Bad Teaching: “What God Has Joined…”

(A month later, I did a follow-up to this post which can be read here.)

Okay, I’m thinking that this has the potential to get ugly, real quick. I’ve written a number of posts on Bad Teachings in the church, concerning marriage, and I want to address another one that I keep coming across.

It’s no secret that, for decades, the topic of divorce and remarriage has been one of the hot-button issues in the church, even longer than the same-sex debate. Hester Prine wore a scarlet letter for having a baby out of wedlock; for much of the 20th century, anyone who was divorced felt that they were wearing a scarlet “D”, for divorce, in Christian circles.

Refused? Read This Woman’s Advice!

Earlier this month, Sheila Wray Gregoire wrote an excellent article directed toward wives whose husbands are gatekeepers/refusers. Guess what? The eight steps that Gregoire gives to these refused wives who write to her is basically the same thing I’ve been writing for you refused husbands. So today, without further ado, I am giving my readers an assignment: go and read Gregoire’s Do I Have To Live With A Sexless Marriage? (it’ll open in a separate window), and then come back here.

Great Minds, #7: Hmm….

Okay, now it’s getting suspicious. In my last Great Minds post, I was kinda freaked out by the fact that Paul Byerly, of The Generous Husband, had posted an article with the same idea as a post that I had scheduled to be posted.

Imagine my surprise when, this morning, I’m going down my Twitter feed and I find that Paul has published an excellent follow-up post recommending that husbands read and heed Sheila Wray Gregoire’s article to refused wives on sexless marriage.

Excellent, yes, but. . . two days before I post “Refused? Read  This Woman’s Advice!” Once is coincidence, but twice? Hmmm…. 🙂

CSL

Merry Christmas

Hello, all.

No, I have not fallen off the face of the earth; no, I’m not on my death bed. Like many folk, December has been, er, busy, to say the least. What with being Zechariah for our church cantata, developing my annual Christmas cold, and other various and sundry tasks, writing for my blog has been slowed.

I just wanted to be sure, though, to post a small wish and prayer that God will bless you at this time, and that you and yours will have a time to cherish together.

CSL

(Oh, and look for a post or two next week!)

Monday Matinee: Pocketful of Miracles (1961)

Alternate title for this post would be The Christmas Movie That Wasn’t.

One of my favorite holiday movies is Frank Capra’s last film, Pocketful of Miracles. Starring Glenn Ford and Betty Davis, this film is a wonderfully corny, heart-warming film, and measures up to the Capra-Corn that for which Capra films are known. It is a worthy companion to his It’s A Wonderful Life.

Why is this film so great? First off, it’s a Damon Runyon mashup of the Cinderella story, with the twist that the Cinderalla of the film is an old street woman, played to perfection by Bette Davis. Throw in a twist where the hero of the piece is a bootlegger and club owner, played with marvelous desperation by Glenn Ford. Runyon, Davis, Ford, holidays; a guaranteed winner.

Throw in the fact that it seems like MGM emptied its lot to provide the cast for this film. I’ve written a few posts about those character actors that make you jump and shout, “Oh! I recognize him/her from ……..!” This film is loaded with those actors. Here’s a list of who’s who in the movie:

Jack Elam – wall-eyed actor known for Support Your Local Sherrif/Gunfighter
Arthur O’Connell – Anatomy of a Murder; Bus Stop
Peter Falk – Columbo
Thomas Mitchell – Uncle Billy, in It’s A Wonderful Life
Edward Everett Horton – too numerous to try to pull up, but my favorites are his supporing roles in Astaire/Rogers pics.
Mickey Shaughnessy – Elvis’s mentor in Jailhouse Rock
Sheldon Leonard – Nick the bartender, It’s A Wonderful Life
Jerome Cowan – the prosecuting attorney in Miracle on 34th St.
Ellen Corby – Shane, Sabrina, The Waltons
Grace Lee Whitney – Yeoman Rand in the original Star Trek

And then, to top it off, just as Pocketful of Miracles was Capra’s last film, it was the first film for a young ingenue, looking to break into the movies, and making her first appearance on the silver screen: Ann-Margaret.

Often when so many big names are included in a project, something goes wrong. But in Pocketful of Miracles, that doesn’t happen. With so many great names associated with the film (Runyon, Capra, Davis, Ford, Ann-Margaret), it is fitting capstone to Capra’s career.

Proud, I tell you, proud!

It should come as no surprise that I love our English language. I play with words like some play video games. So when Chris Taylor, of Forgiven Wife, sent me a link to an article that mentioned me by name, I was extremely pleased. The article? Sesquipedalian. Yessir, that’s me, alright. It makes a boy proud to be a man! 🙂

I nearly idolize people who can use our language in original ways. There are rafts of poets that people like and hold up as great craftsmen, but I’m a little different. My favorite poet was the great cartoonist, Walt Kelly. He’s best known, justly so, for his Pogo characters, but he loved to play with English. My favorite poem is Kelly’s Lines Upon a Lunar Tune Arune.

The Moon is a Madness,
A Madness of mine.
I made her of mustard
And mulberry wine.

I garbed her in silver
And strawberry cheese
And halved her in quarters.
(Her quarters do please.)

I crowned her and gowned her
In Love all ashine,
So boot her and shoot her,
This Madness of mine.

*le sigh*

CSL