Sermon for February 12th, 2023
Contents
John 15:12-17 (NT p. 109)
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing, but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
Faith & Film XI - Top Gun: Maverick
- [Film Clip #1 - Trailer]
Three Minute Film Summary
Top Gun Maverick takes place a little over thirty years after the events of the original Top Gun Film. Pete Mitchell, known by his call sign "Maverick" is now a test pilot whose military career seems to have stalled. Although he has a long list of achievements, he also has a long pattern of defying orders, getting in trouble, and then getting bailed out by his long-time friend and former rival, Tom "Iceman" Kazansky (now Admiral Kazansky).
When this pattern repeats itself at the beginning of the film, Iceman recalls Maverick to to the Top Gun school where they first met. This time, his task is to train a group of young pilots (all recent graduates of the Top Gun program) for a dangerous mission over enemy territory. Among the young pilots is Bradley Bradshaw (call-sign Rooster) who is the son of Maverick's best friend and co-pilot Goose, who tragically died in the first film.
The heart of the film centers on the strained father-son-type relationship between Maverick and Rooster, the grueling challenges faced by the pilots as they train, and Maverick's struggle to let go of the past and face an ever-changing future with courage, humility, and grace. Well...that and some pretty harrowing flight maneuvers, lots of explosions, things going really fast, beach football, great one-liners, and...sunglasses.
