One Good Friday Recollection

Good Friday, in the Year of Our Lord, 2008

From Psalm 51

For in sacrifice you take no delight
burnt offering from me you would refuse,
my sacrifice, a contrite spirit.
A humbled, contrite sprit you will not spurn.

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The painting is by Caravaggio / Betrayal of Christ.

Jesus' faces expresses both resignation and pain. He knows what is about to happen to him. Judas kisses him so that the soldiers can be sure who they are supposed to capture. The man holding the light is Caravaggio himself. It was rediscovered in 1990.

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Today is Good Friday.

I recall, on the Friday before Easter, one particular childhood memory. At noon my mother would make sure that we three children were inside, and that for the next three hours we were silent or at least playing quietly. I think we had some vague idea as to the meaning of this infringement on our Easter vacation, that this was the time that Christ had died and descended into hell. I remember it being a dark and cloudy three hours -- of course, this was Delaware not southTexas. Can you imagine a mother having such a rule today?

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Good Friday and Holy Saturday will have no new posts. We will post Easter themed art on Sunday and then return, Monday, to our uninspired commentary on whatever it is we're thinking about.

Obama's Iron Shot Through the Trees.

On the 18th hole, last Sunday, Tiger Woods hit a difficult five-iron to the green, setting up a long, 25-foot putt for a birdie and a win. It was classic Woods. He could have played for par and a tie. He didn't, he shot for the win.

Last night, Barack Obama did likewise. He could have played it safe. He could have laid back, discredited his Pastor, play to the crowd and, in effect, play for a tie. He could have simply said, "in retrospect, I should have left the church." He didn't. He attacked and defended in what was both a rhetorically good speech, and a speech with the ring of integrity.

To not recognize the skillfulness with which he played the hole is to close ones eyes to the truth.

I not only disagree with Senator Obama on political policy, I disagree with his fundamental presuppositions about man, and man's place in the polis. His is a more utopian vision than mine, and his role of government, more paternal. His vision of hope, I believe, is rooted in the politics of envy, ironic as that sounds. You can hear it more in Rev. Wright than you can in Barack Obama, but it is still there.

Those disagreements notwithstanding, I can not but recognize a guy with courage and integrity, that took and made an amazing, rhetorical 25 foot putt. Congratulations.

Wright and Brite -- Bosom Buddies?

So, Barack Obama's pastor is getting an award from Brite Divinity School of TCU. He, they say, links Divine justice and social justice. Hmmmm . . .

I'm not a reactionary type. The Rev. Wright and his ilk are not what America needs to worry about. If their criticism is legitimate it should be considered, if it is not, then who cares what they say. Frankly, I think what bugs most people is not that Reverend Wright makes statements false and misleading, but that it is confrontational and abrasive. He is abrasive.

But you can tell a lot about a school by whom they honor. It says much about Brite Divinity School.

And it ain't good.