The Musings of a Confused Man

For the past few years, Fred Clark over at Slacktivist has been doing an in-depth critique of the book Left Behind by LeHay and Jenkins. I began to read through this review about a month ago and have enjoyed Clark's analysis, which has covered literary, theological (Clark himself is an evangelical Christian), and political perspectives alike.

Yesterday, I ran across this installment, where Clark takes a step back from the book's plotlines to discuss one of the concepts touched upon by the book, evangelism, in a broader context. Primarily, he speaks of a shift from evangelism as hospitality to evangelism as a sales pitch, expanding upon a familiar (or at least familiar to anyone who's been involved in the evangelical Christian community) metaphor:

...it is not "one beggar telling another beggar where he found bread," but rather one fat man trying to convince another fat man that he's a beggar in order to close the sale on another loaf.

The rest of of the post goes on to talk about how this approach to evangelism amounts to a sales pitch with little or no product to go with it (in fact, the title of my post references another great comment made by Clark). I highly recommend reading the whole post, as it's quite insightful.

Today I was tagged by Erin to participate in the Six Word Memoir meme.

The Rules
1. Write the title to your own memoir using 6 words.
2. Post it on your blog.
3. Link to the person that tagged you.
4. Tag five more blogs.

My Title
Passions and Reflections from Sacred Groves

Tags
I hereby declare my intent to be a rulebreaker. I tag no one. If you read this and want to play, tag yourself on my behalf.

Yesterday, I learned from fellow blogger Benton Quest that this month is National Masturbation Month.

Feel free to have a bit of fun in the comments with this topic, but try not to let things get too out of hand. ;)

This past weekend was a bit interesting. I received friend requests over on MySpace from a couple of people from around my old hometown. I have no idea who the one was, as he's twelve years my junior. However, the other one was someone I graduated from high school with. Needless to say, I was quite surprised, especially when you consider we weren't what I'd consider friends. Granted, we weren't enemies, either. It's more a case that we simply traveled in different circles.

Being contacted by people from my old hometown is always an awkard experience for me. I'm practically a completely different person now than the person who attended school all those years ago. And I'm never entirely sure how people will react to the changes.

Granted, I suspect that many would find the fact that I'm no longer Christian (or at least no longer a goody-two-shoes Christian bordering on self-righteousness) a pleasant change. I was very much a stick in the mud back then, and had no problems speaking up when the occasion to do so arose. So in that respect, I think many would take the fact that I "mellowed" as a good sign.

But all the same, we're talking about a rather rural part of Pennsylvania. So I'm not always sure how well my being a witch or being gay will be received. Especially the latter, as I still recall some of the reactions to the idea someone might be gay when I was in high school. I think that could still make for an interesting and even tense conversation today.

Of course, I also have to admit that some of my concerns stem from an experience a few years ago when someone I went to college with contacted me after we hadn't seen or spoken with each other in seven years. Basically, she came whirling into my life and flipped out when she discovered that I had developed a stronger set of boundaries in my relationships. (And we never got into my change in religion or my sexual orientation, which would've equally flipped her out.)

Reunions can be so unexpected and more than a little unnerving.

Today, the following email was forwarded to me:

Merry Meet,

The National Day of Prayer is this Thursday May 1st. Our Coven has been watching and listening to the media on this and we decided to organize a group prayer meet to create positive change in our country though our Pagan perspective. This is also to enhance the day of prayer as Pagans and to show our faith and religious morals since many right wing groups want to make this a Christian day of prayer only.

If anyone would like to join us our group and others from our area will be at the Ontario County Court House, (27 North Main Street, Canandaigua, New York 14424) May 1st, ironically Beltane, at 7PM. Please bring a friend and a self contained candle to light as we silently pray for our country and for positive change. Signs are welcome so long as they are relevant to the topics of the day and are not vulgar or inflammatory to other religious groups.

Parking in the back of the court house is free and plentiful.

We look forward to coming together as a community and be counted as part of the solution.

Blessed be,

Shelly O'Brien and Heidi Gleber
High Priestesses- Coven of the Sacred Pentacle
Local Coordinators Fingerlakes Pagan Pride

First, let me say that for those who are close enough to the Canandaigua area to participate and are inclined to do so, I would highly encourage you. I suspect that this could be a great experience for many people.

I have to admit, however, that a National Day of Prayer makes little sense to me. To be honest, I tend to think of prayer -- even corporate prayer -- as a deeply personal thing. The idea of setting aside a "special" day to honor it and practice this spiritual discipline in a highly visible manner seems a bit odd and foreign to me. (I also tend to wonder how Christians in particular reconcile the National Day of Prayer
with Christ's exhortations against "public religiosity," which even address prayer specifically.) Personally, I don't think I would feel comfortable participating in such an event because of how I see prayer, though I support everyone who feels differently and honor their right and choice to participate.

I also wonder if we might want to be careful about setting up religiously segregated prayer groups for the National Day of Prayer, as well. If we are to take a day to celebrate prayer as a nation, it seems that we should do so as a nation rather than as separate groups within the nation.

Now, I realize that not every Christian, Jew, or Muslim would be willing to pray alongside Pagans. (Heck, some of them are quite unwilling to pray alongside certain members of their own faith!) But some of them are, and it seems like it would be wise to use this opportunity to build such bridges. I think a group of people from radically different faith groups praying together would be a far better statement -- not to mention a powerful act -- than splintered groups of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, and other faiths doing their own thing.

Who knows? Maybe that'll be part of next year's National Day of Prayer events. To the folks gathering to pray in Canandaigua, I wish you the best with your gathering this weekend.

Today, I ran to Dick's to buy a new pair of walking shoes. Now that the weather seems to be generally warm, I've decided it's time to start taking my monthly seven mile walk along the canal again. As I started wearing my "dedicated walking shoes" from last summer all the time during the winter, I figured I best get a new pair.

Once I had my new shoes in hand, I immediately put them on and decided to take the first step in breaking them in. So I drove downtown (well, a bit east of downtown, really), parked my car outside of Psychic's Thyme, and set out for my first real walk of the year.

I decided that being a new year, it was time to increase my "short" walk. So rather than walking the circuit of Park Avenue, Alexander Street, East Avenue, and Culver Road, I decided to walk the circuit formed by Monroe Avenue, Union Street, East Avenue, and Culver Road. Estimating my brief bathroom break and tea purchase at five minutes, I would say that my walking time was an hour and fifteen minutes. That's up fifteen minutes from last autumn. Further more, now my "short walk" takes more than half the time of my seven mile walk!

I fared the trek quite well, really. My feet were aching by the time I got back to my car, but I think that was mainly due to the fact that I was wearing the new shoes. Overall, I'd say the dance class has kept me in the same shape I was in when I quit walking for the winter.

I've also come up with my tentative weekly exercise regime (or I should say "plans to have fun while getting some exercise without really thinking about it" regime):

• Tuesday night: Beginner's Contemporary Dance Class
• Tuesday Night:: Floor Barre Plus Class
• Sunday Mid-Day:Walking the Circuit Downtown. (Alternative: Seven mile canal walk one weekend each month)

I'm also thinking about adding another walk on Thursday night, but I figure and wait to see how everything goes.

Tonight, I decided to finally watch Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. To be frank, people who are raving over this movie either have never seen the original musical (especially the 1982 version starring Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett) or did not truly appreciate it. I watched the Tim Burton movie tonight and, while I can certainly appreciate that everyone in it were great actors and the movie had some compelling parts, I can say that it came nowhere near to the musical which inspired me when I watched it live at Mansfield University (no, that production did not star Angela Lansbury, sadly) or the 1982 stage performance on DVD since.

I think that the least offensive change I noted was Helena Bonham Carter's portrayal of Mrs. Lovett . Carter transformed the familiar senile character with no sense of right or wrong to a more aware and somewhat dark cynic of a woman. This made the character more aware of what was going around, forcing who to react to it on some more serious level than the frivolity of a more spacy baker. I also think this hurt the sense of utter and mindless devotion to the vengeful barber that is so key to the character. But if this had been the worst of the changes, I concede that it might have actually worked.

I think the greatest offense in the movie was Johnny Depp's portrayal of Sweeney Todd. Todd is an excellent actor and while many of his lines were well developed, I felt that overall, he played the character poorly. For starters, it was difficult to believe that the man on the screen had just spent fifteen years of a life sentence in Australia only to make a harrowing escape, get lost at sea, and finally rescued by sheer luck. I would expect a man who has gone through such a rough life to look far more haggard.

This was further complicated by the fact that Depp played a far more brooding Todd rather than a man who was becoming completely consumed by grief and a compulsive lust for vengeance. While he showed some excellent sparks of anger (the scene where he tossed Mrs. Lovett into the fire was phenomenal, I grant you), he more often seemed to be more prepared to write emo poetry than explode in murderous fury.

Burton's decision to cut the chorus and any number they would do from the movie entirely also hurt the production over all, in my opinion. The chorus plays an important part in the musical in that its numbers help to build up the atmosphere of intensity and fury. Without that aid, this movie did not crescendo well into the final climax, proving the point of the final words of the musical (which again, were cut from the movie):

To seek revenge may lead to hell, But everyone does it, though seldom as well As Sweeny, Sweeny Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

And that brings me to the crux of my problem with this film. Sweeney Todd is not just a musical with a grim plotline. It is a morality play demonstrating in frightening detail the dangers of becoming enthralled by thoughts of vengeance. The main character serves as an example of how one bent on revenge will become so consumed by the quest and the negative emotions involved that one can ultimately destroy everything one holds dear, and ultimately, oneself. In my opinion, while the movie got the grim plotline down, it failed to deliver the ultimate message of the drama with any real force.

I will note, however, that I was pleased with both Alan Rickman's portrayal of the judge and Ed Sanders's performance as Toby. (In all reality, I found the choice to have Toby quietly and quickly slice Todd's throat and walk away one of the more interesting changes, and I wish the rest of the movie had been done better so I could get a clearer idea of how that adaptation might have worked.) I'd like to also compliment Laura Michelle Kelly on her performance as Lucy, though I'll note that they cut way too much out of that role for her to truly show her skill at playing what is actually a surprisingly pivotal role in the whole musical.

Tonight, I went to Red Lobster with Michele, Belinda, Amy, and Michele's younger daughter, Claire. We were served by a young man named Josiah.

Towards the end of our meal, one of the hostesses approached our table with a survey. She handed it to me and explained that it was regards to the meal I ordered, which is one of their new menu items. Someone (it might've been Michele) asked her if they had a comment card we could fill out in regards to Josiah. The young lady indicated that she didn't, but asked us if we were happy with him.

As I was feeling quite good and a little adventurous, I decided to have a bit of fun with my reply. I smiled and said, "I'd say he's a perfect ten. And he's done his job pretty well, too."

The hostess laughed for a second and then replied, "The irony is, he's actually my boyfriend." We all laughed, and Michele commented on both Josiah's and the hostess's good taste. Personally, I was inclined to admire the young lady's ability to take the whole situation in stride. (She didn't even hesitate or anything.)

Of course, wouldn't it just figure? Only I could get adventurous and make some comment about a guy, only to discover I'm basically telling his girlfriend I'd like to take him home with me. Oy!