Sermon for January 29th, 2023

• [Film Clip #1: Trailer (3:08)]

Three Minute Film Summary

Director Baz Luhrman begins his film, Elvis, with Colonel Tom Parker narrating the story of young Elvis Presley, who as a child is drawn to two different kinds of Afro-American music in his rural Mississippi hometown: The seductive and sinful blues of the bars and brothels on one hand AND the gospel music and spirituals of the churches and the tent revivals on the other. When he is older, Presley has combined these two influences into his own style, moved to Memphis with his family, where he frequents the black music scene on Beale street, and where Colonel Parker "discovers" him and takes him under his wing. The film follows Presley's meteoric rise to fame, the controversy over his music and movements, his military service, his marriage, his movie career, his decline, his comeback, and the eventual deterioration of his emotional, mental, and physical health, leading to his death at the age of 42.

False Prophets and Unreliable Narrators

The most important thing to realize is that this is NOT really the story of Elvis Presley, at least not the real, historical Elvis Presley. This is the story of Elvis told from the perspective of Elvis' manager, Colonel Tom Parker (played by Tom Hanks). And in the film, Tom Parker tells us over and over again that he is a "snow man" or a con man, an expert at pulling the wool over people's eyes. This is the classic example of what's referred to in literature as an "unreliable narrator," which intentionally makes the whole story unreliable--a distorted blend of fact, fiction, and persuasion that is difficult to sort out. Other examples of Unreliable Narrators include the films Amadeus, The Usual Suspects, Forrest Gump, anything by Franz Kafka, JD Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, and quite possibly the author of the Book of Job. 2 Peter 2:1-3 also weighs in on unreliable people in real life who distort the truth for personal gain:

1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive opinions. They will even deny the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Even so, many will follow their debaucheries, and because of these teachers the way of truth will be maligned. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation, pronounced against them long ago, has not been idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

• [Film Clip #2: Snowmans Coming (1:37)]

Whodunnit?

The story is both triumphant and tragic, and throughout we are asked to consider who was responsible for creating AND destroying Elvis: Did he do it all himself? Was it Col. Parker? Was it the friends and family he trusted? Or was it us--the fans, the viewers who flocked to see him, then abandoned him, then eagerly rubbernecked at the train wreck his personal life turned into?

This, of course, should remind us of Jesus: Who was responsible? The Jewish leaders who accused him? His disciples who betrayed and abandoned him? The crowds who cheered him on Palm Sunday, then turned against him on Good Friday? The Romans who crucified him? Or all of us, whose sins he died on the cross to atone for?

Two Kings

Elvis is the "King of Rock and Roll" and the film focuses on his rise and fall. In the Bible, there's another King whose life had a similar trajectory: Listen to how 1 Kings 4:29-34 describes Solomon at the beginning of his reign:

29 God gave Solomon very great wisdom, discernment, and breadth of understanding as vast as the sand on the seashore, 30 so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 He was wiser than anyone else, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, children of Mahol; his fame spread throughout all the surrounding nations. 32 He composed three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five. 33 He would speak of trees, from the cedar that is in the Lebanon to the hyssop that grows in the wall; he would speak of animals, and birds, and reptiles, and fish. 34 People came from all the nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.

If you substitute the word "talent" for "wisdom" that description could have fit the King of Rock and Roll, too. But Solomon was led astray by bad advice, and by his own lusts, anxieties, and exhaustion. Listen to him again near the end of his life, in Ecclesiastes 1:7-11:

7 All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they continue to flow. 8 All things are wearisome, more than one can express; the eye is not satisfied with seeing or the ear filled with hearing. 9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has already been in the ages before us. 11 The people of long ago are not remembered, nor will there be any remembrance of people yet to come by those who come after them.

I'll Fly Away

Early in the film, Col Parker is lurking in the background, watching the Presley family sing the spiritual "I'll Fly Away."

[Film Clip #3: Fly Away 1 (0:30)]

This leads Elvis to a flashback from his childhood; same song:

[Film Clip #4: Fly Away 2 (0:57)]

The words to I'll Fly Away come from Psalm 55:5-7: "5Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me. 6 And I say, “O that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest; 7 truly, I would flee far away."

Interestingly, it's a Psalm written by King David complaining about the treachery of one of his closest advisors. Later in the Psalm he says: "My companion laid hands on a friend and violated a covenant with me 21 with speech smoother than butter but with a heart set on war, with words that were softer than oil but in fact were drawn swords."

A little bit later in the film, the flying motif shows up again:

• [Film Clip #5: Ready to Fly (0:35)]

Finally, at the end of the film, just before his death, a lonely and dejected Elvis says goodbye (perhaps to the world) and really does get on a plane to fly away...and then we hear him speak (it's actually a quote from a Tennessee Williams play):

• [Film Clip #6: Bird with no legs (0:54)]

Rather than ending with the tragedy of Elvis' death, the film continues with a flashback to Elvis' final concert where he sings Unchained Melody, followed by a montage of real footage of Elvis Presley. It's a moving ending. Col Parker, our unreliable narrator, makes his closing argument, too, which I won't spoil. But I want to end this sermon in a different way, given the recurring theme of birds and flight. Let's call it wishful thinking--what I wish Elvis (either the real one or the fictional one) could have known or understood at the end; the other way in which we, as God's children, can fly away to the rock of eternity. We can't do it on our own. It takes more than talent, more than a manager, more than a family, even--it requires the divine providence of the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.

Isaiah 40:28-31. "Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless. 30 Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted, 31 but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."