There are moments in life when all of the puzzle pieces come together and you have a complete picture.  At that moment everything makes sense - you understand why certain things happened the way they did and the reason why certain people were involved.  The problem is that most of the time we don’t really see the big picture.  Call it what you will - we are wearing the “lenses of the moment.”  We tend to only see what is going on right in front of us - through our unique and specific lenses.  We are not acutely attuned to the happenings and circumstances of others that may be sitting in the seat across from us on a plane or train, living in the house next door, or working at the desk across the sea of cubicles in our office.  We see what we see because that is what we are experiencing.  We fail to realize that what others are doing and experiencing may have a critical intersection point with our own life.   Enter the movie Bullet Train (dir...

  Life is messy - not a little messy - it’s very messy.  Families aren’t all they are supposed to be.  Parents let down their children; children fail their parents.  Hopeful and bright futures can become clouded and darkened by poor choices and ever-changing circumstances.  What we expect is not necessarily what we get in the end.  And then to compound matters the unreasonable expectations and beatific images that those around us expect cause us to be crushed under the weight of unrealistic expectations.   Maybe this is why the movie Father Stu resonated so much with me.  His life is messy - divorced parents, a mother who is co-dependent with her son, a father who is an absentee hardened alcoholic; a family trying to cope with the loss of a child in every inappropriate way possible.  Everyone seemingly is on their own left to their own devices to cope and manage their way through life.  Stuart Long (played by Mark Wahlberg) is at b...

  Let’s face it - life isn’t easy.  In fact, it can be downright hard.  Health, education, work, family - not to mention making ends meet and navigating the waters of the community and culture that we find ourselves.  Add in the layers of politics, crime, and environmental challenges and all of a sudden we are exhausted.  For many the Covid-19 pandemic also caused withdrawal and isolation from other people - so much so that they now are challenged to simply reconnect with co-workers, family, and friends who they once depended upon to do life together.   So, what if you experienced something so traumatic that it caused you to withdraw completely from your community?  Something that caused you to flee from everyone and everything?  To loose trust in the moral and social constructs that held your world together?  This is the story of Batman Begins, starring Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne.  His parents murdered in front of him, this lone chil...

Life is filled with highs and lows, up and downs, good moments and challenging decisions.  As hard as we might try, staying in the lane of righteous and “holy” living is much easier said than done.  Within my Lutheran ethos we take confess and absolution seriously - it is hard for us to imagine a worship service without some form of corporate confession and absolution.  We use words like:  “I, a poor, miserable sinner…” and “we confess that we are sinful and unclean…”. We use these words because we have taken the time to examine our lives through the God’s holy and righteous Law, as expressed in the Ten Commandments and further explained through Luther’s Small Catechism.  We confess sins that we know we have done as well as those unknown to us but clearly known by our Lord who knows all, sees all…and is willing to forgive all.   Our Roman Catholic brethren are of like mind when it comes to the priority of confession - so much so that the “private” confessio...

What binds people together in friendship?   Is it common interests, education, or shared love of local sport teams?   Is it simple proximity to one another in a neighborhood or shared experiences in school?   I really want you to think long and hard about that question.   Is the friendship a consequence of mutual goals working together to achieve those goals?   I am sure that if you looked across the spectrum of your life you would discover people you considered “friends” that drifted in - and out - of your life.   There are some that have been there through thick and thin while others drifted away - so much so that one day you realized…they are gone.   So what happens when a movie challenges the notion of why you call somebody “friend” - you end up with a murder mystery called The Glass Onion:  A Knives Out Mystery.  A group of friends are summoned by a clue box to attend a murder mystery dinner on a private island owned by - you guessed i...

 The relationships of parents and children can be a complicated affair - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, fathers and daughters, mothers and sons.  In the midst of a family, confined to the walls of a home, you would think that communication would be a fairly easy endeavor.  And yet, we all know it is quite contrary.  In fact, these critical relationships are often thrashed by what we do not say - and by not communicating what we really feel.  Maybe this is why pets are so critical in the life of a family.  A family dog is often that one soul who loves you simply because you are you .   Today Netflix released a movie that takes a very deep dive into the world of under-communicated family relationships in the movie Dog Gone .  Based on a true story, a young college graduate - Fielding - is lost on the trail of life.  He feels pity from his friends and disappointment from his parents.  His only unconditional love and solace is fou...

    New Year’s Eve is a time to gather, reflect, celebrate, and look towards the future.   When I reflect I think back to a simpler time - growing up in Spotswood, New Jersey.   My parents would invite friends over on New Year’s Eve - lots of food, beverages, and laughter.   As the night would draw on the kids (myself included) would retreat to the family room to watch the movie:   It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World .   The movie had a large ensemble cast of famous actors and actresses of the day.   The premise?   A group of motorists witness a car crash in the California desert.   They all hear the dying man’s words about a stash of hidden money.   The motorists turn against each other in a race across the state to find it first.   What makes the movie so funny is how each person turns against the others.   It’s all about the individual…it’s all about greed.   Each character likable and lovable.   But each charact...