such small hands

The Lives of Others

Do not walk — run — to your nearest video store and rent this movie. This winner of the 2006 Oscar for Foreign Language film deserves to be at the top of your Netflix queue. German, with English subtitles, “The Lives of Others” runs about 2 hours, 20 minutes. It is rated R for some sexual scenes and nudity.

Ken and I picked it up last night, mostly on the strength of this endorsement by William F. Buckley (how many time does Buckley write about movies?) It was, how shall I say?, the most engrossing political thriller and story of hope that I have ever seen.

The story takes place in 1984 East Germany, when the secret police, or Stasi, pretty much knew everything about everybody and think nothing of stuffing people in prison for a few months for badmouthing the Party. A careless comment, a casual joke, and you could find yourself shoved into a dead-end job (or worse) for the rest of your days. The fall of the Berlin Wall is years away; no one has even dreamed of it. Fleeing to the West is difficult, and it can get your accomplices put in prison. The oppression of freedom, of life itself, is almost palpable.

Stasi Captain Weisler is given a mission to do surveillance on a playwright, Dreyman, and his girlfriend Christa. Mostly because a Party bigwig wants Christa for himself. Weisler’s boss tells him to find something on Dreyman and eliminate him as a rival. Every room in Dreyman’s apartment is wired and the long hours of listening begin.

But Weisler doesn’t count on what he hears. Or more accurately, on how he will be personally affected by what he hears. A solemn man, almost dour, his facial expression barely changes from one scene to the next. Dressed always in grey, Weisler lives in a stark, utilitarian apartment. His life has very little of beauty and nothing of real love.

Listening in on Dreyman, his lover and his artist friends, Weisler is exposed to a world of beauty, music and poetry that he’d never imagined. Ruining Dreyman simply so this Party minister can have his girlfriend is a repugnant idea to Weisler; he is a true idealist.

Weisler changes. He begins to fudge in his surveillance reports and he ultimately makes a decision that saves Dreyman’s life, but costs Weisler his career. The note of hope — and gratitude — at the end of the movie will bring tears to your eyes.

Visiting Churches

On both of our Lost Lake visits this summer, Ken and I visited a nearby LCMS church for Sunday worship. While worship was uplifting and God-honoring at both churches, one of them made us feel as if we were virtually invisible, while the other made us feel part of the family. Maybe it's because the first church is the bigger of the two. Maybe they are just so used to tourists that they don't feel they need to bother acknowledging their presence.

I don't know the reason. But it shouldn't matter.

As our "Experiencing God" class is winding down, we have been spending a few weeks learning about the church and koinonia, or intimate fellowship, among God's people. If you are like me, you have probably experienced intimate fellowship with God, and probably with the members of your own church or small group. But I had never really experienced that fellowship --- feeling like genuine brothers and sisters --- with a different church, until we visited Good Shepherd Lutheran in Ossineke, Michigan.

Good Shepherd is small; a little over 100 souls are members there. It was begun as a mission church several years back. But it reminded me and Ken of the words to that gospel song, "It was just a little church, but it was built on a rock foundation." Pastor and members alike were warm, welcoming and inclusive. They take their time together Sunday morning quite seriously. Bible study began at 9. Worship was at 10 and with many hymns, 3 full Scripture readings, a children's message, sermon and the Lord's Supper was finished at 11:30. Then everyone gathered in the dining room for desserts, fruit and cheese. Nobody seemed to be in a big hurry to rush off to their chores at home. People were sharing each other's lives, and you could see it.

They really encouraged my heart to see what church can be, what we ought to be as the body of Christ. I will be keeping Good Shepherd in my prayers and watching to see what God is going to be doing through them. I am sure Ken and I will be back the next time we are visiting at Lost Lake. It feels like home away from home.

Golf Weekend

Ken and I just got back from another long weekend at Lost Lake Woods Club. Even though it was cooler than usual, windy and the skies threatened rain on Monday, we had a good time. Played 18 holes on Sunday afternoon and 9 holes Monday evening. The good news is that I improved by about a stroke per hole when you compare Monday's front 9 to Sunday's front 9. I love this game! But seriously, I'm going to have to take a few lessons or next season could be very frustrating.

Road Work Season

The north-south street that I usually take to the office has been narrowed to one lane in each direction for some seriously overdue repaving. I've been taking an alternate north-south street. But today I see that street is going to be closed starting Monday! Who plans these things? So now I'll have to try a different way, probably the nearest north-south street to the east of my house. Until they decide to repave it. Michigan: the land of two seasons, winter and road construction.

More Deathly Hallows Stuff

Rev. Mike passes along this link to a good Christianity Today article that connects the dots between "Deathly Hallows" and Matthew 6. Enjoy!

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

I’ve been devoting more of my dialysis time to reading, what with summer reruns and all. “Ishmael” is one of Amy’s books; she read it for one of her high school lit classes. At the time, she thought it would be a book that would interest me.

The book is a fictional dialogue between a rather jaded and disillusioned man and his teacher, the title character, a half-ton silverback gorilla. Who communicates telepathically. Once you’ve suspended disbelief long enough to accept that, you won’t be surprised that the lesson Ishmael teaches the narrator is how the dominant human culture’s rampant consumerism is destroying the earth, since the beginning of the agricultural revolution.

The Deathly Hallows

It’s been a little over a week since I finished Book 7, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” In a nutshell, I loved it. It was all that I had expected, plus a few pleasing surprised thrown in for good measure.

Other reviews have been done that are no doubt more intelligent than anything I could say. But I would like to share a couple of observations. Spoilers follow, so if you have not finished reading the book, just move along. Nothing to see here.

Jeopardy! Audition

I think my Jeopardy audition went pretty well. (The photo: that's me getting ready in our hotel room.) There were 19 people in my group. Frankly, it was kind of intimidating at first. Like realizing you’ve been assigned to the geometry class with all the gifted kids. The three contestant coordinators (Alex Trebek's minions) who ran the tryout were very energetic and upbeat. They kept things light, funny and lively.

We filled out some paperwork and they took our pictures. They gave us some pointers on how to play the game, how the clues are written, how some of the tricky categories work (Before and After, yuck!) and how the clickers work. We took a 50-question timed test (8 seconds to write down each response, not in the form of a question). Overall, I think I did well. There were 3 or 4 that I simply could not even make good guesses at. But I feel pretty confident about the others.

Then they called us to the front in groups of three, and we played a mock game for a few questions, to give us the feel of the clickers, the timing, and answering and asking for clues. I did OK on that too, pulled a couple answers out of thin air. While we were standing up front, they asked us a few personal interview questions, to find out how comfortable we would be and what our personalities might be like. What a group of fascinating people! That was the most fun part.

I had a chance to share a little bit about my experience on dialysis. Turns out, one of the coordinators suffers from polycystic kidney disease (PKD). And although he is not yet faced with dialysis, he certainly knows it may be in his future. And he has a friend who is now on dialysis. It was great meeting him and I’ll certainly be keeping Robert in my prayers.

So, IF they select me to be on the show, it can be up to 18 months from now that my name will be on file. I'm thinking Los Angeles in January or February would be about right.

I'm No Ken Jennings, But ...

On Sunday afternoon, Ken and I will be jetting to Chicago for one night. Why? Because I have an audition Monday morning to be on "Jeopardy!" Yes, really. Stop laughing. Now.

So I'd appreciate a few prayers sent in my direction. Not so much that I'd like to do well --- although I really would. But that in all I do, I would give honor to the Lord.

I'll be home Monday evening, so I'll try to post a full report about what it was like. And no, I don't think Alex Trebek will be there. Just his minions.