Apprentice 2 Jesus

I finished re-watching “The News Room” for the … I don’t know how many… times. The writing of Aaron Sorkin draws me every time. The premise of the show, if you have not seen it, is a news crew on a cable channel that wants to do “real news” for their hour every night.

My firm belief is that the first 8 minutes of the show is the best 8 minutes of television ever. It’s simply outstanding.

The story arch for the show lasts three very short seasons on HBO. They ended with reality. All this time they have made a Quixotic effort to do “real news.” Sometimes it has worked. Sometimes it has failed spectacularly.

In the end, Will McAvoy is talking to his wife, who is the new president of the news division, what her job will be fighting the new owner of the company every day. The new owner is a billionaire who thus thinks because he has billions he actually knows how to run a news division. Mackenzie McHale (the new president) dreads fighting the owner every day. How could she possibly win?

McAvoy tells her this:

“There’s a hole in the side of your boat. That hole is never going to be fixed, it’s never going away, and you can’t get a new boat. What you have to do is bail water out faster than it’s coming in.”

That’s not just the context for doing “real news.” That’s the context for life a lot of times. We want smooth sailing. We want comfort. We want a day of ease and peace… or more. But, that’s not always what we get. Much of the time we’re just bailing out water and making sure things stay going. It’s hard work, but we get to keep on going.

I often feel this way if I get bogged down in the online universe and read about things happening with the American Church, or my former denomination, or my current denomination. It’s all a mess. Can we do better? Absolutely.

Will I give up? I will NOT.

While the American Church has a hole, I am not bailing water alone. We are human. We have leaks. We need to do better about our life in Christ and the poor example we set all too often, but I have come to these conclusions in my own life:

First, Christ is everything. I love him. He is the Head of the Church. I do no worship a decapitated head. He is the Head of the BODY. I am attached. So, I find the Body of Christ the best I can. Why? Because Christ is everything.

Second, Christ being the Head means I do need to find a responsible Body. It’s not perfect, but I won’t follow Christ all by myself. So, I have found an immensely imperfect group of folks. Locally, it’s great. On our diocesan level, it’s good. A struggle. But, good. On the national level… it’s messy. So, I stay local with my church and my bishop. These are faithful people. God is doing a good work. I am grateful.

Third, the Kingdom of God is beautiful. It is radiant. Abundant. Healing. I want the flourishing of the Kingdom flowing through me to others around me. That is the goodness of the Kingdom. I am all in.

So, I keep bailing. My own boat is leaking, so I bail water. A lot. Others help me bail. I help others. Sometimes it’s all we can do.

But we also need to be Quixotic in our adventure. Be convinced of the goodness of the Kingdom of God… and live it out like you mean it!