Posts Tagged ‘Galatians 5:1 & 13–25’

Br. James Koester

Preached at St. Paul’s, Newburyport

Luke 9:51–62
Galatians 5:1, 13–25

I don’t know, and I don’t need to know, how the algorithms on YouTube work, so I have no idea what I watched in the first place to cause an old Carol Burnett clip to pop up on my computer the other day. Those of us of a certain age will remember The Carol Burnett Show, and perhaps you saw this one. It was her riff on Gone With the Wind when she appears wearing a gown made from the curtains, complete with the curtain rod extending from her shoulders. I still laugh when I see it. Oddly, I actually saw the Carol Burnett take off, or perhaps I should say take down of Gone With the Wind, before I saw the movie with Vivian Leigh. It was when I saw the movie, that I realized how terribly funny Carol Burnett’s version was!

If you know the movie, you’ll know that the subplot is Scarlett O’Hara’s repeated schemes to ensure that Rhet Butler falls in love with her, mostly because of his wealth. Her persistence is remarkable, as attempt after attempt fails. The movie ends with the famous line, I’ll think about that tomorrow. Tomorrow is another day.

This notion of thinking about that tomorrow, has rooted itself in our culture, although in many ways we have misremembered Scarlett’s persistence (and her motives), and it has become an excuse for not thinking about something today, or even ever. We have become a Scarlett O’Hara people, avoiding thinking about something today, especially if it is unpleasant or difficult, and putting it off until tomorrow, if that.

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