Having had the opportunity to write and produce a little music, fool around in the theater, and just suck whatever I can out of performance art of any kind, by far the most energizing work I've done is with visual media, -the moving picture variety. That isn't to say that the arduous process of making a film (what some director described as pushing an elephant up a hill) can compete with the momentary adrenaline that comes when performing live music. There's nothing quite like it when band mates and audience are locked together in a moment of concert-ed energy. But beyond the moment, seeing a film project come together is incredible. The power of the story that emerges can easily upstage the reality of what really is.
Movie magic, when you're watching a film, is what happens when you are transported to another place, time or perspective on the world. Now, when you're on the set of a project, "movie magic" is what you keep telling yourself, -reassuring yourself, will happen once you take a mediocre performance or bad light or poor audio, and mix it all together to make it greater than what just happened in front of you. Add some filters, compress the audio, give it a sound track and it's just, well, -better. That's why I like my iPod. Let's face it, walking through an airport is just way better when there's a sound track. Otherwise I'm just wading through a crowd waiting to get my luggage. With music playing, I can at least imagine that my life is a movie. And here's the thing: I actually believe it is.
I think God is the amazing director who is weaving together thousands of stories, pre-production storyboards and shots which bring to life the script he's written about all of us. I travel on Thursday not knowing which story I'm being sent to notice, or what my role in it is. I guess this tension drives some folks crazy. When I can remember that my life is God's movie about his work with me, I prefer this tension to trying to figure everything out ahead of time.
The temptation of "movie magic" when going to a place like Africa is that it would be really easy to turn on the camera, show some pictures of people living in misery, pick the right music and then think we've accomplished something. "All of the folks at home" will watch and be amazed. But what about the real people there, whose families and communities, -whose lives have got to fit together somehow in this grand picture?
For the praying folks reading this, I guess I'll ask you to pray that we find whatever true story it is that we're supposed to be telling, and that we'll tell it with dignity and promise. That the joy and love and life which is just bound to be there would come out clearly and that God's humanity would be seen as such. When we find that story, then by all means, bring on the soundtrack and the filters.
Kurt Dutra and I love the film, "Buena Vista Social Club." The truth is, he loved it first and showed me what to love about it. It's a film shot in Castro's Cuba, but it isn't ABOUT that. It's about love, life, music, relationships and the joy that is there when humans share those things. It's been our template for telling stories from places like Sandtown. Sure, when you turn on the camera, you're going to see some difficult things if they're there, but that isn't ALL that the story is about. The story is about people, God's people. Whenever humanity is out and about, there's a mess of joy mixed with suffering, heroism mixed with corruption. I think these stories can help us figure out who we are, who God is, and ultimately, who we were intended to be.
Even a hack like me can use media to make things look better (or worse) than they really are. I think when God is directing, maybe things are actually better than they look.
