Movies Anyone?

 Good morning,

My friend Stan Bohall has encouraged me over the years to see Christ in literature, movies, and the arts. I am thankful to Stan for opening new vistas to me over the course of our friendship. We first met when we roomed together during a writers' workshop in New England and I am so thankful for that Divine appointment. 

A few days ago I began sharing some thoughts with Stan on movies I've loved. I suppose I'm doing so simply because of the joy of it, the joy of looking back, the joy of being thankful, the joy of adventure.

I often avoid the use of the word "narrative" because it has become promiscuous - in every sense of that word.  But I'll say this, I love living in the story of Hebrews 11, I love living in the story of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts. Our life in Christ ought to be a continuing narrative of the Incarnation - and we ought to be looking for that narrative throughout life, around every corner, in every interaction.

We don't need to buy into the cacophony around us, we have a higher symphony to enjoy, to live, to dance to - a far greater Stage to live upon...in Christ. 

There are two scripts before us; the script of the world and the Script of Jesus Christ - which troupe are we in? 

Much love!

Bob

Hi Stan,

 

I’ve been thinking about two movies today and I thought I’d write about them; one is Gunga Din, and the other is Mr. Roberts – I have loved them both since I was a child. Being rather simple minded, it isn’t until I’ve gotten older that I’ve given thought to just why I love them.

While the adventure of Gunga Din appeals to me, it is the friendship of Cutter, Ballantine, and MacChesney that I love and their willingness to sacrifice for one another. Then there is Gunga Din himself – the self-sacrificing hero of the tale, overlooked, disparaged, unappreciated – who not only saves the three friends, but who saves the entire regiment. Cutter’s foolish lust for riches endangers not only Ballantine, “Mac” and Din, but the entire regiment.

Yet, when confronted, along with Din, with the might of the Thuggee, Cutter creates a distraction – facing death, to allow Din to escape and get help and warn others. So the selfish Cutter turns into the sacrificial Cutter.  

Din’s climb up the temple tower with his bugle, his sounding the alarm, his death – giving his life so that others may live, is a beau ideal for me – I think embedded in the distant past if we will but listen for it.

Perhaps if there is redemptive hope for Cutter, in Christ there is redemptive hope for me. And then there is the question, “Will I sound the bugle to save others, no matter the cost?” Will I speak the truth? Will I obey our Lord Jesus? Will I prefer others above myself? Will I serve others even if I am unappreciated? Mocked? Disparaged? Do I seek recognition, or do I seek to serve?

I’ll follow up on Mr. Roberts.

Love,

 

Bob

 

Mr. Roberts –

O how I have loved this movie from childhood. Mr. Roberts has been one of my favorite characters in movies and literature, and in some ways a role model (it looks unusual to write that, after all, I am a child of the Kingdom. But our Father speaks to us in many ways.)

I admire Roberts’s care and concern for the crew, acting as a buffer between it and Captain Morton. His use of humor to alleviate hardship and tension and to protest injustice appeals to me, as does his long-suffering attitude toward Ensign Pulver. Will Pulver ever have the courage to be a man, to fulfill his role as an officer, to lead and protect the crew?

Perhaps The Order of the Palm is the most sublime award in history (fictional though it may be), at least in a manner of speaking.

I have always wanted to stand against oppression, whether I have actually done so, only our Father knows. The two venues in which I have had the most opportunity to do so are the workplace and the church. I have put my job on the line for my people more than once in the workplace, and I lost the best job I ever had for defending a subordinate – in that instance I went to work for about an entire year never knowing which day would be my last…not a pleasant experience…but our Father was with me, as were brothers in Christ.

But back to more happy memories, pretty much whatever “ship” I’ve served on I’ve tried to use humor as a way to relieve tension, build morale, and at times to protest against injustice and unthinking corporate policies. If someone worked for me, especially as a direct report, they could expect to be mentored, trained and educated and prepared for the next career step, eat well (for I loved feeding my people at lunches and at training), and to laugh.

At my position prior to retirement, when my managers and I met in our corporate meeting room you would hear laughter throughout our offices – we got our work done, but O did we have a great time doing it. Also, Vickie and I would often host brunch meetings in our home, I suppose there might be twelve managers, and we worked hard and laughed hard – it was just the nature of our collective identity.

I want to go back to eating for a moment, for it strikes me that there is something there to explore.

I loved giving my folks new dining experiences, taking them to places that they had not been exposed to – cuisine and menus they would not likely have tried. I loved watching them explore an unfamiliar menu and talk to each other about it and ask the server questions. I loved seeing them try new things. I loved opening up new worlds to them.

When Vickie prepared brunches in our home for them, she did the same thing – she has always been quite the hostess and chef. Her decorations were always amazing, the way our tables were set, and the menus were amazing – again exposing my dear folks to new experiences…and they loved coming to our home; as much as they appreciated the nice dining I exposed them to in restaurants, coming to our home was what they always talked about, what they told others about.

Isn’t this our call in Jesus? To bring our brothers and sisters along in Him? To open new delights in Jesus to others? To portray Jesus in greater and greater glory? I think this is our Divine DNA, O if we would only embrace it and flee the letter of the Law (I’m pondering 2 Cor. 3 right now…and Galatians).

Is there any greater joy than to see others experience joy?

(I must recognize that I have had mentors in my own life that have done the same things for me.)

Yet, just as at work there were folks who rejected joy, and folks who benefited from our collective joy but who refused to pass that joy onto their own subordinates (this didn’t happen often, but it did happen, it always happens), so in the Kingdom and the world there are folks who refuse to accept the joy and freedom of Christ, and then folks whose life’s mission seems to be that no one else experiences the infinite possibilities of freedom and joy in Jesus.

I once had a captain in my fleet (back to imagery from Mr. Roberts) who had been with the company for many years and had a large staff. I always knew he did not treat his people the best, but I never knew how oppressive the atmosphere was (shame on me!) until he left. Then, because it was so hard to recruit his replacement due to the complexities of the position, when I filled his role on an interim basis and gave his folks freedom to be creative and express themselves, I was amazed and gratified at how they blossomed.

I was also saddened when I learned that he had caricatured me to his staff in order to gain leverage over them, quashing their creative ideas again and again by saying, “Bob would not like that,” when that was not the truth, and when it was not the way I treated him. But you see, I think religion and churches and pastors and ecclesiastical hierarchies and presbyteries can be like this, “Don’t think that, don’t do that, Jesus won’t like that.” The Galatian heresy is alive and well – we live as children of the earthly Jerusalem, not the heavenly Jerusalem (Galatians 4).

What a shame when we think Puzzle or Tash are Aslan, how has the Great Ape deceived us! How many Tashlans have we created?

Well, I think I’ll write more on this later…lots of memories, lots to be thankful for.

 

Love,

 

Bob