Rodent Regatta

Marvin Olasky is posting some additional remarks from World Magazine’s interview of Phillip Johnson on the subject of evolution and the importance of the debate.

You might also be interested in this entry which explains how one group would like to be labeled.

Cameron Mackintosh produced Les Miserables. Randal Keith was selected by Cameron Mackintosh to perform the role of Jean Valjean in the final Broadway cast. The final performance on Broadway at the Imperial Theater was held on May 18, 2003. It had run at the Imperial since January 12, 1987.

Last night, Randal Keith performed the lead role of Jean Valjean. In the original cast the first Valjean was performed by Colm Wilkinson in one of the most memorable portrayals of any Broadway role.

If you don’t know the story behind Les Miserables, it’s the lifelong struggle between justice and mercy. It’s a legalistic mindset always confronted by an obvious call for mercy. The metaphors for our lives are found in nearly every set, song and circumstance in the story. Here are some phrases that have been lifted from the various pieces:

If there’s another way to go
I missed it twenty long years ago
My life was a war that could never be won Valjean

By the witness of the martyrs
By the Passion and the Blood
God has raised you out of darkness
I have bought your soul for God! The Bishop of Digne

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I’m living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed. Fantine

How can I ever face my fellow men?
How can I ever face myself again?
My soul belongs to God, I know
I made that bargain long ago
He gave me hope when hope was gone
He gave me strength to journey on Valjean

I have heard such protestations
Every day for twenty years
Let’s have no more explanations
Save your breath and save your tears
`Honest work, just reward,
That’s the way to please the Lord.’ Inspector Javert

When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes! Enjolras

You will learn
Truth is given by God
To us all in our time
In our turn Valjean

One day more!
Another day, another destiny.
This never-ending road to Calvary; Valjean

There’s a grief that can’t be spoken.
There’s a pain goes on and on. Marius

And remember
The truth that once was spoken
To love another person
Is to see the face of God! Valjean, Fantine, Eponine

The last twelve months or have focused my attention on what church is and what it might have been intended to be originally. Fitting into the culture, appealing to its ”audience,” entertaining the masses…these are all things that some churches strive for and achieve routinely.

This week, I’ve notice a couple of related entries at a site called The Dying Church. You might enjoy pondering some of the thoughts in Christianity With a Low Bar or The Future of the Established Church.

Marvin Olasky posted some comments and a link to an interview with Anne Lamott. Until I read this entry, I had no idea who Anne Lamott is. I missed the interview when it originally appeared in World magazine.

What strikes me most about the entry are the comments left there. Many of them resemble the fictional tale of Jesus running for President. I’m also reminded of a comment made directly to me by one of the senior leaders of a major ministry. It went like this: ”Everything began to fall apart when our pastors began to preach ’the love of Christ’ rather than the consequences of ’hellfire and brimstone.’” I was, and remain, astonished. In so few words, he managed to capture the essence of the debate between the fundamentalists and those they label liberals. Both labels are wrong.

There is an arrogance in critiquing the faith of others that is so distasteful. Who can judge whether or not someone has a proper view of God at each point along the way of a Christian’s journey?

I can tell you one thing. Christians who fail to live up to their claims of devout faith in the workplace do more to harm the Good News than any other failure I can see. It was well-said by a dear friend this week when he said, ”you’ve never been really manipulated in business until you’ve been manipulated by a Christian who is manipulating you in the name of the Lord.”

His words were more colorful than those, but carried the meaning.

Are we staring at different sides of the same elephant? Are we staring at exactly the same elephant? Are we staring at a rat and calling it an elephant?

Who can tell? Everybody seems to have their own slant on things and, living in such a highly tolerant place (read PC), we’re to be completely accepting of any point of view. Some of both sides of these arguments are hard for me to swallow!