the Grapevine 7/3/09

[Mark Jackson]

the Grapevine

July 3, 2009

the e-newsletter of NewLife Community Church

 

Traffic & Theology

 

Shari has made fun of me for years about how engrossed I was by the book, Salt: A World History. (It was, by the way, a really interesting read about how the harvesting, sale & use of a particular commodity - salt - radically affected the lives of individuals & nations.) I'm pretty sure that some of you will join her when you hear about the latest book I've been toting around with me.

 

It's Traffic: Why We Drive The Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) by Tom Vanderbilt. Before you scoff, you can read an excerpt at Slate.com - Men At Work: How much does road construction really snarl up traffic? - and see why I'm enjoying both the subject & Mr. Vanderbilt's writing.

 

In the following quote from the book, he talks about the "self-explaining road":

 

The first thing to think about is, What is the road telling you, and how? The mountain road in Spain did not need speed-limit signs, because it was plainly evident that going fast was not a good idea. This an extreme version of what has been called a "self-explaining road," one that announces its own level of risk to drivers, without the need for excessive advice. But, you protest, would it not have been better for that mountain road to have signs warning of the curves or reflector posts guiding the way? Perhaps, but consider the results of a study in Finland that found that adding reflector posts to a curved road resulted in higher speeds & more accidents than when there were no posts. Other studies have found that drivers tend to go faster when a curve is marked with an advisory speed limit than when it is not.

 

When you think about it, this makes sense. I'm not sure if it's genetic hardwiring, immersion in a speed-drenched culture or just the plain ol' problem of sin, but we have a tendency to get as close to the edge as possible - whether we're talking about mph... or other kinds of behavior.

 

And the law isn't enough to slow us down - witness the popularity of Sammy Hagar's "I Can't Drive 55" or the abject terror on the faces of folks trying to drive the speed limit on Highway 99.

 

And that fact got me thinking about theological stuff... Paul suggests in Romans 8 that the law is powerless to free us from sin & death (due to our own sinfulness). In Galatians 3, he states (pretty emphatically!) that the supervision of the law doesn't make us do the right thing or make us right with God.

 

As Christians, we lean towards a faith that has more reflector posts & speed limit signs, as if those warnings will keep us from wrecking our lives on the curves of substance abuse & sexual unfaithfulness.

 

But all of those warnings & rules don't make our behavior any better - in fact, we tend to behaviors that ride right up next to the guardrails: harboring bitterness and calling it "righteous anger"; eating lunch with a co-worker of the opposite sex & saying it's "just friends"; drinking by ourselves and saying "I just need it to relax." "At least I'm not: physically hurting someone/sleeping with her/driving drunk," we say, attempting to justify our actions.

 

The only thing powerful enough to keep us on the road is to have a new driver of our lives - to truly surrender control to Jesus Christ. Anything less will end up with a lifestyle accident with stunning collateral damage.

 

The Proposal

 

Please understand that my using a film as a jumping-off point for a message does not imply an endorsement of the film... What follows is short quotes from two reviews: the first from Annie Young Frisbie at ChristianityTodayMovies.com:

 

Any savvy movie watcher will guess what will happen over the course of the film. This is a romantic comedy starring two very attractive people who happen to have great chemistry together. But screenwriter Peter Chiarelli pulls off both an absurd premise and a formulaic plotline—and then some. Beneath the flippant veneer lurks a movie that takes matrimony and family quite seriously. Margaret and Drew are led to place of reverence for marriage that compels them to make good on the casual promise that they made when Margaret "proposed" to Drew. Her journey from ice queen to blushing bride ends up being surprisingly moving...

 

The movie trailers feature a scene where Margaret and Drew end up crashing into each other while stark naked. The setup actually works, though Fletcher's camera lingers a bit too long on Bullock's artfully covered nude body. This seemed an odd choice and a departure in a film that largely feels modest, almost unfashionably so. The flashes of skin in this scene are all that keep The Proposal from being a worthy companion film to the classic It Happened One Night, skirting immorality from an ultimately chaste position.

 

And the second from my favorite reviewer, Roger Ebert:

 

"The Proposal" is a movie about a couple who start out hating each other and end up liking each other. It's a funny thing about that. I started out hating the movie and ended up liking it...

 

"The Proposal" recycles a plot that was already old when Tracy and Hepburn were trying it out. You see it coming from a great distance away. As it draws closer, you don't duck out of the way, because it is so cheerfully done, you don't mind being hit by it.

 

Again, I haven't seen the film personally... so caveat moviegoer (translated from the Latin: "Moviegoer, beware!")

 

Quote of the Week

 

We need to change what we care about. Churches in America are filled with people who know all of the right stuff, but don’t care about any of it.

     Erwin McManus

 

This Week @ NewLife

 

Sunday the 5th

• 9:00 am - Youth meet to leave for Beach Rally
• 9:45 am - Bible Study
• 11:00 am - Worship... At the Movies: The Proposal
• Noon - Children's Camp Bake Sale

Monday the 6th

• 11:00 am - Kids meet to leave for Children's Camp
• NO Basketball tonight

Tuesday the 7th

• 11:00 am - AM Adults
• 6:00 pm - Softball Practice

Wednesday the 8th

• afternoon - Youth home from Beach Rally
• 5:30 pm - Prayer Gathering
• 7:00 pm - Men's Basketball

Thursday the 9th

• 6:00 am - Band of Brothers

Friday the 10th

• Afternoon - Kids home from Children's Camp
• 7:00 pm - Softball Game

Sunday the 12th

• 9:45 am - Bible Study
• 11:00 am - Worship... At the Movies: Up
• Noon - Church Council
• 6:00 pm - Cool Summer Nights... Youth & Kids Camp Report