Wood Pile Nov 25

Got a very late start building the woodpile this year. Very late.

I am thankful to have close to 5 cord of wood stacked up, all acquired within the last 4 weeks. The generosity of friends, a willingness to ask around, a fair amount of industrious activity and...voila!

Let's keep an eye on it as the season winds around, shall we? We can watch it slowly disappear as it transforms into cozy nights in the midst of a bitter season.

3 Films

We have recently struck it rather lucky with three most excellent films. I recommend you immediately place them in your Netflix queue, or run right out to your local video store and rent them up. Each is quite different, but all three are smartly directed, sharply written, delightfully acted, and just generally good, in the good sense of the word good.

In Miss Pettigrew, I especially loved the direction that reminded me of stage direction (or the best screwball comedies of the thirties), and the occassional perfect line that had meaning on three layers at one time. Beautiful.

Bottle Schock is a story of passion, hope and hard work. It has a smart and funny edge to it, a very American sensibility that looks on europe with suspicion of a very different kind from the suspicion felt by Europeans toward America. Again, tight story telling of a story that is fun, with lovely cinematography. Some of the love triangle action rang a bit false to me, but I could overlook it.

The Big Night. Oh....just a delight. A sacramental experience. The final scene with the fritatta is one of the finest scenes I have ever witnessed on the screen.

What did Jesus Drink?

A few nights ago, I was drinking a beer with my dinner. For those you who care, it was a Sam Adams Hefenweizen, an unusually roasty, fairly hoppy wheat beer.

My oldest remarked that she had a conversation with some friends at her home school co-op regarding the “legality” of drinking alcohol for Christians. It seems that the friends were remarking upon the evils of alcohol, and how the consumption of it is condemned by God. I asked her what she said. She replied that she simply told her friends that her Mom and Dad often drank beer or wine and it seemed OK to her.

When I asked her what she thought the Bible had to say on the subject, she went directly to the heart of the matter. “Well…Jesus drank wine all the time, so it must be ok.” I must confess that at that moment my heart swelled with love and pride for my oldest offspring, for this is exactly the answer I had hoped for. We discussed it further, talking about the wine vs. grape juice controversy, and then moving on to other topics after I ascertained her friends’ reaction to her stance. I wanted to know if they ostracized her for her position. She said no, they just disagreed. I also found this gratifying, knowing how easy it is in certain circles for judgment to be meted out by those unqualified to judge. She was completely unfazed.

Over at Jesus Shaped Spirituality, a commenter dropped this lovely sentiment regarding things that Jesus had to deal with that we also have to deal with. I’ve never heard it put quite this way before, but it seems to be a remarkably pithy and accurate conclusion given the evidence of the story.

Charley states that Jesus actions at the wedding at Cana essentially stated “that booze is ok, and if you run out before the party’s over, get some more.”