The Lord taketh away and we are left to grieve.
Oscar/Emmy. Oscar and Emmy award-winning actress Dame Maggie Smith was called home this weekend at the age of 89. I have long been a fan of her work for her talent, wit and willingness to age naturally. While I cringe at the films where she portrayed a sorceress to students, she was nonetheless loved by many. As a young, impressionable Christian, I was prone to repeat her humorous retorts from the film MURDER BY DEATH on many a youth mission trip. But it was perhaps her portrayal of an upstanding matriarch in DOWNTON ABBEY that spoke to me the most. I admire a woman who unabashedly speaks her truth regardless of the sting it may deliver. I find myself frequently delivering such words as a part of my ministry as well. May she be received into glory with appropriate fanfare and sit at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence she shall judge the dumb and the witless. And God shall laugh and laugh and laugh. Hallelujah.
Grammy. Another mighty star fell this week with the passing of 88-year-old Grammy-winning singer/actor Kris Kristofferson. Brother Kris certainly led a colorful life, but I always focus on his conversion experience as a point of grace. He may have played drunks and sung some wicked tunes, but he also recorded songs of inspiration and comforted others in their time of need. (See Sinead O’Connor.) I pray he is forgiven at the judgment seat for his divorces, drinks and derelictions. In honor of his role in a 1976 film with Sister Streisand, let us all say, “A Star Is Dead.”
Tony. Finally, a precious young man of the theater was taken in the prime of his life on Monday. 48-year-old Brother Gavin Creel came to my attention when he performed in such wholesome shows as THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, SHE LOVES ME and HELLO, DOLLY, for which he won a Tony. Of course, in order to earn his keep, he also appeared in the trashy skit, HAIR, and also sang about sex in the adolescent tunes of SPRING AWAKENING. All of these roles, however, were eclipsed by his selfless kindness and love for his fellows. I’ve not heard a single theater person speak ill of this young man. Why then, Lord, must he be afflicted with the cancer and struck down so young? There are many others who You could have taken off of our hands here on Earth in the POLITICAL theater. If only I could have heard his mellifluous voice sing something of a gospel nature. Alas, it was not to be. And yes, you heathen, I KNOW he was a sodomite. Sometimes God speaks through surprising vessels. Amen.
