Images of Advent from the Silver Screen - December 15

 December 15

A Christmas Story

 

My favorite of the Christmas comedy films is A Christmas Story, a tale of Christmas set in the 1940s. The scenes have become cultural icons: Flick’s tongue stuck to a pole (I triple dog dare you), Randy’s pink pajamas from Aunt Clara, the arrival of the leg lamp, the visit to the department store Santa with the amazing slide, and even Christmas dinner at a Chinese restaurant – “Deck the Halls” never sounded so good! 

Watching the movie is a nostalgic experience for those of us of a certain age. We remember the downtown scenes of the big city, the magical displays in store windows, the visit to Santa, and the Christmas parades. We relive those moments every time we watch the film, and now we can even visit the tourist site that’s been developed on West 11^thStreet in Cleveland where the movie was filmed. Open year round, what fun it is to tour the house, and then visit the gift shop for our own leg lamp or an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle.

Warned repeatedly that he was going to shoot his eye out with the longed-for rifle, the adult Ralph reflects on his unfortunate accident with his new rifle: “Oh, life is like that. Sometimes, at the height of our revelries, when our joy is at its zenith, when all is most right with the world, the most unthinkable disasters descend upon us.” Yet sometimes the opposite occurs as well: when all seems most wrong with our world, joy somehow finds its way to us. C.S. Lewis called it being “surprised by joy.”  

 

Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.

                                Psalm 30:5

Rubber Duckie and Paper Clips

If my math is correct, it’s been fifty years since I first stood outside the Twin Fair discount store and rang a bell, pleading for donations at a Salvation Army kettle. A great deal has changed since 1970, but some truths remain. Here’s the first one. Say what you want about global warming and climate change, but Western New York and northern Ohio have some mighty cold temperatures during the month of December. 

 

A second truth is that there is a wide disparity between what we might casually say are the “haves” and the “have-nots.” In 2019, Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute told congressional leaders that “in recent decades, the vast majority of Americans have experienced disappointing growth in their living standards – despite economic growth that could have easily generated faster gains in their living standards had it been broadly shared.” Speaking for this non-partisan economic think tank, she noted that “the top one percent of household income has grown 229 percent since 1979, far in excess of the slower 46 percent growth  . . . for the bottom ninety percent of households.” And that was pre-OVID-19. 

 

People across the United States are struggling to pay rent or mortgage, to put food on the table, and to survive. Some live in poverty-stricken neighborhoods, while others look just like the middle-class family they’ve been for years, but are no longer. Small business owners, restaurant workers, and those with supporting roles in entertainment and sports are hanging on by a thread. If they cut the thread and look for other work, they may never work again in a job they love. But if they don’t, how long can they hold on? Whether the words of Jesus were meant to be prescriptive or descriptive, in 2020, they are accurate. “You will always have the poor among you” (Matthew 26:11). The economic realities of our day are life-altering.

 

A third truth: there is a generosity of heart among human beings that can take my breath away. Even with scarce resources, corona virus challenges, and all kinds of logistical headaches, compassion is winning this battle.

 

At Catholic Charities in Ashland County, a plan was developed to prepare two hundred “Staying Safe Boxes” for seniors. The response was overwhelming, and deliveries of these care packages are helping older adults remain safe and able to celebrate the holidays in their own homes. 

 

One of the privileges of my many years of Salvation Army involvement was to have a part in providing for presents under the tree for struggling families. It’s what we do at Christmas time. But in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, models of service delivery we’ve depended on for years are too risky. Many centers have opted for drive-through, contactless distribution plans, which means toys, clothing and food have to be pre-packaged, a back-breaking, labor-intensive effort. Having worked in the Canton distribution on Monday and Tuesday, I nearly asked my Facebook friends if 7:45 p.m. was too early to go to bed on Wednesday night (after a day of remote learning with the grands – but that’s another story). 

 

The Salvation Army, Associated Charities, Catholic Charities, United Way, Shop with a Cop, and other organizations depend on the support of others to sustain the work we do. Once in a blue moon, word comes from someone like Joan Kroc or MacKenzie Scott (ex-wife of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos) that rocks the news cycle with a philanthropic gift in the millions of dollars. But more often, it’s the quarter or dollar bill in the red kettle, the gift purchased for a foster child, or the box of goodies delivered to an isolated senior that makes a world of difference. 

 

I’ve witnessed much giving and receiving since those frigid days at Twin Fair. For me, the beauty of Christmas is in the sacrificial gift: the comb and watchchain in O. Henry’s Gift of the Magi, Ernie’s Rubber Duckie and Bert’s paper clip collection in Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, and the canned ham from the Herdman’s charity basket in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. In the sacrifice we see a reflection of the birth of a babe on a starry night in Bethlehem. Merry Christmas.

Images of Advent from the Silver Screen - December 14

December 14

Meet Me In St. Louis

 

A film that brings a tinge of sadness to Christmas is Meet Me in St. Louis. The story unfolds as a family wrestles with the father’s decision to relocate to New York City, leaving behind their beloved home just as the World’s Fair was to open in St. Louis. 

A lasting reminder of the movie is found in its cherished Christmas song, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” Written in 1943 by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, its words spoke not only of the plot of the movie, but also of the days of World War II in which it was written. Martin’s original lyrics fit the war years perfectly: “Someday soon we all will be together if the fates allow, until then we’ll have to muddle through somehow.” Sound familiar? Years later, the line was changed at Frank Sinatra’s request. He was working on an album entitled, “A Jolly Christmas,” and asked, “Do you think you could jolly up that line for me?” Thus, we now have “hang a shining star upon the highest bough.” 

How our hearts want to “jolly” life up. A world war, a pandemic, a cancer diagnosis or a pink slip – pretending they aren’t real is denial, not faith. Indeed, there are times when all we can seem to do is to “muddle through somehow.” Yet even in the darkness, we can still reach toward light. As John so clearly wrote, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” Paul understood what we need to do: 

 

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, 

since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

II Corinthians 4:18

Images of Advent from the Silver Screen December 13

 December 13

Polar Express

 

“On Christmas Eve many years ago I laid quietly in my bed. I did not rustle the sheets, I breathed slowly and silently. I was listening for a sound I was afraid I’d never hear: the sound of Santa’s sleigh bells.”

Thus begins The Polar Express.I’ve loved this magical film since it premiered in 2004, with its singing waiters, cynical hobo, and careening train cars heading towards Glacier Gulch. With Tom Hanks in multiple roles (hero boy, father, conductor, hobo, Scrooge and Santa), the film is a marvel of spirit, character and animation. 

As the conductor reminded the children, “Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can’t see.” As I hear his words, I am reminded of similar words that I’ve repeated so often over the years, written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in The Little Prince: “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

As the hero boy concludes his story-telling, he says this: “At one time most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I’ve grown old the bell still rings for me, as it does for all who truly believe.”

This film taps into something within us that longs to hear that bell, to see with the heart. Yet all too often we are Thomas with the risen Christ, demanding to see what we cannot, to touch what we cannot. Yet in the sound of the bell, in the silence of the night, and in the care of each other, once again we listen, we hear, and we believe.

 

Then Jesus told him,“You believe because you have seen me. 

Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”

John 20:29 (NLT)

Images of Advent from the Silver Screen: December 12

December 12

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

 

With this selection of National Lampoon Christmas’s Vacation, I am definitely revealing my interest in Christmas movies best befitting a teen-age boy. Having three sons, I guess it comes with the territory. Can anything redeeming be found in this film?

First, it is a film about family relationships, as bizarre as they may be. We all have a few relatives who lean to the weird side, although not as many as Clark Griswold does (Chevy Chase). Weird or not, when Clark determines to help Cousin Eddie with gifts for his kids, he understands: “This isn’t charity. It’s family.” Or, using the word as the King James Version of the Bible does, “this is charity [love]. It’s family.

These months of pandemic have forced many difficult decisions about family, as we’ve either decided to fully isolate from family members who don’t live in our home, or, as we did after the first few months of separation, formed a “pod” of family so as to provide child care and other needed support. Just as a young family in Bethlehem had to find their way, so too are we each finding our way together.

Here’s the other quote that caught my attention. Ruby Sue, Cousin Eddie’s young daughter, says of the Griswold house: “I love it here. You don’t got to put on your coat to go to the bathroom, and your house is always parked in the same place.” Like Ruby Sue, there are children whose only home is an aging RV, or a tent in a refugee camp. The inequality of resources in our world is real, and children pay a life-altering price. Here we come to the word charity again, as we ask, what might we do to change the world of at least one child? At least in response to that question, Clark Griswold’s heart is in the right place.

 

Then Josephgot up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt…

Matthew 2:14

The Grand Old Piano

The baby grand sits in our living room, a Bush and Lane piano built in Holland, Michigan sometime between 1905 and 1929; the company closed shortly after the stock market crash. Bush and Lane was known for well-made and heavily-built pianos, and its movers can attest to the truth of that statement

 

This particular piano made its home in Wooster, Ohio, with a family whose children and grandchildren learned the musical alphabet on its keys, practicing their scales and classical favorites. Generations likely gathered around it to sing Blue Skies and Yes! We Have No Bananas (20s), Somewhere, Over the Rainbow (30s), You Are My Sunshine andThere’ll Be Bluebirds Over the White Cliffs of Dover (40s), and Elvis’ Love Me Tender and Patti Page’s The Tennessee Waltz (50s).

 

With the advent of television in the 50s, by the next decade, its boxy screen nudged the piano aside to become the centerpiece of the home, as families watched its shows night after night, or crowded around it for the parades and football games of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day. As happened in many families, when the children grew up and moved away, the baby grand piano sat idle most of its days, and at some point, the large amount of real estate it claimed in the home seemed too much for an inanimate object that was dusted more often than played.  

 

And so the piano was gifted to a place where its chords could be heard by many, but over the years, it was relegated to a common space where it became a bit battered and bruised. That’s where my path crossed with the Bush and Lane, and when it needed a new home, Ashlanders Bill Schultz and Neil Ebert lovingly maneuvered the grand old girl into our home on Walnut Street, where she nestled in the curve of our bay window. When we moved into a smaller home, I wasn’t sure if there would be a place for the aging piano, but we made room, and she shares our living room with my home office, as most of our “living” is done in the family room – where the TV resides.

 

The piano had been sharing her love of music with a couple of piano students, but the blasted Corona virus put a stop to that, so she’s been sitting quietly, waiting for what might come next in 2020. While she’s only six feet away from where I type this column, I don’t play her nearly enough, and she’s been pretty lonely.

 

Now, through a bit of detective work, the family who first owned this piano has discovered her again, and on Monday, her legs will be detached and she’ll be bundled into a moving van, returning to Wooster and to the hands of the little girl who loved her many years ago. Now, her strings will vibrate once again as she returns home. 

 

I’ve been asked, How can I let her go? I’m sure we’ll have our moments before the movers come, but what I recognize is that I’m not emotionally attached to this particular assortment of wood and wire. The family has offered a replacement spinet piano to us, which will fit much better in our smallish living room, and will allow for a few Christmas carols and some piano lessons “if the fates allow” and COVID-19 leaves us alone. I could have said no, but in this bleak midwinter, being able to bless a stranger with an act of kindness seems to be the right thing to do.

 

The piano and I have spent the last few days saying good-bye. I’ve played songs I’ve composed upon her keys, and choirs have sung along with the great hymns of the faith. I’ve also fumbled through the tricky progressions of Winter Wonderland, sung longingly of white Christmases remembered, and committed to having a “merry little Christmas,” even this year. And finally, “for the road,” I’m channeling Carol Burnett: “I’m so glad we had this time together, just to have a laugh or sing a song . . . [now] comes the time we have to say so long.” Thanks, old girl, for the memories. 

Images of Advent from the Silver Screen - December 11

December 11

Miracle on 34^thStreet

 

One of the older films from our Christmas collection is Miracle on 34^thStreet, a 1947 release. It’s a grand movie, where Kris Kringle takes over for a drunken Santa Claus in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and then becomes the regular Santa at the iconic department store. Mr. Kringle believes he is the authentic Santa Claus, and because some do not believe him, he is hospitalized and then taken to court to determine if he is correct or not. 

As those around him attempted to determine his true identity, one of my favorite quotes from the movie was uttered by Fred Shellhammer, the head of the toy department. His comment still rings true: “But . . . but maybe he’s only a little crazy, like painters or composers or . . . or some of those men in Washington.”

Kris Kringle speaks wisely: “Oh, Christmas isn’t just a day, it’s a frame of mind and that’s what’s been changing. That’s why I’m glad I’m here, maybe I can do something about it.” Much of life depends upon a frame of mind, and for much of 2020, that frame has been warping, bending, and disintegrating. We’ve wrestled mightily with truth, judged each other harshly, and diminished the pain of others as our frame of mind has become overwhelmed by fear rather than crafted by love. In some ways, we are the drunken Santa in the parade, the cynical lawyer, the unbelieving child. How our frame of mind needs to be aligned with that of Jesus, for as Paul reminded us in Philippians 2, “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. . . .He gave up his divine privilege, he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.”

 

The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, 

like a spring whose waters never fail.

Isaiah 59:11