Ricardo Montalbon was, in my humble opinion, a great man. Despite years of playing a latin lover in many films, he was married to one woman for 53 years. He was a real actor playing roles as diverse as Khan in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, Mr. Rourke on Fantasy Island, a major in Battle for the Planet of the Apes, and Native American and Japanese roles. He was also willing to poke fun at himself in such films as the Spy Kids series and when he did a commercials for the Chrysler Cordoba in the 1970s and 80s. The marketing company that made the commercial came up with the term, “fine, Corinthian leather” to describe the interior of the car. There is actually no such thing as “Corinthian leather”. It was just a marketing label. In later years, Mr. Montalbon would poke fun at the term in other films. I remember him making a comment about it in Spy Kids 3: Game Over.

Having gone to church for my entire life, I often wondered about some of the terms that they used there. I wondered if some of the big, important words that the man or woman up front said were just like, “fine, Corinthian, leather”, in other words, just big words that sounded good but had no real meaning. The jargon of religious experience seemed to me to just confuse my relationship with the Lord. As I got older, I heard even more “religious” words. Also as I got older, there seemed to be experiences that I just had no words for and when words were offered it just made me angry to have to classify and limit those experiences.

Now this may upset your girlfriend, but relationships are meant to be lived, not classified. For example, is Jesus my leader or brother or my father (since He is God too?) or my co-pilot, my manager? Somehow He is all of these things. There are many experiences in this world that the English language has yet to get its arms around. English words can limit experiences as well as explain them. I believe that when we are in relationship with the One Above All, we will experience things that we cannot express through mere words. It may even be said that to say that we have a, “relationship” with God is the same as saying, “fine Corinthian leather” because to pin it down to the term “relationship” is so inadequate its ridiculous. But that is not to say that it is not real.

I believe all of this is why we are told to approach the Gospel as little children. Our minds are finite and the Lord is infinite. The power of His connection and relationship with us goes beyond our understanding . Yet at the same time it is as simple as calling Him, “Father” and trusting Him that He is in control and that He loves us enough to send His son to die for us as payment for our sins. I strive to believe that He is at work even though I don’t see how, even though I don’t understand how or why or when. Many people may just scoff and say that the reason we do not see what the Lord is doing is because He is not there. Yet I believe that that is, “fine Corinthian leather” i.e. that is just fake advertising because it is not what God’s word says. The Word of God is our final authority on what is and what is not fake advertising.

2 Corinthians 2:12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

——————————————————–W.