Saint Matthew's

Just a couple of things:

1. My Thanksgiving Eve homily is up.

2. We have church tonight @ 7pm. Location? Saint Matthew’s Lutheran, 225 Center Street, New Milford, NJ 07646. Google Map it for directions.

3. I’ll be back in a little while. Yes, my schedule has been a little hectic. However, much of the December service planning is out of the way. I think I’ll give myself two thumbs up for that one.

Yesterday, a friend of mine from NYC dragged me out of the house in the afternoon to go see the movie “Australia.” She wanted to see it, and considering that the last film we went to see together – “Solace of Quantum” – wasn’t too bad, I figured this one would be decent. I mean, how bad of a movie can it be? After finding a parking space at the mall (I should have taken the mile or so walk to the theater as a sign that God was telling me not to go see the film), we purchased our tickets and went inside.

This was nearly the worst movie I have ever seen. It was too long. The acting was sub-par (Nicole Kidman was terrible, terrible, terrible). The script was weak and predictable. And the narrator through the whole movie — please, Mr. Movie Producer, when you release the DVD, give people the option to turn it off!!

And it was nearly 3 hours long. They probably could have cut an hour and half out of it and it still would have been excessively lengthy.

I should have stayed home and watched football.

Christine and I don’t agree on much, but on this movie we were in lockstep. She turned to me as the closing credits started to roll and said, “That sucked.”

But the fun part – as we stood up, a small group of teenagers were sitting behind us. They were giggling through the film. I was actually happy that someone was having fun watching this garbage-fest. But I noticed the source of the fun as we stood up – one of the girls was putting a flask into her purse. Drunk teenagers on Thanksgiving weekend — never a good sign. Thinking back, I believe God was warning me that I should never go see another Nicole Kidman movie again.

And to punctuate that point: When we got to the end of our row, the teens were right behind us. As we snaked through the exit into the main corridor leading to the movie theater’s “foyer,” the teen male decided he need to throw up. Instead of pushing us over and running to the bathroom, King Pukey let it hurl…all over my shoes and the bottom of my right pants leg.

It could have been a message from God, or it could have been this young man’s reaction to the movie.

Either way, I got puked on.

Now, when I go to the hospital on pastoral care visits, vomit and blood are just a hazard, similar to water and sand traps that golfers face when out on the links. Yes, when golfers hit the ball, there is a chance they will hit it a little to the left, nailing the sand trap. With pastors, when we pick up a name at the pastoral care office desk and go visit, there is that outside chance we’ll pick a real winner.

But you don’t expect it in a movie theater.

Thankfully, the workers and the manager were very nice. They cleaned up my shoes and socks while I took care of the bottom of my pants leg. In the end, I received a re-entry pass for the theater.

I still have to buy new pants and shoes.

Oh, and the worst movie I ever saw?

“Grease 2.”

I still have the urge to sue the movie maker over that one. What made this movie worst of all? Not Michelle Pheiffer’s inability to sing or Adrain Zmed’s acting in general — I could have avoided it: I rented it.

There are times in life where evil is just so prevalent. Yesterday’s terrorist attacks in India, for instance. Evil people killing the innocent.

But a terrorist bomb doesn’t just evidence the existence of evil. Sometimes, you can see its results in the lives of innocent people; not around the globe, but around your own community or just beyond.

Last night and early this morning, the images I witnessed will never be erased from my memory. Due to the sensitivity of the situation, I cannot mention what I witnessed or who I ministered to in the early hours of this Thanksgiving Day.

However, my heart has been ripped out after what I saw.

Now, as pastor, I’ve been involved with some serious situations in the past. These times I’ve seen the results of evil acts on the lives of innocent people, including little children.

Nothing prepared me for last night and early this morning.

When I arrived home at a little before 5am, I tried to get some sleep.

Impossible.

The images in my head are haunting.

My Thanksgiving Day 2008 is not one I want to remember. At 10am, I have to go and try to help those who were thrust into my life last night and this morning. Whether I and God can be of any help right now, I do not know. But I go in the name of the Lord to try and bring even the slightest amount of comfort and peace.

Peace.

After what I witnessed last night and this morning, peace is not something this world will ever experience in its fallen, sinful nature.

I will then go and pay my respects to my family and leave to come home. I am not in any kind of celebratory mood.