My brother-in-law has a personal bucket list that includes The Tournament of Roses parade and after a series of calls and planning sessions my wife and I signed on for a tour that included a stay at a beachfront hotel, tickets to the parade grandstands and access to the,”float barn” where the floats were actually constructed. Some interesting back stories emerged including the fact that our family members were perfectly willing to fly from Columbus Ohio – a distance of 1,957 miles – and they hadn’t a second thought about a plane change or the fact that the tour did not include the actual Rose Bowl game. The pageantry of the parade was more than enough.
My brother- in -law and I share a formative experience. We were both seminary students back in the day so it’s fair to assume that we both spent some time searching for Jesus but neither of us thought that this would be the day we would actually see him. When we attended the Catholic Seminaries of our choice there was a fervid post Vatican 2 initiative to establish the, “historical Jesus”… to prove beyond doubt that a man called Jesus actually existed was “crucified, died and was buried” as certain Creeds stipulate. Jesus was not a myth but a human who walked the earth.
As I sat in the bleachers on my complimentary cushion, I had no idea that Jesus was coming.
There was a stir a few hundred feet from us on Colorado Boulevard and there he was. He waved at us from a float and he seemed like a really nice guy as he sported a beaming smile and flowing white robes. Isaiah advises us to, “seek the Lord where he may be found”…. well we found him just in front of the Maserati dealership. I noted the time of day and it was late morning… presumably Jesus had breakfasted (loaves and fishes?) before revealing himself to us. I conjured a vision of Jesus at IHOP ordering the Rooty Tooty Fresh’n Fruity in preparation for a busy day of waving to the crowds.
OK, I loved the absurdity of it all and chalked it up to America’s tendency to trivialize the momentous and businesses ability to co-opt everything for profit. Never mind that the display was borderline blasphemous it gave me the biggest laugh of the day. Was hoping to see Buddha in a football uniform (obviously a lineman) or a marching band made up of lost Israelites but all we got was Jesus. After all Jesus is American and that was what the day was about.
I wanted to support the bucket list dream and I was rewarded with a vision of my own.
Olio Folio 