Good Friday “Radio Silence”

It is very strange and, at the same time, surprisingly liberating. Since college days, I have observed personal “radio silence” on Good Friday as a way to remove myself from the distractions of the world and focus on what this day is about: the passion and death the Lord Jesus Christ. Back then that meant no radio or television. As technology has progressed over the years, this silence began to include email, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media. This year I took another step: I silenced all the alerts that my iPhone constantly sends my way.

For twenty-four hours I had no idea what was going in the world. Accustomed to the non-stop bombardment of modern society’s 24/7 news cycle, I found myself restless at first and very disconcerted. Have I become so numb to the cacophony of political bickering, crime stories, terrorist assaults and celebrity gossip that I actually crave that relentless input? I shook my head and laughed lightly as I fought off the impulse to check my phone or my computer for Facebook posts or CNN alerts. Alone in my house for most of the day, I had nothing better to do than pray.

I turned to the Liturgy of the Hours and decided to pray the Office of Readings, which aren’t exactly my favorite part. I do have a breviary app but forsook that in favor of the old-school bound volume of the Lent-Easter edition of the Hours that has been gathering dust in my library. The heavy red-covered book felt good in my hands as I reflected on today’s reading from the Letter to the Hebrews.

Scripture scholars long ago agreed that this particular letter from the New Testament was not written by Saint Paul. The literary style and approach to the subject matter are markedly different from the Pauline letters. There is a unique wisdom in this sacred author’s point of view on the question of Jesus the Christ. Today’s selection from chapter 9 focuses, appropriately enough, on soteriology — theological jargon for the understanding of redemption, our need to be “saved.”

When Christ came as high priest of the good things which have come to be, he entered once for all into the sanctuary, passing through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hands, that is, not belonging to this creation. He entered, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood and achieved eternal redemption.

Our understanding of Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross is predicated on a familiarity with the notion of sacrifice among the cultures from which the Hebrew people emerged. The burned sacrifice of animals and the first fruits of a bountiful harvest on an altar was revered as a way to placate the gods in the hope of divine favor. As an example, Moses would sprinkle the people with the blood of goats and calves and say, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has enjoined upon you.” Saint John Chrysostom, in the second reading from today’s Office of Readings, focuses on this point.

If we were to ask him [Moses] what he meant, and how the blood of an irrational beast could possibly save men [sic] endowed with reason, his answer would be that the saving power lies not in the blood itself, but in the fact that it is a sign of the Lord’s blood.

We moderns are far removed from the idea of “sacrificing” something to please our gods. Or are we? What are we willing to give up in order to achieve our personal goals? Ask any athlete who undergoes months of grueling personal and team training in order to achieve a championship. Ask anyone who tries a new strict regimen of diet and exercise in order to lose weight. Ask any student who may devote four to eight years in college and graduate school to obtain a degree. These are all admirable earthly goals that are worth the sacrifice but what do they amount to when our time on Earth is done? Beyond death, Jesus promises eternal life.

Eternal life was the blessing of paradise in the creation story from Genesis, but sin obscured that divine blessing. Humanity chose the distraction of personal pleasure and sin was the easiest gateway. Or so we thought. After centuries of this delusion, God sent his Son to lead us back toward the blessing of eternal life. Jesus proved this point with his own blood.

I can’t begin to understand why Jesus had to die the horrific bloody death of Roman crucifixion. I cannot comprehend how that death somehow patched things up between humanity and God. My faith tells me that Jesus was obedient to the will of his Father and because of that obedience the gateway to eternal life was re-opened.

Jesus’ sacrifice challenges me to ask myself: “What am I willing to give up in order to achieve union with God?” It’s a question I will ponder as I pray tonight the beautiful and impressive liturgy of the Easter Vigil. And yes, I must “unplug” from the distractions of social media more often!

Happy Easter!

Change of Scene

The fresh start. The off-the-wall idea. The skewed approach. I think there is something to be said for a change of scene, a new location that forces creative energy simply on the vibes of being in unfamiliar territory. Lately, I have had trouble psyching up my energy to work on my book, From Mountains High. It’s been an abnormally hot and dismal summer in Portland. I have no air conditioning at home, and I am easily distracted by sports on TV, by household tasks, and by my cat. I come home from work tired, and it’s so easy to plop my briefcase down, cook dinner, then fall asleep on my living room chair as a baseball game unfolds on HDTV.

Zzzzzzzz. Huh? Wait! I have a book to write and it’s already time to get ready for bed! Another blasted evening wasted!

Discouraged, I walked around my neighborhood and suddenly realized there’s a coffee house near me! And they have coffee and WiFi and acres of tables next to electrical outlets! I raced back home, grabbed my laptop, and headed over to this magic castle. I’ve been going every night for two past weeks, writing at least five pages of my book during each visit. This is awesome! Why didn’t I think of this before?

I’m not saying where this coffee house is. It’s not a franchise, and people from my parish do not hang out here. In fact, I do not recognize the regulars at all. Good! Change of scene, privacy, and incognito, to boot. Who could ask for more?

I have already staked my claim to a regular spot. My table is in a corner and facing a wall! No distractions! Sure, there are lots of overlapping conversations here, but all I have to do is turn down my hearing aids.

Facing a wall? Yes! Alex Haley wrote Roots in the cabin of a tramp streamer. Maya Angelou rented a hotel room furnished with nothing but a chair, a bed, and a bottle of brandy. If it’s good enough for these successful writers, it’s good enough for me!

I am often amazed at the perception that some people have about writers. Many think that authors write their books in complete sentences, with plot or timeline in pre-meditated sequential order, snappy prose and, if called for, a dry wit. Nothing could be further from the truth! To be sure, after the necessary research, there is a first draft, but that is hardly in a ready-to-publish state. Remember the term papers we wrote in college? After we wrote out our quotes on index cards, we lined them up in some semblance of order and then typed out our text on easy-to-erase onion paper. Most of us simply typed the research from our cards almost word for word, connecting them with expositional sentences that we cobbled together in elevated prose that we hoped would impress our teachers. The C’s and D’s awarded for such efforts attest to how unsuccessful many of us were. One of my professors used to write his comments in Latin! And he stung me with this gem: Ualens, ad somnum mihi. (It sings me to sleep.) Ouch!

But there were a chosen few who took those research cards and re-expressed them in a fresh way, connecting seemingly diverse ideas in a unique manner that indicated original thought and passion. The A’s and B’s awarded to those papers only encouraged us to keep at it, well after graduation day. And so we became writers.

That’s a rather long-winded way of saying that my first drafts always suck. Always! But at least I have something that I can shape. Think of a sculptor, who starts with a nondescript block of marble but sees some potential there. And so he or she chips away ever so carefully until a beautiful figure finally emerges.

My first draft is like that block of marble. The raw material is there. The fun begins when I start chipping away, removing unnecessary verbiage until something concise, beautiful and even poetic emerges. With my new book, I am still in the raw material stage but I’m beginning to see the beauty, and it excites me and keeps me working through the night.

Beatles Top 100 on Sirius-XM

Satellite radio giant Sirius-XM launched a much-needed Beatles Channel in May 2017 and it became an immediate hit, judging by comments from my friends who love it. I know I enjoy the ability to jump into my car and hear the Fab Four 24/8*. All Beatles! All the time!

Oh, sure, I have ALL their albums, and I must have heard each and every Beatles song at least 50 times each, if not more, over the course of my entire lifetime. But there is something cool about the way the station juggles early songs with later songs and back again: “This Boy,” followed by “Helter Skelter,” followed by “Eleanor Rigby.” The transitions are jarring but that only makes the music sound fresh again.

So it was with great interest that I heard about the channel’s Beatles Top 100 poll. Listeners were to vote online for their favorite songs by the group, and the Top 100 list would be revealed over the Labor Day weekend, in the grand tradition of the way radio stations of my youth did this very thing with an annual “Best Songs of All Time” poll.

Alas, I was too busy and forgot about the poll and did not register my votes. Oh, well. I would at least enjoy listening to the Top 100 over the long holiday weekend. It was indeed a fun countdown program, hosted by Peter Asher of Peter & Gordon fame, who worked for Apple Records as a producer and A&R man. He is also the brother of Jane Asher, Paul McCartney’s longtime girlfriend, so Peter knows the Fab Four intimately and regaled the listeners with plenty of insider stories. But as the program inched toward the Top 10, I was shocked at the results:

10. Yesterday

9. Let It Be

8. Something

7. Strawberry Fields Forever

6. Here Comes the Sun

5. While My Guitar Gently Weeps

4. Abbey Road Medley: Sun King to The End

3. Hey Jude

2. In My Life

1. A Day in the Life

What?? No early Beatlemania hits? The iconic “She Loves You” clocked in at a lowly #45. “I Saw Her Standing There” was a respectable #21. But the song that started it all in America, “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” was only a distant #38!

And so it went. “Eight Days a Week” at #48. “Ticket to Ride” at #37. “She’s a Woman” at #92! And my absolute favorite childhood Beatles song, “I Feel Fine,” the epitome of pre-teen joy, was only #52!

They say that people who don’t vote have no right to complain about the results, but I’m complaining. Who are these people? How dare they think so lowly of the songs that defined a generation and changed the world? I would love to see the voter demographics. This Top 10 is consistent with comments about the Beatles that I have heard from today’s young adults who seem to truly appreciate the mature output of the post-Sgt. Pepper Beatles but don’t understand the hysteria and screaming fans of the group’s seminal “boy band” period. Hey, without “All My Loving” there would be no “Strawberry Fields.”

So I’m guessing those who voted hail from the ranks of today’s twentysomethings who care more about good songwriting than record industry hype. But they don’t understand that the Beatles were not the product of the record industry. It was the other way around. The record industry of the early 1960s was pushing a more mellow crooner’s vibe: Paul Anka, Bobby Darin, Neil Sedaka, Fabian, and their ilk, after the brief demise of the rock’n’roll frenzy created in the 1950s by Bill Haley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and, especially, Elvis Presley who, in March 1960, was just coming off a stint in the US Army. The record industry was trying to tame the teenagers of the early 60s with easy-going singers through whom they could control youthful consumer habits. Then the Beatles came along in 1964 with the British Invasion and turned that whole mellow vibe upside down with loud guitars, a driving backbeat, long hair, and “yeah, yeah, yeah.” The Beatles literally re-created the record industry in their image. The label executives, clearly taken by surprise, were gasping and panting to catch up.

So, hell yeah, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” deserves to be in the Top 10!

Now don’t get me wrong. I love the songs in this poll’s Top 10. Each one of them deserve their place on this list, but notice that none of them are hard rockers, with the exception of George’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” which is more of a mellow rocker. And yes, “The End” does indeed rock, especially the guitar jam that follows Ringo’s drum solo. But that is only one short song in a multipart suite. By the way, let the record show that I would have voted "Hey Jude" as Number One, not “A Day in the Life,” although I am fond that song and would have voted it as Number 2.

I just refuse to accept that there can be a Beatles Top 10 list without the exuberant youthful joy of “She Loves You, yeah, yeah, yeah.”  

Lesson learned. Next year, I will vote early. And often!

*24/8, as in “Eight Days a Week.” Get it?