I’ve made a couple movies in my day. None of them were blockbusters in the traditional sense but one or two of them gained minor recognition around the Stouffville Uxbridge area about a month after their YouTube Debut. By that I mean someone’s mom came up to me and told me she saw it.

James Cameron isn’t the only one with good ideas.

I can only imagine what these movies could have been with 240 million behind them…

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…”

Honestly, one of my favourite things about this season is the degree to which we’ve sunk as a society in our consumerism.  There is no better time to see this than during the weeks leading up to Christmas. Just take a walk down your town’s main street or go into a Walmart, or better yet – a mall, and actually pay attention to what’s going on around you. I may sound as though I’m being sarcastic but I’m really not. I truly love this about Christmas. I find it equal parts amusing, fascinating, and sobering.

Today I was at Fairview Mall trying to find a pretty basic cord for transferring video from my camera and I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity I witnessed in the parking lot as I walked back to my car. I noticed two separate showdowns in which several cars were refusing to back off from a soon to be available spot. I tried to hide my smile as this sweet looking old lady hammered down on her horn repeatedly at the line up of cars in front of her desperately trying to make it out of that madness. And of course there are ‘the Trailers.’ Those people who are so desperate for a parking spot close to the entrance of the mall that they actually follow people back to their cars and wait for them to leave. I like to try and screw with them by leading them to a different car and then cutting quickly back to mine. They don’t usually have the same sense of humour as I do…

As I said, I kind of like it all. I deliberately try to put myself in the middle of it with no agenda or need, just there to observe and maybe demonstrate some much needed kindness and patience when I can. Plus it usually supplies me with some good material for Twitter (such as the two photos I’ve taken while out and about this week).

Yes, we’ve lost our way as a society. Yes, we care more about spending and shopping than giving and sharing. And yes, we look like pigs to most of the world while we do it.

But I can’t help but stop and think, while some 30-something yuppie mom cuts me off in line at Coles Books, that Jesus loves us all. Sure, sometimes we look like selfish little kids fighting over toys in the sandbox but hey, we “know not what we do” and we’re all selfish sometimes so let’s just stop contributing to the madness and learn to find joy and laughter and forgiveness and love in the middle of it all. May Christmas be a blessing and not a curse for us and may the scandalous love of Jesus change us all.

]]> http://benbartosik.wordpress.com/2009/12/15/signs-of-christmas/feed/ 0 benbartosik http://benbartosik.wordpress.com/2009/12/04/my-christmas-challenge/ http://benbartosik.wordpress.com/2009/12/04/my-christmas-challenge/#comments Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:02:29 +0000 benbartosik http://benbartosik.wordpress.com/?p=179 ]]>

(written for the Alive Movement blog)

This year I’ve decided to take a different approach to Christmas.

Usually I get bogged down feeling guilty because I spend too much money or don’t give enough away or just don’t have enough of it to do anything useful at all.
Or sometimes I go on a ‘Jesus-kick’ and go all crazy over how Christmas has become a commercial, all-inclusive, generic holiday rather than focusing on the birth of Christ (which is what it’s all about right?)

But this year I’ve opted for craziness in a different way. There’s really nothing crazier than real love. I got to thinking about this whole ‘Christmas spirit’ thing and ’tis the season’ and all that ‘good tidings’ and ‘holiday cheer’ junk that everyone goes on about. Everybody talks about being nice during Christmas. Instead, I want to live love. Real, practical, down-in-the-mud dirty love. It’s sacrificial, it’s selfless, it’s reaching out to those who need help, it’s giving of yourself when it’s not convenient or fun, and it’s life changing. Holiday cheer is more about feeling good about yourself but real love is about reaching out to others in need when you don’t have to or don’t want to. This is my challenge and I want to extend it to you as well.

It can be as simple as a kind gesture while you’re out in the middle of all this crazy shopping madness and it can be as powerful as finding someone who really needs help and getting right into their lives and helping them. Food banks, clothing drives, shoveling driveways, helping your mom with dinner, buying someone’s groceries, inviting someone over for a meal, making a meaningful phone call, buying a stranger a coffee, being polite to people in the mall, listening to someone who needs it, showing kindness to the outcast, letting love be your priority during this crazy and stressful season; this is the kind of life changing stuff that the kingdom of heaven is made of. Love, kindness, generosity, selflessness.

What is the alive movement? It’s love transforming lives and bringing about positive change. It’s real “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” kind of stuff. Let’s bring this Christmas to life.

One of the internal battles I’ve fought over the years has been over the necessity of coffee in my life. I was drinking it like a back-alley crack addict a few years ago, 4 or 5 hits before lunch, until I realized my problem (awareness is the first step) and decided to cut it out of my life. After a couple months of headaches and strange coping techniques (tea???) I successfully quit and began to feel okay with it.

Then, two years later, I just up and started drinking it again one morning at school. The smell of it finally got to me or something. Reminded me of all the good times we once had… So, after our two year break, coffee and I were back together. We just had one of those on-again-off again relationships you know? But we’ve both matured and grown into ourselves since then and we really know what we want this time around. Point is, it made me realize the degree to which coffee has played a part in my life, and a lot of people’s lives. We’ve been going strong since b t w. I’m even considered a “regular” at a local coffee house.

So what does this have to do with anything? Well, I’ve often considered the relationship between coffee and churches, or the church to be more specific. Seems to me that every time we gather, coffee is there. I can’t help but imagine the early church sitting around with a new letter from Paul and a fresh pot of Galilee’s best dark roast. I bet it was even served with dessert after the last supper. (too soon?)

Regardless of my mildly inappropriate joking, coffee certainly plays a significant role in the church and my question has always been whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Finally this morning I think I’ve come to a conclusion. Coffee is a community oriented experience. Yes it can be enjoyed alone, but it is so much better shared. Whether you’re sitting down deep in conversation with a friend or driving in to work with your carpool, coffee is there and it somehow enhances human interaction. The amount of times I’ve heard “let’s go out and grab a coffee sometime…” It seems to me that coffee is more than a drink, it represents a deeper human need for relationship.

Rather than resist this, churches need to make efforts to embrace this experience as a way to build community. Serve the stuff, provide a place to sit, sip and chat, and even allow people to bring their coffee into the service with them. I know this isn’t life-changing, thought-provoking revelation but sometimes a practical thought can transform into a much more profound realization. The church is community; what are you doing to encourage that?

I realize that my blogging of late (past 6 months) has been mostly uninteresting, uninspiring, and most likely unuseful…? unusable? Useless.

I can’t say I’ve got any real good reason for it. Maybe I’ve really just been trying to hone my skills and limit all my intelligence to the 140 characters I’m allowed in Twitter. Or perhaps I’ve been training myself as the world’s most efficient Wikipedia browser. Mostly though I’ve kind of just been doing as opposed to writing about doing. I’ve heard experience is the best teacher and I guess I’ve been doing a lot of significant learning over the past little while. Youth ministry has never been so clear of a calling to me as it has been of late. Love is a strong word but I love what I do. Anyways, innovations are stockpiling and ideas are flying all over the place and I’m sure I will be back at this blog soon enough with some crazy new plans but until then, here’s some more of my hobby in graphic design as it works itself out around here.

I had this photo of Alex that I thought he kind of looked like he was dying in.

Anyways, I let my imagination take me the rest of the way…

When the Zombie Apocalypse comes at least he’s still sort of fashionable.

This is why I have always loved Conan O’Brien.

I never thought I’d say it, but Jimmy Fallon may have actually changed my mind about him. His show is everything a late night talk show for this generation should be. Great guests, funny ideas for segments, amazing music*, he even utilizes Twitter to talk with his fans. He also gets an added bonus just for being involved in a process that finally removed Leno from network television. After years of turning me off with everything he was involved in, it seems Jimmy Fallon has finally won me over. That, perhaps, may be his greatest achievement of all.

Check out Late Night with Jimmy Fallon weeknights at 12:35 on NBC.

*Anyone who can get the Roots as their permanent house band deserves some respect.

** Disclaimer: For the record I never actually said that I enjoy his show. I’ve actually only watched it once. I guess my point is that his show seems to be cooL in every way that it should be. Although now that I think about it, that’s always been Jimmy Fallon’s downfall. Lots of hype but just doesn’t fulfill in the long run. We’ll see how he survives the test of time. I’m not about to start watching or anything, but I still dig the concept.
I’m really only mostly impressed by the Roots.

I’m wondering if anyone else finds it comforting that there will always be a book to read.

I’ve turned browsing Chapters into a sort of therapy session, the end result of which is a sort of calming effect. I’m obviously never going to read the all the books that have been written and will probably miss out on some great ones; but that doesn’t seem to worry me. Instead, I have discovered a great pleasure in simply looking at books and slowly searching for a good one. It’s a feeling that I don’t have to worry about losing either because people will always write books.
I get a similar feeling going into HMV and looking through cds; though browsing music usually makes me anticipate certain releases which takes away from the zen-like state I’m aiming for. Books seem to do it for me. There’s no rush, no waiting for a new arrival, no sense of urgency or regret. I can take my time, sip my Starbucks, and stumble across good finds in a somewhat accidental way.* I especially like going to different Chapters locations and getting an even deeper sense of loss in the book stacks. It’s quite nice.
I was recently told by a doctor that the best way to deal with anxiety is to try to find a calming exercise. What’s yours?

On a completely separate thought, I wondered today how I would feel if I died before Lost resolved itself. I think it might be the first question out of my mouth when I’m reunited with someone who lived long enough to see the end.

*I was able to find Marvel Zombies: Dead Zone and Scott Pilgrim 3 last time.

I caught myself thinking the other day how awesome life is during your mid-twenties. You’re no longer a teenager and, let’s be honest, those years sucked. But your’re also not yet thirty and I can’t imagine any more doomed feeling than actually being thirty.
I believe I may have possibly come to the pinnacle of my life’s existence. I’m newly married, I enjoy my job, I can still appreciate being active, I don’t own a home or have any kids to support, and retirement/old age is years away.
Obviously I’m exaggerating slightly but it did cross my mind that I might be at the best it’s ever going to get. I subsequently then began to dread the fact that it’s only going to get worse and every year will take me further away from this period of bliss. This turned my moment of sheer happiness into an anxiety ridden precipice of despair. All I could think about was the fear of losing my twenties.

So I guess the Jedi were right all along, posession leads to loss. It’s better to appreciate life as it comes rather than try to hold on to something that will inevitably end.