BEST CHRISTMAS CARD EVER!

Marie and I got this Christmas card in the mail yesterday from Denis and Jenny Greene and their lovely family in Kansas City.

Jenny is a dear family friend and came to our wedding in Colorado Springs with her mother Nancy. Jenny is the one who turned me on to the movie "Harold and Maude" which I relish with every viewing and shed a tear every time I hear Cat Stevens sing "Trouble."

So when I saw that card (and Wow, look at that card!), all I could do is smile and shed a tear. So often we imagine Jesus coming in glory that we could benefit from imagine the coming of Jesus into the world as it would appear in our time and place. This card captures that perfectly. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to share.

Now, this information comes from the back of the card:

Art: The "Bus Stop Nativity" (2007) was designed by St. James Youth Group Member Osa Eke. Here Christ, along with Mary and Joseph, are waiting at the bus stop at the corner of 39th and Troost Ave., just outside St. James Catholic Church. (Paul's note: If you are unfamiliar with navigating KC, MO, you would not know that this isn't one of the city's "Visitor Brochure" neighborhoods. Sure, there are worse neighborhoods, but no one is going to confuse this area with the Country Club strip of Ward Parkway.)

St. James Catholic Church: St. James, in Midtown, Kansas City, MO, is located at one of the city's busiest crossroads. Parishioners of St. James were born in 23 different countries and speak 15 different languages. They live all across the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. St. James' many ministries serve as a bridge between cultural, lifestyle and socio-economic differences.

Mission Statement: We, the people of the St. James community of faith, commit ourselves to building the Reign of God for all people, serving especially our neighbors in Midtown, Kansas City.

To learn more about St. James Catholic Church and its ministries, visit http://www.stjkc.org/.

To order this card, just $4.00 for a box of 10, follow this link: http://www.stjkc.org/resources/20216/assets/documents/Christmas%20card%20order%20form.pdf

Go ahead, do it, get a start on next year. I know I will. Thanks Jenny.

Nothing Says Love Like...

The State of Arkansas has recently begun its own Scholarship Lottery. In fact I think I have to call it the "Arkansas Scholarship Lottery" or the "Arkansas Scholarship Lottery" Police will come and scratch me until I'm a winner. Still, as far as I'm concerned, this lottery scratcher is funny.

You will notice on the top left corner, there is a place to write the names of the sender and receiver of this Valottery Card. The State of Arkansas (and whoever they contract for lottery tickets) actually thinks that this is a good gift! Really? A Lottery Ticket, especially a $2 ticket, is a good gift?

Let's just look at this from the guy's point of view, and well, I can be quite a guy sometimes: If the lottery ticket isn't lucky, then you're not getting lucky either.

I'm all in favor of dollars for scholarships, but hey, this year, get her jewelry.

If This Is Food for Thought, We'd Better Chew

I watched Quentin Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds" this weekend and I enjoyed it, but I didn't find it to be as cool as most critics think it is. Well, so be it. So the subtitles were hard to read and were important so that was inconvenient, the pacing wasn't as good as I expect from Tarantino, and if you are getting sick of Tarantino's signature film elements you were rolling your eyes quickly.

Frankly, I am not sick of the director's signature moments. From Samuel Jackson's cameo as The Narrator, the uber violence, flashback moments, and even the director's own cameo, I love that stuff. It makes the film an event for folks who know what to look for with out distracting the QT first timer.

And Christoph Waltz was fabulous. Sure, other characters were great fun, but Waltz as Hans Landa, the brutally effective Sicherheitsdienst officer, was dead solid perfect. He has all ready won several awards for this performance and should win many more.

It is Hans Landa who gives us the food for thought. In one of the climactic scenes, Landa has captured two of the Basterds, 1st Lieutenant Aldo Raine and PFC Smithson Utivich. (Raine is played by Brad Pitt in a truly odd and wonderfully off center performance.)

Landa describes two possible outcomes for the evening. The Basterds are trying to blow up a movie theater and everyone in it. When talking about their plan, a plan to kill 350 people including the entire German High Command along with some civilians and doing extensive property damage, Landa describes the plan saying, "some would say this act of terror."

This act of terror.

Here is what we need to chew upon. What constitutes an act of terror? Is it the person who does it? Is a turban or Yemeni passport required to commit an act of terror? Are we as Americans incapable of committing acts of terror against others? (Tim McVey proved we can commit terror against ourselves, such is the horror of terror.) Or is it an act itself which defines terror?

Tarantino is making the case that it is the act, not the actor, where the qualification for terror lies.

Let me just say that when I heard Landa say this, I knew it was going to make me think. What do you say--Can we give Christoph Waltz the Academy Award now?