"Nothing Changes on New Year's Day"

Good bye 2010, hello 2011.
I like to read the Top 10 lists of the past year that have been dominating the media highways for the last few weeks. My favorites of the year include books like The Help by Katherine Stocket and Stieg Larsson’s ‘The Girl’ series. The Help and the first book in Larson’s series, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, will be movies in 2011. A couple of my favorite films of 2010 were The Social Network and City Island. Musically, artists like Train and Bruno Mars generated a few of my favorite tunes of the year.

While reading and movie-watching can take me back to my youth, I really wasn’t musically aware as a child. I remember being a junior-higher in 1980 when John Lennon was killed. I didn’t know who he was. A centerfielder for the White Sox? No, that was Chet Lemon. Even though the 80s MTV video era was totally tubular, I wasn’t really impacted musically until late in the decade when the band U2 was coming into their own.

One of my favorite U2 songs is 1983’s New Year’s Day. Research suggests the song is either a love tune from Bono to his new wife or a tribute to Poland’s freedom from martial law which occurred on New Year’s Day 1983. Given that the song was released in January of 83, it would have been written and recorded in 1982, making Bono one Bad prophet.

Many people try to interpret U2 songs through a Biblical filter. Pertaining to New Year’s Day, here’s how some lines can be perceived:
"Under a blood red sky" = the sky darkened when Christ was crucified
"A crowd has gathered" = a crowd gather at the crucifixion
"Arms entwined, the chosen few"= Christ's disciples
"The newspaper says"= The Gospel is commonly known as the "News"
"It’s true, it’s true, we can break through" = through Christ's death we are saved
"Though torn in two, we can be one" = at the time of Christ's death the veil separating the Most Holy Place in the temple was torn in two. This symbolizes that all peoples of the earth now have access to God and can be "one" with Him.

Of course, the New Year brings resolutions. Maybe Bono is pessimistically stating that with all the eventual broken resolutions, “Nothing changes on New Year’s Day”.

It’s safe to say that song lyrics can have different meanings for individual people. Lyrics can even take on new meanings amid events and changes in our lives. I heard New Year’s Day differently after my mom’s passing in 2003. The words “I will be with you again” gave legs to my faith and confidence that I’ll meet her again in heaven.

Personally, 2010 was a difficult year of change, deliverance, healing, and decisions. Feelings of failure and a loss of hope also plagued me this year. I’m looking forward to what 2011 will bring. So lines in the song like “I will begin again” ring ever true.

Love song, political homage, religious psalm, or grumpy satire? Who knows? I vote for love song. But, I wonder, maybe the singer is the Lord himself. In John 14, Jesus tells his disciples to not worry, that he is going to prepare a home in heaven for them. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:3). It’s not Bono crooning to his new wife, it’s Jesus, the bridegroom, singing to his bride, his family of believers and followers.

Perhaps the song is referencing Revelation 21 in which the apostle John is visualizing a new earth and a new heaven. The old earth and heaven will away. Everything will be new. God will come down and dwell with his people. There will be no more death, crying, or pain. Every tear will be wiped away. It will be permanent. Forever. Nothing will change it. Not our failures or our losses. Everyday will be like beginning again. Everyday will be New Year’s Day.

A Lamb's-eye View of the Nativity

I was there on that holy, silent night.
Those three wise men get all the attention for gift-giving, but I was a real live present. I was born earlier in the day, in the fields, outside the little town of Bethlehem, the flock’s newest member.

I was snuggling up against my mom, Ewe-nice, that night, when the angel appeared. I was amazed and when the angel mentioned a baby I puffed my little chest out a bit. But then my mom said, “He’s not talking about you.” Those smelly shepherds were so scared. Then that heavenly host came out of nowhere and started singing. A shepherd boy wandered up to me and I whispered, “Do you hear what I hear?” He quietly nodded. I had never heard such beautiful singing in all my life. All 8 ½ hours of it.

Then one of the shepherds scooped me up and took my mom and me with him and a few other guys to go check out what the angel had said. We walked hastily for a long time because the angel didn’t really give us very clear directions, but eventually we found the scene. Behind a tiny inn, there was this stable. It was a pretty typical stable, crowded, stinky, lots of hay, and some bigger animals. Real ugly fellows if you ask me, a braying donkey, a goat and an ox. Some cattle were lowing.

It was pretty dark in that stable but the baby was there, a little child in the straw, tucked away in a manger. The shepherds looked adoringly at the baby. One quietly murmured, “What child is this?” They told the young parents about the angel and the choir. The mother, her name is Mary, was so excited over our story. She in turn told us the account of her visit from the angel, Joseph’s dream, and their nine-month journey of faith that led to this cold stable. As she talked, I could just see the thrill of hope on her face.

Soon it was time to leave and the shepherds began giving the couple a few meager gifts. They presented whatever they could find, some pieces of bread and a few coins. I’ve since found it strange that God would choose those guys to get a front row seat at the angelic concert and be the first visitors to see the baby. I mean they were basically outcasts, a lowly bunch to say the least. But that’s God for you. One shepherd picked me up and placed me at Mary’s feet. I gave my mom a worried look and the shepherd must have seen it because then he handed her over to Joseph too. Finally, just as the shepherds turned to leave, the small shepherd boy began playing on a drum. I don’t think he had anything else to give. A big ox and I kept time. It truly was a gift fit for a king.

That’s my story. My mom and I have been a part of their family ever since. I do miss my dad though. He didn’t live much longer. Those in my former flock were used for temple sacrifices, yet another one of God’s cool details. After the three kings followed the star of wonder and dropped off some gifts we had to relocate to Egypt. Their presents came in handy. I don’t know how Joseph would have paid for our journey without them.

Now we live in Nazareth. The boy, Jesus, is five or six. He likes when I follow him around. He thinks he’s a junior shepherd. He’s a good little boy, obedient, very honoring, and wise beyond his days. His birthday is coming up. Each year Mary and Joseph recount the amazing story of his arrival. They are especially thankful for the gifts, the shepherd boy’s drumming, the offerings of the magi, and me.

But you know what I think? I think the boy is actually the gift. I mean, I’ve heard Mary remind Joseph of what the angel told her when she was to become pregnant: “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” And then there are the words of the angel, the words I heard with my own two ears: “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”

Kingdom.
Savior.
Messiah.
Lord.
Not your typical words to describe a baby. And it certainly was not an everyday birth. I have a feeling that this young boy is going to grow up to do some remarkable things. Sometimes when I watch him play in the mud or handle loaves of bread he gets this weird twinkle in his eye. Sometimes when he’s helping Joseph build something out back in the workshop he’ll examine extra closely certain pieces of wood and a few nails.

Yes, I do think something extraordinary happened that night. It was from God. The baby came from the Father in heaven. I’ve heard Mary say quietly to Joseph when they think everybody is asleep, “it was the birth of grace.” Then Joseph replies, “Just think Mary, man will live forevermore because of that very day.”

Merry Christmas

Do You Know How to make a bad comedy?

The holiday movies are out and films like The Fighter and Black Swan are creating a buzz. One film that looks intriguing is the Reese Witherspoon movie, How Do You Know. You don’t have to know how to cook for the Food Network to figure out the recipe for a bad romantic comedy. And just to be sure the ingredients hadn’t changed, last night I suffered through The Back-up Plan featuring Jennifer Lopez and Alex O’Laughlin.

First Hollywood starts with a super babe and a super stud. The super babe and super stud actors are interchangeable. I think Hollywood producers have a giant “wheel of fortune” spinner labeled with names like Katherine Heigl, Jennifer Aniston, Matt McConaughey, Ryan Reynolds, Gerard Butler, and Sandra Bullock. When a producer acquires a script to his liking, he simply spins the wheel and plugs in the names of the first female and male actors the spinner selects. Alternate spins may be necessary if the two leads have already appeared in a romantic comedy together.

Next the producer speed dials the two most important architects for his film: the lighting director and the music director. Romantic comedies are filmed in a different light than other movies. They’re brighter, sunnier, happier. Even in scenes with rain, the precipitation is peppy. Secondly, the producer has to have the latest Top-40 hits from his musical director for the scenes where the lead characters are driving together through the rolling countryside (on a bright sunny day) and for the montage where the characters spend “months” falling in love in the span of sixty seconds.

Another important person is the location director. Since the lead characters are usually highly successful, career-minded folks, the location director has to find the perfect upper-Westside brownstone, or spacious downtown loft in which the characters can live. How these beautiful, accomplished people struck it rich financially while failing miserably in their relationships always befuddles me. Often the characters own their own businesses or are artists. It’s the artists that live in the downtown lofts, filled with eclectic antique furniture arranged haphazardly around the drop cloths, easels, and cans of paint.

Next the producer double checks the script to make sure all the necessary plot points are included. The basic story line goes like this: boy and girl meet. They first hate each other. They go on a date. They fall in love. They know their relationship is doomed. They break up. The initiator of the break up realizes that he or she made a mammoth mistake. He or she begs for a second chance. They live happily ever after in their bright sunny penthouse that you see as the camera pulls away, Colbie Caillat music playing, while the credits start rolling.

The main characters will always have really annoying friends, which may explain why they can’t find a date. There may also be an older friend who is married with children. This friend is known as the fountain of wisdom. The FOW has to be there to point out the mammoth mistake made by the initiator of the break up. Usually this friend will drone on and on about problems of married life and try to live vicariously through the romances of the main character.

Also, one of the protagonists has to do something really stupid. In The Back-up Plan, Jlo, newly with child, visits O’Loughlin’s picturesque goat farm where he is the creator of fancy organic cheeses. She wanders into the kitchen on her own, spots a bubbling pot of stew, and overcome by hormones and hunger, begins to shovel the stew into her mouth with handfuls of bread. Really? Maybe on the second visit. Ever heard of a ladle? A bowl? O’Loughlin is so enamored by Jlo’s stew-covered grin that he quickly shuttles her off to the barn for a roll in the hay. Literally.

When the main characters in bad romantic comedies get together at the beginning of the movie there is nothing left to surprise. The characters have already expressed their “love” and “acceptance” of each other. They don’t have any reason to grow as people until the break-up hits. The movies of this genre that work for me are the ones in which the main characters don’t get together, until the end. In such films there are characters that have their own imperfect lives around which their own stories revolve. And while we know they are going to live happily ever after together, we get to watch as creative writers and directors intertwine the two stories. We see characters who doubt, worry, cry, laugh, take risks, and slowly grow in order to win the acceptance and love of the other person.

The benchmarks for romantic comedies are When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle. A few of my other favorites are Four Weddings and Funeral, Love Actually, and Stranger than Fiction. Another jewel is 2000’s Return to Me staring Minnie Driver and David Duchovny. This movie somewhat fits into the mold but smartly so. Driver is an artist and a waitress, living under the protective eye of her grandfather (the late Caroll O’Connor in his last movie role) and his card-playing, music-loving cronies. Duchovny, a well-to-do architect, is a recent widower. He is the one with the annoying friend. The FOW is played excellently by Bonnie Hunt (also the writer and director). Duchovny lost his wife in a traffic accident. His pain and grief are intense. We see his misery as he attempts to put his life back together. Driver recently had heart-transplant surgery. She is insecure and worried about the giant scar bisecting her torso. They both have to overcome these issues in order to grow closer to each other. We as viewers realize the connection between the two long before Driver and Duchovny do. Their romance is sabotaged only when this secret is discovered, not by some act of stupidity or a change of heart.

Return to Me didn’t win any big award, but it worked. I had serious doubts about How Do You Know before the “critics” slapped it with the grade of a C. How did I know? Watch the trailer. The lighting, music, and filming locations give it away.