Friday Night Gospel | March 1st – Law, Grace, & Daily Living

The end of the week is here…and so is your dose of good news. Enjoy!

Lent, Pizza, and Passion

Our Lady of Grace in Howard Beach began the Lenten season with a controversial cardboard cut-out of a bloodied, gory Christ reminiscent of Mel Gibson’s depiction in the Passion of the Christ. Positioned next to a statue of the Virgin Mary, several of the church’s parishioners have raised concern over the grotesque portrayal of a mere semblance of what the horror of Christ’s sufferings actually looked like. Some parishioners even complained that the icon too closely resembled a slice of meat lover’s pizza…Despite protests, the church reaffirmed its insistence on utilizing the display.

“It’s not pretty, but [it] will move us to sorrow, reparation, prayer, and most importantly, reconciliation,” Pastor Dominick Dellaporte wrote in a post on the church’s Facebook page.“

Stoop Books and Hidden Righteousness

Sam Dolnick writing for the New York Times opines on the joy of discovering discarded books on neighborhood stoops. He proposes the phenomenon of chancing upon ‘found books’ as the secret antidote to the overwhelming burden of structure that constricts the spontaneity out of daily life. Dolnick considers the following:

Why do I love other people’s books? Because they carry no obligation and no expectations, unlike that novel weighing down my night stand, from a friend who insisted that I love it. Or that other one, that won an award I should care about. Or the one I’ve been halfway through for a year. If you’re not on guard, your free time can easily become someone else’s...

Ashlee Simpson Learns Humility

Entertainment Weekly featured a story on Ashlee Simpson’s faux pas in a 2004 SNL appearance in which she was ‘forced’ to lip sync to her own song due to an illness that had impacted her vocal chords. In reflecting on the embarrassing incident in which the wrong vocal track played as she feigned singing, Simpson noted the net effect of the experience as it granted her a humility she might otherwise not have gained. A full podcast interview in which she discusses further about humility, the ego, mental health and related topics is available below.

“It was a humbling moment for me. I had the No. 1 song and everything was about to go somewhere. And then it was just like, whoa. The humility of not even understanding what grown-ass people would say about you, grown-ass men, awful awful things. It was so hard to learn how to tune that out, to find my strength, to get up and go again.”

Wim Wenders and Perfect Days

Somehow, I missed this recent film from German director, Wim Wenders. How did that happen? Oh yeah, I don’t have a life, haha! Anyways, my good friend John Wright sent me the trailer to what looks like a very promising reflection on law, grace, and…daily living. I haven’t seen a Wenders film since Wings of Desire…and I still have yet to stream Paris, Texas. Indeed, I have a lot of catching up to do. In any case, I’m excited about this one…It looks perfect.

Idles and Grace

Who are Idles? Only the most religious irreligious punk rock band you have ever heard…if you have heard them. I stumbled across their Tiny Desk Concert for NPR and was intrigued. Evidently, they have a new album that just released which includes tracks with titles like ‘Grace’ and ‘Gratitude’. Lead man, Joe Talbot has previously discussed his appreciation for faith though he claims to be ‘not religious’. We can hear such intimations on the band’s song, Faith in the City for example. An interview with website, Echoes and Dust captured some of Talbot’s sentiments:

I’m not religious but I appreciate faith, I’ve got a lot of time for it. A lot of people knock it, it’s easy to slag off, but what’s the point, you’re just slagging something off, you should look into it more before you knock it. Obviously, like everything else, if you put it in the wrong hands…

I never considered religion but it was considered on the album, I never considered religion but it’s everywhere. It’s an interesting one, I’m not a very spiritual person. I think friends and being happy is important to me. That is spiritual, to want to be happy.

Preventative Botox Promises ‘Life’

The latest social media anxiety among 20-somethings is driving some of them to pursue preventative Botox injections…as a means of bypassing the natural signs of aging. According a new story from a local station in Boston,

Used correctly, it can smooth unwanted lines in the face with few side effects.

“So those who might start preventative Botox before lines have started to develop, they can maintain smooth, youthful skin for the long term,” Canesi said. “Once lines are deep, it’s harder to soften them.”

That’s one reason why Samantha Turek signed up for treatments at age 23.

“I go every 4 to 5 months,” she said. “Really, whenever I start to see the fine lines come in.”

Each session can cost hundreds of dollars.

Some experts say that’s a lot of money to pay for peace of mind.

Furthermore, dermatologist, Dr. Abby Waldman notes,

“I think the biggest thing I see on social media — or when patients come in — is related to this fear of missing out,” Waldman said. “They’ve been told if they don’t get ahead of the problem, they’re going to be behind.”

Hospice, Quilting, Prison, and Redemption

NPR covered a story about Steven Garner, who served time in the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola after being convicted of murder in 1990. Garner found redemption however through volunteering in a newly implemented prison hospice program that eventually incorporated quilting as a means of financially sustaining palliative care for dying inmates. You can read the entire article by visiting this link.

“Sometimes when you’re in a dark place, you find out who you really are and what you wish you could be,” Garner said. “Even in darkness, I could be a light.”

It wasn’t until five years later that Garner would get his chance to show everyone he wasn’t the hardened criminal they thought he was. When the prison warden, Burl Cain, decided to start the nation’s first prison hospice program, Garner volunteered.

In helping dying inmates, Garner believed he could claw back some meaning to the life he had nearly squandered in the heat of the moment. For the next 25 years, he cared for his fellow inmates, prisoners in need of help and compassion at the end of their lives.

The Angola program started by Cain, with the help of Garner and others, has since become a model. Today at least 75 of the more than 1,200 state and federal penal institutions nationwide have implemented formal hospice programs. Yet as America’s prison population ages, more inmates are dying behind bars of natural causes and few prisons have been able to replicate Angola’s approach.

Garner hopes to change that. But first he had to redeem himself.

Golf Pros and the Righteousness of the Law

A viral internet video shows an anonymous man offering golf pro, Georgia Ball tips on how to improve her swing. According a CNN article that reported the story,

Throughout the exchange, Georgia remained humble and bit her tongue before looking at the camera and then whacking the ball like the pro that she is.

The man didn’t catch on and was quick to take credit for having helped her with the impressive swing.

“See how much better that was,” he says.

Staying patient, Ball simply replies, “Yeah thank you. I don’t think that was — yeah.”

Commenters on social media have expressed how impressed they are with Ball’s restraint.

“The patience of a saint!” one commenter said.

Honestly, this story reminded me of Luther’s commentary on Galatians in which he indicated that “It is a marvelous thing and unknown to the world to teach Christians to ignore the Law and to live before God as though there were no Law whatever...”

Extra! Extra!

And…now for the section where we list the articles on which I didn’t have time to expound. Feel free to check these out at your own leisure….