I'm kind of a movie nerd. I like movies, what can I say? And recently I've seen some movies that have had moments that really touched me. I wanted to share a few.
First off, a few weeks ago i went and saw The Soloist. It was an excellent movie, one of the best I've seen in a while. There was one scene in particular that I really loved. I don;t want to ruin the movie, but in this scene Jamie Foxx's character is sleeping on the streets in an area jam packed with homeless people. As he drifts of to sleep he recites the Lords Prayer. As he speaks the words most of us have heard and spoken a million times the camera pans over the homeless, the impoverish, the hurting and the broken. The contradiction between the words being spoken and the all too true images on the screen stuck out to me and really tore at my heart.
Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth, as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever, Amen.
How are we following God's will when we allow this kind of poverty and brokenness to run rampant not only in our country but around the world. We should be loving these people, giving whatever we can to aide them, living simply so that they may simply live. A lot of us, myself included, live with far more than we could ever begin to actually need, while millions of people are starving and freezing to death every day. Millions have diseases they will die from because they can't afford medical attention. They are left alone to die because we are to comfortable in our lives to make sacrifices to show them love and support. It is blatant hypocrisy to speak the words 'Thy Kingdom come thy will be done' when we sit and do nothing about the gross injustices happening all over our war torn, poverty and sickness stricken world and i am as guilty of it as anyone.
The trespasses we ask forgiveness for have two meanings in this scene. One, we should ask forgiveness for the sin of allowing such injustice to happen to our fellow human beings, for not loving the poor and the homeless, the broken and the destitute, for living lives of comfort and luxury while others suffer and die with basically nothing to call their own. We should ask forgiveness for our hatred and violence, for giving into the myth that revenge solves problems and redemptive violence works. We should ask forgiveness for not loving the world actively and unconditionally as we should. Again, I am guilty of this. The second trespasses being asked forgiveness for are the sins that the poor and broken are driven to in order to survive, when they feel like they have no other choice left, and as they ask forgiveness for this they are also asking for forgiveness for those who have put them in that possition, those of us who are not loving them as we should.
The words give us this day our daily bread remind me of my favorite proverb: "Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the LORD ?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God." - Proverbs 30:8-9. Give me only my daily bread. Give me only what I need to survive, to truely live, no more and no less. I feel that alot of the sins in the world come from having to much or to little, the tention between have's and havenots and the desire to always have more-more wealth, more power, more than we need. As Gandhi once said, "There is enough for everyone's need, but not for everyone's greed."
This scene was beautifully done and shows how much more we need to start loving people. We need to let go of greed and comfort and make sacrifices for other people. Which brings me to my next movie.
Last night I went with some friends to see Terminator Salvation. I didn't actually know if I wanted to see it or not. I haven't seen any of the others and I didn't know that I would like it. I found it, however, to be a very well done movie. There were a couple things I really liked about it. Again, while attempting to not give away to much of the plot, there is a scene in the movie where two of the characters talk about whether or not people deserve second chances. Later in the film one of those characters decides to give up their life to save John Connor, the main character for those who don't know the movie. When asked why he is willing to die for Connor the character (I wont say his name and ruin the movie) says something along the lines of "I'm taking my second chance." His second chance at life is not to live, per say, but to die so someone else can live. In this way he is truly living in that he his dedicating his life (quite literally) to showing love to someone else. I absolutely loved this part because in dying this character truly lived his life. He had a second chance at life and took it, using it in the best way possible, at least in my opinion. After all, there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for another. Someone pretty smart said that once. :)
There is another part in the movie where John Connor makes a speech (that i can't remember all of or find anywhere on the Internet. fail.) about how the difference between humans and the machines is that the machines can make cold calculated decisions about sacrificing this many people to save that many and so one, where as humans should not. we are to fallible to be able to make a decision like that. We can not look at the situation objectively enough, we are too human, and therefore, John says, We should try to dot he human thing and do our best to save everyone, not sacrifice some for 'the greater good.' Who are we as humans to place that kind of value on human life? Instead we need to love people. All people.
Also, baseball players should wear their socks up to their knees, none of this long pants craziness. Just a thought.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Beauty and the Beast
So this morning I was watching Beauty and the Beast (yes by my self. Leave me alone, Disney movies are great) and I was thinking about haw great of a film it really is. Seriously. It's all about grace and forgiveness and love. It reminded me of 1 Corinthians 13:1-3.
"1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."
The prince has everything the world can give, he can do basically anything he wants, but without love he really has nothing. He is an ugly beast inside and eventually that ugliness shows itself on the outside too (though i submit that the beast looks better as a beast than a prince, but this is really irrelevant). His ugly selfishness and hate, his sin if you will, keep him angry and alone until he learns to both love and be loved. both are important and I liked that Disney showed the importance of both. We are relational beings, we were created that way because our God is a relational God (the trinity, the very essence of God, has three parts. Love and relationship has existed since before time). Loving others is quite obviously very important and we are meant to act on that love (after all, love is a verb, not a feeling). But we also need to find people who love us, people we can count on and who can build us up and cheer us on. We are not meant to live this life alone. The beast falls in love with Belle, but it is not enough to break the spell. She must love him in return. And she does, the spell is broken and in true Disney fashion they live happily ever after together. Key word, together.
I also really like that the beast doesn't kill Gaston at the end. He easily could. He has GGaston at his mercy, hanging over the edge. But he chooses to save him instead. The beast does not give into the myth of redemptive violence the world tries to feed us. He saves his enemy, showing love and empathy rather than anger and hate. Of course, Disney kind of cops out about 30 seconds later when Gaston falls (of his own fault) and goes plummeting off the edge of the castle into a huge pit that I'm pretty sure did not exist in the movie before this moment. So the 'bad guy' probably dies. But then Disney characters have been known to survive such impossibly high falls before, so you never know. Perhaps Gaston survived, saw the error of his ways and learned to love himself less and others more.
...erm...maybe not.
Anyway. Just some things I've been thinking. Thought I'd share them.
"1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."
The prince has everything the world can give, he can do basically anything he wants, but without love he really has nothing. He is an ugly beast inside and eventually that ugliness shows itself on the outside too (though i submit that the beast looks better as a beast than a prince, but this is really irrelevant). His ugly selfishness and hate, his sin if you will, keep him angry and alone until he learns to both love and be loved. both are important and I liked that Disney showed the importance of both. We are relational beings, we were created that way because our God is a relational God (the trinity, the very essence of God, has three parts. Love and relationship has existed since before time). Loving others is quite obviously very important and we are meant to act on that love (after all, love is a verb, not a feeling). But we also need to find people who love us, people we can count on and who can build us up and cheer us on. We are not meant to live this life alone. The beast falls in love with Belle, but it is not enough to break the spell. She must love him in return. And she does, the spell is broken and in true Disney fashion they live happily ever after together. Key word, together.
I also really like that the beast doesn't kill Gaston at the end. He easily could. He has GGaston at his mercy, hanging over the edge. But he chooses to save him instead. The beast does not give into the myth of redemptive violence the world tries to feed us. He saves his enemy, showing love and empathy rather than anger and hate. Of course, Disney kind of cops out about 30 seconds later when Gaston falls (of his own fault) and goes plummeting off the edge of the castle into a huge pit that I'm pretty sure did not exist in the movie before this moment. So the 'bad guy' probably dies. But then Disney characters have been known to survive such impossibly high falls before, so you never know. Perhaps Gaston survived, saw the error of his ways and learned to love himself less and others more.
...erm...maybe not.
Anyway. Just some things I've been thinking. Thought I'd share them.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Thoughts to chew on
So I started this blog as an assignment for my Literary Theory class (hence the title) and I loved blogging so much that I think I'm going to have to keep it going. You see I have a lot of opinions, on almost everything, and i enjoy the idea of putting them out there where anyone could read them, even if no one ever does. Right now I just wanted to let anyone who might read this know who I am and what I stand for, and also leave you with a few quotes I've been chewing on lately.
I believe in love. I believe in hope and healing and relationships.And I believe that when you believe strongly in something you have to fight for it. I want to change the world, to help and love people who are hurting and broken, to spread God's love and be the hands and feet of Christ. I want to always remember the simple beauty of a sunset and to help remind people that even the darkest of nights must eventually give way to the dawn. I want to help create a world full of the beautiful products of love rather than the ugly carnage of war. I believe that peace is possible, but that it takes courage. Hate is easy, but love is painful and scary. I believe that letting go, not holding on, takes the most strength and courage. I believe in the hope for a better tomorrow and that we must be the change we wish to see in the world. I believe the world is full of mystery and wonder and beauty, and that laughter is the best medicine. I believe there is true good and beauty in every person and that hate, violence and war will never solve things the way love, forgiveness and patience can. That is where my heart is and that is what I'm living for.
"But what had lasting significance were not the miracles themselves but Jesus’ love. Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead, and a few years later, Lazarus died again. Jesus healed the sick, but eventually they caught some other disease. He fed the five thousands, and the next day they were hungry again. But we remember his love. It wasn’t that Jesus healed a leper but that he touched a leper, because no one touched lepers." -Shane Claiborne
"Preach the gospel always. And use words if necessary.” -St. Francis of Assisi
“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”
-CS Lewis
"Love thy neighbor" is not a piece of advice but a command. That means in the global village we're gonna have to start loving a whole lot more people. His truth is marching on....Where you live should not decide whether you live or whether you die [...] God has a special place for the poor. The poor are where God lives. God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house, God is where the opportunity is lost and lives are shattered. God is with the mother who has infected her child with a virus that will take both their lives, God is under the rubble in the cries we hear during wartime. God, my friends, is with the poor and God is with us if we are with them. This is not a burden, this is an adventure. Dont let anyone tell it cannot be done."
-Bono
So anyway, thats all for now!
~Aimee
I believe in love. I believe in hope and healing and relationships.And I believe that when you believe strongly in something you have to fight for it. I want to change the world, to help and love people who are hurting and broken, to spread God's love and be the hands and feet of Christ. I want to always remember the simple beauty of a sunset and to help remind people that even the darkest of nights must eventually give way to the dawn. I want to help create a world full of the beautiful products of love rather than the ugly carnage of war. I believe that peace is possible, but that it takes courage. Hate is easy, but love is painful and scary. I believe that letting go, not holding on, takes the most strength and courage. I believe in the hope for a better tomorrow and that we must be the change we wish to see in the world. I believe the world is full of mystery and wonder and beauty, and that laughter is the best medicine. I believe there is true good and beauty in every person and that hate, violence and war will never solve things the way love, forgiveness and patience can. That is where my heart is and that is what I'm living for.
"But what had lasting significance were not the miracles themselves but Jesus’ love. Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead, and a few years later, Lazarus died again. Jesus healed the sick, but eventually they caught some other disease. He fed the five thousands, and the next day they were hungry again. But we remember his love. It wasn’t that Jesus healed a leper but that he touched a leper, because no one touched lepers." -Shane Claiborne
"Preach the gospel always. And use words if necessary.” -St. Francis of Assisi
“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”
-CS Lewis
"Love thy neighbor" is not a piece of advice but a command. That means in the global village we're gonna have to start loving a whole lot more people. His truth is marching on....Where you live should not decide whether you live or whether you die [...] God has a special place for the poor. The poor are where God lives. God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house, God is where the opportunity is lost and lives are shattered. God is with the mother who has infected her child with a virus that will take both their lives, God is under the rubble in the cries we hear during wartime. God, my friends, is with the poor and God is with us if we are with them. This is not a burden, this is an adventure. Dont let anyone tell it cannot be done."
-Bono
So anyway, thats all for now!
~Aimee
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