Seems to be our nature that we like things "ranked." We like to know when something is "on the rise" or "past its prime." Then we wait for a new treat that might be completely different. The flugelhorn player Chuck Mangione had his "run" in pop music in the '70s due to deejays being sick of the BeeGees. Mangione was so slightly built, I had to worry if he could handle his brass instrument for live TV appearances. He had the quality of being unruffled. More than I could accomplish.
I remember when another brass player, Maynard Ferguson, who BTW was an idol of mine, basically missed a high note when on the Tom Snyder late-late show. My theory was that the heat of the TV studio could make it tough for brass players who of course need saliva and their lips to buzz.
The top 40 crosses my mind because I'm pondering how the Internet of today has given us a meritocracy for everything. If it's online, it's ranked somehow. A meritocracy can serve people's interests, without a doubt. You might say it's a boon for all of us.
Might be easy to argue that point. It's one side of the coin, I'd argue, with the other being the stress that comes about when you are being ranked in almost any endeavor.
The grading system in school has always reflected this, although I sense it's much less stringent than when I was in school. The relief is too late to benefit me! Schools have had to become more user-friendly or customer-friendly. Because parents really are customers. And schools have lost the monopoly type of power that once put them in position to lord over a whole lot of kids and people. Beware the aegis of government monopolies.
Super-duper churches
A childhood friend of mine from my neighborhood, now in the Twin Cities, said the "megachurches" are siphoning people away from the smaller churches. This reminded me of an unfavorable critique I read of the "mega" kind. They pride themselves on putting on such a big show all the time. This critic's piece pointed out some nitpicking adjustments made during a rehearsal at one such church. The writer thought everyone was feeling pressure to "knock it out of the park."
Surely we would expect Christ himself to encourage a more humble and self-effacing approach. Christ seemed to share many admonitions not quite in line with how many of the most fervent proponents of the faith preach.
The writer/critic would probably like the ELCA churches of Morris, neither of which could be confused for a megachurch. My goodness, our humbleness drips. A virtue? To an extent, probably. However, a little jump-starting might seem in order. The ELCA churches are First and Faith. Tomorrow (Sunday) will probably see a little "Gideon's band" of a turnout by both churches, not inside but "by," as a semblance of a church service gets assembled. Shorts allowed, certainly. Lawn chairs like what you'd see along a parade route. No more parades here like in the wonderful heyday of Prairie Pioneer Days. Remember those? The pandemic has dealt a curve to the other such events locally.
Church hangs on in almost a vestigial way. It's a stretch to say the outdoor services are really inspiring. Churches have tried to stay relevant in the pandemic with some sort of online representation. Seemed interesting at first, but the novelty value wanes, don't you think? And if online is our source of spiritual enrichment, we don't necessarily need to see the local faces. And without real fellowship, it's hard to see how many churches will remain stable.
The megachurches of the Twin Cities by virtue of their sheer size are probably going to continue seeming interesting and viable. The big cities seem to be losing luster in other ways. "Gotham" used to be a comic book type of label for a dark and crowded place - now it seems more on the money.
I told a friend recently that I haven't had an original song put on YouTube for several months because I was discouraged by what I felt was pressure to "knock it out of the park." I remember when I thought it was a miracle to just put a song on YouTube! Wasn't even thinking of the video aspect. We continually push our standards higher, and we get spoiled by all we can accomplish.
Young people take it for granted. Boomers like me are genuinely amazed. We grew up with the "Big 3" TV networks which in fact had their own meritocracy or ranking with those "Nielsens." We'd see an article every week in the Variety section with the ratings, so we could see if a certain well-known show was "on the way down." They all headed that way eventually.
We look to. . .Fonzie?
There's a legend or backstory behind the "jumping the shark" episode of TV's "Happy Days," which incidentally I watched in real time in my St. Cloud MN apartment. Today it's famous because "jumping the shark" has been put forward as a term for anything that goes from legitimate to borderline ridiculous. I mean, the creative people start reaching, stretching or groping.
Toward that end, the Happy Days people realized their show was starting its decline and would need an injection of something you might call outrageous, ridiculous, brainless, whatever, anything for a "buzz" to maybe buy some time. "Fonzie" jumped over the shark on water skis, remember? The show played on the popularity of the movie "Jaws." (And BTW, I had trouble watching Roy Scheider again after he was in "Marathon Man" - I will not elaborate.)
Happy Days may have bought a little reprieve. But TV shows were fragile with their standing. I mean, how could the original "Star Trek" get canceled when it should have just been getting going? Nuanced sci-fi was ahead of its time. Do you remember any sub-plots from "Bonanza?" The ranking system eventually spelled thumbs-down for Bonanza. Rankings seemed part of the American ethos and it has flowed more than ever in the digital age. To the point where people can be driven to having psychological issues due to stress.
Half of us are above average. The other half are below. The bottom 50 percent will always be there. In a bygone time - think Norman Rockwell - we hired local contractors sometimes who we knew were not the best. We might hire them because they attended our church. Maybe they were in the same veterans service organization (always a slam-dunk for affinity). Today? Well my goodness, there's "HomeAdvisor" which strives to get us matched up with the very best. Might well be strangers. A different world, yes.
My trumpet player idol of years ago, the now-deceased Maynard Ferguson, left America once and said he was sick of American competitiveness. I remember him quoted: "In America if your son places first in something, you get him a new bike. If he takes second, he gets nothing."
Was it that bad in the 1950s? Maybe so. I might have been too young to appreciate, but I know our Morris High School had a valedictorian and salutatorian. This we learned when looking through old yearbooks at the dentist's office. No such awards in my high school era, as our society was second-guessing some values, questioning elitism. But the capitalist judgmental ethos seemed to come roaring back.
A plain and humble commitment to anything is now judged ho-hum, not to be emulated, even though Jesus Christ himself would likely set that as the ideal. We will someday be reminded, most likely painfully, of the true ideals that Christ espoused. And he would not put megachurches on any special pedestal. No need to be prejudiced about megachurches. But the big budgets, high tech and polished performances should definitely not be the end-all.
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| Frank Honeycutt |
I thank Frank Honeycutt of "Living Lutheran" for giving me the inspiration to share thoughts about meritocracies today. He wrote, "Jesus isn't opposed to success. He is concerned about elevating the self to some sort of God-like status." And more: "Placing ourselves last opens up a whole new vantage point on the world. It helps us to see more clearly the people God has given us to love."
The many people who appear to ascribe God-like qualities to Donald Trump these days, need to pay heed. Our local Apostolics should pay heed.
Honeycutt is an ELCA pastor in Walhalla SC. He's working on a new book on baptism with Fortress Press.
Addendum: I learned the term "Gideon's band" from Max Lerner when I had the privilege of interviewing him for the college paper at St. Cloud State.
Addendum #2: Maynard's reasoning for leaving America was probably multi-tiered! It was said he wanted to escape taxes here! And when he got re-established here, legend has it the tax man had to sort of approach him and go "ahem!"
My podcast episode for 8/22
"Ranking each other" is the title for my podcast episode on "Morris Mojo." The theme reflects today's blog thoughts. I also recite today's devotion from my ELCA booklet. Please click on permalink:
https://anchor.fm/brian-williams596/episodes/Ranking-each-other-eih5vm
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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