Can anything good come out of…? – John 1:46
Dear Gatherers,
Bradley Cooper’s Maestro landed with great fanfare on Netflix just before the New Year. The film’s merits and flaws will be debated for years to come, as expected since Cooper’s subject was the charismatic conductor, composer, and pop culture icon Leonard Bernstein.
As I watched the Maestro—awestruck at times, frustrated at others—its theme was inescapable. Lenny was just too big for labels. His life was too messy for a saint, yet his spirit was too pure to call him a sinner. He dominated every space he occupied—whether a concert hall or backroom bar—yet he was remarkably human.
This Sunday we’re launching “Human Lives as Sacred Text,” a series of occasional conversations about people whose gifts and challenges disrupt norms and defy nature. What can we gather from Bernstein’s experience in a world much more like ours than those we find in biblical texts? How does his story resonate with those ancient texts? These are the first questions that will guide our exploration of a life that, in the end, is every bit as human as Jesus of Nazareth and us. See you online this Sunday at 5pm CST!
Peace and blessings,
Pastor Tim