Difference between revisions of "Sermon for January 18th, 2026"
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==Faith & Film XIV: Song Sung Blue== | ==Faith & Film XIV: Song Sung Blue== | ||
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| + | *Film Clip #1 - Trailer | ||
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| + | ====Three Minute Film Summary==== | ||
| + | Song Sung Blue is based on the real life story of Mike Sardina and Claire Stengl, two ordinary working-class people whose lives come together through music. | ||
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| + | Mike is a Milwaukee mechanic and a recovering alcoholic who occasionally works as a musical impersonator. Claire is a single mother who performs as a Patsy Cline tribute singer. When Mike refuses to go onstage pretending to be someone else, he quits a gig and watches Claire perform instead. She jokingly suggests that if he’s going to sing, he should go the Neil Diamond route. Mike goes home, puts on a Neil Diamond record, and begins to practice. The two strike up a relationship, and eventually form a Neil Diamond tribute duo called Lightning & Thunder. Their early shows are rough, but they persist. Mike and Claire marry, and over time their act improves. They begin to book regular shows, finding modest success but also real joy performing together. | ||
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| + | Everything changes when Claire is struck by a car while planting flowers outside their home. She loses her left leg below the knee. What follows is a long, painful season marked by depression, addiction to pain medication, and growing strain on their marriage. Claire becomes suspicious and withdrawn, while Mike struggles to hold things together without losing his sobriety. | ||
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| + | With the help of family, Claire is eventually admitted to a psychiatric hospital. During her absence, Mike is urged by his daughter to return to his AA meetings. At the same time, Claire’s daughter Rachel reveals that she is pregnant and plans to give the baby up for adoption—but what she truly needs is her mother. | ||
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| + | Claire begins the slow work of recovery. She learns to walk again with a prosthetic, returns home, and reconciles with Mike. Together they resume performing, rebuild their audience, and help Rachel through the remainder of her pregnancy and adoption. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Their story reaches its peak when Lightning & Thunder is invited to headline a show at the Ritz in Milwaukee on the same night Neil Diamond himself is performing nearby. Their show sells out, and Neil Diamond himself expresses interest in meeting them. | ||
| + | |||
| + | As they prepare for the concert, Mike suffers a head injury. Right before the concert, he tells Claire that none of this would be possible without her, and that she is his everything. The concert is a success—but Mike dies later that night. Claire sings at his funeral. | ||
| + | |||
| + | The film ends with Claire planting flowers once again in the same garden where she was struck by the car, as a recording of Mike singing “Song Sung Blue” plays. | ||
Revision as of 16:26, 17 January 2026
Contents
Psalm 40:1-3 (OT p.513)
1I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. 2He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. 3He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (OT p.616)
1For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 2a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 3a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; 7a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.
Matthew 5:13-16 (NT p.4)
13 ‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. 14 ‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
Faith & Film XIV: Song Sung Blue
- Film Clip #1 - Trailer
Three Minute Film Summary
Song Sung Blue is based on the real life story of Mike Sardina and Claire Stengl, two ordinary working-class people whose lives come together through music.
Mike is a Milwaukee mechanic and a recovering alcoholic who occasionally works as a musical impersonator. Claire is a single mother who performs as a Patsy Cline tribute singer. When Mike refuses to go onstage pretending to be someone else, he quits a gig and watches Claire perform instead. She jokingly suggests that if he’s going to sing, he should go the Neil Diamond route. Mike goes home, puts on a Neil Diamond record, and begins to practice. The two strike up a relationship, and eventually form a Neil Diamond tribute duo called Lightning & Thunder. Their early shows are rough, but they persist. Mike and Claire marry, and over time their act improves. They begin to book regular shows, finding modest success but also real joy performing together.
Everything changes when Claire is struck by a car while planting flowers outside their home. She loses her left leg below the knee. What follows is a long, painful season marked by depression, addiction to pain medication, and growing strain on their marriage. Claire becomes suspicious and withdrawn, while Mike struggles to hold things together without losing his sobriety.
With the help of family, Claire is eventually admitted to a psychiatric hospital. During her absence, Mike is urged by his daughter to return to his AA meetings. At the same time, Claire’s daughter Rachel reveals that she is pregnant and plans to give the baby up for adoption—but what she truly needs is her mother.
Claire begins the slow work of recovery. She learns to walk again with a prosthetic, returns home, and reconciles with Mike. Together they resume performing, rebuild their audience, and help Rachel through the remainder of her pregnancy and adoption.
Their story reaches its peak when Lightning & Thunder is invited to headline a show at the Ritz in Milwaukee on the same night Neil Diamond himself is performing nearby. Their show sells out, and Neil Diamond himself expresses interest in meeting them.
As they prepare for the concert, Mike suffers a head injury. Right before the concert, he tells Claire that none of this would be possible without her, and that she is his everything. The concert is a success—but Mike dies later that night. Claire sings at his funeral.
The film ends with Claire planting flowers once again in the same garden where she was struck by the car, as a recording of Mike singing “Song Sung Blue” plays.
