PBS has a regular show of documentaries called POV (read: point of view). This past Monday night they showed The Overnighters. The film by Jesse Moss takes a look at Williston, North Dakota, and the influx of workers from around the country arriving to work in the oil fields; this influx is due to the increase in fracking and the booming oil economy. The focus is on Pastor Jay Reinke at Concordia Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod) and his work in attempting to help folks who have not yet found jobs and who need a place to stay and other help.
This excellent film highlights the difficulties of ministering to a large group of people, many of whom arrive with addictions, criminal histories, and other serious problems. The pastor is seen trying to cope with not only helping these new arrivals, but a city council, newspaper, neighbors, and some parishoners who are antagonistic to people they see as outsiders, not their problem, or even a threat. The pastor’s personal life comes into play at the end of the film (I won’t reveal the ending), but what was gripping to me about the film was the pastor’s desire to minister and to reach out to people in need, especially opening a dialog in his congregation and community about the meaning of “neighbor.” Also effective was his truly listening to those who disagreed with him and not cutting them off or dismissing them. He also made a good-faith effort to reach out to local neighbors.
The film leaves many unanswered questions on multiple fronts, but it is a provocative, insightful, and sometimes disturbing exploration. One person on the web remarked that an unexplored issue in the film is the oil corporations and other major companies that are making huge profits, and their taking a role (or failing to take a role) in helping the community deal with the massive social problems that their work is creating.
Song Nai Rhee
I first met Prof. Song Nai Rhee in the mid-seventies when I was a beginning grad student in Old Testament studies at Claremont Graduate School and he was Prof. of Old Testament and academic dean at Northwest Christian University. He gave me some sage advice about continuing to the end of my doctoral program before starting to teach. In addition to the biblical studies, Prof. Rhee has been an avid scholar of Korean history and politics. He has written a biography of Nashimoto Masako, the Japanese princess who was married off to a Korean prince, titled Beautiful as a Rainbow: Nashimoto Masako, a Japanese Princess against All Odds for Love, Life, and Happiness.
He is currently Professor emeritus at NCU as well as Visiting Scholar at the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies at the University of Oregon. His project there is “Ancient Korea and Its Demographic, Cultural, and Technological Contributions to Early Japan.”
My interest in writing about him today is that he has written numerous commentary pieces on Asian politics, economics, and trade for the Register-Guard, our newspaper in Eugene. I read a lot of commentary and opinion pieces, and most have a real ax to grind and often project more heat than light. What is so distinctive about Prof. Rhee’s pieces is that they always incorporate a sense of history, a feel for the nuances of Asian politics, a real moral center, and information that you will find nowhere else.
Prof. Rhee’s most recent commentary piece discusses the Japanese president’s (Abe Shinzo) visit to the U.S. and speech to the joint houses of Congress. Read this piece here.