FROM THE PULPIT: "NOT THAT THERE'S ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT..."

You caught me! A preacher who watches Seinfeld. I could tell you that I watch it to see what the world is watching, but that would be a lie. I watch it because I like much of the comedy, the timing, and most of all Kramer. A fellow minister said it well:

"Seinfeld could be incredibly funny. Plots were very complex at times. Visual gags -- could be hilarious. The writing was often brilliant. Ultimately, however, the show was about four characters who stumbled through life with no moral sensibilities and completely devoid of emotional commitments." (Rubel Shelly, Lovelines, vol. 24 no. 20, May 20, 1998)

I must admit that the show has few redeeming qualities. Although Jerry and George loudly protest that they aren't gay, their sentence ends in the title of this article -- "not that there's anything wrong with that ... " It really is a show about nothing, or is it? In a recent USA Today article, Robert Bianco pointed out that Seinfeld never was about nothing. Instead he says, "It was a show where nothing mattered." (USA Today, 15 May 1998, P. 1E)

In the last episode many of us wished that at least Jerry and Elaine would get married. This would give the show some sense of commitment. What one could wish for the likes of George, Newman and Kramer is hard to imagine. But, true to form, in the end the show concludes without any heroics or commitments. In fact, if you recall, it was their lack of heroism and non-commitment that landed them all in jail.

One thing I especially like about the last episode is the courtroom scene. Witness after witness is called to the stand to demonstrate a pattern of no compassion for others, total self-absorption and an over all adolescent approach to life. The courtroom scene sealed the fate of the four -- guilty, and in my opinion it found the show guilty as well.

My friend Rubel Shelly's assessment of the show is quite accurate: "Maybe Seinfeld serves ultimately to rebuke a detached and uncaring lifestyle that makes spiritual growth impossible."

I am warning myself, and you too, when I say that the next time we sit down to watch a show about nothing, it better really be a show about nothing.