Sermon for February 18th, 2018
Contents
John 10:11-18
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”
Faith & Film VI: Dunkirk / Darkest Hour
Three? Minute Film Synopsis(es)
Both of these tremendous films tell the same historical story, from different perspectives, from different sides of the English channel: the events of and leading up to the evacuation of British forces from Dunkirk in May of 1940 at the beginning of World War II.
The Darkest Hour begins with Winston Churchill's ascension to the position of Prime Minister in England--a position which no one else wanted at the time, and which no one thought Churchill particularly well-suited for. At one point, he tells his wife, "I’m getting the job only because the ship is sinking. It’s not a gift, it’s revenge."
Nevertheless, Churchill shows courage and resolve at a time when Britain's army faces near-certain defeat, and resists the call to begin "peace talks" (meaning, surrender to the Nazis).
The film Dunkirk, meanwhile, tells the story of those British forces, surrounded on all sides by the German Army. The film unfolds on three fronts: In the air, on sea, and on land. We see the heroic bravery of fighter pilots who continue to fight even when their fuel reserves run out, of civilians who pilot small boats across the channel to bring soldiers home, and the soldiers themselves as they wait anxiously and under fire on the beaches of Dunkirk in France.
Both films end with the successful evacuation of the British Army, and Churchill's famous speech promising that "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender."
Powerful Words, Powerful Silence
Despite both films ending with that famous speech, both take entirely different approaches to the use of words.
The Darkest Hour spends a great deal of time emphasising Churchill's skill as a wordsmith, and we see countless scenes of him writing, dictating, revising, and delivering his words. One of the best lines of the entire film comes at the very end, right after he has delivered his famous and stirring "on the beaches" speech. As the entire British Parliament rises in a standing ovation, someone asks Churchill's rival, Lord Halifax "what just happened?" Halfix responds that the prime minister "just mobilized the English language and sent it into battle."
Dunkirk, on the other hand, when it comes to the spoken word, is a study in minimalism. Just for fun, I downloaded the screenplay, cut out all the screen directions, and pasted the film's entire spoken dialog onto one page, single spaced, 12-pitch font. Christopher Nolan, the film's director, tells his story with striking images, with tense action, with jarring sound effects (including the sound of a ticking clock that fades in and out throughout the film) and often with a prolonged, eerie, uncomfortable silence.
Divinity vs. Humanity
- [http://youtube.com/watch?v=MRyq37Bcijw Film clip #?? - Imperfect
The Good Shepherd
