Rack Focus: Life in Minneapolis in Icy Times
Please join the call for this inhumane, illegal, and immoral action to end.
Rack Focus: A Word on Life in Minneapolis Right Now
I very much like to keep my work projects and personal projects separate. To my recollection, this may be the first time I’ve mentioned my day job here in this space. And yet, sometimes lines blur, and it’s not always possible to compartmentalize. Please know that while I don’t anticipate doing this very often, some of you may appreciate knowing how I feel as a pastor who lives, works, and loves my neighbors in Minneapolis in these terrible, and I mean terrible, times.
I've also had several requests in my life recently for me to share my sermon more widely from January 11 at work. Here’s a direct link to the sermon, a video of the full worship service, followed by some fresh reflections and a sermon quote below…
Movies and faith in your mailbox for free.
There's little for me to add to the cacophony of beautiful, bold truth telling from Minnesota. We are experiencing inhumane, illegal, and immoral treatment from the current administration, especially our neighbors with Black and Brown skin.
It is wrong.
It must stop.
It must never happen again anywhere to anyone.
Of all the bold truths told about what's happening, there's one truth I'm breaking my social media fast to emphasize here: I truly believe good people know what's happening is wrong and feel stuck right now because they've gone along with so much of this sort of thing for so long. They support the current administration for various reasons, and while they've let many things slide, this horror is gives them intense, new pause.
There's an old saying: the ends do not justify the means. I'll add: the current administration's unjustified means do not mean you have to go along with it anymore. You're a better person than the complacency they're expecting from you. While I wish you said no yesterday, you can say no today. And I will walk with you.
To go a little further, here's what I said about all of that in my sermon:
"If you know someone who has gone along with the rhetoric that normalizes bullying and the ideology that delights in fearmongering, please tell them with love: you don’t have to go along with it anymore. This world has veils of deceit and manipulation that prey on good people. With veils like these, it can be hard to see the shadowed truth. It’s hard to live life under these veils because it robs us of the goodness God creates in us. I don’t want this for anyone.
"It’s not okay for a thief to normalize robbing you of your dignity and your love of your neighbor. When the veil is lifted, it’s hard. Rude awakenings are hard. That’s trauma. I have been manipulated before. When it happens and I didn’t see it for what it was until later, it’s one of the worst feelings I’ve ever had. Rising up out of that takes time, energy, and a caring support network.
"God doesn’t throw any of us away. Even we who must admit we’ve been manipulated. God loves us through it all. If you’ve gone along with the rhetoric and ideology, you can make a new choice. And someone will listen to you and forgive you and love you and will walk with you. God walks with you. May God walk with us all. Amen."
Need more current event side dishes served up with sermon entrees? Here ya go:
On Christmas Eve, I preached on the damage that comes from others insisting that your narrative is how divided you are, all for their benefit.
On January 4, I preached on the power that war for oil has to destroy lives and that we’d better wake up to this one right now.
On January 18, I preached on the injustice of attempting to cancel SNAP benefits for 440,000 Minnesotans because of racist-fueled overreach and the barbaric decision to de-fund USAID and the projected 14 million avoidable deaths as a result by 2030.
Oh, yeah. Movies.
Just to make sure we don’t lose the movies aspect of this newsletter even in this post, the 98th Academy Awards nominees were announced today, with Sinners receiving a record 16 nominations (saw it, loved it, I’d give it the big prize), Weapons getting a superb Actress in a Supporting Role nomination (well-deserved nom, we’ll see if Amy Madigan takes the prize), and a shameful, big, fat zero nominations for one of 2025’s most delightful cinematic treats, Paddington in Peru (perhaps the Academy deserves a hard stare). I’ll have more to say later, how about you?
And the cinema term “rack focus” means…?
For more on why we “rack focus” here and how it works, check out the first Rack Focus post in the archives.
Thank you for your support!
In case you need a refresher on what “rack focus” means in the movies, once again here is the amazing video from No Film School about the rack focus technique. Know it, love it!
Disclosure: Some links here are affiliate links, which means at no cost to you, I earn affiliate commission if you tap or click the link and finalize a qualifying purchase. You can also express your support by Ko-Fi or as a paid subscriber.
Glad you’re here today, Dear Reader. Stay strong, stay safe, stay in solidarity with your neighbor who needs your support right now. God’s peace and good movies to you!
Thank you for sharing this.