October 8

This Week at UCMHE; blog below

Learning and Friend happy Opportunities

Monday: noon: Misquoting Jesus—chapter 2 led by Molly Brennan, in the circle area, food court, MBSC
Tuesday: noon: The God within—led by Barbara Catterton; MBSC food court
Noon: Islam 101: led by Dr. Paul Williams, Room 207, 1313 Farnam on the Mall
This Wesleyan Live event is organized by UCMHE for you for six Tuesdays. First day is free, Tuesdays after that are at a big discount.
Wednesday: noon: Community of Faith—led by Liz Polivka; MBSC food court
Saturday: 8-12 noon Habitat for Humanity—coordinated by Anna Cox

Coming up: Movie nights, on Thursdays beginning October 26 if we get a little leadership from you. Dinner, movie, discussion and brief worship. Something for you and your friends.

Blog:

Grab a friend by the hand and go to “Man of La Mancha” at UNO. It runs this week through Saturday night. All the elements are there: outstanding story, solid cast, great music, directing and a fast pace. “Why should I?” you ask.

Easy answer. It will be good for you soul, your outlook on life, and it will challenge you to change the way you think about doing your life. It goes right along with what I believe: recognizing Jesus in the people around you, and diligently working for a more just world.

The story’s hero is Don Quixote de la Mancha. You might say he’s a man from nowhere because LaMancha is a desolate area in Spain. He’s thrown into a highly populated dungeon, to wait until he is put on trial by the Inquisition. His heresy? He followed the rules and foreclosed on a tax delinquent church. The next level of story is the play within the play. Don Quixote is tried by his dungeon mates, and in response he invites them to be part of a play. The players are the good the bad and the beautiful and everything is turned upside down, especially the female lead, Aldonza, who is dubbed “Dulcinea” by don Quixote. She eventually becomes what he sees in her, and she becomes what she believes herself to be. She gets it and begins the process of bringing out the loveliest and most courageous in herself and others. Don Quixote is the model, a transformed life is the result.

Don Quixote is incongruous—he just doesn’t’ seem to fit in his society. He doesn’t see “what’s really there”—power, money and getting your share. Instead, he’s about truth, courage, and not giving up to the illusion of evil. Some of his monologues declare his journey and sound confessional. Dick Glasser, director, calls these “moments of clarity.” Instead of confessing to a priest for absolution, Don Quixote confesses some of his confusion to his friends, which results in clarity: clarity of purpose, clarity of desires, clarity of self. In the end, we can see him as congruent, not incongruent. He sees people for what they are: people with inner beauty. One might say, children of God.

The musical is fun, too. Lots of jokes, a comic sidekick, Sancho, a wonderful pair consisting of a horse and a donkey, an innkeeper who becomes lord of a castle, a traveling ditch digger who becomes a troubador. This is a play with laughs all the way through.

You might want to make a night of it. A few of us met at Espana in Benson for Spanish Tapas, read from Monty Python’s Inquisition, and reviewed historic heresies against the church (Montanism, Arianism and the usually suspects—like being Protestant). What fun!

Go with your friends! Let me know how you liked it!

--Fred