What The Church Can Learn From The Pitch (That’s the Soccer Field, Y’all!) (Mustard Seed Musing)

Posted on September 15, 2014 by Jacob Sahms

What a night.

The playoff game was intense as our home team Richmond Kickers faced off against a rival from South Carolina. The winner would move on and the loser would go home for another offseason of wondering what went wrong. It wasn’t our normal Saturday night activity: we’d never attended a professional soccer game as a family. But the price was right ($5 per person) and our sons are both enjoying playing soccer, so why not give it a shot?

Ten minutes in, the Kickers scored and pandemonium broke out, but after ninety minutes of regulation, the score was tied and we’d run up a significant food bill. Almost thirty minutes later, the Kickers substituted their star player, who’d been injured for a month, whose one (and only) touch of the night was to head in the game winner. Pandemonium redux.

An hour later, resplendent with autographed soccer balls and freshly minted pictures with players, our family of four returned home exhausted… and converted. Our kids want to make sure we’ll go back for the next playoff game, we’ve told family and friends how great the experience was, and we’ve ‘liked’ the team’s Facebook page. All because of one stellar experience.

Which begs the questions: can church be like that? What can church learn from the soccer experience?

The environment was right. One of the many thoughts I’ve had in comparing church with the soccer experience revolves around the fact that everyone, and I do mean everyone, was friendly. We were warmly welcomed, the activities were planned for the kids to participate in, and they had food kids like. Happy kids = willing-to-do-this-again parents. What would it look like if church was a place where families could come and know that their screaming, snotty, uncomfortable kids (from infant to teen) would be accepted? What would it look like if new people walked in and were greeted by ushers and signage? What if the things surrounding the main thing (soccer game, worship) were also important to those families, from the food to the Sunday School or small groups?

The ‘participants’ opened up to new people. Our eldest decided after the game that he’d like to get go onto the field with the other jumping kids, elated by the win; before long, he’d determined that it would be good to get his souvenir soccer ball autographed. (Before long, our youngest decided if our eldest could… yeah.) The players were magnanimous in giving autographs and pictures, and stopped to get down on the level of the kids who approached them. I often find myself thinking that no advertising can beat good relationships. My kids think these soccer players are awesome, not necessarily because they played well, but because they were friendly! Seriously, my kids asked for autographs from guys who never got out of their warm-ups! What would happen if church was more approachable? If new people were treated with honor? If the smallest, youngest people in the church were treated like they were most important?

The joy of the game is contagious. Now, a win goes a long way- you have to compete to win- but there’s something about experiencing anything done well that makes you want to experience it again. From the play on the field to the interaction after the game, there was an infectious sense of how much fun this could be. Maybe that doesn’t always translate to church, but what if worship would be fun and infectious? What if when you left church, you had heard a message you wanted to Tweet about? What if you had something happen that made you want to share a picture of what your church had done in mission? What if you wanted to let everyone else know about the ‘deal’ they could get by coming next week? [Quick note: technically, church is in fact free to attend. Good deal there.] What if church was something that you enjoyed, and made you feel better about life, so much so that you wanted others to enjoy it, too?

I know futbol, er, soccer, isn’t for everyone. But it seems like if we could help people recognize the value, get fired up enough by the experience, we might see change happen, we might see community grow. We could learn a lot by considering the experience.

Frankly, I’d love it if someone showed up face painted for church.

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A History of Trees: Genesis 6:9-22 (Sunday’s Sermon Today)

Posted on September 12, 2014 by Jacob Sahms

One fall day, a young boy tagged along to his father’s greenhouse. There, he marveled at his father’s work, the greenery and flowers, the stages of plant life, and the woodwork that his father did as a hobby. Entering for the first time in weeks, he asked his father about a simple wooden cross that he hadn’t seen before. It was even bigger than those around his house, and even than the one in his church’s sanctuary.

So he asked his father, “Why are you carving that one so big? Did you need another one?”

The boy’s father explained that he had been studying the way that the different trees showed up in the Bible, and that this new one was a different kind of wood than he had used before. “This one,” he said, “is a mustard tree.”

The boy’s interest was peaked. “A mustard tree? Like hamburgers and hotdogs mustard?”

“Yes,” his father smiled. “But not quite so smooth.”

“Why that tree? What’s so special about the tree?” the boy asked, running his hand over the beam of the cross.

His father, aware that a real moment was in the making, put down his watering can and rake, smoothed out a spot on a nearby bench for the boy to sit down and said, “You can learn a lot from the history of trees. Sit down, and let me tell you a story.”

************************************************************************************

“We know that a long time ago, when there was nothing but God, that God created the world. Shaping the sun and the stars, the land and the sea, the plants, the animals, and finally, the people, that God breathed breath into these people called Adam and Eve, and there was the beginning of something special. God made them to be with him, and like him in their ability to love and relate to each other.

“Adam and Eve had two rules: to govern over the animals, and to not eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. See, there were two trees that were special. One was the tree of life, and one was the only tree from which they should not eat. We don’t know what each tree was like, but we know that people think of what they ate, the only thing they should not eat, as an apple.

“See this apple? Seems pretty harmless doesn’t it. But in the story, it’s that they ate what they weren’t supposed to. They disobeyed God. And because of it, they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden, the place God had made just for them. They ate, disobeyed God, and they found themselves outside, figuring out what to do next.

“Before too long, they had children, and their children disobeyed too, especially one called Cain. Cain was a farmer- he grew things out of the ground. But he wanted the best things for himself, and he thought he should get all of the credit. He couldn’t see that God was still with them, even outside of the Garden. So one day, out of jealously, he killed his brother Abel, who had watched over the animals, and found himself kicked out of his family, ashamed, and all alone.

“After several families had come and gone, all of the people who were living then were full of selfishness like Cain. They took what they wanted from the land, tearing down plants and trees carelessly, and never planting where they had cut down. They killed animals just for fun, and thought they should just take from each other, too, even if it meant killing other people. They disobeyed, and failed to love God, and gradually lost the way they were supposed to be like God.

“But there was one man, one family, lead by a father named Noah. We don’t know what Noah did beforehand, but one day, God showed up and told him to build an ark. We’ve talked about the ark before but it was BIG. God told Noah to make it out of gopher wood – what we call cypress. Can you imagine how many trees it took to build a boat that would house two of every animal, and Noah’s family? It must’ve taken a whole great garden, a forrest even.

“Noah obeyed, and the ark became the way that God saved humanity. Then the rain came down. Water helps crops grow and gives people water to drink; it washes us clean. But this much water wasn’t good for most of the earth; thankfully Noah and his family were on the ark!

“We know that many people died in the flood, but rather than running away from something, Noah went toward God. The ark was the way God used the remnants of the Garden to save his dream for people and the whole world, that one day there would be peace. Of course, wherever there are people, there is trouble,” said the father. “But that’s how we came to understand that God started with a garden and a few trees, and used trees to be the means by which Noah was saved. I’m sure you’re getting tired of this story though.”

“No, I’m not!” the boy protested. “But what about the mustard seed?”

“Well, if you’ll keep listening…”

************************************************************************************

“Things went from good to bad and from bad to worse and back to good again for thousands of years. People didn’t quite know what to do with what God had said, but they tried hard, and some sought to build up a relationship with the same God who had created people in the Garden of Eden. But they couldn’t agree on what God wanted or how God expected them to behave. And that’s where Jesus enters the picture.

“Jesus was born on Christmas, just like we celebrate every year, but his birth wasn’t like yours or mine. There were no hospitals, no electricity. Instead, it says his father Joseph found a quiet corner of a stable- can you imagine a baby in the middle of all of these animals- and cleaned out a wooden manger for his son to sleep in.

“Wait, wood showed up again?” asked the boy, incredulously.

“Certainly. There is even a story about how the same Garden where the tree for the manger came from might’ve also been where the cross came from. But I’m getting ahead of myself. See, Jesus was born to Mary and Joseph in the wooden manger, but he wasn’t just a baby- he was actually God’s son, too! It’s a miracle that shows how important it was for God to live life like us and to know us and to be Immanuel, God with us, just like God was with us in the beginning, in the Garden.

“So Jesus grew up, just like you’re growing up. He did the same things that you do, like playing with his friends and going to school. And just like you, he learned from his father, Joseph, about their jobs, cutting wood and making it into new things, because Joseph was a carpenter. But Jesus also learned from his Heavenly Father, and before he was too old, he started to teach other people.

“Like how to love your neighbor,” said the boy, excitedly. “I remember that one from Sunday School!”

“You’re right! He taught about love and about what it meant to be with God. Jesus obviously liked to tell stories that used gardening and woodwork to get his point across. He told the people who followed him, said the father, pulling a Bible off the shelf, ‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing’ (John 15:1-5).

Wood was pretty important to Jesus’ ministry- he went out in Peter’s boat to go fishing that was made out of cedar and ended up preaching to those who gathered around. One time he even calmed a storm from the boat when Jesus’ friends thought they were going to get swamped by a storm. I bet they thought they were in the middle of a flood! But God had told us he wouldn’t destroy the world by flood again, and Jesus told the storm to be quiet, and it settled down.

“But my favorite thing Jesus had to say about wood came in Matthew 17, said the father as flipped through the Bible. ‘If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.’

“That’s why you’re making the cross out of a mustard tree!” the boy practically shouted. “Because Jesus said you could have faith like that tree.”

The boy’s father smiled. “That’s part of it. You know that Jesus ended up making some people angry who didn’t like that he said we should be kind to each other, that we showed God we loved him by how we treated other people. They ended up getting the people to vote to have Jesus crucified- basically, they nailed him to a tree that they had put together like this,” said the father, turning back to the cross.

“Here’s where we understand the story of the Garden of Eden and the story of Jesus come together. God wanted so badly to be with us, to make it like it was before sin, before bad choices, before disobedience, that he was willing to send his own son, who was perfect, to die, so that we could be forgiven.”

“But why did Jesus have to die?” asked the boy.

“That’s part of the mystery,” said his father, shaking his head slowly. “I don’t understand it all, but I know we’re told that if we believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection, that we’ve accepted God’s forgiveness for our sins, our mistakes. I know that the cross, the tree, reflects back on what happened in the Garden and what will be when God makes everything right. No more sickness, or disasters, or broken relationships.

“The cross is that sign that the way the world worked before isn’t the way it’ll work forever. That Jesus did something crazy- he won by losing.”

“So I get the cross part,” said the boy, “but why make one out of mustard tree boards? Isn’t the cross kind of it? Does it really matter?”

“Well,” said the father, flipping forward in his Bible again, “do you remember the second tree? The tree of life? It doesn’t really get mentioned after Genesis’ first few chapters, but it comes up again at the end. Listen to this: ‘Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.”

“Jesus told us that he was going to prepare heaven for us, and we have this image of the tree of life bringing it all back together again. Jesus said if we had faith as small as the mustard seed- like the one that grew this tree (again pointing to the cross)- that we could move mountains, do the impossible. Living forever seems impossible. So does being forgiven for the bad things I’ve done. But if we believe, just a little, Jesus said it would happen. So what if the tree of life wasn’t a mustard tree?”

“The smallest seed- the littlest faith. Jesus said it was enough to bring us into the Garden, into relationship with God. And that faith, that relationship, it’s what really gives life. It’s what helps us hope, and shows us love, and directs us on who we should be so that we can be like God.”

“That’s why the cross is made out of mustard tree. It’s a reminder to me that the God of the Garden of Eden still grows things today, like new trees and faith. That there’s hope waiting at the end of all of this, that the trees still have plenty to teach us.”

“I believe!” said the boy. “I know God loves me and I’m working to figure out how to love him back.”

“That’s a good start,” said the father, with a grin. Reaching back into a shelf and digging out a jar.

“What’s this?” asked the boy, as his father dropped something small, nearly invisible into his hand. “Wait, I know!” he exclaimed.

“It’s a mustard seed.”

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Remembering 9/11: Is Peace A Reality? (Mustard Seed Musing)

Posted on September 11, 2014 by Jacob Sahms

Have we returned to “normal”? Because if this is normal, I think we have a problem.

I’ll never forget where I was on the morning of September 11, 2001. In between seminary classes, I realized that people were crowding the halls around offices between classrooms, and soon discovered that news about the crashing of several airplanes was coming in. We huddled and prayed, and tried to reach family around the country, but especially on the East Coast. We worried about travel and what might happen next.

And we watched as people gravitated toward peace and love in their community, or finger-pointing and hate.

As time passed, even within the first week, the country vowed to “not give into fear” and to return to life as normal. But I wonder what ‘normal’ is anymore?

I recently talked to a woman who emigrated from Lebanon in 1987, toward the end of the civil war that tore the country apart. She remembered leaving school early on days that bombing occurred and moving to the U.S. where extended relatives lived; she was fourteen. Almost twenty years later, she’s a single mother of a high school senior who wants to join the military so that he can serve the country they love so much.

But she has darker skin than I do. And she speaks with an accent. And she’s been told that she’s stealing jobs or ‘not from here’… and sometimes, she’s afraid to speak.

I John 4:16 says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” Or try it Yoda’s way: “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” Whichever way you spin it, fear is the thing that drives us to act and react in violence toward others, to the ‘other,’ that which we are unfamiliar or don’t know.

I pray today for those who lost loved ones on 9/11 and who have lost loved ones defending this country against tyranny, oppression, and terrorism. I also pray for those who we paint as terrorists and ‘other’ and enemies who mean us no harm but who do not look or speak or act like us. And I pray for our enemies, too.

Be brave, America. You have led, you do lead, and you may lead again. I beg you not to confuse violence and force with leadership, to view the other as evil. There are enough evils in the world without fearing what you do not know.

One day, this world will end, and we will all be accountable for what we did while we were here. Some will have clearcut blood on their hands; others will have blood on their hands by what they did or didn’t do, did or didn’t say. I pray to God today that we would grow to truly love, and I believe the first step in that is to drive out our fear.

Start a conversation.

Say a prayer.

Build a friendship.

Make peace a reality.

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When The Game Stands Tall: Every Play Perfect (Movie Review)

Posted on September 10, 2014 by Jacob Sahms

When the Game Stands Tall is the best football film since Friday Night Lights. Tracking the final games of De La Salle High School’s 151-game winning streak in 2003 to the subsequent games afterward, the film is framed around a football season, but it isn’t really about football, anymore than Friday Night Lights was. Instead, it’s about family, hope, team, faith, perseverance, and love.

Coach Bob Ladouceur (Jim Caveziel) wants to do more than coach plays; he instills in the football players a sense of purpose, citizenship, and brotherhood. But some of his teams get it better than others, and in 2003, he finds himself struggling to figure out how to get through to his team (while also recovering from a major heart attack and the death of one of his most promising former players). While critics have panned the film, I found several takeaways there– and I highly recommend you checking it out.

1. “Family isn’t just blood.” Ladouceur wants his guys to love each other, a critical issue to several of the players, and a shockingly simple concept that is rejected by most of the public: they are supposed to tell and show each other. While the movie sometimes strains to figure out how to show us this love, it’s captured in several vignettes.

2. “The record doesn’t matter; the team matters.” While I’m as competitive (some might say, more competitive) as the next person, I often find myself disgusted by our cultural focus on winning. I don’t mean everyone should get a ribbon for participating! It’s a shame that we’re focused on who got what rather than what we did together sometimes. Ultimately, a Ladouceur team is measured by how well it recognized who was most important.

3. Faith matters, hope matters. Things get really dark for this group of young men. Sadly, the preview makes it appear as if the majority of that is football-related. It’s not. But I wonder what we think or do as adults when everything we think we know gets turned upside down? Do we turn to God or to our own understanding? Are we full of trite pleasantries and fake smiles, or do we wrestle with the big picture and recognize that God is with us in our struggle?

4. This is not ‘one of those teen movies.’ Lately, we’re inundated with movies where teenagers know everything and they save the day (see: The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, The Fault in Our Stars). Here, it takes a wise, experienced coach (and his equally wise wife and assistant coach) to get the ship turned around, together. Too often, we act like our life experience doesn’t make a difference. WTGST tells us that we need to learn from each other and our pasts.

5. When the Game Stands Tall doesn’t preach much with words but with the story. Ladouceur’s faith is exhibited in the way he lives his life. Sure, there’s a church scene (a funeral!) but he doesn’t launch into long soliloquies that don’t make sense. “Preach the Gospel at all times; when necessary, use words.” It asks us to consider what we do with “the problem of evil”: is it free will? Is it a ‘fallen’ world? Is God punishing us? Does bad stuff happen for no reason?

Yes, there are terrific football moments, but there are some big issues and some life questions covered here, too.

Have you seen it? What did you think? What were your favorite points?

[For the record, my top five football movies are Friday Night Lights, When the Game Stands Tall, We Are Marshall, The Replacements, and Invincible. With apologies to Rudy and Necessary Roughness.]

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Matt Cook’s Sabotage: Worldwide Terror (Book Review)

Posted on September 9, 2014 by Jacob Sahms

In Matt Cook’s debut thriller, he weaves three seemingly disparate stories together into an entertaining tale that appeals to fans of Ian Fleming’s James Bond, Alias, and The Last Ship. In one vein of the story, a prisoner named Ragnar is explosively freed from his captivity in a Siberian prison; in another, Stanford graduated student Austin Hardy is recruited by scientist/handler/teacher Malcolm Clare to a secret government assignment hours before Clare will disappear; in the third, Jake Rove, ex-solider-turned-do-gooder boards a luxury cruise as a reward for playing the role of hero. What does these have to do with each other? Only time will tell.

Cook’s writing is thorough and complex at times, swift and surprising at others. While this is his debut fictional endeavor, he obviously has skills as both a researcher and a writer. His provisions of background for each of the major characters is exceptionally deep, and he’s confident of having a real handle on the scientific pieces he weaves together in a tale that ultimately revolves around a weapon that any Bond villain would love: a satellite that disperses an electronics-frying burst.

Obviously, this falls into the “weapon falls into the wrong hands” catalogue of thrillers, but the way it plays out keeps us guessing a bit. I blew through the book in one sitting but found the characters, their motivations, and their depiction to be engrossing. With the diversity of characters, and the backstory that is revealed in the final act, Cook has proven to be worth a read; when it comes to our desire for the next Jason Bourne, the next Sydney Bristow, the next Jack Ryan, fans may find that there’s a literary version that may prove cinematic as well.

Sabotage is a fun read, but it also raises questions about our personal motivations, and about what weapons of mass destruction/protection we build if they’re going to fall into the wrong hands. Cook’s debut merits 4 out of 5 stars, and knowing what I know now, I’ll be eagerly awaiting a sophomore follow-up.

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Blue Bloods: The Importance Of Sunday Dinner (TV Review)

Posted on September 9, 2014 by Jacob Sahms

At four seasons old, I have found a new favorite show in CBS/Paramount’s Blue Bloods. Centered around NYC Police Commissioner Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck), the show highlights how a family of cops and lawyers sort through the law, human behavior, and the tricky interactions of family dynamics. Polished at times and gritty at others, Blue Bloods often hinges on the weekly Sunday Dinner when the clan gathers around the table at Frank’s house after mass. It would seem that someone was making a point…

After reviewing the fourth season (out today on DVD), I’ve gone back to watch the seasons in order; I’ve seen them periodically but never in an organized manner. Now, the way that Frank brings his family together once a week, with an emphasis on asking God’s blessing, on breaking bread together, and on hashing out their differences seems even more important as I binge watch. Because, while all of the Reagans work to keep the peace and protect the innocent, how they go about it varies wildly.

On one end of the spectrum are Frank’s father and the former Commissioner, Henry (Len Cariou), and his older son, Danny (Donnie Wahlberg), who believe that evil must be punished and the good protected regardless of what lines need to be blurred. On the other end is Erin (Bridget Moynahan), the assistant District attorney, who believes that the letter of the law is what keeps society from self-destructing in on itself. Frank and his younger son, Jamie Reagan (Will Estes), have more of a middle ground approach, balancing the law and an ends-justify-the-means attitude: both of them will break the law or regulations to accomplish something, but have no problem with whatever punishment follows. At times, wives, like Amy Carlson’s portrayal of Danny’s wife, Linda, or children, like Sami Gayle’s portrayal of Erin’s daughter, Nicky, factor into the conversations about what is right or what is justified, around the table.

Around the table, the family works out issues involving their cases and each other, but because they dialogue, they come to some accord. It’s a reminder that if families struggling with how to handle child abductors (season 1) or how to deal with the “blue flu” need to meet to discuss, that something we shouldn’t lose sight of is ‘no technology meals’ or opportunities to actually see and be seen by our spouses and children. [It’s a whole different lesson to recognize the value of the participation of four generations of Reagans in the conversation, where neither the children or the great grandfather figures are treated as too young or too old to have validated opinions.]

But ultimately, Frank’s leadership, both in his dedication to his parish through weekly Mass (and confession) and his direction in how the meal would work, show us something edifying. It’s interesting, because Holy Communion (however it’s translated from church to church) has sometimes been called ‘the Sunday meal’ where followers of Jesus Christ meet around a table set by Jesus’ directives. It’s the place where people should be able to come together, to set aside their differences (agreeing to disagree on somethings) and recognize their commonality: that they are all the children of Frank (or God, if you’re tracking my use of the metaphor). It’s there that partnerships form, that grieving happens, that disagreements can occur in safety, that support happens, that love is shown.

Blue Bloods is a police procedural on the network that has aced police procedurals (CSI, NCIS, The Mentalist, etc.) but this is something more. This is about life, about family, and about faith.

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Breaking The Cycle Of Violence: Ray Rice, The NFL, & The Court of Public Opinion (Mustard Seed Musing)

Posted on September 8, 2014 by Jacob Sahms

I’m stunned.

Months after knocking out his then-fiancee in an Atlantic City hotel elevator, Ray Rice has been cut by the Baltimore Ravens and banned indefinitely by the NFL. That is not what I’m stunned about.

I’m stunned that it took this long.

This morning, TMZ (the epitome of all that’s good in journalism, right?) posted a video of Rice punching his (now) wife in the face and knocking her out. And twelve hours later, the Ravens and the NFL were quick to distance themselves from him.

But didn’t we have video of Rice pulling Janay Palmer out of the elevator months ago? Didn’t we have his own admission that it was domestic violence? Did the powers that be think she ‘slipped’ and fell into his fist?

This, friends, is all an attempt at PR spin by the Ravens and the NFL. The proximity of their announcements implies the two were communicating fiercely since 1 a.m. this morning, to offset the blowback from Commissioner Roger Goodell’s weak two-game suspension. Sure, you can say that Rice entered pre-trial diversion counseling (more spin) and his wife refused to press charges, but what choice did she really have?

Too often, we sit back and let these things go by. Too often, we talk ourselves and our friends into bad situations and say, ‘oh, things will get better.’ Sure, maybe Palmer really loves Rice, or maybe she feels financially unable to stand outside of his shadow. But that doesn’t make punching a woman in the face right by any stretch of the imagination.

Having worked at shelters for battered women and children, I know it’s too easy for people in those situations to go back. It’s too simple to say, ‘we just can’t make it without him (or her).’ The truth is that something has to break the cycle, and too often its irreparable violence. What the NFL and the Ravens could’ve done months ago was placed Rice on the PUP list for the season, helping he and his wife get counseling, if they didn’t want to send out a lengthy suspension.

What they should do is set up grant after grant to provide programs and counseling for their own players, and their communities. What they should do is do PSAs and other community outreach, given their power as the biggest platform in the U.S., to hold those with solid families (I’m thinking Drew Brees, the Mannings, etc.) up as examples for all the young men that follow them. What they should do is remind young women that they don’t have to stay, that this is not the way they should expect to be treated.

But the league suspended Josh Gordon for a year for marijuana use, and practically disowned Michael Vick for dogfighting. Seriously, Major League Baseball won’t let Pete Rose back into the game for gambling! Shouldn’t punching a woman in the face and knocking her out be an obvious violation of our moral code?

I love football, and I know it’s a violent game, but here’s hoping that the NFL can get a grip.

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Lisa Rogak’s Angry Optimist, Life and Times of Jon Stewart: A Rabbinic Newsman (Book Review)

Posted on September 8, 2014 by Jacob Sahms

Before you’ve cleared the introduction of Lisa Rogak’s look at Jon Stewart, comedian, film director, and leader of The Daily Show, you’ve already seen the variety that makes him great. As a self-proclaimed court jester, he provides laughs, but as a critic, he is comedic from the position of “feeling displaced from society,” as an outsider; as evaluated by his friends and admirers, he’s maintainer of an “internal barometer of right and wrong” and “the funniest man in America.” The Angry Optimist: The Life And Times of Jon Stewart (out tomorrow) is the funny and investigative look at the man, the myth, the legend, that you’ve been looking for.

In a way, Stewart (born Jonathan Leibowitz) is a funny rabbi: he recognizes that the way he sees the world acknowledges that it is not right but that we are to work to improve it, and if possible, those lessons should take normal life with a twist, inviting people in to laugh and to nod… only to learn how they should change. Stewart says in the Angry Optimist that “I do believe in God, I just don’t think he’s still looking out for us”; he thinks that religions provide people with “comfort and solace,” but fall flat when they imply that values/morals can only be found through religion. It’s these dichotomies, and the desire to sort through them, that make Stewart the comedian, orator, and man he is.

Rogak’s book explores Stewart’s early years as a schoolboy and then as a comedian breaking into the business. From the Jon Stewart Show to The Daily Show, there are quips and anecdotes about hits and near misses, as well as the brushes with other comedians, politicians, and newsmakers of renown. With a fair amount of direct insight from others who know Stewart, Rogak has woven a narrative that proves to be as insightful, poignant, and humorous as an episode of Stewart’s comedy can be.

Readers will enjoy the story of Stewart’s proposal to his wife, Tracey, the interactions with Stephen Colbert, the impact of Indecision 2000, his response to 9/11, his ‘losses’ to Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel, his response to Hugh Grant. This is the book that every Stewart fan has always wanted; this is a real memoir, and a gift of hope to those wanting to tell jokes that matter.

Rogak’s book is easy to read but not for a lack of research and information. It’s just that when you’re writing about a man who’s take on life finds humor and meaning in the little things as well as the big ones, it keeps you engrossed and rolling along, wondering what will happen next.

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The Remaining: It All Starts With A Wedding… (Movie Review)

Posted on September 5, 2014 by Jacob Sahms

We’ve seen the opening vignettes of The Remaining (out September 5) before: friends interacting, wedding preparations, and the handcam videos of people before, during, and after the wedding. What we haven’t seen is the immediate fallout of The Rapture on the heels of two young people saying “til death do us part” which complicates all of those “happily ever after” moments. But in Casey La Scala’s film, what happens next is an exploration of love and faith set against a backdrop that will grab fans of The Walking Dead and Final Destination.

The only real hint of the faith-related elements we get early on is the revelation that Dan (Bryan Dechart) joined the church just so Skylar (Alex Vega, Spy Kids) will marry him… but that she didn’t want to get married in church. Segue from the wedding reception into absolute chaos, as natural disaster-like Twister effects wreak havoc outside and dozens of people suddenly drop to the floor, soulless.

The government calls it an illness [and maybe from a theological, Scriptural look, we’d call that ‘sin’… but it’s the believers/saved/holy who are removed, so it’s kind of flipped] and we can easily see a way that any kind of theological reckoning would be explained away by the powers that be as just about anything but a Rapture! We’re left exploring the after effects, dangers, and topics with a group of young people, who see the way that the dangers impact those they love (no one is safe) and try to figure out how to move forward.

As a pastor, I interact with people from time to time who are focused solely on the afterlife, who want me to work with them on a literal paint-by-numbers play-by-play about what’s going to happen when Jesus Christ returns to make heaven happen. I don’t read the Book of Revelation that way, because I know historically that it was sent to a group of churches being persecuted and there’s a significant amount of visual imagery that’s coded there. But I do believe Jesus is coming back, and I do believe that people are called to choose, one way or another– and that’s the beauty of The Remaining.

While I’m no horror fan, I found the movie intriguing (and yes, entertaining). I was interested in the character development of Pastor Shay (John Pyper-Ferguson), who admits that “a church and a title don’t mean anything. I had no relationship [with God/Jesus]. I just had comfort, and that is how I failed.” I find the conversation about what it means to be faithful to be relevant in many aspects of life, but specifically in church (and marriage, which is also examined here): is just showing up, is just doing the right thing, is just saying the right words, enough?

Another question raised is about spirituality. One character, in a storytelling tool used by La Scala, takes her turn in the handcam confessional and admits, “I thought being spiritual was enough.” It’s a great discussion starter in my mind, because I experience people from many walks of life who are commitment-phobic. They say they love their spouse, but cheat; they say they believe in the Republican or Democratic party, but vote against their own platform; they say God matters or church is important and yet they give those things only what’s leftover at the end of the day.

The Remaining asks us if we know what we believe, and if we believe it enough to live and die for it. A horror genre is a great place to play it out because the stakes are raised. But walking away from the movie, I find myself asking: even if we can’t see the spiritual impact of the world around us, does that mean it’s not there?

This film would argue that it’s there whether we believe it or not.

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#TBT Any Given Sunday: Football Is “War,” Business, & Love? (Movie Review)

Posted on September 4, 2014 by Jacob Sahms

“On any given Sunday, anything can happen.”

In the first five minutes, the starting and backup quarterbacks have been incapacitated, the owner is hopping mad, the coach thinks they’ve lost the season, and the ugly underbelly of the world of professional sports has raised its ugly head.

As another NFL season kicks off, Warner Bros. releases the Blu-ray Director’s Cut of Oliver Stone’s fictional take on the world of professional football through the lens of the Miami Sharks. Co-written by John Logan (Gladiator, Skyfall, The Aviator), Any Given Sunday steers us through the last few games of the season and into the playoffs. Fans of the NFL will be left wondering if the game has changed much in fifteen years (a ’80s Oakland Raiders doctor’s memoir was used as a source), concussions or not, and movie fans will marvel at the number of big-name Hollywood insiders who played a part in Stone’s ensemble film: it’s like a Gary Marshall film with a grittier reality or Draft Day with a more nuanced edge!

Al Pacino stars as veteran Tony D’Amato, shepherding his third-string quarterback, Willie Beaumen (Jamie Foxx), and star running back, J-Man Washington (LL Cool J), toward a shrinking window of playoff chances. All of this is under the watchful eyes of team execs, like the team doctor, Dr. Harvey Mandrake (James Woods), radio host Jack Rose (Jack McKinley), and the owner-by-inheritance, Christina Pagniacci (Cameron Diaz). The cast is a blend of real-life athletes like James Brown, Lawrence Taylor, Dick Butkus, and Terrell Owens, and more actors, like Dennis Quaid, Aaron Eckhart, Matthew Modine, Ann Margaret, Elizabeth Berkeley, Charlton Heston, Lauren Holly, and Clifton Davis.

It’s not that hard, in a day and age when social media has taken us behind the scenes of so many sports realities that we didn’t know before, to believe that these conversations, these machinations, these broken relationships are the reality for more of our professional teams than not. We see the way that an old coach has to learn a new way the league operates, with new players and distractions; we see the pressure on the higher ups to deliver based on television and public support. Since the release of AGS in 1999, how many coaches have been arrested for prostitution? How many of the players have come forward with injuries that they covered or that physicians associated with the team medicated them for instead of fixing them? How many have been arrested for illicit drug use? And of course, from the business side, the treatment of the star quarterback was all but echoed in the relationship between the Miami Dolphins and Dan Marino less than a year after the film came out…

Ultimately, football fans will dig this flick- it makes a great watch on a non-football day (which are down to Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays!) and it serves as a parable to life. How far would you go to get what you want? What would you dream, and what would you sacrifice? If it meant sacrificing your morals, your health, your relationships, or your future, would you still do it? If it meant losing yourself, would it be worth it? Jesus asks in Mark 8:36, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” It’s the question of the film, and every major character has to ask it at some point.

Many players and coaches would answer this way: it’s only in the moment, in the game, that matters.

With this release, you can get the vibe from Stone’s take, thanks to his commentary (along with Foxx’s), plus the “Full Contact” making-of featurette. Several NFL lifers, Marshall Faulk and Willie McGinest, former 49ers and Lions coach Steve Mariucci, and Dallas Cowboys owner (and meddler) Jerry Jones speak to the reality of the film’s depiction of the league in “Anything Can Happen.” But there are also some lighter pieces, too: the gag reel, the music videos by LL Cool J and Foxx, the outtakes, and more. 

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