On Apocolyptic Cults and a God who is pro war

You might know I enjoy watching The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. I've mentioned before, perhaps here, that I think John Stewart operates out of the best of the prophetic tradition; funny, clever, disruptive.

You might also know, if we've enjoyed a beverage together, that because I like to watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report I like to pretend I'm informed, particularly about political goings on in the U.S.A. Further, that I like to prattle and opine about the world in which we find ourselves, and that the opining often gets around to head shaking befuddlement at the current state of affairs south of the boarder. All these things you may know.

Likewise, you may know that In the heat of discussion, I sometimes (often? most of the time?) can't coherently nor articulately talk about the current state of affairs, I just list random facts which add up to an amorphous feeling of dread. 

Today I came across an article that is both coherent and articulate, penned by a former Republican staffer Mike Lofgren entitled "Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult." It isn't anything really new, if you've been even half paying attention, but it pulls everything together in a way that is, well, alarming.

If you have a slightly shorter attention span, the article came to my attention by way of the not at all provocatively titled piece "How the Apocolyptic GOP is Dragging Us Into A Civil War." written by Matt Taibbi for Rolling Stone magazine. (Apparently the ability to create punchy titles is why Rolling Stone is the larger of the two publications.)

I'd recommend a quick glance at the shorter Rolling Stone piece, and if you have time Lofgren's longer piece as well. 

As an extra bonus, I'm going to include a link to an article referrenced by Lofgren. It's written by Rev. Jerry Falwell and is entitled, I'm not making this up, "God is pro-war." The denouement of Falwell's crushing logic comes with an observation regarding the sixth commandment, which doesn't say thou shalt not kill. "Actually, no; it says: 'Thou shalt not commit murder.'" And there you have it folks, that amorphous feeling of dread.

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Food for the weak

 

At The Work Of The People we've taken to describing ourselves as desert dwellers who provide food for desert dwellers. I sometimes wish I had a more settled life serving the establishment in established ways for established compensation. But just sometimes.

Thoughts of a warm and fuzzy status quo dissolve away when I sit down to a rich desert feast, the kind of feast you can only get in the desert, the kind of feast only desert dwellers can create. I remember why I'm here, I remember who I'm serving, I remember how blessedly good desert food, like the little film above, is.

If you've got 5 minutes, take a break and pop into the tent, Jean Vanier has a desert feast waiting. Sit still with his words for a time and front will be back, back will be front. Up will be down and down will be up. Suddenly the desert will make sense again.

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Science + Film making = Enthralled

 

Compressed 02 // A short film made by Kim Pimmel using "exotic ferrofluid liquid" and ordinary soap bubbles. It's all analog, macro lenses and stop motion. Surely part of the mesmerizing effect is the editing and the score, but what else is going on here? Is it capillaries= life blood, therefore we read it as organic and alive? Is it the know presence of ferro fluids? The eerie tension of man and machine—it looks alive but it's metal. Or does it somehow capture elemental forms and flows that resonate down to our fleshy and embodied DNA that binds us to the wonder of creation?

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Paris in pictures

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There was a whole lotta smokin' in Paris. But it's okay, because everyone walks everywhere.

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There was a whole lotta eatin' in Paris. But it's okay, because everyone walks everywhere.

PIC 1: The best Steak & Frites ever. Period. PIC 2: The largest steak I have ever eaten in my life. I thought this was Europe!? Portion control people. PIC 3&4: Did I mention Julie gave us breakfasts to die for. The strawberries are as good as they look, pain au chocolat, fresh coffee...mmmmm. The French have got the breakfast thing going on. Well, they have all the various and sundry eating opportunities of the day going on, but the croissant has to be the crowning glory of French culinary invention. Aghast Foreigner: "Seriously, you're going to eat a pound of butter and some chocolate... for breakfast?" The French: "Oui."

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Buildings and clouds. Paris, where even the mundane is beautiful.

And finally, Jimmy Damage heckling the French.

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L'Arche in pictures

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Friends and meals.

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Picture 1: Jean preparing us coffee and tea. Picture 2: What just happened?

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La Ferme, which means "The Farm." A collection of old farm buildings converted onto office space, a library, meeting rooms, accomodations for visitors, and the chapel.

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The origianl house where Jean Vanier started L'Arche. A recent photo of mine and a close up of a very old photo on the wall inside the house. Can you find the site of the old photo in the new photo?

 

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A few of Chris' photos. They're really good, so thought I'd share.

 

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Trying to find words

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It's difficult to put the time spent at L'Arche into words, so I'll half try. The other half of my attempt will be pictures. Here is a couple of pictures of the town to Trosly-Breuil and one of the chapel at La Ferme. The L'Arche community is scattered through out the town in a number of houses. La Ferme is a collection of old farm buildings now used by L'Arche as a retreat centre, an office, accomodations and a chapel. There is another "compound" called The Fountain that is another collection of multipurpose buildings. Apart from La Ferme and The Fountain, L'Arche is simply homes in the town in which disabled people and the assistants who care for them live.

 

This is the baguette that brought me to tears. It was one of those "life is good" moments. We had strolled around the town the evening before, it's so quiet, peaceful and calming as well as rustic and beautiful. The French country side is anything but hicksville, it is soothing oil poured over any troubled heart. The next morning we went into one of La Ferme's ivy clad stone buildings to partake of breakfast. The building looks like the kind of thing a North American building would try to imitate for effect, except this one just "is." Not only that, it effortlessly just "is." Upon entering, in the corner of the foyer was a large brown paper bag with about 20 baguettes. Even the bread delivery is a thing of beauty. Breakfast was fresh brewed coffee and milk in a bowl and a baguette with jam, which you see pictured above. The sun was shining, birds were singing, we were in France, we were at L'Arche, we were calmed and soothed, we were enfolded in hospitality and here was this simple perfect bread that was good beyond words. It was a tip of the tounge taste of just how good a restored world will be, and so breakfast was accompanied by a tear.

 

 

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Lastly, here's a few pictures of Jean Vanier. While walking about Trosly-Breuil on that first evening we chanced upon Jean Vanier out for a walk. It was… mystical? There's one of him in his study where he writes and works, that's where we interviewed him. I can't wait to see the footage to watch it over and over again. It's always speacial talking to people who've had an impact on our lives, but this different somehow. As Travis said, "I think I'm going to be a better human being for being here." And it wasn't an exaggeration, it felt that way for all of us. Afterwards Jean graciously let us take some pictures and then bid each of us goodbye with a customary kiss on each cheek.

 

More to come as I go through more pictures. *BTW, I couldn't take pictures with Hipstamatic so these are all hand photoshopped hipstamaticatized.

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Prayer can be a defense mechanism...

...which we use to shield ourselves, avoid pain and miss actually encountering Jesus. Sounds like dangerous words, and I guess they are, but hearing them come from Jean Vanier while sitting in his study gives them compelling credibility. Of course I haven't done his words justice, so look for the videos on The Work Of The People coming soon. We've been watching a few clips and they're all amazing words from an amazing man. I was there and I already want re watch it all and drink it all in again. Not idol worshiping here, it's just that the warm embrace of L'Arche, which we had been bathing for the last few days, gives him an awful lot of credibility. The "proof" of what he says is still warm on our skin.

There's so much more to tell. But we're into the wee hours here. Long day. I'm sending this out from Julie Edgely's tres chic apartment where Travis and I are crashing for the next couple of days. Finished filming in Trosly-Breuil this afternoon, hopped on a train, arrived in Paris, grabbed the best steak & frites I've ever had and now my body is ceasing to function. 

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Your room and a dinner

Getting ready for the trip to Trosly-Breuil and the L'Arche community to spend some time with Jean Vanier. One of the emails contained with sentence: "You have to come at 23 rue d'Orléans Trosly-Breuil. You will find there your room and a dinner." I don't know why, but I suddenly felt like a hobbit on an adventure. " Your room and a dinner" evoked orange-y warm images of lights in cottage windows, of rudimentary and hearty comforts after a days travel. I'm thinking I may have some naive sentimentalities to shed, on the other hand, wouldn't it be great if the place was as welcoming and transforming as my imagination is making it?

The picture above is of Pierrefonds lake, not far from Trosly-Breuil. So far so good.

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