La Musique

The Music. Today was an interesting, and somewhat busy Sunday. This morning I had to be the Discussion Director in Sunday School...a task I find particularly daunting since I am naturally predispositioned to be happy sitting back, listening, and occationally commenting, rather than running the show. My class is currently working through John 15. It is the chapter in which Jesus tells the parable of the vine. It has been an amazing study, and has taught me so much more about my relationship with Christ, the true vine, and the Father, the gardener. We are also memorizing scripture which I plan to post sometime soon. To add to my nervousness, I am by far the youngest member of our Ladies Bible Study. The lesson, however, went very well. I couldn't have been any happier with it. We had great discussion on the questions I posed, developed a deeper understanding of the verses covered, and laughed alot over the fact that almost everyone in the class failed the "How Well Can You Follow Directions Test" I gave them. I'm sure you've taken the test before...it's one of those tests that makes you read all the test questions before writing down silly answers all over the test, since one of the questions near the end tells you to skip all questions except for one of them. The class was a success, and I give God the credit for that.

After church we had lunch at The Junction, a nearby down-home cookin' place that is one of our favorites. When we got home, we watched a movie that we'd rented...Remains of the Day. It stars Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. Maybe you've seen it. I hadn't until today. The movie was very interesting, and is a film that has continued to run in my mind long after the last credit scrolled by. I won't go through the entire plot, since you may want to watch it, but some aspects of the film really affected me and I would like to discuss them. If you really don't want anything spoiled, I suggest you don't read this next part. Throughout the film, the idea of love hangs in the air between two characters, but is never spoken of. Different circumstances, roles, and emotional states always prevent or severely deter it. Furthermore, at the end, the missed opportunities, and present possibilities are not even discussed. The characters do not even allow themselves the luxury of expressing regret. The viewer is brought through the whole thing, and is able to see the love beginning and are just as able to see it fail before anything is done about it, being trampled under the heavy weight of repression placed on the title characters. It made me think of my own life, and failed attempts at love. It made me think about missed opportunities and things that might have happened in different circumstances. I wonder what the proper response is? In the movie, the characters simply did nothing, going their separate ways, knowing that they made choices and right or wrong they are stuck with them. As a viewer I wanted very much to fix their communication problems and make it work. I envision my own script in which the music swells, the characters run towards each other with open arms, and live almost happily ever after. But that wouldn't be very realistic would it? In life, there is no Emmy-Nominated score to guide your choices. All the problems and trials don't just disappear because love appears. In fact, it seems that they just compound along with the love. So in the face of that how should we express ourselves? Or should we at all? I suppose that if the movie went on further, the characters would go on as they did before, living perfectly decent lives, all the while repressing the regret. After all, what would have really changed if they'd expressed it? Their differences and obligations would still be there. Love can be so complicated. I wish I could fix things in my life as easily as I can fix things on screen. Thank you for bearing with my long-winded ramblings!

Just a brief note on the evening, since I went on so long about the film. Tonight at church we had a concert. Common Destiny performed at our church. They were amazing and their songs and testamonies really touched me. They reminded me of a younger, less experienced Caedmon's Call. For those of you not familiar with CC I strongly encourage you to check them out, you won't regret it. We bought one of Common Destiny's CDs. I've included them as a link, go check them out! They have a piano player in their band that reminded me very much of my best friend. It made me miss him very much. I longed to sit in his apartment in the chair next to the piano and listen to him play...