Gospel According to Glee – 40 Days at McKinley High
Day 5 – Monday after 1st Sunday of Lent
To Read: (Series 1 Episode 11)
(KURT is waxing RACHEL’s eyebrows in her room)
RACHEL: Ow.
KURT: The key is to never wax above the eyebrow. Always shape from below. Trust me, I get a lot of practice. Look at mine.
RACHEL: Kurt, why did you volunteer to give me a new look?
KURT: One, I’m a sucker for makeovers. And two, you need something to distract from your horrible personality. Most of the time, I find it hard to be in the same room with you. Especially this one. Which looks like where Strawberry Shortcake and Holly Hobbie come to hook up. You’re extremely talented, Rachel. Watching you perform is… Amazing. But sometimes it’s hard to appreciate what a good singer you are because all I’m thinking about is shoving a sock into your mouth.
RACHEL: Well, what kind of makeover did you have in mind?
KURT: We need to broaden your appeal. I want every boy at school to do a double take when you strut past.
RACHEL: There’s really only just… One boy that I’d like to impress. Can you keep a secret?
KURT: Of course.
RACHEL: I’m in love with Finn.
KURT: Really? I understand completely. Let’s move on to makeup. I happen to know for a fact that Finn is attracted to loose women.
RACHEL: What? Quinn is so wholesome.
KURT: Let me put this into musical theatre parlance. In Grease, what did Sandy do to get Danny Zuko? She had to ditch the poodle skirt and slap on a cat suit. In short, she had to dress like a ho. Maybe if your look was better, more desirable, Finn would be in your arms right now instead of Quinn’s.
To Watch: (Series 1 Episode 11)
‘True Colours’ sung by New Directions
Original Artist: Cyndi Lauper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dom5rBV5ICU
From the Scriptures:
Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness, 13 not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside. 14 But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside. 15 Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; 16 but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
(2 Corinthians 3v12-18)
To Reflect:
In the hormone charged world of William McKinley High School looks are everything. (In a later episode even the distant Sue Sylvester strikes a pose in a tribute to her favourite singer, Madonna).
So it is that Rachel is desperately seeking the right look to attract Fynn (who is the long-time boyfriend of Quinn who is pregnant after a liaison with bad boy Puck – there are lots of hormones in adolescent land!). Kurt, offers to help because he sees the talent behind Rachel’s pushy personality, and values her for that. Unsurprisingly they later become best friends.
Apart from eyebrow waxing, Kurt (who has ulterior motives) persuades Rachel to try out several different outfits but all to no avail. The episode ends when the choir settle down to a song with no razzamatazz, no choreography, no props, just Tee Shirts, Jeans and a stool each from which to sing about letting their True Colours shine through.
Lenten devotions, done well, are a way to help us deepen our faith journey. But sometimes they are too much to carry in our attempts to have some sort of spiritual makeover.
Just as eyebrows that are waxed will re-grow and hair that is styled will end up wild again so we can fall into the trap of thinking that if we fix the outside of our behaviours than the inside will become more attractive. We may think that if we can only do the correct Bible Study/Lent Course/Penance/Service to others, then we will be better Christians.
Good habits are well worth cultivating but the aim of Lent is not to work on the outside but to let the inside shine. If we think that doing ‘holy stuff’ without working on our hearts will make us more holy then we will be quickly disappointed.
Lent is not so much a time for a makeover but a time for an unveiling. A time to remove the layers of habits that we have gotten into which have made us prickly and difficult to live with and instead work on revealing our True Colours.
We are given the gift of this time so that we may remove the veils we wear and, seeing God face to face, be transformed from one degree of glory to another. This will hurt. If waxing eyebrows makes you go, ‘Ow’ do not expect this ‘waxing of the soul’ to be pain free. We may feel we will end up plain, unvarnished, perhaps a little tender from peeling off layers of poor habits but we must do this work. Anything else is just ecclesiastical window dressing, a following of the latest fad of the faith, which will always leave us unfilled and still hungry.
To Pray:
I speak to you.
Be still
Know I am God.
I spoke to you when you were born.
Be still
Know I am God.
I spoke to you at your first sight.
Be still
Know I am God.
I spoke to you at your first word.
Be still
Know I am God.
I spoke to you at your first thought.
Be still
Know I am God.
I spoke to you at your first love.
Be still
Know I am God.
I spoke to you at your first song.
Be still
Know I am God.
Essene gospel of peace
To Do:
1) During lockdown our personal grooming habits and clothing choices have been severely restricted. Ask yourself if there is any real need to go back to how things used to be once lockdown is over.
2) Give up something each day to make some empty space (not filled with prayer, study or activity) to allow time to simply gaze on God ‘with unveiled face’.
Reprise: Click here to watch the original version of today’s song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPn0KFlbqX8
Acknowledgements:
Prayers from ‘Prayers for Hard Times’ are copyright © Becca Anderson 2017
Scripture quotations are copyright © New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Transcripts of Glee Episodes were made with thanks to gleetranscripts.tumblr.com
These Reflections, ‘ ‘Gospel According to Glee’ are copyright © Andrew Dotchin 2021 and may be reproduced without charge on condition that the source is acknowledged
Pax et Bonum
Revd Canon Andrew Dotchin
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