Hey Jealousy

After Saturday's excursions, I decided to take it slow on Sunday. I slept late, applied for a (really super duper cool) job (as an assistant to a theatrical casting agent), and in the evening I decided to take my friend Alex's suggestion of the Redeemer Presbyterian Church services (http://www.redeemer.com/). It was held at the beautiful First Baptist Church at 79th and Broadway, a 15 minute walk from my residence.

The service started at 5pm with singing and meeting our neighbors. Then they read a passage from scripture (1 Samuel 18: 1-16) about Jonathan, David, and Saul. In this passage, Saul becomes very jealous of David, and the entire sermon was about jealousy. I must admit...this creeped me out just a little. If you know me, and if you're reading this I assume that you do, then you know about a recent situation in which I have encountered extreme, irrational jealousy, and seen it transform a person I cared about into a monster. Apparently, God saw that I needed to understand the whole situation better! The sermon was amazing. The pastor talked about Aristotle, who believed (in his infinite wisdom) that all good drama was based on love, ambition, or jealousy, as these were the forces that motivated mankind in reality. He talked about Shakespeare's Othello, and how Shakespeare recognized the theme of jealousy and the power it has to transform people. He talked about a scientist who believed that jealousy was actually a necessity from an evolutionary standpoint, "survival of the fittest," yet noted that there was something noble and divine about rising above it. The pastor defined jealousy as the fear that we are losing the love we have allowed to define who we are. It is somehow related to worshipping false idols, I think, because from a worldly standpoint it is always possible and always a threat that we might lose worldly loves, but we will never lose the love of God...or something. There are certainly times when I have been jealous of other people, and felt insecure. At any rate, I think I have found my new church! I loved it, it opened my mind to so much understanding and learning. I was too chicken to go have coffee with everyone, maybe next Sunday!

After church, I wandered around for a while looking for food. I finally decided to go to the Broadway Farm around the corner for some cantalope (I am an addict thanks to Mom!) and a southwest chicken wrap. Now that I am done blogging, I think I will get ready for bed and watch one of my movies. Tomorrow is Monday, and for once, I am not dreading it!