How I Met Your Mother Debrief

So How I Mer Your Mother came to a close this week. The finale has received fairly mixed reviews. I, for one, am a fan of how it ended. Most of my friends, not so much. Someone posted a link to the Time magazine review of the finale (the writer of the review was also not a fan) to my wall to attempt to show me why my opinion is wrong. I was going to leave the following few paragraphs as a comment to the post. But then I figured a) wouldn't it be better if I had this in one centralized place and b) I haven't posted to my blog in a while. So here you have It; my thoughts on the HIMYM finale (albeit, a little ranty, but my thoughts nonetheless). 

Here's the thing. The final episode spanned 17 years. For 10 of those years, Ted was with Tracy and as far as we can tell, they had a great life. So to say that it should be called "How I Met Your Mother who died right away and then I hooked up with your abut robin again" is to say that if your loved one dies, you can't ever move on with your life ever. 

Also, the story did end with Ted meeting Tracy. The two kids were the ones who, after hearing the story in its entirety, then told their father to pursue a relationship with Robin (six years after Tracy died, an acceptable period of mourning if I do say so). 

Maybe Ted was subconsciously thinking it the whole time, but he was still very much in love with Tracy during the stories he told during the finale (and I would argue that he as a narrator was very much in love with Tracy during the whole series). Tracy is, was, and will always be "the one" for Ted. How Ted and Tracy met was just as magical/fate filled (if not more so) as how Ted met Robin. Ted and Tracy's paths constantly almost crossed, just barely missing each other until they finally met at the train station. Ted met Robin through a round of "Haaaaave you met Ted?" which has it's merit. But the universe constantly put Ted and Tracy in the same place at the same time, but life prevented them from meeting (the club on St. Patrick's Day, the Econ class, Tracy's apartment, neighboring rooms at the farhampton inn, the wedding reception). For most of those times, Ted overly romanticized Tracy more than he ever did with Robin ("those were the most beautiful ankles I've ever seen"). Also, Ted flat out refuses the advances of Robin in the episode before the finale (when she realizes that it was actually Ted who found the locket), which showed that he was over her in that moment. So to say that Ted didn't really love Tracy for those 10 years and he was still harboring a crush on Robin the whole time also misses the point. In fact, one could argue that it wasn't until Ted was finally able to get over Robin that he was able to find his "perfect" girl. 

 But life goes, on even through tragedy. This has been a recurring theme throughout the run of the series. Marshal's dad died, just as Lilly got pregnant with Marvin. Ted got left at the altar. Marshal and Lilly had to work past a summer of separation.  Barney had to come to grips with his father. The way they dealt with some of those at times were silly. Other times, they treated the issue so seriously you would mistake it for a drama. But when all was said and done, the story would continue and the lives of the characters would go on. So why can't we be ok with Ted moving on with his life six years after his tragedy?

Another flawed criticism is that the finale of the episode brought every character back to square one in terms of character development. We got to see Barney go from being happily married to divorced to regression to his old ways which led to a tragic (albeit oblivious) downward spiral to redemption through fatherhood. Remember, Barney grew up not knowing his father. His daughter almost had the same fate until Barney reluctantly went in and met his daughter, which transformed him on the spot (probably subconsciously realizing that he didn't want to what his father did to him). In the same vein, we also have Ted and Robin who do get together again. But they're also totally different people. From 2013-2030, Robin has gone through the ups and downs of a marriage, a divorce, lost contact with her first friends she made after moving to NYC, and traveled all over the world for her job. During that time, Ted met the love of his life, had two children with her, moved into the suburbs, married her and had a ten year marriage, went through his wife's sickness and death, and went through a grieving process. Both Ted and Robin are completely different people in 2030 than they were in 2013, let alone in 2005 when they first met. What may have not been a good fit in your 20's may be a good fit in your 50's. 

In the end, while there were flaws to the finale (using stock footage from 2005 provided for a visually clumsy final five minutes) I maintain that it was the perfect way to wrap up this sitcom, and I want nothing more or less from it. 

Although I do want to know what happened with that goat...

Visual Literacy: Scavenger Hunt Film

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They Worshipped Him

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” — Matthew 28:16-20

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I considered myself very fortunate to visit the Magic Monastery last autumn.  The trees were a wash of reds, oranges, and yellows.  The air was filled with the aroma of fresh baked bread, pastries, and hot cider.  The crunching of leaves beneath my feet, the gentle breeze, and the melodious songs of the birds created a beautiful symphony that I will not soon forget.

While on my visit, I happened to venture into the gardens of the monastery.  While I was walking, I came across an old beggar, who I paused at and took pity upon.  I asked him if there was anything he needed; if there was anything I could do for him.  He looked up at me and simply said “All I ask is that you seek justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God”.  This response caught me off guard, so I threw a few coins into his cup and walked along.  I spotted a bench, so I decided to sit down at it and just enjoy the fall day.  As I was resting, I saw one of the gardeners working hard at planting some bulbs for the spring.  I called to her asking if she wanted any help with the task.  But just like the beggar, she looked up at me, smiled, and said “All I ask is that you seek justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God”.  I started to think this place was rather strange.  “Is that the only thing anybody can say in this place?” I thought to myself.  I was so preoccupied with in my thoughts that I completely didn’t notice that I was about to bump into my Lord.  He called my name and when I realized who it was, I immediately fell to my knees in praise and worship of him.  This caused him to laugh and shake his head and he then said “Get up, your worship is not what I seek.”  Perplexed, I got up and asked him “well then what do you require of me, o Lord?”  My Lord then smiled at me and said “All I ask, is that you seek justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God”.

I wrote that devotion last year for one of our social justice meetings.  It’s written very much in the style of Theophane the Monk’s collection of stories called “Tales of a Magic Monastery”.  That collection is filled with parables for the modern age that call us to think deeper about our faith journeys, and I highly recommend that everyone have this book as a personal devotional resource.

Anyways, when I read that devotional for the social justice committee, one of the comments that Andreas made was how much he liked the last bit that the Lord says in the story.  “Get up, your worship is not what I seek”.  I’ll admit, I sort of wrote that as a throwaway line, not really thinking about its implications, just thinking “hey this sounds good”.  But I’ve lately been giving a lot of thought to that idea and what exactly the role of worship, particularly the weekly worship service, is in the Christian life.

Two summers ago, I was lucky enough to attend a conference called the Fund for Theological Education.  FTE is an ecumenical organization that exists to empower, prepare, and equip young persons for successful ministry in the Church.  When I went, the passage I read earlier from Matthew was our guiding theme for the week: Jesus giving the great commission to the disciples;  Jesus telling them to go out and make disciples of all nations.  One of the days of the weeklong conference was spent with the group broken up and doing a different site visit.  The group I was placed in, however, stayed at the conference center and watched a documentary about Father Michael Pfleger.  

For those of you who don’t know, Michael Pfleger is a Catholic priest in the south side of Chicago.  When he started his post at Saint Sabina’s Church in 1981, the church was mere months from closing its doors for good.  During his uninterrupted tenure (he’s still appointed there, a phenomenon that’s quite rare in the Catholic church) he has been a very vocal activist on many social issues that plague Chicago.  By utilizing the local media, Pfleger and his congregants have successfully enacted many changes in the south side of Chicago, from banning the advertisement of tobacco and alcohol in certain communities, to holding gun drives and protesting gun shops.  Amidst all of this, Pfleger has garnered a lot of criticism from the larger powers that be for his very vocal methods to achieving that end.  There are also those who would say that he has developed a cult of personality at Saint Sabina and that when he leaves his post (whether by another appointment or due to his health) the church will go back to the way it was.  

FTE also invited Michael Pfleger and Bob Hercules—the man who directed the documentary—to be in dialogue with us about the documentary and Michael Pfleger’s life and ministry after the screening.  During the talk, Father Pfleger said something that really stuck with me.  He said that “Christian life is like a game of football, and the weekly worship service is like the huddle.  It’s important for the game, but it’s not what everyone came out to see”.  

And yet, the most common metric in this day and age in determining if a ministry is successful or not is how many people are coming to worship on a Sunday.  The modern Christian life is completely worship-centric.  If we want a new person to get involved in a church community, we invite them to worship.  We have months out of the year devoted to sermon series designed to bring in new people.  Seminaries are very insistent that when you visit them, you experience a chapel service.  When worship attendance drops, we lament over the death of our Church.  And I can understand where this mentality comes from.  The weekly worship service is often the only time you can see every member of your community at once.

And that’s a real shame.  Jesus did not tell the disciples on that mountain to stay where they are and invite people in, but rather to go out and be in ministry with the people of all nations, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, places in society, and beliefs.  Jesus is not calling his disciples to be worshippers, but to be ministers.  And I think the trap that the modern church has fallen into is thinking that the worship service and ministry the same thing.

You see, ministry is not sitting in a pew singing songs, reciting prayers, and listening to a sermon.  Ministry is giving out free hot cider to members of the student community on a cold afternoon.  Ministry is organizing a service trip to New Jersey for hurricane relief.  Ministry is buying soup for a member of the community who posts on our Facebook wall that they are sick.  Ministry is providing a safe space for members of your congregation to come and doubt, struggle, and question their faith.  Ministry is empowering congregation by offering them real leadership roles and giving them the opportunity to preach on a Thursday night.  The worship service is what we do in here, in the Kay Spiritual Life Center on a Sunday or Thursday.  Ministry is what we do beyond these walls and doors for the people beyond these walls and doors. 

Consider stained glass windows.  Many churches utilize stained glass windows in their place of worship in some way or another.  As I’m sure you know, we too in the Kay community have stained glass windows, but because our worship services often fall after the sun sets, we can’t see the beautiful colors.  That’s because stained glass windows only “work” if the light from outside is brighter than the light inside.  No matter how much light we fill this space with, we won’t be able to see the colors of the stained glass without the light from outside.

I don’t know if church architects had this in mind when they were first using stained glass in churches or not, but stained glass windows serve as a visual reminder of our call to be ministers to the world.  If we only think of our own worshiping communities and center our entire Christian experience on the worship service, we keep all of our light hidden inside, under a bushel.  But when we go out and preach the good news by serving the poor and oppressed, we take our light with us, and that then that light can illuminate stained glass windows the world over.

Now, I’m not going to consider myself so bold and proud to tell you that I know what the will of God and God’s desires are.  But if I were, I would tell you that weekly worship is not for the benefit God, but rather for us.  It gives you and I, the members of the congregation an opportunity to come together in fellowship.  The prayers we recite and the hymns we sing together are not for God’s benefit, but to feel united as a community.  The feast we are about to partake of offers us a link to the past and a way to receive the grace of God freely given to us.  The grace that pushes us to go out and minister to the world.  Just like the huddle in football, weekly worship allows us to come together, unite as the body of Christ that we represent, and take a brief break before we go back out into the world we are called to serve.

Because, again, I’m not going to stand here and say that I know everything about the will of God or God’s nature.  But if I were to be so bold, I would say that God cares less about whether we use an organ or a praise band and more about the cries of justice coming from the oppressed.

I would say that God cares less about what prayers we say and when we say them and more about the words we use against our brothers and sisters.

I would say that God cares less about the way we decorate and treat our house of worship and more about the way we treat the Creation given to us by God.

I would say that God cares less about whether we address God as him, her, Jehovah, Adonai, or whatever name we can come up with and more about the way God’s name is used to spread hate and injustice.

Because here’s the thing, our worship to God is not supposed to be confined to one hour every week.  Jesus did not say that  he would be with them whenever a group of people only gather in a Church.  Jesus did not say that he would be them when a group of people gather for only a few hours on a Sunday.  Jesus said that he would be be wherever a group of people are gathered in his name.  Jesus didn’t command us to stay in our houses of worship and only minister to those who agree with us or make it into our sanctuaries.  Jesus said to go out and make disciples of all nations.  Our ministry to the outside world is in and of itself an act of worship.  When we gather together to do service and seek justice, we are, by our actions, worshipping God.

Visual Literacy: Autobiographical Film Mashup

Visual Literacy: Moving On Screenplay

Visual Literacy: Film Editing Techniques Presentation

Visual Literacy: Narrative Treatment

An alarm goes off and a man wakes up.  He did not sleep well and looks like hell.  He puts on his slippers and a robe and go to the bathroom.  He gazes into the mirror, and he thinks about the day he met her.  He brushes his teeth, gets dressed, and leaves the house, all while thinking of different stages of their friendship.  He waits for the bus to pick him up, and the thoughts keep coming to him, the time they went to a show together, the night they stayed up till 2am just talking.  He walks into the office and remembers the day he decided to ask her to be his girlfriend.  He gets to his cubicle and sees her on the phone talking to someone.  She is smiling and radiant.  He remembers going to her place with flowers the night before, and seeing her walk out and get in a car with a new guy.  He clicks away at his computer, when the new guy comes into the office.  The new guy is picking the girl up for a lunch date.  The first man remembers drinking way too much the night before in an attempt to drown his sorrows.  Before the girl leaves on her lunch date with the new guy, she stops at the cubicle of the first man to say hi, and then asks "are you alright?".  The man responds, after remembering everything again, responds "I'm fine".  The end.