Try to think, act and live as though you were always in God's presence. Keeping close to a Power greater than yourself is the solution to most of the world's problems. Try to practice the presence of God in the things you think and do.
- Twenty-Four Hours a Day
It's more crude than I remember...and funnier for it. The sanitized for TV version really does not communicate the chaos of the film. Anthony Michael Hall's portrayal of The Geek (or Farmer Ted) is unbelievable. He's impossible and yet so familiar. Again Hughes lets the absurdity of High School guide him. Caricatures and yet not.
Last week I spoke about Pretty in Pink and the Rich Young Man. It worked pretty well. Hughes focuses on tenderness. Jesus speaks of perfection. I found a bridge in blessedness. This week I think Hughes is speaking of being forgotten...lost in the world. All of the characters have been forgotten somehow. They are all lost. Hughes' tale ends with people being found...found by one another and found by love.
Yes, it's racist, crude, disappointing and even morally troubling in places...but the point is not to get distracted by those things...they are simply symptoms of being lost. We are waiting for God to find us...and God is looking. God is trying to help us find our way, to keep us from getting lost. Even moral-ism is a distraction from God.
But that might be more than one sermon.
It's going to be an interesting Sunday.