The Gospel
According to PIXAR, pt 2
“The Power of Love”
By Rev Steven R
Mitchell
Mountain View
United Church, Aurora 7-14-2013
This
past Thursday, the new Resilience Center of Aurora, the first in the nation,
was dedicated. It is a counseling center
designed to help communities such as ours to cope with sever trauma and was
inspired by last year’s tragic shootings at the Cineplex 16 theater where 12
people were killed and more than 50 injured and of the hundreds of people who have
lost their homes these past two years from forest fires. At the actual dedication, a sister of one of
the young men killed spoke of hope with the cutting of the red ribbon. A little later there was an amazing young man,
his name is Marcus, spoke to Aurora faith leaders about his experience of being
shoot twice in his arm and the death of his girlfriend and how that experience
has challenged him to go into many communities and share his story of faith and
deepened commitment to God’s message of love.
I was once again reminded about how
God’s presence is found in the most threatening of circumstances such as that
evening last July 20th, as well as in the peace and tranquility of my
office as I prepare weekly to share about God’s teachings that give us
direction, hope, strength, and wonderment on our journey in life. Almost a month ago I had decided upon the
summer series of “The Gospel According to Pixar” as a way of helping us
understand secular societies language that speaks the words of God and of the
human condition in a non-church vocabulary.
Over a month ago, I had decided upon which dates each PIXAR movie that
I’m going to talk about would be presented in Worship, as well as which films
would be shown at our family movie nights, and here this week I was being nurtured
through amazing events such as Marcus’ story at the Resilience Center.
Even this past Saturday morning in the simple act of
passing out breakfast burrito’s to “day laborers” provided more stories of hope
and the opportunity of providing a presence of Christ to men who live in fear
of not being able to provide an adequate living for themselves and their
families, or living in fear of being visible to ICE, which is the governmental
police that arrest non-documented people living in our country. On this particular Saturday there seemed to
be more men opening up to us in conversation, sharing their stories. We also feed a number of homeless folks near Colfax
and Dayton, where we were asked to provide prayer for one man who was filled with
anger over becoming homeless. The love
that this church provided through our being there that morning through our
passing out breakfast burrito’s is an act of giving without expecting anything
in return. We do not go out and try to
convert the people we are serving, we are just providing food that says in our
presence, “we are here because God asks us to share what we have with
you.” It is an act of unconditional
love. It is telling these men and women
who are now recognizing our faces that we are there for them with no strings
attached. That my dear brothers and
sisters is a strong message in sharing God’s love.
This week the story from “Monsters, Inc” is our
topic. It’s a topic dealing with life
that is running on fear verses life that is operating on love. It is a
story about two monsters, Sully and Mike, who work at a factory of the
Monsters, Inc Company. Together, with a
host of other monsters, Sully, Mike, and one of the villains, Randall, work to
collect “screams” from children by visiting their rooms at night. The louder the screams, the more energy they
collect. These screams are converted to
energy which powers the city of Monstropolis.
One day at the factory, Sully and Mike encounter a little girl, “Boo,”
who has snuck into the monster world from the human world via her closet
door. In Monstropolis, human children
are considered a possible fatal health risk. (We would say, bio hazard.) Sully
and Mike discover this is false, and subsequently develop affection for
Boo. They then spend the rest of the
movie trying to get her back to her world, keeping her safe from the evil
intentions of Randall and Mr Waternoose, CEO of Monsters, Inc. During the process of trying to get Boo home
safely, Sully discovers Boo’s laughter is ten times more powerful than her
screams. After Sully and Mike defeat
Randall and Mr. Waternoose, Monsters, Inc, changes from a “scare” factory to a
“laugh factory.”
There are many directions with respect to social
justice that this movie can direct discussion on, such as immigration,
abortion, death penalty, gay marriage, prison reform, inner city crime, misuse
of our world’s resources and the list goes on, but the primary focus of this
movies message is the relationship between love and fear. I’m speaking about the one directional love
that we understand within scripture, but out of fear, are usually not able to
really wrap our heads around, because God’s message generally requires more
change within us than what we are willing to do.
In this movie we see where Boo is playing the part of
the lover who is giving consistent “unconditional love” toward the monsters who
truly are threatening and create fear, even to the point that she could be
killed. It is in this unconditional love
of Boo’s that Sully, who Boo calls “Kitty”, realizes that his self-worth isn’t
wrapped up in his ability to scare children, but is found because he is simply
being loved. Hear once again the words
of Jesus, “27-30 “To you who are ready for the truth,
I say this: Love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the
worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer
for that person. If someone slaps you in the face, stand there and take it. If
someone grabs your shirt, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. If
someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant
life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.”
If we could actually incorporate
this one teaching within our personal lives and thus in the life of Mountain
View, we would become the talk of Aurora.
We say we are an inclusive church, but how welcome would someone be if we
knew that they were a convicted murdere, who has paid their debt to society, comes
to worship with us? Would this person be
able to be open about who they are and what their past has been and be truly embraced
by the congregation? That’s the
challenge that we have when we are confronted with God’s word about changing
ourselves to the point that we can actually act as Jesus acts.
Little did I
know that I would be hearing first hand this week a story of one person’s life
who lived minutes of fear that involved physical danger and how he lives day by
day with the scripture that comes from 1John 4, “18 There is no fear in
love. But perfect love drives out fear…”.
Marcus could easily have become a victim in more than just being shot or
losing his girlfriend that night; he could be living day after day in fear, filled
with hate toward the man who pulled the trigger on so many, not able to build a
life for himself , moving beyond fear and living in the state of forgiveness. I know of another story where another young
man who watched the twin towers of the World Trade Center crumble by terrorist
acts twelve years ago is much different.
What is the difference between these two men that allows one
to continue to build his life while the other is paralyzed by fear? In one story, I heard much discussion about a
relationship with God, in the other story I never heard any discussion about a
relationship with God. That is the
difference, I believe. For one young
man, life is lived out in fear because there is not a sense that love is present,
a love that transcends all normal understanding; after all, that is what
terroristic activity tries to instill: a sense of isolation, of no hope, of
creating fear so strong that you are unable to understand or recognize love
that transcends.
“10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us…”
“19
We love because he first loved us.” In the movie Monsters, Inc, the little
girl Boo had this unending love for the scariest monster in Monstropolis,
Sully. It was this love that helped change
the life and the focus of Sully; so much so, that he started to risk the loss
of his career, of his friends, even to not see little Boo once he returns her safely
to her home.
The power of this story is found in the reality that love is
so much stronger than that of fear. It’s
a love that is not requiring anything in return, but by its power can change
lives. It can change a monster like
Sully into a lovable kitty; it can change a young man’s life like Marcus into a
ambassador for God’s healing power and guiding light. Let us continue to power our own lives with
the power of love. Amen
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