Category Archives: Film & Theology

Film & Theology

Noah: What Works

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In Part Two of our look at the movie Noah, I want to talk about what I liked about the film. In the next post, I’ll hone in on some elements that didn’t work- didn’t work for a movie based in scripture, didn’t work in a movie period, didn’t work from a storytelling position.

There are some good things about the movie. There are some elements that I really liked. So, here are 6 things that worked in the movie Noah.

The Acting
Russell Crowe is fantastic. Emma Watson is wonderful. Ray Winstone, a fine character actor, brings evil to life. Jennifer Connelly, the Rocketeer’s ex-girlfriend, plays the part of Noah’s wife with grace. Some role their eyes at Crowe as a casting choice but I think it was spot on. Russell Crowe is an everyman and that’s what was required of this role. We needed to see pain and sorrow and grief and joy and determination and integrity. Crowe delivered.

Tubal-Cain
I loved having a villain to stand in stark contrast to our main character. Whereas Noah was righteous and earnestly seeking to hear from God, Tubal-Cain embodies the wickedness, ruthlessness, and selfishness of mankind. One of the criticisms surrounding the movie is that the name of God isn’t mentioned. While the film talks mainly about “The Creator” there is a scene where Ham meets Tubal-Cain in the forest for the first time. Tubal-Cain asks Ham, “Don’t you recognize your King?” Ham responds by saying, “Father says there is no king. The Creator is God.” The look of disgust on Tubal-Cain is priceless. There is a huge extra-biblical element with this character that on one level is hard to swallow. Tubal-Cain makes it onto the ark. Yeah, I know. I missed that flannel graph story too. However, this kinda works because the character serves to undermine everything that Noah stands for and has been seeking to instill in his sons. In this case, the tension is very good. Tubal-Cain adds an element of chaos into the new ordering of things. He represents the depravity, duplicitousness, and evil of mankind. Evil will stop at nothing to tear apart what God is doing. It is a major plot element that isn’t in the source material but it works because it serves the ideas of Chaos, Covenant, and (Re)Creation.

The Ark/The Flood
I loved the Ark. It definitely represented a structure that was 300 by 50 by 30 cubits. The Bible mentions that it was held together with tar as well and the whole thing looks cover in pitch. The filmmakers totally nailed the look in my mind. Also the flood is how I picture it as well. Not only was there rain but Genesis 7:11 tells us that “all the springs of the great deep burst forth.” In the film, giant spouts of water shoot up toward the sky just as I see it described in scripture. One thing that I have not seen anyone talk about is that the film is clear that this judgement is from The Creator. This isn’t a weather phenomenon that our main characters are too primitive to understand. This isn’t water coming from a broken dam. The flood is presented as a miraculous wonder/righteous judgement sent from above. Same with the animals arriving to the ark. They aren’t fleeing from a national park because of a dormant volcano. They miraculously appear while Noah and his family watch with wonder and amazement. The miracle isn’t written off as junk science or explained away as some animal ecological ESP.

Survivor’s Guilt
Throughout the film, Noah is depicted as a man who feels deeply about what is happening around him. He earnestly seeks to understand what God is calling him to. He loves his family. He is disgusted by the wickedness of humanity. He is sober-minded about what will happen when the flood comes. He feels the burden and the responsibility of his great task. There is one scene that takes the story of Noah and puts flesh to a man we’ve only read about. After the storm begins and Noah’s family is safe aboard the ark, Noah sits, covered with a blanket and he listens. The wind and the waves are howling and crashing against the ark. Amidst all the noise, Noah can hear screams of the people perishing in the flood. There is not victory in Noah’s eyes, only pain. Scripture tells us that God doesn’t send a flood because he is angry. There is grief in the heart of God and the film make that grief palpable through Noah. Noah wrestles with survivor’s guilt to a certain extent and his element is explored near the end of the film as Noah gets drunk in a cave cut off from his family. When i have talked about this element with others who have not yet seen the movie, there is instant connection with it.

The Redemption
In Part 3, I will discuss the reasons behind Noah separating from his family in more detail (because it doesn’t work) but I do like the way Noah returns. There is redemption as Noah is welcomed back to his family. Without words you see forgiveness, love, and grace- the same forgiveness, love, and grace God’s gives us- on the big screen for all to see.

The Blessing
At the end of the film, as The Creator sends a rainbow over this new creation, Noah recites a blessing over his family (Including Ham. Oh-oh! Genesis 9:22-25). Noah proclaims, “Be fruitful and increase in number!” A huge rainbow radiates from the sky, filling the screen with ROYGBIV. Then Kermit begins the opening chords to “Rainbow Connection” as the screen goes black (That would have work brilliantly.). The film ends on a note of hope and grace.

Get ready for Part 3: What Didn’t Work. I’m not a huge fan of director Darren Aronofsky and there are as many Aronofsky signatures in this film as there were animals on the ark. Many of his choices take the viewer out of the film or cause the viewer confusion or frustration. I’m going to suggest that by merely changing or cutting some of these things from the film Noah would have been a great movie instead of merely an Aronofsky movie.

Film & Theology

Chaos, Covenant, and (Re)Creation

part 1

Welcome to Part One in our series looking at the movie Noah. Today the focus will be on the story of Noah as found in Genesis 6-9. As I argued in the introduction, there has been a lot of discussion about whether or not the movie Noah lives up to the theological narrative in Scripture and even more discussion about whether or not that even matters.

Last week, I saw a tweet that said, “All these Christians arguing that Noah isn’t theological enough… where’s their outrage about Capt America or Sabotage.”

2 Points on this line of thinking:
1) You’re right. As Christians we are called to a higher standard when it comes to the media and entertainment that we consume. I’m the guy who takes a notebook or I sit where I can open up Evernote on my phone in order to jot down thoughts or ideas I have during movies I go to. (Next Week: 10 leadership Lessons from Saving Mr Banks!) So yeah, as Christians we should be ready to “take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5) We should engage with all media rather than passively allow it to wash over us unfiltered.

2) What a misguided comment. This is a huge false equivalency. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Conan the T-800’s action-drama about dirty DEA agents and Mexican cartels never claims to be a story rooted in Scripture. And while Cap finds finds himself caught up in a larger universe of mythology and storytelling, S.H.I.E.L.D. is a long way from the T.O.R.A.H. When a movie claims to be  rooted in “research and biblical scholarship” you are inviting people to judge your film, not on your artistic interpretations, but on your “research and biblical scholarship.”

In Part 2, I am going to dive into some of the cinematic flourishes, inventive storytelling, and artistic licenses that the filmmakers gambled on that actually worked in this movie. It is completely understandable that in order to fill a 2 hour movie you might need to rely on elements that may not be found in a 3 chapter narrative with only one speaking part. It really isn’t fair to judge a movie completely by how literal it sticks to the source material. If that were true than we would have to critically reassess every movie from Disney fairy tales to Braveheart to The Ten Commandments to Son of God. Every one of these films, including those based on Scripture, contained something different, added, or artistically created in order to movie the story along.

So then, I’m not interested in arguing the merit of Noah based on it’s factual, literal accuracy. My concern is whether on not the film connects the audience to the overarching theological narrative we find in scripture, particularly how the story of Noah connects with redemption and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

To show you what I’m talking about, read at what director Aronofsky said in an interview about his goal of adapting a story from the biblical source and bringing it to life on the big screen.

“I think it’s more interesting when you look at not just the biblical but the mythical that you get away from the arguments about history and accuracy and literalism. That’s a much weaker argument, and it’s a mistake.

Because when you think about Icarus, you don’t talk about the feathers and the wax and how the wax attached to his body and how is it physically possible that he could fly with feathers on his arms. No. You’re talking about how he flew too high and was filled with hubris and it destroyed him. That’s the message and that’s the power. That’s power to have that idea. 

It’s impossible to understand what these times are because there are four chapters in the Bible. It’s just important that you don’t contradict any of it and that you study each word, and study each sentence, and try to use and extract as much juice out of that to be inspired to turn it into a vision that represents the spirit of it all. That’s the goal.”

So, that’s the bar we’re working with here. Does the movie Noah capture the essence and the grand narrative of its biblical source?  I actually love the connection to making a film about Icarus and making a film about Noah.

He’s right, in a film about Icarus, an audience isn’t going to care or want to connect with a lengthy explanation about which feathers cause the greatest lift or whether or not Daedalus used a running stitch or a hemming stitch. No one’s going to miss these scenes when they land on the cutting room floor and they really do nothing to serve the story.

In a movie about Noah, the audience would have been ill served by a 45 minute scene of exposition about the wood used to build the ark, the carpentry involved, or a roll call of all the animals. All of which you could point to as proof of a biblically accurate film. I myself was glad to see that the ark only had one opening, all though I was disappointed that God Himself didn’t shut Noah and his family inside. I’m kidding. Or am I?

The power of the film doesn’t come from small literal details but in the larger narrative that the story is trying to tell. In evaluating a film like this, one has to wrestle with the question, “Is the film true to the message of the source material?” Aronofsky, himself, says that for the film to succeed it must “represent the spirit of it all.”

Many have argued that the film fails to represent the theological narrative of the story of Noah but few have written concerning what they believe to be the true theological narrative. That’s what I want to do now.

I believe that if you’re going to make a movie about Icarus, it has to be about man’s hubris and failed ambition. If you make a movie about Nineteen Eighty-Four, you’re going to want to include themes about government surveillance and freedom. If you make a movie about Rosa Parks, you’re gonna need a bus so that lady can make a stand for equality.

In a movie about Noah, it is essential that your narrative focus on Chaos, Covenant, and (Re)Creation.

CHAOS
Genesis 6:5–7
“The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the LORD said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.”

In the Genesis narrative there are two forces at work against one another: Chaos and God. This isn’t a ying-yang, can’t-have-one-without-the-other kind of thing. This is a cosmic battle. Chaos brings confusion, death, destruction, pain, anguish, frustration, and sin. God brings order, light, life, and relationship. Notice that God isn’t angry with man’s wickedness. God is grieved and his heart is deeply troubled. Chaos has taken what God created, what God established, what God loved and plunged it into darkness. Walter Brueggamann writes that the flood isn’t sent in order to take care of a moral problem but a theological one. Sin is an affront to Almighty God first and foremost. This is why God must reign in Chaos so that His beloved creation can survive. Man’s inhumanity to man (a symptom) flows from a people who have cut themselves off from the God who created them (the disease).

COVENANT
Genesis 6:8–9 
“But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.”

Genesis 6:11–14
“Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.”

Genesis 6:17–19 
I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.”

Genesis 6:22
Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

Covenant is an overarching theme throughout all of Scripture. Here, God establishes the Noahic covenant with a righteous man who walks faithfully with God. That’s all we know about Noah. In a world caught up in unspeakable wickedness, this family man embodies hope and redemption. Covenant is much more than a contract. It is the establishment of a relationship between two parties. When God establishes a covenant with Noah, he is in essence establishing a covenant with humanity promising that it will survive, not through saving itself, but by His own grace and mercy.

(RE)CREATION
Genesis 8:15–9:17
“Then God said to Noah, “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives.Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.”

So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives.All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another.

Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”

Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands.Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

“But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.

“Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind.

As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

Covenant leads to (Re)Creation. God is faithful to Noah, his family, and His creation. He has not abandoned His grand experiment. He has given it a grand do-over. We get to begin again. Wrath gives way to Grace. Death gives way to Life. Curses give way to Blessings. God re-creates the world and again establishes his covenant with man. Instead of Adam, God established a new covenant in this re-creation with Noah telling him to “be fruitful, multiply, and increase.” God has reigned in Chaos once again and has established order and relationship with His creation. Man has been redeemed and forgiven.

Chaos, Covenant, and (Re)Creation –  three foundational rocks that any retelling of the story Noah should rise or fall upon. These ideas are what give this story its power. These are what make this story timeless and should seek to connect an audience to the overarching theological narrative we find in scripture.

So, does Aronofsky’s Noah deal with these ideas? If the film does deal with Chaos, Covenant, and (Re)Creation, does it succeed in creating a vision that represents the spirit of this biblical narrative?

Grab a cup full of herbal tea, call your Fallen Angel sidekick, and get ready to embark into the magical forrest from Eden. There’s a storm coming.

Come back and check out Part 2: What Worked and Part 3: What Didn’t Work later this week!

Film & Theology, Movies, Theology

A Flood of Outrage

a flood of outrage noah 2014

It has been one week since the film Noah hit theaters. The film grossed well over 43 million dollars in its opening week all while riding a giant wave of controversy. Unless you’ve been living alone on a lush green mountain in a cave without berries, you have been well aware of the debate surrounding director Darren Aronofsky’s dark, brooding biblical epic. Or Athiest director Darren Aronofsky’s anti-biblical, ecocentric, fairy tale. Or Hollywood’s latest attack on Christianity. Or the movie that Christians should embrace in order to start a dialogue with our culture. Or whatever that last blog post you read called it.

The truth is Noah is all these things and none of them at the same time. More digital ink has been spilt and more unrealistic expectations have been placed on this piece of celluloid than any other movie in recent history. The culture seems divided into a thousand different camps all defending their personal stake in their beliefs, feelings, and emotions surrounding this 2 hour tale starring General Maximus Decimus Meridius and directed by the guy who turned Natalie Portman into a literal Black Swan.

The one thing that everyone seems to agree on is this:

Everyone is OUTRAGED by Noah.

That’s right. Outraged! Everyone is expressing their outrage and calling for everyone within newsfeed or timeline eyeshot that they, too, must be outraged by this film, its production, the way it was marketed, what it takes literally, what is said subliminally, what it leaves out, and what it gets wrong.

One group says that you should be outraged because the film fails to be a literal interpretation of Genesis 6-9. They argue that anything less than a word for word, direct adaptation of a film is not just a disappointment but a detriment to society as a whole.

Another group tells you to be outraged at Christians who are outraged because the film fails to be a literal interpretation of Genesis 6-9. They tell you it is absurd to not expect filmmakers to add artistic flourishes or inventive story lines in order to make a movie palatable for audiences worldwide. “Get with the times and quit getting your spiritual underwear in a bunch,” they say.

One group says, “Embrace it!” Another, “Burn it!”

Further, others claim outrage over the idea that anyone on any side would be upset over anything contained in a movie. After all, it’s only a movie.

Blog post after Facebook comment after tweet all telling you and me what to think about Noah and what to think about what others think about Noah.

The problem is I’m not outraged by Noah. I’m also not outraged by those outraged by Noah.

The movie and the whole conversation surrounding it has me feeling a bunch of emotions but outrage isn’t one of them.

The movie stirred emotions in me that ranged from confusion to inspiration, disappointment to frustration, and boredom to being nonplussed.

The reviews, conversations, and warnings have had me experiencing many of the same emotions.

Over the last week, I have had conversations in persona and online about my opinions on Noah. Some have asked me if I liked it. Some have asked if they should see it. Some want to know my thoughts on whether or not Christians should see this film. That’s why beginning next week, I am planning to post a series of thoughts on the movie and the biblical story of Noah.

I want to come at this a bit different than the other blog posts or reviews that I have seen over the last few weeks. In this series, I want to cover the following issues:

Part One: The Story of Noah. While some have addressed the fact that the film veers wildly from the biblical account and have argued that the film fails to live up to theological narrative of Noah as found in the Book of Genesis I haven’t seen anyone speak to what they believe the true theological narrative to be. In Part One of next week’s series, I want to attempt to address this theological understanding of Noah, the flood, man’s wickedness, and God’s righteousness. A film’s biblical accuracy isn’t judged on rock people but on whether or not the film connects the audience to the overarching theological narrative we find in scripture, particularly how the story of Noah connects with redemption and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Part Two: What Works. Believe it or not, there are elements of this film that work, both from a storytelling standpoint and as a biblical meditation. Many of the performances are top notch and the cinematography, at times, can be quite breath taking. Even some of the extra-biblical story elements work in order to point the viewer to a theological understanding of the nature of man, sin, and redemption.

Part Three: What Doesn’t Work. There are things that visually don’t work. There are storytelling elements that don’t work. There are additions to the biblical account that don’t work. There is a lot that doesn’t work. I want to share what I believe doesn’t work and discuss how some of the missteps and baffling choices mar the film.

Part Four: What’s Next. While all of the Noah debate will die off in an overwhelming deluge of Captain America this weekend, of which there will be no other box-office survivors, Noah will again resurface in a few months at Redbox and other studios are releasing big budget biblical adaptations later this year (Batman is Moses!). I love great stories and I love going to the movie house! I agree with Pastor Mark Batterson- Movies are the Literature of today. As believers, how are we to react or respond to movies and their attempt to produce stories based on holy scripture? What expectations should we have? What standards should we call for? I want to wrap up the series with a few suggestions on how you can engage cultural adaptations of biblical truths in ways that build bridges and are in line with the theological narrative of Scripture as a whole.

See, I don’t want you to be outraged at Aronofsky, Russell Crowe, Paramount, or the film Noah. I don’t want you to be outraged at those who are outraged. I’m not even going to argue wether or not you should even see the movie.

I am writing this series of posts because I want you to be discerning. I want you discern what God’s glorious story of redemption is all about and I want to intellectually and theologically recognize the real deal from the cheap imitation.

The Real Deal brings life and the other, at the very least, takes $12 out of your pocket.

See you next week!

Join the conversation: Add your thoughts or questions to the comments section.

Ethos, Experience, Film & Theology, I Love My Church, Life, Preaching, Questions, Remarkable, Sermons

The Hero’s Journey

I’m in the middle of preaching through The Sermon on the Mount and I have been so excited about what I’m learning and how God is connecting me to his overarching story. In my study over the last few weeks I have seen a connection between Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey. If you are unfamiliar with the Hero’s Journey, let me give you a quick tour of what I’m talking about.

There are two things I love to do- read and watch movies. I feel that these two pursuits often go hand in hand.  In fact, I have heard it said that movies are today’s literature.

Both movies and literature seek to tell us a compelling story and when we interact with those stories we can’t help but try and find ourselves within the narrative. We imagine ourselves in the role of our favorite characters and often times we try and emulate what we see on the screen or what we read on the page.

While watching the King’s Speech, I began asking myself how I would react if I were in Prince Albert’s position. If I had a debilitating speech impediment, how would I react? Would I become a mute- so embarrassed by my stutter that I decide not to speak at all? Would I seek help? Would I pretend nothing was wrong with me?

As the film progressed, I began asking what if I were asked to give a speech to rally the entire empire against an enemy as fierce and evil as the Nazis? What would I say? How could I convince the people around me to join the cause and fight for a better tomorrow?

Stories force us to look at our lives and how we are currently living them and they give us a glimpse into how our lives could be and they whisper to us concerning what should be.

In 1949, a man named Joseph Campbell published a book entitled, The Hero With A Thousand Faces. Campbell studied thousands of myths and stories from every era of human existence and out of all those stories and myths, he identified a similar patter regardless of time and culture. He called this pattern The Hero’s Journey. This is absolutely fascinating to me. If you went home and pulled out your favorite book or movie, there is a very good chance that you would see this pattern.

I just turned your quiet Friday night into an academic exercise. You’re welcome.

In every story, the hero or the main character starts out living his life just like everyone else. He is knee deep in living an ordinary life. Rick owns a nightclub in N. Africa. Dorothy lives with her Aunt and Uncle on a farm in Kansas. Tomas Anderson is a computer programer. Ben-Hur is a Jewish noble.

Then our hero is Called into an Adventure. Sometimes this is an actual call- Build It and They Will Come. Sometimes it is an event or something outside their control.

In all the gin joints, in all the world Ilsa walks into Rick’s American Cafe. Dorothy is carried away by a tornado. Neo meets Morpheus. Frodo is given a ring. Ben-Hur is betrayed by Messala.

This call to adventure is really the opportunity for something greater. The hero is invited to change their life and USUALLY the lives of those around them by entering into a great adventure.

The hero has to make a choice– life as they know it or take the journey and change the world. They can Refuse or Respond to the call.

Will Rick help Ilsa and Victor Lazlo get to America so they can continue the Resistance against the Nazis? Will Dorothy stop the Wicked Witch of the West? Will Neo embrace his destiny and free the human race? Will Frodo destroy the ring?

If the decision is made to respond and answer the call then the Hero begins his journey. There is usually some spiritual help or aid- A Fellowship, a French police officer, a yellow bricked road, Yoda- that guides our hero toward his/her goal.

Then our Hero comes face to face with a Road of Trials.

The German Major Strasser and the Gestapo arrive in Casablanca. Dorothy is captured. The Fellowship is broken. Cypher makes a deal with Agent Smith. The Empire decides to Strike back.

Barriers arise and seek to derail our hero and try to keep them from achieving a new life. These Trials are difficult to overcome but if our Hero desires to change their life and the lives of those they care for the Trials must be dealt with and overcome.

So what does this have to do with The Sermon on the Mount? Like any great story, this post is To Be Continued….

Art, Cinema, Film & Theology, Leadership, Music, Popular Culture, Thoughts, U2

5 Leadership Lessons From Rock Royalty

If you get the chance, go see the new documentary film, It Might Get Loud. This film is a 90 minute love letter to the electric guitar starring three of the most amazing and talented rock icons. The film chronicles the careers of Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), The Edge (U2), and Jack White (The White Stripes) letting the viewer catch a glimpse (or a listen) of the history, hardware, and creative power that fuels each artist’s unique sound.

Never one to pass up a learning experience, I walked away from the film with a little bit more than just a greater appreciation for all things rock. As I listened to each of these masters talk about their experiences I couldn’t help but jot down a few notes for myself. I feel like I got a good dose of rock ‘n roll today but I am even more appreciative of the leadership lessons I gleaned from the movie. Here are 5 Leadership Lessons I Learned from It Might Get Loud:

1) ABL- Always Be Learning: Jack White, 34, is the youngest guitarist in the film’s trio. He is fourteen years younger than The Edge, 48, and thirty years younger than Jimmy Page, 64. White is featured in the film because, without a doubt, he has developed a distinctly unique sound. When you hear him play you know for certain that it is Jack White. White could have strolled into the studio, unique sound in hand and a chip on his shoulder, ready to show the old guard a thing or two. Instead, White showed that he understood the opportunity handed to him through this project. White, with a huge knowing smile, says, “I plan on tricking these guys into showing me all their tricks.” Always be learning starts with a humble attitude and a desire to make the most of every opportunity. Yes, White has a lot to bring to that table but someone with a teachable spirit and a heart for learning will walk away from experiences like these richer for it.

2) Disregard Most Critics: Everyone has a shared experience in receiving criticism. Critics love to cut you down and write you off. A perfect example of this comes from Jimmy Page as he is discussing the harsh criticism that he and the other members of Led Zeppelin received with each album release. Page says that Led Zeppelin IV was only given a one paragraph review. One paragraph!!! For those of you who are unaware, this album contains a wide variety of music and some of rock’s quintessential tracks including Black Dog, When the Levee Breaks, and Stairway to Heaven. Everyone can listen and learn from constructive criticism. However, most critics just love to hear themselves talk. Learn to discern the helpful from the hurtful. Get better from the critics who want to see you do better and ignore the ones who just want to cut you down.

3) God Moves In Mysterious Ways: Jimmy Page says that the only reason he even began playing guitar was because they had moved into a new house and the previous owner had left a guitar behind. The only reason one of the world’s greatest guitar players even picked up a guitar was because some man’s trash became another boy’s treasure. I don’t know what Jimmy Page’s religious persuasion is. I believe that God determines the steps of the believer and non-beliver alike. I believe that coincidences like this are not really coincidences at all. That well worn passage in Jeremiah says that God has plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us hope and a future. He does this- directs our steps- so that we will call on him and seek him with all of our hearts. Maybe God has led you to this place, opened this door, or given you this gift so that you may see him, know him, and seek him. What ever it is you do, do it for the glory of God.

4) Do the Hard Work: The Edge is a master technician. A great aspect of the film is watching him run his guitar through various amps, filters, pedals, and gadgets to produce just the right sound. In fact, The Edge calls the sounds from his guitar “his voice” and righty so. In the film, you get to watch The Edge alone in the studio with just his guitar, equipment, and computer tweaking away at a few chords for what ultimately becomes the opening of “Get On Your Boots.” You see him working late into the night– strumming here, moving a dial there, stepping on a pedal over here- until the final product emerges. What started out as a straight-forward lick becomes and full fledged rock riff. It all came about because the Edge put in the hard work. Many may never know the behind the scenes struggle, the tweaking, or the long hours you put into something but you know that it was in those moments that the project was given life and brought to fruition. Do the hard work every time- even if you are the only one who ever knows.

5) Seize Opportunities: Every U2 fan knows that the band was formed when the boys were schoolmates in Ireland. Larry Mullen, drums, put a flyer up on the school bulletin board to recruit band members. The rest they say is history. The film takes you back to the school with the Edge as tour guide. He walks through the halls and over to the bulletin board telling us that this was where the flyer was posted. The Edge admits that he probably would have joined another band at some point but he wonders what would have been different. Would he have gone on to fame and fortune if he had ignored the flyer? He admits he couldn’t play very well at that time. What if he had seen the flyer but had been too afraid or self-conscious to follow up on it. In a very matter of fact way the Edge says, “Who knows? I could be working at a bank somewhere.” Seize every opportunity! Don’t let fear or critics or even your “small” abilities keep you from pursuing the right opportunities when the present themselves. The Edge answered that flyer and found what he was looking for.

I absolutely loved this film. If you like rock music or documentary films or if like me, you like both of these things, find a theatre showing It Might Get Loud and rock out with your bad self. The music is great, the conversation is great, and you might walk away thinking about more than just rock ‘n roll.

Discipleship, Ethos, Experience, Film & Theology, Ministry, Popular Culture

Choose Wisely

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“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.” (Matthew 13:44-46 TNIV)

It is Indiana Jones Week at the Felkers. We watched Raiders last Saturday and we are trying to squeeze in Temple of Doom tonight (somehow). Tomorrow we will watch Crusade. I am not sure my wife has ever seen The Last Crusade so we will definitely have to watch that one before seeing Crystal Skull on Thursday. Whew! So much action, so little time!

I love watching Dr. Henry Jones run, swing, and punch his way through these adventures chasing after “priceless” pieces of antiquity. There isn’t a risk he isn’t willing to take and we, the audience, cheer him on every step of the way.

Scripture tells us that the kingdom of God can be compared to these great treasures. In fact, the kingdom of God is the greatest treasure of all. In the parables above, Jesus says that when we encounter the kingdom we should treat it like the world’s greatest treasure and that we should do whatever it takes to obtain it. The men in his stories sold all they had just to get their treasure.

Do you realize that we trade the glory and freedom of living in the kingdom for mere trinkets everyday? It should be the other way around!

Spend some time today and meditate on how great the kingdom of God is and what is standing in the way of you obtaining it.

Discipleship, Faith in Action, Film & Theology, Leadership, Life, Ministry, Youth Ministry

GATM: Iron Man

gatmironman2.jpgLast night I kicked off a new series called (creatively) God @ the Movies and we started with the first big movie of the summer, Iron Man.

Until last week I knew virtually nothing about Iron Man. I spent about three hours in a crash course study of all things Tony Stark. I was extremely thankful for two books that helped me craft my lesson for last night. First, I learned a great deal from Iron Man: Beneath the Armor by Andy Mangels. This a brand new resource that I would define as the definitive tome on the Iron Knight. Mangels takes the reader from the jungles of Vietnam where Tony Stark was injured, captured, and forced to escape his captures in the first Iron Man suit through Stark’s battle with the bottle to the film and the current story lines found in the comic book pages. The book contains some great artwork and gives you all you’d ever need to know about Iron Man.

The other book that really helped me out was Who Needs a Superhero? by H. Michael Brewer. Brewer connected the life of Tony Stark with the life of King David. Both men had issues with their hearts. Tony Stark has a piece of shrapnel that inches closer and closer to his heart threatening to kill him at any moment but he struggles with the heart go deeper than mere flesh. He is unlucky at love (one girlfriend shot him) and business (he has made fortunes and lost each and everyone). All the pressures on his life drove him to battle with alcoholism. King David’s issues with the heart are also well documented. Bathsheba, Amnon and Tamar, Amnon and Absalom, Absalom and David. Heartbreak after heartbreak all because David began to trust in his armor over his God.

After his sin with Bathsheba, David penned this psalm:

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” (Psalms 51:1-12)

So what can we learn from this multi-million dollar summer blockbuster and what can we learn from this ancient shepherd-king of Israel? We can look for purpose and joy in the things of this world and trust in the strength of our hands but it won’t heal our broken hearts.

Our hearts can only be made whole again in the hands of our Creator. When we give him our hearts of stone he will give us hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). Only then will we find true purpose and lasting joy.

Yes Lord, create in me a pure heart!

Ethos, Film & Theology, Leadership, Ministry, Popular Culture, Preaching, Remarkable, Sermons, Stories

What is Vision?

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Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18 KJVS)

I began thinking about this verse and I remembered a scene at the beginning of one of my favorite movies, Seven Samurai.

Kurosawa’s 1954 classic film begins with a gang of bandits tearing through the Japanese’s countryside. They come to a stop at the top of the a hill overlooking a small, poor, insignificant village. They are about to attack the defenseless hamlet when their leader reminds them that they attacked this village last season. He tells them that they should come back when the barley harvest is in so that they could really wreak some havoc. They agree and they ride off vowing to return and destroy everything. An older man from the village had been hiding on the hill and he overhears the bandits plans and he rushes down the hill to warn the people.

The very next scene show the entire village weeping and wailing and sitting in the dirt in the center of the village. Some are crying out they they wished that they could die right now. Doom and gloom is all around. Most have given up every ounce of hope.

One young man stands up and proclaims passionately that the villagers must fight the bandits. Most of the older men shout him down telling him that his idea is ludicrous. The older men agree that the course of action must be decided by the leader of the village. Every villager stands up and marches to the old mill where the oldest and wisest man living among them resides. The old man will tell them what they must do.

After much deliberation and thought the old man agrees that they must fight these bandits off. He tells them that they must hire samurai to help protect the people. Many of the men argue with the old man’s words saying that they could never afford to hire samurai. They ask him incredulously, “What Samurai would work for barley and rice?”

The old man responds to their doubt by saying, “We will look for hungry samurai.”

That’s vision.

Without his vision, the people would perish. The old man knew that his people were in trouble. He knew their fears and he knew their limitations. They needed help and they needed a different perspective. The old man exhibited vision to see beyond excuses.

Effective vision is most often the most practical. The people were focused on what prohibited them from surviving. The old man focused on what they had and what would help them survive.

Quit whining and crying about your situation and what you think is keeping you and your people from success.

Go find you some hungry samurai and protect your village.

Discipleship, Film & Theology

A Christian Responds to The Golden Compass 3

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Dust to Dust

As the officials of Jordan College gather around the table in the conference room, Lord Asriel explains to them that they are about see something extraordinary. He shows them a picture of a man and his daemon (soul/conscience). Mysterious elements are flowing like golden flakes from out of the daemon into the man and into the sky. As these elements flow into the northern lights of the sky, a city in a parallel universe can be seen in the distance. The scholars seem confused and awed.

“That,” Lord Asriel tells them, “is Dust.”

From everything that I have studied about the novels, Dust is seen by the Magisterium as the elements of Original Sin. Dust is believed to be dangerous and is to never be spoken of. The Magisterium is seen as wanting to destroy it or suppress it from the people. Dust is what links humans with their daemons and what links us all to the universe and beyond.

However, in the film I was lead to believe that Dust was something good. It was seen as the life force in all living creatures. I never understood exactly why the Magisterium feared it. Lord Ariel seem to be exploring matters of faith and mystery and yet the Magisterium was asking people to give up their faith, to quit acting like children and grow up.

In this way, the Magisterium reminded me of the scholars behind the new atheist movement. Men like Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris who discourage and deride any and every exploration of faith. They accuse people of faith of chasing after flights of fancy with little regard to reason.

Dust was portrayed in the film as the unknown, as a mystery beyond human understanding. It seemed that if life flowed from this ethereal spirit and that the Magisterium was seeking to cut this life away from the people. The Magisterium offered a life of security and control free from the mysterious Dust. Lord Asriel was seen as a fool who traded security for the unknown.

The Bible speaks of a spirit that brings us life and that connects us with a world beyond our own.

1Corinthians 2:10-15
“The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit within? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit–taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,”

2Corinthians 3:6
“He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

Galatians 4:4-7
“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer slaves, but God’s children; and since you are his children, he has made you also heirs.”

1John 4:13
“This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.”

The Spirit is something that is promised to every person who seeks to follow Jesus. It speaks to the mysteries of the created world and guides us into the way of life. There are people that want to cut us away from these mysteries. They seek to make us grow up and to forget about the foolish things of our childhood. They seek to snuff out the “irrational, the unknown, and the religious.” These people however have nothing to do with true Christianity or with Jesus. Jesus offers us a life full of the Spirit, of wonder, of mystery.

I’m chasing the mystery.

Psalms 139:1-18
“You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you.”