Footloose. What a great movie. Kevin Bacon’s 1984 breakout role. As an aside, I am convinced that he changed his name to Bacon. After all, who can resist bacon? Back to our regularly scheduled reflection. For those of you who may not, God forbid, have seen Footloose, here is a quick summary. Boy moves from big city to small town. Small town has banned music and dancing after the preacher in town (John Lithgow) lost his son in an auto accident after he and some friends were driving back drunk from a dance. Ren (Baconator) is determined to get the edict overturned, trying to convince Rev Shaw Moore that dancing is biblical. In the end, they have the dance in a neighboring town and the good Reverend relents and allows dancing and music again.
There is a scene in the movie where Reverend Shaw is rehearsing his sermon for the following Sunday while his rebellious daughter, Ariel, looks on in secret. Shaw finally notices her, taking a break from developing the dramatic nuances of the speech. Ariel comments on her Father’s focus for the theatric. How it is all just a big show isn’t it? Nothing much more than acting. He affirms that it takes some entertainment focus to get the congregation to pay attention to what he is saying. To reach them emotionally. Ariel sees the hypocrisy of this approach.
When I was at the University of Illinois I attended Mass at St. John’s Church. 5 pm on Sunday afternoon. I was in the choir and we sang in the choir loft. So we called it 5 O’clock High. There had to be 2,000 students, or more, attending. The energy was through the roof. Everyone sang. Everyone was engaged. The pastor was an amazing homilist. But the Mass I remember the most was the last service before we went out on break. The pastor, I cannot remember his name, wanted to prepare us for going back to our home parishes. He knew that we would not experience the emotion and the connection we had at St. John’s. He did not want us to become disenchanted and, most importantly, he wanted us to realize what was most important about Mass and about our faith.
Simply put…it is Jesus. We are there to worship Him. To receive Him into our very being both spiritually and physically in the Eucharist. Good homilies. They are inspiring. Great music. Uplifting. Beautiful surroundings. Gives us a feeling of awe. But what if we experienced none of those things? Where would it leave us? Well, we need to listen to St. Paul as he spoke to the Christians in Corinth. There was a group of preachers in town who were a bit like Reverend Shaw. They had a flare for the dramatic. They could engage and captivate their audiences. They saw Paul as a sort of yokel. Not much of a preacher. Hands down at his sides just speaking. No pizzazz. Paul retorts:
Although if I should wish to boast, I would not be foolish,
for I would be telling the truth.
But I refrain, so that no one may think more of me
than what he sees in me or hears from me
because of the abundance of the revelations.
He goes on to say this about these other preachers, calling them “superapostles”:
I have been foolish. You compelled me, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I am in no way inferior to these “superapostles,”f even though I am nothing.
What is Paul saying in this passage? I believe he is trying to communicate that the focus should not be on him. On the preacher of the word but, instead on the word itself. That is not to say that it is bad or wring to be passionate about preaching the Gospel. But that dramatic should not overshadow the word. Even in my reflections, I strive to make them somewhat entertaining but my goal is to help make the message more relatable. But by no means should the humor, the stories or the analogies substitute for the substance of Christ and the Church’s teachings.
For example, in a discussion about today’s Gospel I would begin by discussing the scene in the Wizard of Oz where the foursome of Dorothy, the Tinman, the Lion and Scarecrow approach the Emerald City through a field of poppies. There the wicked witch of the west (we call her wicked because at this point in all things Oz we are not aware of the backstory revealed in the movie “Wicked”) casts a spell on them causing them to fall asleep in an attempt to prevent them from reaching their destination. Glenda, the good witch, wakes them up by causing snow to fall. Now this image always comes to mind when I read this Gospel story from Matthew. How Jesus compares us to the Lilies in the field, adorned in splendor greater than that of Solomon. And He asks His disciples do they not think that God cares for them more than He does these flowers who will thrive today and die and be burned tomorrow. The message? We need not be anxious about what tomorrow brings. If God can feed and clothe the birds of the air and the flowers of the fields then all the more He will care for us.
The story is about faith. About giving all our concerns over to God. Being anxious will not add a single moment to our existence. I think I may have mentioned in past reflections how my youngest daughter is not speaking to me. At least not as often or with the same relationship we have had in the past. It hurts for sure. But if I felt that it was all up to me to “fix” this problem I would be lost and trapped in my fate. Because I am inadequate to achieve the reconciliation I desire. So I pray. I pray that God will somehow lead her back to Him and then, through a relationship with the Father, she will reconnect with her Father.
So it is this message we need to hear. And whether it is delivered in a powerful, riveting method, or through a monotoned approach, it is the Word of God that matters. It is acknowledging God the Father , God the Son and God the Holy Spirit while receiving the Lord into our very being. And no amount of Footloose dance glitter will add to or take away from those truths.
