Jesus rose from the dead. And then the concluding statement of the book: “And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

The End.

Wait, what?

The end? How can that be the end? Some scholars propose that this is NOT the end, that the oldest copies are missing a piece (not the last page – no books yet, it would be missing a section of scroll). Others propose this was the original end, but made so little sense later copyists borrowed details from the end of other gospels for verses 9-20, just to make sense of the thing.

I am of the latter opinion. I think verse 8 was the original ending, and that it ends that way on purpose.

The reason: it’s a cliffhanger!

Mark’s gospel hurries along in a bit of a rush. He uses the word “immediately” eight times in sixteen chapters. Look at your Bible. Almost every paragraph starts with “and.” It’s as if each incident in the story is rushing headlong, barely stopping to let the last one sink in. “And then, and then, and then…” A cliffhanger ending makes sense given the breakneck pace of the rest of the gospel.

In talking about this passage in our devotional time with the ESL class, the translator explained the English idiom “cliffhanger” as; “like the end of an episode of a novella (Spanish soap opera).” The characters are in danger, a moment of crisis, what will happen next?! “Tune in next week for the exciting conclusion…”

Now, if you aren’t expecting a cliffhanger ending, it can be a little jarring. My brother told me a story about going to see the first Lord of the Rings movie. (Joel, correct me if I mis-remembered this!) Someone in the theater apparently didn’t know it was the first part of a trilogy. So when Frodo and Sam march off into Mordor and Aragorn and the gang head the other way, and the credits started to roll, that person said loudly, “That’s it!?!”

And if verse 8 is the end of the gospel, you might get the same feeling. So why would you end a story, particularly the story of the life of Jesus, with a cliffhanger? I think Mark did it for the same reason you end anything else with a cliffhanger – you want people to stick around for the sequel. And in Mark’s case, I think he is trying to get readers of the gospel to realize they are IN the sequel.

Obviously, the story of Jesus didn’t end with the women not speaking, or there would be no gospel. Somebody said something to someone! But by ending the gospel this way, it’s as though Mark is saying, “So, Jesus is alive. What are YOU going to do about it?”

The choice is offered – do you believe what the angel said? Do you believe what Jesus said? Or will you will keep silent? Will you be “gripped with trembling and astonishment?” Will you be afraid? Or will you believe that “He has risen?” You are living in the sequel to this gospel. How will it turn out?

Murder in the Cathedral

I recently read this play by T.S. Eliot. I just found out while doing an image search for this post that it was one of the works that won him a Nobel prize for literature. That isn't surprising, since it is an excellent play, and a beautiful piece of poetry, at that.

Here's the part that I've been mulling over for a while now. It's from the conclusion, and appropriate for the season of Lent.
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Forgive us, O Lord, we acknowledge ourselves as a type of the common man.

Of the men and women who shut the door and sit by the fire;

Who fear the blessing of God, the loneliness of the night of God, the surrender required, the deprivation inflicted;

Who fear the injustice of men less than the justice of God;

Who fear the hand at the window, the fire in the thatch, the fist in the tavern, the push into the canal,

Less than we fear the love of God.

Happy St. Patrick's Day/ St. Patrick's Breastplate

I hope you’re having a great day! If you want to know more about St. Patrick and the impact of his life, I highly recommend Thomas Cahill’s “How the Irish Saved Civilization.” In a thoroughly entertaining and readable way he makes the case that as Roman Empire and its lifeless state-sponsored Christianity crumbled, Irish Christianity thrived. Eventually, it would be Irish Christians who founded the monasteries in Europe that copied Scripture, preserved many ancient writings, and brought vitality back to Christian faith. And the man responsible for Irish Christianity? St. Patrick.

Yesterday I mentioned St. Patrick’s Breastplate, an ancient Irish prayer attributed to the patron saint. Scholars think the oldest surviving copy may actually date about two centuries after Patrick’s death, but there is no reason to believe it couldn’t have originated with him.

Why “Breastplate?” The prayer is also called St. Patrick’s Lorica, the Latin word for body armor. Roman soldiers wore several varieties of lorica, but in monastic circles, a lorica was a prayer or incantation that was intended to protect the body from harm. Later Christian knights sometimes literally inscribed such prayers on armor or shields. The practice takes its inspiration from Ephesians 6:10-17, “put on the full armor of God.”

Patrick’s lorica is certainly a prayer for protection, as well as much more. It is a powerful statement of theology, a vision for ministry, and an especially Irish take on the omnipresence of God. In 1889 Frances Alexander adapted it into a hymn, and it is this version that is framed in my office.
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I bind unto myself today the strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same the Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this today to me forever by power of faith, Christ’s incarnation;
His baptism in Jordan river, His death on Cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spicèd tomb, His riding up the heavenly way,
His coming at the day of doom I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power of the great love of cherubim;
The sweet ‘Well done’ in judgment hour, the service of the seraphim,
Confessors’ faith, Apostles’ word, the Patriarchs’ prayers, the prophets’ scrolls,
All good deeds done unto the Lord and purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today the virtues of the star lit heaven,
The glorious sun’s life giving ray, the whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free, the whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today the power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay, His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach, His hand to guide, His shield to ward;
The word of God to give me speech, His heavenly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin, the vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within, the hostile men that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh, in every place and in all hours,
Against their fierce hostility I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan’s spells and wiles, against false words of heresy,
Against the knowledge that defiles, against the heart’s idolatry,
Against the wizard’s evil craft, against the death wound and the burning,
The choking wave, the poisoned shaft, protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.

Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name, the strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three.
By Whom all nature hath creation, Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation, Salvation is of Christ the Lord.
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I love the idea of taking on the virtues of the natural world. I love the line “the whirling winds tempestuous shocks/ the stable earth, the deep salt sea/ around the old eternal rocks.” I love that the things that are prayed against – spells of wizards and witches, the prospect of being drowned, burned, poisoned, or cut down with a sword, were distinct possibilities at the time and place of Patrick’s ministry. And I love the next to last stanza, “Christ be with me,” etc. It makes the hairs on my arm stand up every time.