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Lessons from a Local Weatherman · Scripture-ish

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Happy Groundhog Day, everyone.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: This is Lessons from a Local Weatherman by Ed Gallagher.
• 0:12
  Phil Connors started February 2nd as a jerk despised by
• 0:17
  everyone who knew him.
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  SPEAKER_00: And he ended the day universally beloved, a town hero.
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  What lessons can we learn from the transformation of this local
• 0:29
  weatherman?
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  SPEAKER_00: Number one, attitude.
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  One of the ideas illustrated clearly in the movie Groundhog Day
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  is that nothing is
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  SPEAKER_00: inevitable about your day.
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  SPEAKER_00: You have decisions to make.
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  You take the same day over and over,
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  and the only difference is your attitude.
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  SPEAKER_00: And that day can turn out any number of ways.
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  SPEAKER_00: The only difference is your attitude.
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  SPEAKER_00: It is otherwise precisely the same day.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: The only difference is your attitude.
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  SPEAKER_00: And that day turns out completely differently.
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  SPEAKER_00: The only difference is your attitude.
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  You wake at the same time,
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  in the same spot,
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  after the same night of sleep.
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  SPEAKER_00: The only difference is your attitude.
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  SPEAKER_00: You encounter all the same people throughout the day.
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  SPEAKER_00: The only difference is your attitude.
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  SPEAKER_00: Today might be monumentally craptastic or unbelievably wonderful.
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  SPEAKER_00: The only difference is your attitude.
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  SPEAKER_00: That lesson might take a while to learn.
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  SPEAKER_00: Practice makes perfect.
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  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we need a lot of practice.
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  SPEAKER_00: Number two, purpose.
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  What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day
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  was exactly the same
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  SPEAKER_00: and nothing that you did mattered?
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  One thing you would probably do is stop trying to climb the
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  corporate ladder.
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  SPEAKER_00: In Groundhog Day, there is no corporate ladder.
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  SPEAKER_00: Near the beginning of the movie,
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  Phil announces in his studio in Pittsburgh that there is a
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  major network interested
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  SPEAKER_00: in me.
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  SPEAKER_00: He considers himself already a celebrity,
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  approaching a career breakthrough when people finally recognize
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  his immense talent.
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  But all of that is out when you're stuck in Punxsutawney,
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  repeating the same day.
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  It makes little sense to focus on your career when there is no
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  opportunity for advancement.
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  SPEAKER_00: Groundhog Day is an ambition killer.
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  SPEAKER_00: Without a viable career path, what is the point of life?
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  SPEAKER_00: Eventually,
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  SPEAKER_00: Phil figures out that he is able to make his life matter,
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  SPEAKER_00: even in this endless cycle of the same day,
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  SPEAKER_00: by pouring himself out into other people.
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  The only difference is attitude,
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  and one aspect of that attitude is our focus today.
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  SPEAKER_00: Career versus others.
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  SPEAKER_00: The option that comports with the greatest commands,
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  SPEAKER_00: as articulated by Jesus,
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  SPEAKER_00: is the one that we should pursue.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's not to say that vocation is unimportant.
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  It can and should be very important since it is what we spend
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  most of our time doing.
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  SPEAKER_00: And to be sure, the local weatherman performs an important function
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  SPEAKER_00: and helping people live with joy and security.
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  While your job is certainly about providing income to yourself
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  and your family,
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  SPEAKER_00: it should not be about self-aggrandizement,
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  but about fulfilling the Abrahamic commission to bring blessing
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  to the world.
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  A Christian in whatever profession should see his or her
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  employment as a means of
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  SPEAKER_00: serving others,
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  SPEAKER_00: and so fulfilling the law of Christ.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is the second lesson.
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  SPEAKER_00: Love your neighbor as yourself.
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  SPEAKER_00: Number three, gratefulness.
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  SPEAKER_00: It is in Punxsutawney that Phil Connors discovers gratefulness.
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  SPEAKER_00: The place on earth that made him the most miserable,
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  SPEAKER_00: he now realizes,
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  SPEAKER_00: is the place that could make him the most happy.
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  SPEAKER_00: He has come to know these people, and he loves them.
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  SPEAKER_00: He is grateful.
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  SPEAKER_00: for their presence in his life.
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  SPEAKER_00: The only difference is attitude.
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  And one aspect of that attitude is whether we are miserable or
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  grateful for the
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  SPEAKER_00: events and personalities in our life.
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  SPEAKER_00: We can choose.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is the third lesson.
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  SPEAKER_00: Number four, kindness.
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  SPEAKER_00: In her book,
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  SPEAKER_00: Where Goodness Still Grows,
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  Amy Peterson opens her chapter on kindness by telling about how
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  she doesn't like
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  SPEAKER_00: the word because it seems weak,
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  SPEAKER_00: unobtrusive.
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  It takes her a while to come to the point of finding value in
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  this fruit of the Spirit.
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  SPEAKER_00: A major turning point in Groundhog Day comes in Phase 4,
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  when Phil whispers to Rita that she is the kindest person he's
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  ever known,
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  SPEAKER_00: and he is in awe of her kindness,
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  as if he is only realizing now that it is a quality to be
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  admired rather than
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  SPEAKER_00: despised.
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  SPEAKER_00: The only difference is attitude,
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  and one aspect of that attitude is whether we cultivate a basic
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  posture of kindness
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  SPEAKER_00: toward others.
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  SPEAKER_00: Am I repeating myself?
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  SPEAKER_00: As Groundhog Day teaches us, some things need to be repeated.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is the fourth lesson.
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  SPEAKER_00: Cultivate a posture of kindness.
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  SPEAKER_00: Number five, service.
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  SPEAKER_00: We must not overlook that the day in which he befriends Rita...
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  SPEAKER_00: is not the day that ends the cycle.
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  SPEAKER_00: Romance is not the goal of this time warp, though romance does happen.
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  The perfect day is the one in which he focuses neither on
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  himself nor on Rita.
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  SPEAKER_00: That is the day in which he receives everything.
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  SPEAKER_00: The whole town becomes his.
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  SPEAKER_00: At the beginning of the movie, he wants to be adored,
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  At the end of the movie,
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  he no longer seeks adoration,
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  and everyone adores him.
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  SPEAKER_00: He empties himself,
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  SPEAKER_00: taking the form of a servant,
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  SPEAKER_00: and it is for this reason that he is highly exalted.
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  SPEAKER_00: Seeking to be the slave of all, he finds himself in first place.
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  He decides to invest in other people without knowing whether he
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  will derive any benefit.
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  SPEAKER_00: He does not know what will break the cycle.
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  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't know if it can be broken.
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  So he reasons if he is going to be stuck in a single day for
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  all of eternity,
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  SPEAKER_00: he would enjoy not focusing on himself for all of eternity,
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  SPEAKER_00: but trying something new.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is most clear in his interactions with the homeless man.
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  SPEAKER_00: Without Phil's help,
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  SPEAKER_00: this man is dead by the end of the day,
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  SPEAKER_00: but like everything else that happens on that day,
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  SPEAKER_00: the death of this man is not permanent.
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  He will be back the next day,
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  and every day,
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  begging for funds as Phil walks to Gobbler's Knob.
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  SPEAKER_00: If ever a death did not matter, this man's death does not matter.
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  SPEAKER_00: It will last for only a few hours.
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  SPEAKER_00: But Phil makes it his mission to keep this man alive.
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  SPEAKER_00: In one of the early sequences in which Phil pays attention to this man,
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  SPEAKER_00: the man dies in a hospital bed,
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  SPEAKER_00: and the nurse tells him that there was no particular cause of death.
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  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes people just die.
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  SPEAKER_00: Phil refuses to accept that fact.
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  SPEAKER_00: Not today, he says.
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  This aspect of the film suggests that instead of looking for
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  the greener pastures
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  SPEAKER_00: elsewhere,
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  SPEAKER_00: what we might need to say is,
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  SPEAKER_00: this place,
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  SPEAKER_00: where I am,
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  SPEAKER_00: is my place.
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  These people that I see daily are the people I will continue
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  seeing daily.
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  For Phil Connors,
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  no amount of ambition could take him out of Punxsutawney.
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  SPEAKER_00: I almost said Bedford Falls.
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  SPEAKER_00: He had always been looking for bigger and better opportunities,
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  SPEAKER_00: but those opportunities are now definitively denied him.
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  SPEAKER_00: Eventually,
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  SPEAKER_00: in phase five,
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  SPEAKER_00: he determined that he would invest in this community,
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  SPEAKER_00: which he came to accept as his community,
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  SPEAKER_00: his people.
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  SPEAKER_00: Let me pause just a moment to reflect on the culture of church hopping.
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  SPEAKER_00: In many cases,
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  SPEAKER_00: and probably in your case and in mine,
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  changing churches without changing the city we inhabit
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  constitutes a betrayal of
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  SPEAKER_00: Christ and his body.
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  I know,
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  people are annoying and stupid and they're hypocrites and they
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  are so very sinful.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's obvious, isn't it, that I'm describing all of us
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  SPEAKER_00: But even if not,
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  even if somehow in this instance I've got merely a speck in my
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  eye and the plank
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  SPEAKER_00: really is in my brother's eye,
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  SPEAKER_00: what should I do?
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  SPEAKER_00: What would Jesus do?
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  SPEAKER_00: Or to come at it another way,
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  SPEAKER_00: in Paul's first letter to the Christians in Corinth,
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  what did the apostle say were the signs that it was the right
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  time to find another
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  SPEAKER_00: congregation?
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  Again,
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  church hopping is often,
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  not always,
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  a betrayal of Christ and his body.
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  SPEAKER_00: Fortunately for us, there is repentance and the promise of forgiveness.
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  SPEAKER_00: The only difference is attitude.
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  And one aspect of that attitude is whether our desires or the
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  needs of others carry
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  SPEAKER_00: the most weight in our minds.
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  SPEAKER_00: Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory,
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  SPEAKER_00: but in lowliness of mind,
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  SPEAKER_00: let each esteem other better than themselves.
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  Look not every man on his own things,
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  but every man also on the things of others.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is the fifth lesson.
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  SPEAKER_00: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
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  number six grace what about god is there any mention of god
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  well there is yes it's
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  in phase four when phil for at least one day imagines himself a
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  god he guesses that
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  he is not the chief god just a lower deity it's not altogether
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  an unreasonable
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  SPEAKER_00: hypothesis
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  SPEAKER_00: The way we define a god usually has something to do with immortality,
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  SPEAKER_00: and Phil,
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  SPEAKER_00: through hard experience,
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  SPEAKER_00: has proven to himself that he is not subject to death.
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  SPEAKER_00: In this conclusion, he is wrong.
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  SPEAKER_00: and I believe my evaluation coheres with the rules of the movie,
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  SPEAKER_00: Phil Connors has,
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  SPEAKER_00: for some reason,
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  SPEAKER_00: been granted a temporary reprieve from death,
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  SPEAKER_00: while he endures a seemingly endless loop of Groundhog Day,
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  SPEAKER_00: which turns out to be for his moral improvement.
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  SPEAKER_00: Phil Connors is not, in fact, the god, or a god, or even immortal.
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  He is just a man granted the immense grace of repeating a day
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  that he repeatedly
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  SPEAKER_00: refuses to get right.
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  SPEAKER_00: I reiterate, this is grace.
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  The best thing that could have happened to Phil Connors is that
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  he'd be stuck in
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  SPEAKER_00: Punxsutawney,
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  forced to experience the same 24-hour period until he stops
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  screwing it up.
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  SPEAKER_00: How many times do we go through a day and completely mess it up?
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  I don't mean that the events that occur that day make it
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  difficult or bad.
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  SPEAKER_00: A car wreck or a diagnosis or whatever.
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  Usually our bad days do not involve anything nearly so
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  catastrophic as a wreck or a diagnosis.
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  SPEAKER_00: They're more like what Phil Connors endures in Punxsutawney.
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  SPEAKER_00: Rather,
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  SPEAKER_00: we botch our response to these events,
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  SPEAKER_00: mishandle our interactions with people,
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  SPEAKER_00: our kids or spouses or friends or co-workers,
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  SPEAKER_00: and we wish we had a do-over.
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  Of course,
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  there's no guarantee that we'd get the day right on the second
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  try.
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  SPEAKER_00: We might need to repeat it again and again.
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  SPEAKER_00: What a blessing it would be for the mistakes we made that day,
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  SPEAKER_00: the people we insulted or ignored,
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  SPEAKER_00: the anger and resentment we caused.
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  SPEAKER_00: What a blessing it would be for all of that to have no permanent effect,
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  SPEAKER_00: to be completely forgotten the next day.
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  SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't it be great if our sin didn't follow us?
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  SPEAKER_00: I've got good news and bad news.
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  SPEAKER_00: The bad news first, we don't get second chances like that.
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  When I make a flippant comment at someone else's expense,
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  they remember it.
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  SPEAKER_00: I can and should apologize, but there are no takebacks.
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  SPEAKER_00: The things we do each day have consequences.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now the good news.
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  SPEAKER_00: What is impossible with men is possible with God.
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  SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't it be great if our sin didn't follow us?
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  SPEAKER_00: Hear the words of the prophet,
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  SPEAKER_00: I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is the sixth lesson, grace.
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  SPEAKER_00: Number seven, beauty.
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  SPEAKER_00: Phil Conner's life becomes beautiful when
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  SPEAKER_00: as he recognizes the beauty around him.
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  Great storytelling helps to make the beauty of the spiritual
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  life vibrant and stark.
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  Think about Narnia and how much we readers long to walk through
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  that wardrobe.
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  SPEAKER_00: And much more than that,
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  SPEAKER_00: how much we long to behold the beautiful,
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  SPEAKER_00: fearsome,
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  SPEAKER_00: good lion,
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  SPEAKER_00: to hear his voice,
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  SPEAKER_00: to wrap our arms around his neck so that our face is buried in his mane.
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  SPEAKER_00: Marilynne Robinson's Gilead provides a striking example.
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  SPEAKER_00: The entire novel is beautiful,
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  SPEAKER_00: but near the end,
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  there is a scene of such overwhelming beauty that it makes my
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  eyes water each time
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  SPEAKER_00: I read it.
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  SPEAKER_00: Groundhog Day accomplishes something similar,
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  SPEAKER_00: depicting the blessed life as so obviously superior to the selfish life
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  SPEAKER_00: that it inspires us to be better ourselves.
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  In a world in which teens overwhelmingly affirm that they'd
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  rather be famous than
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  SPEAKER_00: happy,
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: we need more depictions of people who flip that script.
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  Phil Connors went from miserably pursuing fame to happily
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  unconcerned about it.
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  And it was only then that his eyes were opened,
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  and he could see the beauty around him.
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  One of the last lines of the movie is when Phil looks out at
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  the snow-covered
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  SPEAKER_00: streaks of this despised town of Punxsutawney and proclaims,
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  SPEAKER_00: isn't it beautiful?
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  SPEAKER_00: Phil has learned to see beauty, and we see in him a beautiful life.
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  beauty this is lesson number seven and our lessons are complete
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  phil connors
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  teaches us about attitude purpose gratefulness kindness service
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  grace and beauty
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  SPEAKER_00: phil has now taken on the character of jesus
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  SPEAKER_00: interested only in self-emptying, ambitious to invest in others.
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  When he realizes that the cycle has been broken,
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  he does not return to his selfish ways.
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  SPEAKER_00: Instead, he asks Rita, what can I do for you today?
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  SPEAKER_00: And he has never experienced more joy.
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  SPEAKER_00: We could do worse than learn spirituality from Phil Connors.