Mad Men

This is the sermon that was meant to be…. As I said this past Sunday my plan was for this to be an AMC Advent: The Walking Dead, Breaking Good and then on the 22nd the sermon title was going to be Mad Men. Here’s a brief synopsis of what I was going to say. “How in the world did Joseph avoid getting angry? He should have been angry, conventionally – that is what would have been expected of him. It would have been the right thing to do and more importantly the manly thing to do. One has to imagine the guys hanging out at the equivalent of the pub shaking their heads – Come on man! – at Joseph for being so wimpy and caring. Be a Man, for God’s sake – as strange as that sounds, that was the thinking. He decided not to get angry and to resolve things quietly so as not to disgrace Mary – so that she might be able to avoid becoming a prostitute. That’s just not how men are, is it?

Some things never change and one is that indeed, there are a lot of mad men in the world. There were then, there are now and there were back in the 1960s the time period for another AMC show, Mad Men. The title is a play on words for Ad Men – the story is about the lives of people who run an advertising agency in New York in the early 60’s. The show is full of mad men (and women too, actually). The main character is Don Draper but that is not his real name. In the Korean War he took on the identity of a man who died in front of him so that he could get home sooner. Besides, he had no trouble leaving his family and past – his upbringing was horrid. Between his puffs on an ubiquitous cigarette and a gulp of whiskey one can see in his eyes an almost animal resentment, both fearful and angry. He has the model 1960s family on the outside but at work he is driven and competitive; he has affairs and his marriage ends (in season 3, I think).

As was true with The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad, the writers of Mad Men are uncovering something that is true about our world today. Sometimes it is exaggerated – it is entertainment – but this deep spirit of anger and resentment. Walter White had it too. One can almost hear the vulgarities emanating from their hearts. And I will tell you that there are many people today who feel this all the time – more men than women but by not means exclusively. It is a kind of madness that is more dangerous than most clinical mental illnesses. (If this was a sermon I would probably say more about the state of boys in our culture).

The angel Gabriel came to Joseph and said do not be afraid – fear is usually behind both anger and resentment. I think the angel could have also said, don’t be angry or resentful. Go ahead, against convention and take Mary: love her, care for her, rather than toss her out, even if the guys at the bar think you’re “mad.” When I imagine this I wonder when we need to hear these words? So often our first response is anger – even with our families. Advent is a time to search our hearts to see what is there. Are we living with this latent resentment? Do we feel anxious and ready to be angry? How can we calm our fears so that anger isn’t the ready response?

Another character in Mad Men is Peggy who starts out as a secretary at the Ad firm. At a party she has sex with one of the “mad men” and becomes pregnant. This is the 60s so abortion isn’t the option it has become. She retreats into seclusion to have the baby. When the baby is born she refuses to hold it; the same deep resentment that was in Don Draper’s eyes are now in Peggy’s. If only the angel Gabriel could have come to Peggy and said, “do not be afraid to hold the child.” P.Jim