michael lambe

Happy Easter!
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Yes! It’s Easter and religious obsession time! The day we celebrate Jesus jumping out of the egg! Check out some exclusive footage here:

In my first week of work at the Junior High this week I managed to catch a nasty stomach bug that had me riding the porcelain train much of Wednesday night, and from which I’ve still not fully recovered. God knows what brought it on, apparently something matching my symptoms (shakes, sweats and shits) has been going around, but then the spicy Korean hot-pot and amber beverages enjoyed on Tuesday evening probably exacerbated it a tad. Anyway, I worked through it (it being my first week and all) and was rewarded with high praise indeed by one of my new co-workers who told me my class was “brilliant” because I was so calm and quiet and all those noisy little girls still listened to me. I managed not to have any nasty accidents in the classroom too, which was a relief.

As said I’m still not fully myself so I’m taking it easy this weekend and just reading lots to pass the time. I came across this wacky article on Z-net by Robert Jensen, explaining why or how he is a Christian AND an Athiest:
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His argument is that though he doesn’t believe in God or that Jesus was the son of God he does believe in certain “core principles” that the Gospels tell us Jesus preached, i.e. compassion and empathy for one’s fellow man. The problem is that the Gospels tell us quite a lot of other rather more wacky stuff too. Jensen is pretty much doing what everyone does who comes to these books. They have their own agenda and pick out the stuff they like and edit out the stuff they don’t. This might mean picking out the peace, love and harmony as the like and editing out the fire and brimstone and race hatred as the don’t like (or vice versa depending on one’s agenda). I fear Jensen is trying to please all people at once but he does put forward a thought provoking argument: that if religious people spent more time promoting the fundamental values of their faith rather than quibbling over what separates them from the unbelievers, yes boundaries would be blurred, but that would be a good thing, and that in fact the ultimate aim of all religions should be to bring about a world of justice based on true love, compassion and solidarity in which religion itself would be happily irrelevant.
The question for me is; why do we need a religious figurehead or authority to show us the way toward compassion and solidarity anyway? Figureheads and authorities tend to preach absolutes and discourage questioning. I don’t trust them. Why can’t we come to these values ourselves as a community of equals?

I was brought up religiously and so naturally the Gospel story intrigues me but I think whatever interpretation of Christ one has is basically a fiction of some kind. As the writer A. N. Wilson wrote; looking for the historical Jesus is like entering a room a moment after its occupant has gone; a cigar still smoking in an ashtray, an impression still left upon a chair, all the signs but nothing you can really pin down. So I believe imaginative accounts of Jesus’ life are valid explorations of who or what he might have been or of what he represents. They are entertaining too. So here are some books I can and can’t recommend:

In this is stupendously tedious book Jesus comes across as a complete pompous and humorless ass, which he may well have been, but I don’t want to read about it. Didn’t get past Chapter 12 (the chapters are short too).

This was kind of fun. The conceit is a man goes back in time seeking the historical Christ, finds a drooling idiot and ends up stepping into his sandals so that history is fulfilled. It’s very 60s though, and Moorcock does tend to overdo the Jungian thing. Some of the dream sequences had me laughing.

There’s a lot to dwell on in this book. It’s very dark and very rich and I really should find the time to read it again and puzzle out some of the deeper symbolism. One thing it brought home to me was the bloodthirsty nature of the God of Israel. Historically, thousands of animals were sacrificed daily at the Temple in Jerusalem to appease the wrathful divinity. Saramago (a Nobel Prize winner) depicts a cruel God demanding the endless sacrifice of the innocent and a rather kindly and sympathetic Devil. Poor Jesus is caught up in between and ultimately sacrificed himself. I found the way things tied up at the end dissatisfying personally, but still it’s a good story told well.

In this book Jesus never gets past his 40 days in the desert and in fact he isn’t even a central figure in the book, merely a misguided youth starving himself in a cave. This is a wonderfully written book, and very, very dark; a study of evil and in some ways of redemption too. This guy Crace is good. I recommend his “Gift Of Stones” too.

A very brave book. Kazantzakis’s theme is the human struggling towards the divine and it really is a desperate struggle in his writings. Jesus is a very human figure in this book and full of failings but ultimately… well you know the story. I love this book and last year I read his “Saint Francis” too. Both books are beautifully written. Here’s a choice quote from “Saint Francis”:

“Night was falling. The western sky was dark, the color of wild cherries; odd-looking, compassionate clouds began to rise and to cool the earth, which was still boiling from the great heat of the day. The fruitful plain of Umbria was resting. It had accomplished its duty, had given wheat, wine, and olive oil to men. Now in repose, it gazed at the sky, waiting with confidence for rain so that the seeds beneath its soil could once more grow and form fruit.”

Wonderful stuff. And that’s in translation too. And if none of that grabs your fancy then you can find more typically Christian books here. The next book I want to read is about another kind of savior however: Zorro! What little boy doesn’t want to be Zorro? Or a ninja？
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Now, (moving on) last night I watched Al Pacino’s The Merchant of Venice.
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This is a troublesome play. There’s no getting away from the fact that our lad Shakespeare, (possibly the greatest literary genius ever to grace God’s sweet earth), didn’t like Jews. And despite careful editing it’s still clear watching the movie that the play is anti-semitic. However, some of the hated Shylock’s speeches present a valid counterpoint to the general thrust of the play and Al Pacino does a good job in showing us his humanity. At the end of the movie, poor Shylock in trying to better those who have so long persecuted him is boxed in on all sides and his wealth, his daughter and even his faith are taken from him. The makers of the movie do a good job in arousing our sympathy and showing how hate breeds yet more hate. It’s a troublesome play alright but perhaps it is good to be troubled.

We live in troubling times. Apparently the body-count in Iraq is steadily increasing year by year:

“In terms of average violent deaths per day this represents:
20 per day in Year 1
31 per day in Year 2 and
36 per day in Year 3”

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But soft! Is that a ray of hope on the horizon:

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I hope so.

Here’s a nice quote from “A Merchant of Venice” on music:

The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night
And his affections dark as Erebus:
Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music.

(Shakespeare - A Merchant of Venice Act 5)

And with that in mind I urge you all to listen to Sufjan Stevens and mark his music as soon as possible. Here’s a review to give you an idea of what he’s about:

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Enjoy your eggs!