The West Wing Exits Stage Left

About a year ago when my wife and I were gearing up for the birth of our twins, my cousin (who has twin girls) gave us a piece of advice for weathering the first year:

"Watch DVDs."

Twins keep you busy. You aren't housebound, but you spend a lot of time at home holding an infant. You spend an inordinate amount of time up in the middle of the night. You can get very grumpy on such occasions. You need something to do while feeding or comforting a child. Enter the DVDs.

Around Christmas time my mother in law found a deal on all seven seasons of the West Wing, and knowing I was a fan, snatched them up. That was like 9 months ago. We watched the last episode tonight. 22 episodes a season. You can do the math.

I don't want to be melodramatic about this, but this show was just what we needed on so many levels. It kept us sane during some of those late nights. When we had energy for nothing else but the tube it gave us a chance to "veg" without actually killing our brains. It was fellowship for us. Like reading a good book together. It gave us outside perspective and adult conversation at a time in life when such things tend to take a back seat. The list could go on.

Not only that, it was and still is just an incredibly poignant, personable, and powerful television series. We really got caught up in it. We shed tears at times. Maybe that's lame, but hey, when someone tells a story that strikes a nerve or you see a scene play out that subtly captures a moment or you watch an actor portray something that resonates, enlightens, or inspires---well, I think something of life is being kindled in you and that's okay. Its more than okay, it is what the arts are about.

Now, some episodes were duds. Some of the politics was a bit too much. Sometimes the seasons were less thoroughly amazing than others. When you put together 154 episodes in 7 years you are about to have a few miscues. But another thing you get, when you do it this well, is an modern epic which I daresay a century from now might be worth mentioning in the same breath as War and Peace and Les Miserables.

Sure I've become a bit of a West Wing nerd. Yeah I'd probably put Richard Schiff (pictured above) on my top three list of people I'd like to meet, and that probably brings me close to Trekkie status. But hey, his portrayal of Toby Ziegler (and his interactions with the rest of the cast performing similarily brilliantly), well, it did things for me; in me. At times a dose of reality and at times a spark of inspiration, the West Wing spoke into my life; it brought stuff out of me.

Its the kind of thing you expect to hear about a great piece of music or a play or a painting. Its what the best art does. I guess it is just hard to believe this show was actually on TV.

What Went Wrong for West Wing V?

When my wife and I started into West Wing Season Five a month or so ago I was curious to see if something went wrong with the show. I remember that it was sometime in season five that the ratings started to take a dip and they first started talking about the show's longevity. It ended up going seven, but I'd have liked to have seen it go eight.

I used to think it must have been the loss of Rob Lowe in season four that caught up to them, but I don't think so anymore. Certainly his absence was felt, but that's not it. A better theory is that the loss of writer Aaron Sorkin led to the loss of viewers, but, as good as he was, the writing didn't suffer enough to cause the show to lose the people who would already have been sucked in. No. I think the loss in ratings was a loss of the casual viewer. And in season five something happened that I think made it happen.

It wasn't a drop in quality, it wasn't a shift in time slot, it wasn't any of that. It had everything to do with the story and the characters of the show themselves, and this is it:

The goings got tough.

At times it was even hard to watch. The season began with the President's daughter being kidnapped, and while that sounds like a ratings grab, it transcended such gimmicks by turning itself into an interwoven group of character studies. If it was a series of novels, this would be the one where the characters went through the fire. Sometimes they came out shining, sometimes their flaws were exposed. Always it was smart writing.

Always it felt like life and entertainment were meeting and making art. I'm not totally opposed to entertainment being escapist, but I do prefer the smart, real, stuff; the stuff of classic novels; the stuff of developing characters and story webs. It doesn't get the ratings as much, I suppose, but it is right up my alley.

Perhaps the highlight of the season, thematically, is the fallout from the aforementioned kidnapping, where the President steps down in order not to do something rash to save his daughter. What results is that the person who takes over does what is best for the country first, and the daughter second. In the end they do get the daughter back, but the family is never the same.

The cost of leadership is seen at its highest, and the President is seen for his commitment to his job and his country. But the cost is high, and it takes the family a long time to recover. It feels like a modern parable of Abraham and Isaac, achieving through a contemporary storyline what Soren Kierkegaard with Fear and Trembling and Fredrick Buechner with his novel Son of Laughter achieve with the old one. The depth of it is profound, while still being great entertainment.

That said, it was a tough year for the characters and the storylines, and so I can now why viewers dropped off. But as a fan of the West Wing, it is sort of gratifying that it lost viewers because of an increase, and not a decrease, in quality. Bravo.

Insomnia, German, the Book of the Year, and Hockey

~ It is one thing to have baby twins who wake you up in the middle of the night. It is another thing entirely to find yourself lying in bed sleeplessly insomniac in between those wakings. Tomorrow is not going to be pretty.

~ I'm beginning to learn German. I need to get a German Bible so I can open to John 14:6 and translate Ich bin der weg, die wahrheit, das leben. That will feel good. Most of the time I just feel overwhelmed so far.

~ I just read chapter seven of NT Wright's Surprised By Hope. Not only am I convinced this will end up being my "Book of the Year" winner, but I am also convinced that NT Wright is the most important theologian in the church today. This book not only sheds light on why I feel so distant and disenfranchised with so much of evangelicalism today, but it also deepens my conviction that the answer is not leaving the church, nor falling for the latest church-strategy-trend---it is a theological renovation which gets back to ancient roots while addressing the most contemporary questions and insights. When I pop my head into books like this one I am inspired and reminded that a theological renovation is not only needed, but is possible---and, in parts of the Church, is happening. What is so great about this book is that it is not only theologically adept and researched, but is accessible. Anyone in the church (or disenfranchised with it) could, and I'd say should, pick it up and read it.

~ Despite not watching a game all year (or for several years), I am getting caught up in hockey playoffs, mostly because the Canucks are into round two. Of course, by "getting caught up" I mean I'm catching 10 minutes of it here and there and am checking the highlights and scores most nights. The deeper the Canucks go my interest will accelerate. The Canucks winning the cup would do things for my soul.

That said, my current outlook on hockey is still probably best summed up by the following snippet of dialogue on the West Wing. I couldn't find a video clip so the teleplay will have to do:

SAM: You wanted me?

JOSH: You guys go out?

SAM: Toby had Capitals tickets.

JOSH: Good game?

SAM: You know what I'd do if I... No, it wasn't. You know what I'd do if I owned a hockey team? I'd hire a sumo wrestler. I'd give him a uniform, transportation, 500 bucks a week to sit in the goal, eat a ham sandwich, and enjoy the game. My team would never get scored on.

JOSH:Your team would get scored on constantly.

SAM: Maybe, but we'd sell a few tickets.

JOSH: Yeah, 'cause sumo wrestling sells out all the time in big hockey towns.

. . . . (a little later) . . . .

HOYNES: I heard you had Caps tickets.

SAM: Yes, sir.

HOYNES: How was the game?

SAM: Not very good.

HOYNES: Have you ever seen a good hockey game?

SAM: No.

HOYNES: Me neither. I love sports, I just can't get next to hockey. See, I think Americans like to savour situations. One down, bottom of the ninth, one run game, first and third, left handed batter, right hand reliever, infield at double play depth, here's the pitch. But scoring in hockey seems to come out of nowhere. The play-by-play guy is always shocked. LePeiter passes to Huckenchuck who skates past the blue line. Huckenchuck, of course, was traded from Winnipeg for a case of Labatts after sitting out last season with... "Oh my God, he scores!" So, what's going on?


.... Anyway, I'm going to try to get some sleep.

Go Canucks. Read Wright. Gut nacht.

The Church and "Two Cathedrals"

One of the main things missing in church worship today is lamentation. And as a partial result, I daresay, there is a large part of our population missing as well.

When it comes to corporate lament, we don't know very well how to do it publicly and appropriately. To be fair, I'm not sure myself. I've been pastoring for a couple months here and we've only intentionally incorporated lamentation into our worship service once in that time (an "ash wednesday" time), and even then it was never given that name.

One of the things that happens, I think, when we fail to incorporate lament into the rhythms of church life and worship is that it goes elsewhere. Or else it comes in and is not received, or is aimed at the church people with malice. Or other things may happen with it.

There was one West Wing episode in season two where President Jed Bartlett railed at God in the middle of an empty cathedral. It was edgy. It was honest. It was probably off the rails in various places. But boy does it raise this issue. The clip is below, and while it is pretty abrasive, I think there is something about it that was essentially healthy.

To give background, essentially it comes after a funeral for one of the President's loved one, and it comes in the middle of a time when he has to tell the American public about the MS riddling his body and has to deal with one more international crisis among other things. After the funeral service he has a conversation with God who, he imagines, must be punishing him. You can watch it if you want, or skip down and I'll highlight what I want to talk about.



It begins with a quote from Graham Greene's Brighton Rock---"You can't conceive, nor can I, the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God"---and gets rolling from there. During the course of his talking to God President Bartlett starts speaking in Latin. I don't know whether the show's writers thought it a bit safer to do this or not, but there it is. My uncle did me the favour of looking it up for me the other day. Here's the Latin, followed by the translation, followed by an even more literal (and potentially more deeply profound) translation.

gratias tibi ago, domine. (sarcastically)
haec credam a deo pio, a deo justo, a deo scito?
cruciatus in crucem
tuus in terra servus, nuntius fui; officium perfeci.
cruciatus in crucem (with a dismissive wave of the hand)
eas in crucem
----------
Thank you, Lord.
Am I to believe that these are the acts of a righteous god, a just god, a wise god?
To hell with your punishments!
I was your servant here on Earth. And I spread your word and I did your work.
To hell with your punishments!
To hell with you!
----------
Thank you, Lord.
Am I to believe these things from a loving God? A just God? A wise God?
Put your punishments on a cross!
I was your servant, your messenger on the earth; I did my duty.
Put your punishments on a cross!
To the cross with you!

Perhaps someone who actually knows Latin will correct these renderings somewhat, but I think in either case something very profound is being said, not only out of anger to God, but by the writers (whether knowingly or not) about God's response, and our proper response, to suffering and evil in the world.

He puts them on a cross, and puts himself on that cross, and takes them to hell with him.

We don't do ourselves any favours when we gloss over this stuff and leave it to prime time television to deal with it. Nor do we do ourselves any favours when we shelter ourselves from the fact that we still live with a lot of suffering and evil in our world.

I think we need to pause with Jesus outside the tomb of Lazarus or on the outskirts of a broken Jerusalem, and allow ourselves to weep. Even if we don't feel bad, to pause and weep with those who weep. "Blessed are those who mourn," Jesus said.

Of course, thankfully, he did continue: "For they will be comforted." Ultimately our lamentation, if it is enfolded in Christian worship as such, leads us then to our hope, which is that Jesus ascended from hell, rose from the dead, has ascended to heaven, has left us the Spirit in Church, heart, and Word, and is coming again to finish what He started. Too often I think we just skip to the "shiny happy" without dwelling on any of this, and thus we end up with worship services that seem somehow ethereal rather than real.

As a pastor I can sleep at night because I believe God is gracious with us in receiving us in our worship services and utilizing whatever we bring if we bring it with an open hand. And certainly in our worship services there is much that is good. But imagine if our worship services were places that met the world head on, honestly, and hopefully. I'd like to be there for one of those.

West Wing Season 3: Jed Bartlett Nails Ephesians 5

My wife and are one episode away from completing West Wing Season 3. For those who care about the show and have some familiarity with it I will explain my 9/10 rating for this season below.

Firstly, however, let me show you one of the best scenes of the season, where President Jed Bartlett complains about the preaching at his church and has a debate with his wife about the proper interpretation of Ephesians 5. In my opinion he pretty much nails it. The only place I'd beg to differ is that I'd say it is about marriage---but he's right; it is about so much more. I think he actually manages in this short clip to expose the absolute beauty and relevance of this remarkably misused and abused passage of Scripture. Watch this fantastic scene:



Unfortunately, the clip here stops short before Leo (the Chief of Staff) walks in and Bartlett says: "Leo, how may I be subject to you today?" and Leo responds: "I'm alright, Mr. President, I have Margaret (his secretary)."

As for the rating of this season, West Wing nuts might be interested to hear why I'm giving it a rating of 9. After all, this season certainly hit some real television highs, and in relation to most TV shows every season of West Wing is a 10. But I want to reserve my 10 ratings for the absolute masterpieces, the near-flawless screen-events.

And the fact is that there are three reason why Season 3 fell short of masterpiece status.

1) There were a few episodes near the beginning which were very very flat. Boring, in fact. One of them was directed by a person who never directed an episode again, and it is a reminder that even with great writing and wonderful actors a director can really ruin something. It gives a person cause for pause before dreaming "oh yeah, I could direct a show like that." Yeah right.

2) Too many guest spots and new characters coming in and out. Now, this is a minor criticism since most, if not all, of them were great characters with winning performances. The problem is perhaps only evident when you watch the season on DVD (rather than over the course of a year), but these characters were too in and out with not enough continuity. At times you don't know who you are going to see again. But this criticism is not major, since on the other hand some of these characters are absolutely amazing (especially Oliver Babich, Ainsley Hayes, Bruno Gianelli, and CJ's bodyguard).

3) The 9/11 episode was fairly potent at the time, but in retrospect is hard to watch. But we give some grace here: It must have been hard to be the West Wing after 9/11. In fact, maybe this explains some of the early-season flops. For the most part I think the show managed to wade through these sketchy waters with grace and dignity, not glamorizing or taking advantage of the event to make a buck, but not ignoring it either.

All in all, however, an incredible season of television. If you've never seen the West Wing, you owe yourself the favour of turning off the garbage on today and renting the DVDs.

In regard to the Ephesians 5 rant above, of course it must be mentioned that the show has its fair share of less-than bang-on representations of Christianity or Scripture. But even then, most of those have a real critical value to them that Christians ought to pay attention to. In amongst those, as well, there are some other real gems. Another of them is this interview between the President and a persecuted Christian seeking asylum from China:

Instruct My Staff?

I am now interim pastoring in Edmonton for the next several months. Mainly I preach and lead the staff. I have preached before, but have never worked with a church staff, let alone led one. In my previous pastorate I spent many hours alone in the church building.

Today I discovered that not only do I have three co-workers whose company I can enjoy around the office, but that I have an Administrative Assistant who, from no coercion of my own, actually intends to help me with stuff!

I have already told my colleagues that everything I learned about leading a staff I learned from the West Wing (which isn't totally true, but almost). This could be perceived as a good or a very bad thing. So tomorrow is my first staff meeting and I am thinking of playing the following clips from the show. They are pretty funny, and one is pretty bang-on for how I feel coming to grips with "having a staff". (By the way, I don't really think of the staff as "mine", but you get the drift).

Excerpts from October

This weekend I'll be presenting an extremely distilled version of my thesis at the annual Mid-Atlantic Popular/American Culture Association Conference in Niagara Falls. Seems like as good a time as any to post some great lines that have been ringing around in my ears all month. Some of these I've mentioned before. Some go together kind of well. Some are relevant to discussions we've had on the blogs. Some are from great songs I've been listening to. A few are just, well, cute. Some I'm not sure what they mean. You can decide which is which. Enjoy, and have a good weekend!

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Jon (to his boys in the backseat of the van, who are fighting about pretty much everything): "Guys, do you you think you can talk without arguing?"

Brady: "We can talk without arguing right Elijah?"

Elijah (harshly): "No we can't."

...............................

Writer (in Tarkovsky's Stalker) : "Listen Einstein, I don't want to argue anymore."

Philosopher: "Truth is born of argument, damn it!"

...............................

Mallory McGarry (in West Wing Season One): "Don't play dumb with me Sam."

Sam Seborne : "But I'm actually dumb. Most of the time I'm just playing smart."

...............................

My son Elijah, out of nowhere: "Dad, you like books so much you should be a bookaneer."

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Sheriff Ed Bell (monologue in No Country for Old Men): "The crime you see now, it’s hard to even take its measure. It’s not that I’m afraid of it. I always knew you had to be willing to die to even do this job. But, I don’t want to push my chips forward and go out and meet something I don’t understand. A man would have to put his soul at hazard. He’d have to say, 'O.K., I’ll be part of this world.'”

................................

M. Ward (in "Poison Cup", from the album Post-War):
If love
If love
Is a poison cup
Then drink it up
'Cause a sip
A sip
Or a spoonful won't do
Won't do nothing for you
Except mess you up

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Augustine (from Predestination of the Saints): "No one believes anything unless one first thought it believable. . . . Everything that is believed is believed after being preceded by thought. . . . Not everyone who thinks believes, since many think in order not to believe; but everyone who believes thinks, thinks in believing and believes in thinking."

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G.K. Chesterton: "Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another."

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G.K. Chesterton: “Without education we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.”

Three Years Blogging

On October 22, 2005, this blog was born. I had heard of blogging on a West Wing episode, was intrigued, did some playing around online, and came out with this.

At the time I felt like a bit of a bandwagon jumper and wondered how long the fad would last. Almost 200 posts later I find myself communicating with quite a few people this way, and though I feel like taking a hiatus now and again, I generally enjoy posting here once a week or so and taking whatever dialogue comes my way. I also check out about a dozen other blogs throughout the week and comment regularly on at least half of them. Though I have allowed it to distract me from "real life" at times, for the most part it has been really good.

As is common, this side of sunday began with an explanation for its existence, which went as follows:

...................................................
This is my first blog so I'm still finding my way around. My intention here is to explore my passion for writing and to see where that takes me.

I plan to write mostly social commentary peices from a decidedly Christian perspective. However, I'm not so concerned about pushing religion as I am in authentically exploring the depths of this faith in a reasoned and empassioned manner.

Spirituality encompasses all of life, from doing dishes to talking philosophy, and so there will be very few topics I won't want to tackle. Unless of course they simply don't interest me at all.

Among the things which do interest me are reading, sports, culture, truth based spirituality, the church, music, movies, well-done television, and even politics to some degree. Although it is rare that my thoughts on the latter are anything less than frustrated.

I look forward to the possibilities this site might hold both for my own exploration of writing and for the potential dialogue that could ensue, whether that be among friends, family, colleagues, strangers or even enemies (should I have any out there or make any along the way)! See you soon.
......................................................

I am pleasantly surprised to look back and find that this still pretty much describes what I'm doing here.

My first comment came from tonytanti, my brother, who continues to be one of my most vocal readers, along with matthew wilkinson. I often run into friends and acquaintances who tell me that they read but don't comment, and so I try to keep writing for a pretty general audience. However, it must be admitted that the conversations that ensue are often driven by the reactions of one of those two, which is more than fine with me since they are both people I like talking to. I really do welcome more comments though, even in disagreement. I think dialogue has become my number one reason to be in the blogosphere.

Anyway, I think in the next week or so I'm going to try to update my tags. I've always been sloppy with these and I figure it might be good to get them more accurate before this blog gets too big to handle. In the meantime, here is my first post, from October 29, 2005:

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Blood is Hard to Ignore

On Sunday morning we went to church and sat near the back. The sermon was about Ruth, the singing was mostly hymns, and the pastoral prayer was given by the elder who also goes to our weekly Bible study. The pew bench was particularly hard this week, and there were more than a few empty spots in front of us. We weren't even all that far back either. It occurred to me that attendance was significantly lower this day. Probably some people away, or maybe it was Christian sleep-in day and nobody told me.

I noticed only part way through the service that the "elements" were out at the front of the church. The stale bread and the tart grape juice were all ready to be passed around at the end of the hour. Usually I'm pretty into this part of the service, but today it seemed so stiflingly normal.

Indeed, once we got to it, it went along like most of the rest. The eight elders gathered at the front, only one of them conspicuously wearing no suit jacket, and they took turns praying for "the bread and the cup." I started to wonder why we felt these little cubes of Safeway bread needed our petitions and these tiny glasses needed our prayers. I was also thinking about how we in evangelical circles like to call it "the cup" most likely because it sounds better than "the sacred grape juice" or the "wonderful Welch's." It all gave me a bit of a chuckle ... which of course I had to suppress.

As with most of our services around the Lord's Table, this one was pretty quick and painless and full of Christianese. Being so used to it, I never doubted our sincerity during this time though, in fact I quite appreciated that we were pausing to remember our debt to the Lord -- a debt that grows that much greater with each feeble attempt of ours to give him worship.

Once the bread started its rounds, I enjoyed watching all the people in front of me shuffle down the pew to make up for all the blank spaces, pass the plate, and then return to their places. They were sitting so far from one another! Of couse when it came my turn, I did the same.When the cups came by, I noticed they'd been jostled a bit, and while I tried to avoid taking a spilled one, I realized my failure to steer clear of the sticky little mess as I passed the tray over to my wife.

I saw a dot of grape juice on my finger, and to be honest, it kind of startled me.

When it caught my eye it looked like a prick of blood. Blood is hard to ignore. And with the elements passed now I looked and saw an even larger smear of it on my wife's hand, right in the middle of the palm. Right where the nails might have been. She tried to flick off the grape juice but it only streaked down one of her fingers and threatened one or two drips onto the floor. To avoid this, she closed her hand and clenched it repeatedly until all of it was rubbed into her palm. Moments later we "partook" together.

I have to say that despite my best efforts to notice everything but the sacred truth behind our tradition that morning, it had now become inescapably clear. Tucked away into our pathetic little ceremony was the amazing fact that the bread was as freely passed to us as was Christ's body, and this grape juice made a mess which paled in comparison to that of His blood.And these were just lame little attempts to encapsulate God's passion, as I am but a lame little attempt to encapsulate His Son. An attempt wrought with failure but met by the forgiveness His sacrifice won.
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Well, there you go. Thanks for meeting me here.

5 Best TV Shows Ever

There is, of course, no debating this list. These are unarguably the 5 best TV shows ever:

5. Saturday Night Live

As much as this show has had its ups and downs, and whole seasons when I haven't watched a single episode, it must be admitted that it has been a perpetual laugh-maker, humour-former, culture-feeder, and televesion mainstay for several generations. I loved the Farley/Hartman years and have a plethora of skits from this show forever ingrained in my psyche. This show was the single greatest bond of my high school friendships and has been the fodder for many, many laughs.

4. M*A*S*H*

Even though I'm sure a lot of the political edginess wore off by the time I watched it, this show still made some of the most poignant statements about life and war that I've ever seen on television and it managed to be heartwarming and funny as well. Very funny actually. I must have laughed out loud between ever commercial break. Even if I teared up at some of them too. What an amazing show.

3. NYPD Blue

Yeah, I saw more rear ends than I would have liked to, but this show got a bit of a bad rap for all the publicity that was made of its edginess. After the first couple seasons this show really settled into its own and I got quite attached to its characters. I thought it depicted reality in a very touching and truthful way. Interestingly enough, the show lasted long enough to be an essential part of my life when I still lived under my parent's roof, watching with my brother, and then under my own roof, watching the last two seasons with my wife. Sipowicz is possibly the greatest character ever on television.

2. Seinfeld

For all that might be said about this show's legacy (turning the trivial into the important and the important into the trivial), it was supposed to be a comedy, not a worldview former! And as a comedy it hit the mark like no show ever has. Unlike the Simpsons, it bowed out before it got repetitive and boring. It was always, always, always, very, very, very funny.

1. West Wing

I don't know where to start with this show. The best and smartest writing, acting, and story-lines I've seen on any screen. It was funny. It was intelligent. It was timely. It was gripping. It was moving. It was a fine peice of work. It is sorely missed. I don't know why its viewership slipped. I hardly watch TV any more since this went off the air.

A West Wing Sermon

Last Sunday my wife and I sat down to watch our favourite television show, The West Wing, and even though we had been to church in the morning we were interested to hear another sermon the same evening, only now in front of the tube.

In case you missed it, in this episode the Latino Democrat running for president was faced with the daunting task of speaking to an African American congregation shortly after a Latino police officer had gunned down an African American teenager in the local streets as a mistaken act of self defense.

I thought it was a pretty fantastic scene even though the American phenomenon of churches allowing politicians to use their pulpits from which to campaign boggles my mind. I am from Canada. I'm sure this happens here but it seems to be less commonplace.

The show did a good job of capturing the racial tension and also of holding back from the "too easy" conclusion that might have been tempting to write. You know, where it all ends with a group hug and everyone holding candles at a White House vigil. The realism was good, and you could feel the questions sticking in your throat just as they do when stuff like this happens in real life.

The speech given by Democrat Matt Santos (played by Jimmy Smits) was what stuck with me the most. He had been wrestling with how he would walk the tightrope of trying to win votes and yet be honest with what had happened. How could he get up there and vent his anger at both the police officer for his mistake and the teenager who had brought on the tragedy? In the end he made what I thought was a great speech which the congregation could only stand and applaude. (Okay, so maybe the script could be accused of ending a bit too easy)

His speech was about the struggle between blame and compassion.

In a nutshell his point was that we need to get beyond our desire to cast blame and seek vindication and conjur up instead the compassion that it takes to really make a difference in the world. It was the sort of speech you wish people would listen to before they went out and rioted.

The line that really stuck with me was where Santos said that even if people had to pretend to have compassion, they should! That's a fantastic point. How often do we stop from doing the right thing because we don't quite feel like it?

I mean, sincerity is a good thing, and authenticity is to be strived for, but is a good and right action somehow less admirable if one has to force oneself to perform it? Is it any less sincere if I show compassion to someone not just because my passing moods led me to but because I decided to? It occurs to me that while insincerity may often be a fault, perhaps sincerity can be an even more devestating fault if our insistence on it keeps us from doing what we know is right!

To be honest, I find that quite often in my life I have to drum up the fortitude and courage to show compassion to someone only to discover that only once I've done so do I actually begin to feel that compassion. I'm not saying that i do this very often, but it happens, and judging from the fact that there are real writers behind the words of Santos, it seems I may not be the only one!

Great point Matt Santos. Once we're convinced that a certain response is the right one nothing, including our own moods (however fierce or justified), should keep us from responding in that way. Good show West Wing. Even though I disagree with many of the viewpoints expressed on this show, I have to hand it to them, they got this one right.

But I can't just leave it at that either. After all, there was something that went painfully unsaid in that fictional church service, or at least the part that was shown (as if there was any other part). Namely, it is this:

If we are to lay aside blame, then how can we count on justice to be done? And if we must pretend to have compassion even when we do not, then what hope is there for humanity? Is that really where our hope lies: In faking love for one another until somehow our utopia is achieved?

Truth is, if the congregation Matt Santos spoke to was a Bible-believing one, the reason for their standing ovation would have been not so much for the promise of racial understanding, or the articulation of good morals, but for the connection Santos' speech had with the very gospel of Christ. As a matter of fact, without Christ, Santos' speech is actually quite empty.

I'm not making a judgment call on the religious persuasion of the writers of this show, I'm just pointing out that what often goes unsaid on television is actually the part that most needs to be heard. In the gospel of Christ blame is dealt with, and compassion is dealt out in droves.

For in Christ we can actually let go of blame without fearing that justice will be lost completely. The punishment for sin has been handed out and Jesus has taken the brunt of it all and He will hand out justice accordingly in the future when all is weighed out and made right based on the perfect knowledge of God.

And in Christ our compasion has a foundation, and in one sense doesn't necessarily even need to be pretended. As we consider our own sin from his perspective and know that He loves us unconditionally we can begin to do the same. The love of Christ can compel us even when human emotion or even the force of our own will may not.

So it is that in the struggle between blame and compassion, the only proper intersection is at the cross, where blame is taken, and compassion is given in its place.

In this we the good news that flies in the face of the bad, and no matter what your political persuasion it is the only thing that can save the world.

Just what the President was looking for. Seems he was in the right place.