Sermon for January 13th, 2013
Contents
Proverbs 3:1-6
My child, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments; for length of days and years of life and abundant welfare they will give you. Do not let loyalty and faithfulness forsake you; bind them round your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favour and good repute in the sight of God and of people. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Joshua 1:9
I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
2nd Corinthians 5:16-21
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Brave
Today is the first sermon in our series "Script & Scripture." But before we jump into today's film script and today's scripture passages, I'd like to take just a few minutes to explain why we're doing this. We love movies, and collectively we spend billions of dollars on them each year. But what place do they have in our church, our worship, and in the sermon? I'll admit, I did think this would be a fun and exciting way to start the new year, and I've already heard of several people outside our congregation who have shown interest in what we're doing. I've also had a few people question or object to some of the films on our list. I picked them, so I'll take both credit and blame for that. I suspect selecting five movies 150 people can agree on would be as hard as selecting pizza toppings 150 people could agree on--which is to say nearly impossible. I tried to choose recent films (all are from 2012), diversity of films (something for everyone), and quality of films--this is of course subjective, but all those chosen have received largely positive reviews, and most have been nominated for several awards within the film industry. So whether you love them or hate them...you're already watching them, talking about them, and thinking about them, and that's exactly what I had hoped for.
One of my dreams for First Presbyterian Church is that we might become a community of "armchair theologians." You already know what an armchair quarterback is, right? That term usually has a negative connotation, but in our case, I think it's a good one. Theology--the study of God and Scripture--is too important to just leave to the professionals. But I don't want you just to be armchair theologians on Sunday mornings: I want you to be armchair theologians when you're out in the world, when you're in the workplace, or in the movie theater. Films influence our culture, but they also reflect it. In turn, for us as Christians to influence culture, we need to understand it, and to understand where our Christian theology merges with our culture, as well as where it diverges from the culture. Films help us do that. They are both mirrors and magnifying glasses. So armchair theologians, with our scriptures held firmly in one hand, and our film scripts held (loosely) in the other, let us begin.
Film Summary
Brave is a 2012 animated film by Pixar and Disney. It is a children's film--how many of you are children? Let me rephrase that: How many of you are the child of a mother and a father? Ok, I think that's all of us. The film is set in medieval Scotland, and centers on a young Scottish princess called Merida. The film begins when Merida, as a small child, is given a bow and arrows by her father, King Fergus. She shoots an arrow into the woods, and when she goes to find it, she encounters a "will-o-the
