Blues and Bikes: Gettysburg Bike Week

You meet the most interesting people in life

This morning I happened to come across the 1979 movie Norma Rae on TV and watched it again. I saw and old friend on the TV screen---Greg Walcott. Greg was a character actor for many years and had numerous roles on TV and in movies. His roles were often in westerns, like Bonanza, Maverick, Wagon Train, the Rifleman, and Rawhide, shows my dad loved to watch in my childhood years. Greg also played in a number of Clint Eastwood movies, like Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Joe Kidd, and Any Which Way But Loose. He is probably best known for his role in the cult film Plan 9 from Outerspace and made a cameo appearance in the movie Ed Wood about the film's producer, starring Johhny Depp and directed by Tim Burton.

I know Greg from having worked with him as a co-pastor of Central Baptist Church in Burbank, California in 1983. Following seminary I ended up as a co-pastor of my home congregation, a bad idea. My "new fangled" ideas and theology got me in a heap of trouble until I was forced to resign. I had been looking for a church position after 3 years of painting signs, "busting tires," and hanging out of helicopters, when my brother mentioned my name to Greg, who was his pastor, as a possible co-pastor of a small Southern Baptist congregation he had been preparing to take in a new, creative direction. In the congregation were some young men trying to break into acting and several musicians, including the bass player and guitarist for rocker Rod Stewart's band. Being a creative person myself Greg and I hit it off right away and I was called to be part of the pastoral team in Burbank. My areas of responsibility were with the youth and education programs.

Feeling the freedom to be creative I probably went overboard when I was given an opportunity to design a series of creative services with contemporary music, illustrated bulletins, diverse liturgical styles. I think it was probably a bit much for those Southern Baptists who thought they were ready for something new. They weren't really ready for the new things that both Greg and I were offering. So, Greg ended up resigning about the time I was called to my first lead pastoral role in the Bay area. I have not seen Greg since then, except in an occasional movie.

Seeing Greg in Norma Rae in my livingroom this morning caused me to reflect on the many interesting, creative people I have encountered and been graced by in my life and 36 years of church ministry (see the short list of some friends on the side of this blog). I guess it's because I am winding up many years of church ministry and will be making another of the moves that have bounced me across California and the U.S. I have had the good fortune to have met many wonderful people in my life and ministry, along with a number of real *%$#!, some who I probably will never see again this side of eternity. So, I wonder what interesting people will cross my path as I move on to Portland, Oregon?

Journal entry: Monday, March 17, 1997

(God) awakens me morning by morning---Isaiah 50:1

Each day I wake without the alarm going off. It's usually around the same time. My first thoughts ave been of thanks to God for giving me another day of life. My day ends with the same thought. God awakens my ear to hear the pulse of life---a gift that is precious, not to be taken for granted.

this day comes wrapped in a bow and with dangling tag
with open palms I receive it
as it gently falls
into
my
open
hands

minutes pass
hours
the sun runs her course
in the vast blue sky
and I peel back
the paper
pull open the lid
and pull out
this day
as the sun rests
on the horizon
I look up
to the studded sky
and say
thank you

Another journal entry: Thursday, September 11, 1997

This stale morning I sit
in my office reading poetry
words strung together like pearls
shimmering against brown skin

The words have strings that draw me
beyond the walls of my still office
past the asphalt veins of the city
through the fields of Amish corn
to unseen worlds of the heart

Words have wings
and today I read poetry
because I need to fly away

Wildness in the divine mystery: a page from one of my journals

This is an entry from one the many journals I have kept over the past 25 years. It is a spiritual discipline I no longer practice. But, at moments the practice provided me with a creative outlet for expressing some of my many life and faith struggles. Often it was one way of clinging to an absent God, holding on to faith with the tips of my fingernails during moments when life seemed chaotic and random.

I pulled this entry because it was from a moment in my life journey when I was going through a major life transition, which is what I am going through right now. I had just moved to another end of the country, which I will soon be doing. The opportunities for me in this new place looked very slim, as my upcoming move appears to me. I was frustrated with being unemployed (for 8 months)without ministry in the church, which will be my state at the end of next month. In my entry I refer to an experience of being 3 years unable to find a place in ministry (after I spent 5 years in preparation in Bible college and seminary and two rocky years working in the church).

The journal entry leaped out and spoke to me as I thumbed through it while packing up my office. Maybe it will to you. Maybe not. WARNING: If the reader is sensitive about honest complaint or accusing God, which is found in the Psalms, read no further.


Tuesday, January 21, 1997

There is a wildness in your divine mystery, my God, a seeming randomness in the beauty of this world...We would harmonize with your own freedom and randomness, trusting our future to your perfect care. You are our God.---William Cleary, Prayers to She who is


Last night I went to bed angry with God. I had hit the peak of my tolerance for this unbearable heaviness of being, of not being in ministry, jobless, hopeless. Inside my head I opened up my anger against God as I lay in bed ready to go to sleep, or so I thought. I wanted to shout out my complaints to the heavens, "I can't take this any longer, God! You are doing nothing! You have abandoned me! There is no sense or meaning to this crap! Why must I put up with this! I already put up with 3 damn years of this shit before! Why more of the same! I'm sick of it! You're responsible! How cruel of you to do this to me!"

I awoke at 4 am with this phrase on the tip of my mind: taking a chance on the metaphysics of luck. Such an odd thought and with many possible meanings. Sometimes I feel like that is what my faith is all about. Reality is just a swirl of randomness into which I am throwing my dice hoping that what comes out will be right in "the grand scheme of things," if there is such a thing.

Then I read the prayer above as I begin my morning devotion and see the words "mystery," "randomness," "trusting in the future," and am struck by how these words connect with the phrase that emerged from the invisible depths of my psyche.

Is faith taking a chance on the metaphysics of luck? Or is it tossing ourselves into the seeming randomness of reality trusting our future to the Mystery? Whatever it is, it often feels to me like a toss of the dice.

A reflection on Rumi by Leo Hartshorn

Be patient.
Respond to every call that excites your spirit.
Ignore those that make you fearful and sad,
that degrade you back toward disease and death.
-----Sufi mystic Jalaluddin Rumi


When life has squeezed from you joy and wistfulness
When putting your nose to the grindstone brings in the money
but not freedom and dancing of the heart
Listen to that still, small voice that calls in the wind
It causes you to spread your wings and fly out over the fields of joy
The voice resonates with your true inner self
It brings wholeness and peace

Ignore the calls that make you drink the dregs of depression
Forget the fears that paralyze and keep you looking down in the dirt
when there is so much blue sky overhead
Avoid like the plague the disease of duty and the straightjacket of conformity
Soar on the wings of chance and ride in the current of risk
Climb to the peaks of promise and hope. Be light like the clouds
Follow those paths that excite you, stir your passions, and makes you dream
Consider each new day a sacred adventure ready to burst forth with new life

An Iriquois Prayer for those who have lost their way

I'm Not There

Yesterday afternoon I bought and watched the DVD fantasy "biopic" of Bob Dylan I'm Not There. The title comes from one of Dylan's songs in his Basement Tape series, which was not released until this soundtrack.

The film is not a straight on biographical film of Dylan. I thought I was watching a Federico Fellini take on Dylan. Better yet, it seemed to be a look at Bob Dylan's life through in the style of his surrealistic lyrics. The film takes a dream-like look at Dylan through various actors using fictitious names and playing different aspects of his life and music.

Marcus Carl Franklin plays an 11-year-old, African-American boy named Woody hopping a train with a guitar case that reads "This Machine Kills Facists," which the legendary fold singer Woody Guthrie sported on his guitar. This character reflects Dylan's early passion for Woody Guthrie.

Ben Whishaw plays Arthur Rimbaud, after the 19th century poet, who represents the Dylan who gave odd and angular answers to reporters during his interviews in the 60's.

Christian Bale plays Jack Rollins, a Dylan-like character, who struggles with an identity as a protest singer and eventually becomes a born-again pastor, reflecting Dylan's own "conversion" to evangelical Christianity.

Heath Ledger plays Robbie Clark, an actor who played a role as Jack Robbins, but whose own life reflects Dylan's early Greenwich Village relationships.

Cate Blanchett, who received an Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of Jude Quinn, reflects the 60's Dylan who went electric, alienated his folk fans, and was a fan and friend of Allen Ginsberg. In one scene Jude and Allen Ginsberg yell at an image of Jesus on the cross, "Why don't you do your early stuff?," in reference to Dylan's folk fans when he went electric.

Richard Gere plays the outlaw Billy the Kid in an old Western scenario that reflects Dylan's real life appearance in a film on Billy the Kid, his outsider lifestyle, and his surreal song lyrics.

It takes some time to adjust to the strange interweaving of these various symbolic representations of Dylan's life and music, but in the end the film portrays the many personaes, phases, musical styles, and life experiences of Bob Dylan in a most appropriate and artistically creative way.

To see a trailer of the film, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZGseissqX8