Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2020-04-10
Friday 10 April 2020
Members and Friends of
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
Dear Friends,
Today is “Good” Friday. We remember Jesus’ crucifixion. Our service is on-line at 7:00. The Methodists across the street will join us for part of the service. Check out firstpres.live for ways to log on.
Here’s a remembrance from last year’s service. It’s a little dark, but, hey, it’s Good Friday:
* * *
The service is over.
The congregation left in silence without benediction of choir-song and postlude, without their warmly coded small talk—What about this weather, eh? How’re the kids?
The dutifully departed steadied one another by holding hands, heads bowed, stepping gingerly down carpeted stairs, shuffling into bracing spring twilight that neither glows as brightly as we’d like this fickle time of year, nor lingers as long as we hope. Winter was brutal, and spring is awakening like an arthritic old man—with struggle.
We read what Mark wrote about you: perfumed hair, rebuked disciples, bread, wine, garden, their sleep, your prayer, that detestable kiss. Mark keeps it brief, nothing stretched out save those long arms of yours, and that whipped, derided body, and those forsaken prayers.
I could not look up from the pulpit as I read those jagged words, your loneliness crushing me most of all. I quivered with Peter, and want to blame him, the bastard, for what I wouldn’t have done, either, despite my righteous bluster.
The candles of the makeshift cross are long quenched. Pulpit, font, table hide, covered in repentant black cloth. Crowd, choir, guests, some stunned, all sobered, are gone—depleted as after an election lost.
Members of the worship committee straggle behind, close up the sound system at the back of the quiet sanctuary, collect discarded bulletins, double check the candles. Notre Dame’s ashes still smolder across the ocean.
Someone breaks the silence, whispers about the Easter paraments: “Shall we replace Lenten purple with Easter white tonight?” “Can we liberate the worship stations from the alien drapes?” “Can we move the cross out of the way, now, behind the piano, perhaps?” “Can we set the empty stands on the chancel for Sunday’s flowers?”
They want to erase this service, it seems, by cleaning it up, turning back the clock to a more ordered time.
But there is no way around this night, is there? We cannot give the centurion his due without your agony, and we wish we could. Like Peter, we wish we could save you the trouble, and we would be believers without cross and thorny crown, and you would still be Lord.
This darkened silence is playing tricks on us. We still hear our own voices in the crowd shouting, “Crucify.” We hear the pinging of those nails and your baritone prayers, the jeering, the cursing, the clicking dice, the heaving sound of your breathing, which is why we can’t keep silence. We whisper about décor, and what we mean to say is, “Can we turn back time? Can we get our chance to undo what our ancestors did? Can we redeem our own dark hearts?”
Vulture-like, they want to ready our space for Easter, vacuum something, polish some brass, water the lilies. Especially, they want to hide that smoldering, dark cross.
After your death, Lord, when did those women busy their hands, readying their burial spices to anoint your body after sabbath? Did they try whispering this night out of their heads, also? It’s time to let bygones be bygones. It’s best to get back to normal. Time, maybe, will make things right.
Can somebody, at least, turn up the lights?
(Matt Matthews)
PEACE,
Matt Matthews
864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
* * *
No movie tonight. It’s Good Friday.
(See you on Easter: FirstPres.Live )
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Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2020-04-09
Thursday April 9th 2020
A Weekday Emailer from
Matt Matthews
To Members and Friends of
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
Dear Friends,
Today is the 5th day of Holy Week.
It’s “Maundy* Thursday.”
When I think of today, I think of the Jimmy Buffet song “Come Monday.” I used to think the word “Maundy” was a strange way to say Monday. As a kid I had no idea what Maundy Thursday (or, Monday Thursday) was. Except that it was a service of worship to which my family went. It was dark. It was mysterious. We had communion. The cross felt like an ominous presence, like it might fall over from that hill and crush us all. Every word was spoken with an edge of inevitability, drenched in the smell of burial spices.
Tonight, come to our online service (go to FirstPres.Live for ways to find us. Or, Facebook). We’ll have communion, so bring a cracker and juice. I’ll be there. You’ll be there. Who knows, in these days of electronic connectivity, maybe even Jimmy Buffet will show up. All comers are welcome.
See you tonight.
Bless you all.
News:
Book loans! This note from Ginny Waaler:
Good Morning friends, I like Nancy’s idea of sharing books. Just recently, some of my college friends recommended Where the Crawdads Sing. Does anyone have it and would like to share it with me?
Jack has tons of books that he would be glad to share. Let us know. Jack’s lending library includes:
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
Return to the Reich by Eric Lichtblau
Thank you for Being Late by Thomas L. Friedman
Herndon’s Lincoln, Edited by Douglas Wilson and Rodney O. Davis
Stay well! Ginny
Good Friday is tomorrow. Join us for our on-line service at 7:00 p.m. Go to FirstPres.Live
Humor from Tanya Deckert: Still haven’t decided where to go for Easter—the Family Room or the Living Room.
Good Word:
John 13:1-17; 34-35
13Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper 3Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4got up from the table,* took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. 6He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ 7Jesus answered, ‘You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ 8Peter said to him, ‘You will never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.’ 9Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!’ 10Jesus said to him, ‘One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet,* but is entirely clean. And you* are clean, though not all of you.’ 11For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, ‘Not all of you are clean.’
12 After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? 13You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. 14So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. 16Very truly, I tell you, servants* are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.
. . . 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
Let us pray
Write your blessed name,
O Lord, upon my heart,
there to remain so indelibly
engraven, that no prosperity,
no adversity,
shall ever move me from your love.
Be to me a strong tower of defense,
a comforter in tribulation,
a deliverer in distress,
a very present help in trouble,
and a guide to heaven
through the many temptations and dangers of this life.
[Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380–1471)]
Much love to you all.
PEACE,
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
* “Maundy” means “mandate” from which we derive the word “command.” Tonight we remember Jesus’ new command to love one another.
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Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2020-04-08
Wednesday April 8th 2020
A Weekday Emailer from
Matt Matthews
To Members and Friends of
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
Dear Friends,
Remember, when you get an email from my personal account, it is from Matt@FirstPres.Church. If it comes from somewhere else, asking to be in touch with me immediately, or asking for money or gift cards, it is NOT me. Please forgive the solicitations which insist on coming from “Matt Matthews” or “Pastor Matthews” but are not me. Argh…
In better news, Nancy and Dave Whitford are back from Hilton Head. Nancy wrote with this idea:
I have an idea for another way to add to our sense of community. We could start a book exchange. Since the public library and bookstores are closed, why don’t we set up a book sharing program? Many of us do this informally anyway.
For example, I have a copy of The Dutch House, by Anne Patchett, and currently on the best seller list. I shared it with several people in Hilton Head and now it’s sitting on the shelf in my family room. If anyone would like to borrow it, they can call me and I’ll put it on my front porch for them to pick up. Or, if they can’t get out, I’ll put it on their front porch.
Members could provide a list of books they think others would enjoy, and the church facilitates this community by sharing the information via email. When Miriam Chenault called me last week to check on us, she mentioned that Ginnie Waaler’s book club had a Zoom meeting. As an example, members of that group could share the book they discussed.
Also, I enjoyed Kristi Corbin’s bread recipe, perhaps others could post favorite “shelter at home” comfort food recipes. In short, how about making the daily email more interactive?
Nancy has these books for immediate loan: The Dutch House, Devil in the White City, Being Mortal, and several of the Miss Julia Books. Her email is: nancy@whitfordconsultants.com
News:
Maundy Thursday Service of Worship, 7:00 p.m., tomorrow. Go to FirstPres.live for log-in instructions, or the Facebook page of First Presbyterian Church Champaign.
Good Friday Service of Worship (with Methodist friends), 7:00 p.m. Friday. Go to (where? you should have this committed to memory) FirstPres.live for log-in instructions, or the Facebook page of First Presbyterian Church Champaign.
“These Days” (April) a daily devotional available online:
https://mcusercontent.com/
Humor from Tanya Deckert: Hey creative community! Just a reminder that Shakespeare was quarantined for the plague when he wrote King Lear. No pressure!!!
Good Word:
Matthew 26:6-16
6 Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. 8 But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and said, “Why this waste? 9 For this ointment could have been sold for a large sum, and the money given to the poor.” 10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? She has performed a good service for me. 11 For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. 12 By pouring this ointment on my body she has prepared me for burial. 13 Truly I tell you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”
14 Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What will you give me if I betray him to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver. 16 And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.
Let us pray
Almighty and eternal God,
so draw our hearts to you,
so guide our minds,
so fill our imaginations,
so control our wills,
that we may be wholly yours,
utterly dedicated unto you;
and then use us, we pray, as you will,
but always to your glory
and the welfare of your people,
through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
[William Temple (1881–1944)]
Much love to you all.
PEACE,
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
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Newsletter, April 2020
- Holy Week — Online version. See how you can join our services online for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday at firstpres.live;
- Learn more about Rachel and Matt Matthews in this month’s Employee Highlights;
- Update from our Children, Youth and Family; ESL and other mission updates.
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Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2020-04-07
To Members and Friends of
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
Dear Friends,
A Holy Week prayer:
Gracious God we thank you for the blessings, large and small, that, by grace, we have discovered in this deadly pandemic that grips the world you love. We thank you for the ways we have seen life anew: with deeper, more sacred appreciation.
Bless all those working to relieve suffering, to find a cure, and serving others with open hands in a no-touch season. Help and heal those who are sick.
And forgive us.
Forgive us for, until now, taking our lives and freedoms for granted. Forgive us for the times in our recent past when we avoided connecting with others when they so desperately sought holy fellowship in us. Forgive us for the important things we kept putting off that needed doing at that kairos moment-now-past. Forgive us for the ways we looked backwards to the past or forward to the future and disregarded the many graces of the present moment. Forgive us for our addictions to sensationalism, false modesty, and car-crash curiosity.
Forgive our sin.
Unburden us from all that which keeps us from living deeply and serving humbly and gladly.
We ask it in Christ’s holy name. AMEN.
News:
Here’s a link to the newest Heart of Missions, our “Mission” newsletter update. Click here: https://www.firstpres.
Remember, when you get an email from my personal account, it is from Matt@FirstPres.Church. If it comes from somewhere else, asking to be in touch with me immediately, or asking for money, it is NOT me. Please forgive the solicitations which insist on coming from “Matt Matthews” or “Pastor Matthews” but are not me. Argh…
DO BEES HAVE KNEES? If YOU think YOU are working hard these days, consider the BEES. Charles “Stretch” Armstrong shared this video from the beehive in his back yard. It’s glorious! Click here to see it: https://www.youtube.com/
Some of you have shared pandemic HUMOR. This is from Beth Holm:
Three of my fav hobbies:
1.) Eating out of restaurants
2.) Shopping at non-essential businesses
3.) Touching my face.
Good Word:
Proverbs 16:24 Pleasant words are like a honeycomb,
sweetness to the soul and health to the body.
Let us pray
From Augustine (I love the mention of restless waves)
O God, full of compassion,
I commit and commend myself to you,
in whom I am, and live, and know.
Be the goal of my pilgrimage, and my rest by the way. Let my soul take refuge
from the crowding turmoil of worldly thought beneath the shadow of your wings.
Let my heart, this sea of restless waves,
find peace in you, O God. Amen.
Much love to you all.
PEACE,
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
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Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2020-04-06
Monday April 6th 2020
A Weekday Emailer from
Matt Matthews
To Members and Friends of
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
Dear Friends,
My Friend Kevin Murphy is writing daily reflections on the Psalms to the flock he pastors in Xenia, Ohio. Last week, townsfolk remembered a local tragedy from years before. Here are Kevin’s words:
Earlier this week I was reminded by a long-time resident of the significance of this day for Xenia. It was in 1974 on April 3rd that a half-mile wide tornado hit Xenia, killing 34 people, injuring another 1,150 and destroying over half the buildings in town. It was the event that spawned the [merger] of 1st Presbyterian and 2nd Presbyterian to form Memorial United Presbyterian. Personal memories of that fateful day are a part of just about every family’s history. I’ve heard many of those stories. Lives were drastically changed in a few short minutes that day, and those who experienced it will never forget it. Just as our lives are being changed by this virus and we will never forget this spring.
The psalmist has just finished complaining to God when he comes to his right mind and proclaims; And I say, “It is my grief that the right hand of the Most High has changed.” From that point on he can only be amazed at God’s mighty deeds and how it was that God brought the Israelites out of slavery.
I am becoming increasingly amazed at how the right hand of God is in the process, right now, of changing our grief. The fear and anxiousness that marked the beginning of this COVID-crisis has somewhat subsided. (You can now find toilet paper at most stores.) More and more people are taking seriously the restrictions, closures, distancing, staying at home and hand-washing. We are learning new ways to make our lives work during this crisis, new ways of being present for each other while we keep our physical distance. We are checking on our neighbors and calling our family and friends. We are offering money and prayers to those in need. In my mind, that is the amazing work of God changing our grief. Just as God was at work in Xenia following that tornado—changing grief into works of compassion and caring.
May God continue to change our grief.
News:
Good News: Kristie Cozad does not have inflammatory breast cancer!
A Video Message from Matt: Observational arborist? Click here: https://youtu.be/
Good Word:
from Psalm 77
And I say, “It is my grief that the right hand of the Most High has changed.” I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord; I will remember your wonders of old. I will meditate on all your work, and muse on your mighty deeds.
Your way, O God, is holy. What god is so great as our God?
You are the God who works wonders; you have displayed your might among the peoples. When the waters saw you, O God, when the waters saw you, they were afraid; the very deep trembled. Your way was through the sea, your path, through the mighty waters; yet your footprints were unseen. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Let us pray
This prayer is the first and last verse of the old hymn, “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind”
Dear Lord and God of humankind,
forgive our foolish ways;
reclothe us in our rightful mind,
in purer lives thy service find,
in deeper reverence, praise.
Breathe through the heats of our desire
thy coolness and thy balm;
let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
speak through the earthquake,
wind, and fire,
O still, small voice of calm! Amen
Much love to you all.
PEACE,
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
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Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2020-04-03
Friday 3 April 2020
Members and Friends of
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
Dear Friends,
Please plan to worship on Sunday with your church. Find us on Facebook OR firstpres.live
It’s Palm Sunday this Sunday. We handed out 41 Palms to 17 cars in our Great Palm Branch Handoff in our alley. It’s also communion Sunday, so bring bread and juice to our on-line service of worship.
Several of you joined our prayer service last night. We’ll do it again. Remember Holy Week Services next Thursday—for Maundy Thursday—and “Good” Friday at 7:00 p.m.
Here’s a hymn:
Frail to Sing Praises
tune: Finlandia/Jean Sibelius
text: Matt Matthews/Acts 16
A gift in progress to our beloved
Music Director Joe Grant
First Presbyterian Church, Champaign, Illinois
Dragged through the streets,
the marketplace grew quiet.
Silas and Paul
stood humbly and were charged
The magistrates
had them stripped and beaten
and locked in stocks
in jail by faceless guards.
Cut off from day,
steel and stone their blanket,
a starless night,
and trembling, sighing hearts.
When midnight came,
an airless wind was rising.
So were their fears
of what daylight might bring.
They lifted prayers,
and feeble lamentation,
and kindled light
when they began to sing:
“Praise be to God,
Creator and Redeemer.
Forgive them all,
and may your peace we bring.”
May we kneel down
in times of desperation,
when midnight casts
long shadows chilled with doubt.
Like Paul and Silas
help us to remember,
to pray to you,
when mercy has runout
May we find voices
frail to sing your praises
And by your power,
cast all our worry out.
—25 March 2020
Sheltering In Place,
Corona Spring
* * *
I can’t wait to worship with you again on Sunday.
Pay attention to God’s activity in the world around you.
Be amazed.
PEACE,
Matt Matthews
864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
This bread tastes wonderful. Try it:
Here’s Kristi Corbin’s bread recipe, if you’d like to make a fresh loaf for Sunday:
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon yeast
1/2 cup honey
2 1/4 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 1/8 cups of whole wheat flour
In large bowl, mix warm water and yeast to dissolve. Add honey and olive oil to the mixture and stir. Let rest until yeast is bubbly. This is usually just a few minutes. Mix salt and flour together first in a smaller bowl and then add gradually to the mixture. Knead about 5 minutes until smooth. Place in a bowl and cover it with a damp cloth. Let rise in a warm place until doubled. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Punch down risen dough, knead briefly, then shape into one large loaf or two equally-sized round, slightly flattened, loaves. Using a serrated knife, carefully score the sign of the cross in the middle of the loaf. Place in preheated oven on a baking stone or cookie sheet and bake until loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when thumped (around 45 minutes). Let cool fifteen minutes before lifting from the cookie sheet or baking stone. Ideally, let cool completely before serving.
* * *
Here is a kitchen video for you to enjoy: https://youtu.be/
Missed getting palms? Here is a picture which you and/or your children can color to wave on Sunday.
* * *
Friday night at the movies (Another double Feature).
Friday night at the movies:
Ebert’s take on the movie “Schindler’s List”
https://www.rogerebert.com/
Friday night at the movies:
Ebert’s take on the movie “Smoke Signals”
https://www.rogerebert.com/
“It’s a good day to be indigenous!” the reservation radio deejay tells his American Indian listeners as “Smoke Signals” opens. We cut to the station’s traffic reporter, who scrutinizes an intersection that rarely seems to be used. “A big truck just went by,” he announces. Later in the film, we will hear several choruses of a song about John Wayne‘s false teeth.
“Smoke Signals” comes billed as the first feature written, directed, co-produced and acted by American Indians. It hardly seems necessary to even announce that: The film is so relaxed about its characters, so much at home in their world, that we sense it’s an inside job. Most films about Native Americans have had points to make and scores to settle, like all those earnest 1950s white films about blacks. Blaxploitation broke the ice and liberated unrehearsed black voices, and now here are two young Indians who speak freshly, humorously and for themselves.
THE FILM OPENS IN IDAHO ON A SIGNIFICANT DAY: THE FOURTH OF JULY, 1976. IT’S SIGNIFICANT NOT ONLY FOR AMERICA BUT FOR THE INFANT THOMAS BUILDS-THE-FIRE, WHO IS SAVED BY BEING THROWN FROM AN UPPER WINDOW WHEN HIS HOUSE BURNS DOWN AT 3 A.M. HE IS CAUGHT IN THE ARMS OF ARNOLD JOSEPH (GARY FARMER), A NEIGHBOR WITH A DRINKING PROBLEM, WHO IS EVENTUALLY THROWN OUT BY HIS WIFE (TANTOO CARDINAL) AND GOES TO LIVE IN PHOENIX. HE LEAVES BEHIND HIS SON VICTOR JOSEPH (ADAM BEACH).
AND THEN, 20 YEARS LATER, WORD COMES THAT ARNOLD HAS DIED. VICTOR HAS A DEEP RESENTMENT AGAINST HIS FATHER, BUT THINKS HE SHOULD GO TO PHOENIX AND PICK UP HIS ASHES. HE HAS NO MONEY FOR THE JOURNEY, BUT THOMAS BUILDS-THE-FIRE (EVAN ADAMS) DOES–AND OFFERS TO BUY THE BUS TICKETS IF VICTOR WILL TAKE HIM ALONG ON THE TRIP. THAT WOULD BE A BIG CONCESSION FOR VICTOR, WHO IS TALL AND SILENT AND HAS NEVER MUCH LIKED THE SKINNY, TALKATIVE THOMAS. BUT HE HAS NO CHOICE. AND AS THE MOVIE SETTLES INTO THE RHYTHMS OF A ROAD PICTURE, THE TWO CHARACTERS TALK, AND THE DIALOGUE BECOMES THE HEART OF THE MOVIE.
“SMOKE SIGNALS” WAS WRITTEN BY SHERMAN ALEXIE, BASED ON HIS BOOK “THE LONE RANGER AND TONTO FISTFIGHT IN HEAVEN.” HE HAS A GOOD EAR FOR SPEECH, AND HE ALLOWS HIS CHARACTERS TO REFER TO THE REAL WORLD, TO TV AND POP CULTURE AND THE MOVIES. (THE RESERVED VICTOR, IMPATIENT WITH THOMAS’S CHATTER, ACCUSES HIM OF HAVING LEARNED MOST OF WHAT HE KNOWS ABOUT INDIANS BY WATCHING “DANCES WITH WOLVES,” AND ADVISES HIM TO SPEND MORE TIME “LOOKING STOIC.”) THERE ARE REFERENCES TO GEN. CUSTER AND THE U.S. CAVALRY, TO JOHN WAYNE AND TO U.S. POLICIES TOWARD INDIANS OVER THE YEARS, BUT “SMOKE SIGNALS” IS FREE OF THE OPPRESSIVE WEIGHT OF VICTIM CULTURE; THESE CHARACTERS DON’T LIVE IN THE PAST AND DEFINE THEMSELVES BY THE CRIMES COMMITTED AGAINST THEIR PEOPLE. THEY ARE THE NEXT GENERATION; I WOULD ASSIGN THEM TO GENERATION X IF THAT DIDN’T LIMIT THEM TOO MUCH.
IF THEY ARE THE FUTURE, ARNOLD, THE GARY FARMER CHARACTER, IS THE PAST. VICTOR NURSES A RESENTMENT AGAINST HIM, BUT JOSEPH IS UNDERSTANDABLY MORE OPEN-MINDED, SINCE THE MAN DID, AFTER ALL, SAVE HIS LIFE. THERE ARE A FEW FLASHBACKS TO HELP EXPLAIN THE OLDER MAN, AND ALTHOUGH THEY’RE BRIEF, THEY’RE STRONG AND WELL DONE: WE SEE THAT ARNOLD IS MORE COMPLICATED THAN HIS SON IMAGINES, AND ABLE TO INSPIRE THE RESPECT OF THE WOMAN HE WAS LIVING WITH IN PHOENIX (IRENE BEDARD).
“SMOKE SIGNALS” IS, IN A WAY, A CONTINUATION OF A 1989 MOVIE NAMED “POWWOW HIGHWAY,” IN WHICH FARMER STARRED AS A HUGE, GENTLE, INSIGHTFUL MAN, AND A MARTINEZ AS MORE “MODERN.” IT, TOO, WAS A ROAD MOVIE, AND IT LIVED THROUGH ITS CONVERSATIONS. TO SEE THE TWO MOVIES SIDE-BY-SIDE IS TO OBSERVE HOW NATIVE AMERICANS, LIKE ALL AMERICANS, ARE NOT EXEMPT FROM THE MELTING POT–FOR BETTER AND WORSE.
THE DIRECTOR, CHRIS EYRE, TAKES ADVANTAGE OF THE ROAD MOVIE GENRE, WHICH REQUIRES ONLY A GOAL AND THEN PERMITS GREAT FREEDOM IN THE EVENTS ALONG THE WAY. THE TWO MEN WILL EVENTUALLY OBTAIN THE ASHES, WE EXPECT, AND ALSO SOME WISDOM. MEANWHILE, WE CAN WATCH THEM DISCOVER ONE ANOTHER: THE TACITURN, INWARD MAN WHO WAS ABUSED AS A CHILD, AND THE ORPHAN WHO, IT’S TRUE, SEEMS TO HAVE GOTTEN HIS WORLD VIEW AT SECONDHAND THROUGH THE MEDIA.
THERE’S A PARTICULAR SATISFACTION IN LISTENING TO PEOPLE TALK ABOUT WHAT THEY KNOW WELL AND CARE ABOUT. THE SUBJECT ISN’T AS IMPORTANT AS THE FEELING. LISTEN TO THEM DISCUSS THE INS AND OUTS OF AN INDIAN SPECIALTY KNOWN AS “FRYBREAD,” AND YOU WILL SENSE WHAT THEY KNOW ABOUT THE WORLD.
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