Journey at the Movies: Water for Elephants - Riding the Train of Life

A sermon preached at Journey United Church of Christ on Sunday, August 21, 2011

Genesis 45:1-15           

¹ Since Joseph could no longer control his feelings in front of his servants, he sent them out of the room. When he was alone with his brothers, he told them, "I am Joseph."
² Then he cried so loudly that the Egyptians heard him and told about it in the king's palace.
³ Joseph asked his brothers if his father was still alive, but they were too frightened to answer.
⁴ Joseph told them to come closer to him, and when they did, he said: Yes, I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt.
⁵ Don't worry or blame yourselves for what you did. God is the one who sent me ahead of you to save lives.
⁶ There has already been a famine for two years, and for five more years no one will plow fields or harvest grain.
⁷ But God sent me on ahead of you to keep your families alive and to save you in this wonderful way.
⁸ After all, you weren't really the ones who sent me here—it was God. He made me the highest official in the king's court and placed me over all Egypt.
⁹ Now hurry back and tell my father that his son Joseph says, "God has made me ruler of Egypt. Come here as quickly as you can.
¹⁰ You will live near me in the region of Goshen with your children and grandchildren, as well as with your sheep, goats, cattle, and everything else you own.
¹¹ I will take care of you there during the next five years of famine. But if you don't come, you and your family and your animals will starve to death."
¹² All of you, including my brother Benjamin, can tell by what I have said that I really am Joseph.
¹³ Tell my father about my great power here in Egypt and about everything you have seen. Hurry and bring him here.
¹⁴ Joseph and Benjamin hugged each other and started crying.
¹⁵ Joseph was still crying as he kissed each of his other brothers. After this, they started talking with Joseph.

Water for Elephants:  Responding to Life’s Surprises

I’m probably going to date myself a little bit here, but back when I was a kid growing up in I remember when the circus came to town.  It didn’t happen every year, but when it happened, it was amazing.  It wasn’t just the circus performance itself, it was the whole week-long event, starting with the big set up … which happened in the big lot next to where my grandmother lived.   I remember the year that my grandma invited all of us grandchildren to spend the night so we could be there to watch the unloading of the animals, the set up of the huge tent and all the side-shows.  For a kid, it just doesn’t get any better.

“Water for Elephants” brings us behind the scenes glimpse into a second rate circus through the eyes of Jacob Jankowski who is looking back in the midst of his “nursing home life” …through his memories we get a picture of circus life … it’s not always a pretty picture …

As Jacob begins his ride, he’s just about to take his final college exams and earn a veterinary license like his dad before him.  He’s all set to live our his dreams and live happily after, in spite of the depression that’s currently hitting the country in 1931.  Then Jacob’s parents die in a car crash, and he quickly learns that the bank owns everything.  He’s now penniless and homeless.  So Jacob does what many other distraught young men did in that day and age:  he hops a train to anywhere. 

This particular train, however, belongs to the owners of the Benzini Brothers Circus.  Fortunately, an old Polish circus-worker named Camel takes Jacob under his wing and saves him from being tossed back onto the tracks.  He gets the drifter a job, saying, “Hold on, you’re in for the ride of your life.  What a ride it is.  From shovelling out the animal cars to pounding tent stakes and raising the gigantic big top to behind the scenes peep shows, this is a ride filled with surprises. 

When Jacob looks back and reflects he wonders out loud … “I don’t know if I picked that train or the train picked me … “

His story shares some themes with the story of Joseph in Genesis.  He too, finds himself on caravan ride to a new place and a brand new life.  Unlike Jacob, it wasn’t his choice – his brothers sold him to a band of travelling merchants who take him on a ride to Egypt.  There he will experience the ups and downs of life … he definitely didn’t “choose the train…”

This morning, I want us to look not so much at how Jacob … and Joseph … got on the train ride with it’s ups and downs … but how they lived life while on that train … how they responded to the ups and downs of life …

The book, “Water for Elephants” was written by Sara Gruens long before the current economic situation yet I was struck watching this how much the story speaks to today's setting. In the opening scenes of the movie, Jacob becomes painfully aware of the economic reality before him.  Watch this scene as he discusses his option with the banker as he works on settling his parent’s estate….

Video Clip #1

Jacob Speaks with the Banker

1:07:00 – 1:09:00

"The only people who will be standing at the end of this Depression are those who TAKE what they need to survive."

There is a sense in which all the people in the film are struggling for survival, but the real contrast is the approaches taken by Jacob and August.

August plans to survive by the use of power and taking advantage of each situation to further his own interest.  Marlena is not so much treated as his wife, but as the start of the show, he treats her more like property. When given the opportunity to acquire a new “star” – Rosie the elephant, he quietly admits that in order to pay for her, he’ll just not pay the other performers for a few weeks.  He throws men off the train in the middle of the night so he doesn’t have to pay them.  When the newly acquired elephant doesn’t “perform” on command, he takes the bull stick and beats Rosie

Video Clip #2

“The United State of Suckers”

Marlena’s response is to simply be “stuck on the ride”.  She explains that she was born a passenger and things haven’t changed; as an infant, her mother abandoned her on a train where she was found and sent to live with strangers who used and abused her; later August would find her outside the sewing shop and in her words “I’m backing to being a passenger again. 

Jacob seeks to survive through gentleness and helping others. He’s the one who intervenes to keep August from abusing his co-workers.  He’s the one who figures out that Rosie wasn’t stupid, but only understood the commands if spoken in Polish.  He rides the train of life with integreity. 

How would you define integrity?  Let’s go back to the root of the word, which is "integer."    Do you remember from math class what an integer is?  Well, don't feel bad; it didn't either.  But let me tell:  it's a whole number -- like 1, 2, 3, 4 -- as opposed to a fraction. Integrity means wholeness or completeness or entirety.    Or look at another related word -- "integrated" -- integrity is when all aspects of your life are integrated or working together as a whole. 

It's a biblical idea too… for you see, God wants us to functioning as whole people.  In fact, if you look at the verse at the top of the outline on your program, you'll read the words Jesus said…nobody can serve two masters…that fragments their lives.  A person who does one thing today and then a contrary thing tomorrow is fragmented; it's called duplicity or hypocrisy. 

But a person with integrity has consistency -- what they believe is how they act; what they say is what they do.  In terms of our faith, it means extending your faith to the whole of life …having congruence between what you believe and how you act.

In “Water for Elephants”, Jacob survives with integrity.  In Genesis, Jacob also survives with integrity.  Despite the fact they he is not treated fairly.  Despite the fact that all he has is taken from him, not once, but over and over and over again.  Despite the fact that circumstances are grim.  He lives out his faith.  He lives with integrity.  And in doing so, he, like Jacob, provide us with examples perhaps of how we ride the train these days. 

In a world where many are out of work or are losing their homes to banks, this film gives us something to consider. How are we to live in such a world?   The banker may have been right that in troubled times we must take what they need to survive. But what do we need to survive?

Will we be like August and take those things that will give us more money or more power over others, or should we take our place within a community where we care for others and are cared for in return?   How will we ride the train?  

PRAYER OF REFLECTION

Loving God, you call us out of darkness and into your marvelous light.  But we crouch in the shadows, ashamed of the wrong we have done, and of the good we have neglected to do.  We have been timid disciples, afraid of putting our lives on the line for the good of your reign on earth.  We conceal our true selves from one another, hiding behind the masks of our own power and competence.  We allow divisions and discord to reign in our hearts, crowding you out altogether.  Yet we know that discord is not your way.  Reconciling God, call us back into relationship with you.  Equip us for relationships of integrity – in our families, in our church community, and in the world you love.  We pray in the name of Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and acknowledging our need for the love of God.  Amen

Journey at the Movies: Kung Fu Panda 2 - The Quest for Inner Peace

A sermon preached at Journey United Church of Christ on Sunday, August 14, 2011

READINGS FOR THE DAY:  

Genesis 32:22-32; 33:1-4 (Contemporary English Version)

Jacob got up in the middle of the night and took his wives, his eleven children, and everything he owned across to the other side of the Jabbok River for safety. Afterwards, Jacob went back and spent the rest of the night alone. A man came and fought with Jacob until just before daybreak.

When the man saw that he could not win, he struck Jacob on the hip and threw it out of joint. They kept on wrestling until the man said, "Let go of me! It's almost daylight." "You can't go until you bless me," Jacob replied. Then the man asked, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered. The man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob. You have wrestled with God and with men, and you have won. That's why your name will be Israel."

Jacob said, "Now tell me your name." "Don't you know who I am?" he asked. And he blessed Jacob. Jacob said, "I have seen God face to face, and I am still alive." So he named the place Peniel. The sun was coming up as Jacob was leaving Peniel. He was limping because he had been struck on the hip, and the muscle on his hip joint had been injured. That's why even today the people of Israel don't eat the hip muscle of any animal.

Later that day Jacob met Esau coming with his four hundred men. So Jacob had his children walk with their mothers. The two servant women, Zilpah and Bilhah, together with their children went first, followed by Leah and her children, then by Rachel and Joseph. Jacob himself walked in front of them all, bowing to the ground seven times as he came near his brother. But Esau ran toward Jacob and hugged and kissed him. Then the two brothers started crying.

Philippians 4:4-9 (Contemporary English Version)

Always be glad because of the Lord! I will say it again: Be glad.

Always be gentle with others. The Lord will soon be here.

Don't worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God.

Then, because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel.

Finally, my friends, keep your minds on whatever is true, pure, right, holy, friendly, and proper. Don't ever stop thinking about what is truly worthwhile and worthy of praise.

You know the teachings I gave you, and you know what you heard me say and saw me do. So follow my example. And God, who gives peace, will be with you.

Kung Fu Panda: The Quest for Inner Peace

When we find Po in Kung Fu Panda 2, he is living the dream.  His dream of training with the Furious Five has come true.  He is focusing on perfecting his Kung Fu skills (like reaching a new record for sticking 40 bean rolls in his mouth at one time). 

Mr. Ping is still running his restaurant which is adorned with posters and signs alluding to the face that his sons is the long-prophesied Kung Fu Warrior.  Part of the whole publicity stunt is based in a desire to capitalize on his son’s new celebrity status, but mostly it seems to stem from a deep fatherly pride. 

All is peaceful in the “Valley of Peace”. 

Of course, it doesn’t stay that way.  That’s not a very engaging plot line.  It wouldn’t be a movie without a sinister villain.  Enter Lord Shen – the nasty peacock.  He has been in hiding for years perfecting a weapon that he hopes will signal the death of Kung Fu and his own rise to power over all of China. 

Who would have thought that a peacock could so greatly disturb the peace in the Valley of Peace.  He disturbs the peace in the valley.  He disturbs Po’s peace. 

Soon we discovered that Po was actually orphaned at a young age and adopted by Mr. Ping, the dumpling maker.  (yes, it’s fairly obvious since Po is a Panda and Mr. Ping is a goose).  And as the saga unfolds we are led through a series of dream sequences in which Po comes face to face the pain of his past. 

In order to unlock the strength he needs to not only conquer the evil Shen, he needs to uncover his secret and mysterious origins.  There are some inner demons lurking inside him as well. 

When we find Jacob in Genesis 32, he too is living the dream!  He has spent the last 20 years working with his Uncle Laban.  He has completed his hands-on training in tending the flocks and the herds and has not only added numbers to his own herds and flocks, he has multiplied them.  The same is true of his family.  Not just one wife, but two … and the children just keep multiplying.  He is living large. 

But his peace is also disturbed.  Not by a secret about his past that is hidden from him, but by a dark history that he was very much a part of and in fact was a painful past that he created. 

As a young man he had tricked his father and made off with the blessing and inheritance that belonged to his older brother.  He escaped to his Uncle Laban’s farm and got a bit of his own medicine when he was tricked into 14 years of labor for not just one of his uncles daughters, but both – the beautiful Rachel and the “not-so-beautiful” Leah.  He, in turn, tricks his uncle out of much of his property and now, with his newly acquired wealth, he considers going home.  He packs up the family and the goods and the herds and off her goes to face HIS past.

Along the way, Panda Po will be using his Kung Fu fighting skills and Jacob will be called upon to engage his skills as an all-night wrestler.  They will be on a quest for peace – peace in their “kingdoms” and that often-illusive sense of inner peace. 

Fortunately, Po has a trainer along the way.  Meet Master Shifu….

Video Clip 1

Inner Peace

Po doesn’t “get it” right away.  As pieces of Po’s origin start to fuzzily come into picture for him, he finds himself distracted and unable to conquer the Kung Fu bad guys before him.  He questions whether he was ever loved – by his biological parents and by his adoptive father. 

In the midst of his Kung Fu fighting Po reaches a turning point when he discovers that it was because of his parents great love that he was able to survive and because of the great love of Mr. Ping, he was able to thrive.  Po wanted peace, and found it by discovering who he was and where he came from, ultimately to rest in peace knowing he WAS loved more than he ever realized. 

Jacob’s turning point comes not in the midst of Kung Fu fighting, but in the midst of an all-night wresting match. Maybe you will remember that Jacob didn’t have a strong history of believing in God- remember he had once (when speaking to his father, Isaac) referred to God as “Your God.” Add to that, all the encounters he has had with God up to this point have either been dreams or visions; we have nothing in the text that says Jacob has ever talked with God face to face…

But on his way back home, in the verses prior to what we read this morning, Jacob, maybe in a foxhole of sorts… Jacob, our self serving, self persevering, self sustaining patriarch-to-be; for the first time in his life, admits that he needs help… and he turns to God in prayer. This is no ordinary prayer.  In his prayer.  He kind of “lays it all out there” and after he’s done, he makes sure everything is in order for the final leg of the journey and then he lays down by himself to sleep and the wresting match begins.  As he wrestles with the mysterious wrestler he comes face to face with his demons – his failures, his past hurts and pains

Ever found yourself like Po?  Questioning your identity?  Doubting your worth?  Feeling perhaps that if anybody really knew you, they wouldn’t really love you?

Ever found yourself wresting through the night with a decision or a dilemma?   Reliving the past?  Looking for the blessing? 

The list of "demons" with which we fight can pretty long at times? Our mortality, our "failures," our being subject to treatment that we couldn't avoid, our issues with abuse, with loss of trust, with lack of confidence in self, with losses too numerous to mention. Like Jacob, we may find ourselves struggling with demons of arrogance, with blindness of the way that our life has hurt others, with the splinters of worthless ideologies to which we dedicated ourselves for years. There are so many ways that our past rises up to attack us, even if we have tried to "deal" with it…all so painful that we may feel as injured as Po or as crippled as Jacob …

But the tide turns as day dawns.  Jacob says that he will not let go until the man blesses him. Jacob needs a blessing.  He is still searching for that sense of inner peace.  The blessing comes in the form of a new name … a very real sign that at last his quest is over … the past will be behind and the future will be new and different.  He is told that he will have a new name. It will no longer be Jacob (which literally means “trickster” or “deceiver”); he baptized with a new name “Israel” (which means “the one who strives with God”).

Along with the new name, comes a new identity. No longer will he be the deceptive person, the one who feels he has to trick others because he is second in the birth order and wants the "perks" of the firstborn.  He will go forth with God … God is not only in his name, God is in his life.  And Jacob is changed.  Inner peace will do that for a person. 

Video Clip 2

Po Finds Inner Peace

Po says to Shen:  "You gotta let go of that stuff from the past, because it just doesn't matter."

If we are honest we have all had some bad or ugly or unfair stuff happen to us. The point is that it’s not what happens to us, it how we deal with the mess that matters.

Many of us would like inner peace, but we don't know how to get it. We may work hard to attain it through stuff like Jacobs … maybe even being a little tricky, greedy or deceitful along the way; we may try to attain it by brute force like Po.  But it doesn’t work that way.  It’s not what you do; it's who you know.

Now I'm not sure it will help us repel cannon balls, but there are plenty of way cool things in store for us when we find peace with God. In fact, it will bring the very thing Po and Shen need most: healing. The past leaves scars; peace can heal those scars, and peace with God will also give us hope for the future.  May we find that peace.

Prayer of Response

Merciful God, the story of Jacob shows your willingness to enter into the messiness of our human struggles - into fractured relationships, family differences, unreconciled situations with people we care about – into our doubts and fears, our insecurities and our deepest pain – all the things that would disturb our peace. 

In the midst of our wrestling, may we find our identity in you – as your beloved children.  May we find the blessings in the assurance that nothing can separate us from your love.  Amen. 

Journey at the Movies: The King's Speech - Finding Our Voice

A sermon preached at Journey United Church of Christ, on August 7, 2011 by guest pastor, Joy Perkett. 
 
The King's Speech
Featured Video Clip:  1:18:51 - 1:19:40 Lionel encourages Bertie to find his voice
Exodus 4:1-17

Imagine a knock-kneed, left-handed, stuttering king … it may be hard but that is the story of Prince Albert in the King’s Speech, who unexpectedly ascended the throne at the age of 41. The King’s Speech tells us about the difficult process of Albert gaining self-esteem and accepting that he is worthy to be king. Albert has struggled with stuttering since he was a little boy. In the movie clip, we met Lionel, who is Albert’s trusted friend and coach. As Albert struggles with fears about becoming king, Lionel reminds Albert of his worth and value as a human being. He offers comfort to Albert when he is afraid. In the movie, as we find out more about Albert, we discover that he is very much in need of comforting. Albert, or Bertie as his family called him, got criticized a lot as a child and those voices of criticism haunted him throughout his adult life. As a child, Albert had many things wrong with him: Albert stuttered from an early age, thus his family called him “B-B-Bertie”; he was left-handed – and his teachers made him write with his right hand - and lastly he had knock knees as a child, and so the doctors made him wear painful metal splints. Through the movie, we see Bertie struggle with the idea that he might become king because, ultimately, he does not believe he is good enough. I can imagine what Albert was thinking: I am not fit to be a prince much less a king! I write wrong, stand wrong and speak wrong. He also thinks of his father, a father who never seemed to be proud of him and was always pointing out what Bertie was doing wrong. I imagine we all feel like Bertie sometimes – like we just can’t measure up, like nothing we do is good enough. It’s frustrating! It seems easy to drum up the voices of criticism in our lives and to interpret these criticisms to mean that we are not good people. We understand Bertie’s frustration as we struggle daily to get everything done, to live up to the expectations of others, to succeed at our daily tasks and to know that who we are and what we do is enough.

In dealing with these frustrations, I like to know I am in good company. Not only does the king of England struggle with anxiety and self-doubt, but so did the most renowned prophet of the Old Testament – Moses! In the Scripture today, we read about Moses’ call to prophet-hood. Prior to these verses, Moses killed an Egyptian and fled to Midean, where he lived ashamed and disconnected from his land of birth. Not what I would expect when I think of a great prophet – but then and again God always shatters my stereotypes and assumptions. So here is Moses – a foreign criminal – and he encounters God in a burning bush. Imagine his surprise, his shock, his wonder! From this burning bush, God speaks out to his child Moses and calls him as a prophet. Moses, as you can probably anticipate, does not want the job. He, like Prince Albert, does not think he is good enough. Anxiety pervades the questions Moses asks. In chapter 3, Moses has already asked God “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” Moses is saying: Hint hint God, I am a nobody. But God doesn’t get the hint. Then, Moses assures God that his people will reject him – not even the Hebrews will want me! Yet God tells Moses, I want you. Then, as if those protests were not enough, Moses reminds God that he is a poor communicator. Some scholars think this meant that he may have had a stutter – so he wasn’t that different from Prince Albert. Moses tallies up his faults and then pleads with God … C’mon, can you just send someone else? The stakes are high and Moses’ anxiety is high. Moses doesn’t want to be called out of his comfort zone.

What I learn from Bertie and Moses is that we can get a perverse comfort from exempting ourselves from the challenge of using our gifts, of living our lives in authentic relationships with others. Sometimes it’s easier to shirk our call into the world, our call to go out into the world, to be connected with others and be invested in the well-being of the world. Yes, it would have been easier for Moses to stay in Midean and it would have been easier for Bertie to refuse the kingship. I recall my own burning bush experience – when God called me and I was terrified to respond. A couple years back I did a social work internship at a domestic violence agency. While the internship was a powerful and painful experience for me, I initially dealt with the pain by erecting walls of apathy to protect myself. I focused on the format and questions when I talked to the survivors instead of empathy and understanding. I like Moses, I thought if I remained in deserted, distant land that maybe I won’t get hurt, that maybe I could be safe – safe from the experience of life. Life it seems can be a terribly painful thing at times. At the end of the first semester, my supervisor told me that I was not connecting to clients and, shattered from my illusions, I realized something had to change. God was calling me to open up my heart and face the reality of life. To me the most terrifying part of this call was the potential of success, the potential of having to fully open my heart and experience the pain of myself and others. I had a choice: I could stubbornly adhere to my fear, cling to it with all my might, remain a prisoner of my own anxiety or –despite my fear- I could choose to move forward, to experience life and open myself up to the powerful possibilities of the Divine. I stood before the burning bush like those who come before me with a choice, a choice of living or not living, choice of staying in the safe zone or journeying into the unknown, a choice of inaction or of actively liberating myself from the chains of fear that held me bondage.

So yes, I can relate to Moses. I imagine we can each relate to Moses’ experience at the burning bush where he was faced with difficult decision of embracing his gifts. I do not take it for granted that Moses chose to become a prophet, anxiety and all. And I appreciate God’s response to Moses in the midst of his struggles. When Moses admits one of his most embarrassing struggles – his stutter - God responds lovingly that God created Moses and shaped each part of his body. God’s response harkens back to the creation story and we remember how God made humans and it was good. When we are in the midst of our burning bush experience, struggling with our decision, God is present and God reminds us that we are good, that we are worthy, that we are enough. What we learn from God’s response is that value does not depend on any outside feature – whether we can talk or walk well – but rather our value depends on the simple fact that we are God’s children, valued in and for ourselves. In my social work internship, I learned that my value does not depend on the exact words I say but rather my value rests in my sacred spark and the nature of my work is to value the sacred spark in others. Moses and Bertie learn this too – they learn that their stutter does not define who are they are – and that they can make good prophets, kings and so further simply because of their God-given worth. In the movie clip, Bertie’s friend told him: you are very much your own man. At the climax of the movie, Bertie comes to realize that being himself, being who God created him to be, is enough. God uses all of us, no matter our circumstances.

Like Moses’ encounter with the burning bush, we encounter God in our communities and in our lives. As a individuals and a church, what happens when we, like Moses, take our life seriously? What happens when we take our possibilities and the Holy Spirit seriously? What does God have in store for us? I imagine being in a church community is like being on the edge of the unknown … its like being Moses called into Egypt … it’s like Bertie being called to be king … its both exciting and scary …. God can do great things with us. This text teaches us about the inner journey of truly valuing ourselves as children made in the image of the Divine. This text teaches us what its like to stand on the edge of the unknown and be terrified of the future and we learn that even there – especially there - God is present with us. The story of Moses and Bertie is one of liberation – as they began to be liberated from their anxiety they were able to help liberate their own people become liberated from oppressive forces. Bertie and Moses remind us that it’s scary to let our light fully shine! Yet great things can come of it! The burning bush burns brightly as possibility dances like flame before us. God beckons us forth, inviting us to become what we never dared, for the first time and for forever.