Sermon for January 8th, 2023
Contents
Deuteronomy 6:1-7
1 “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that the Lord your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, 2 so that you and your children and your children’s children may fear the Lord your God all the days of your life and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. 4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. 7 Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.
Jonah 2:3-7
3 You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. 4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; how shall I look again upon your holy temple?’ 5 The waters closed in over me; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped around my head 6 at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the Pit, O Lord my God. 7 As my life was ebbing away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.
- Film Clip #1: Trailer
Three-Minute Film Summary
For those of you who are new to our annual Faith & Film sermon series, I like to begin each sermon with a summary of the film (minimal spoilers) so that everyone, including those who haven't seen the movie yet, can be more or less on the same page as we discuss its themes. Avatar: The Way of Water is a three-hour long complex film, which is a sequel to the original 2009 Avatar movie, also three hours long. Summarizing the overall story in three minutes is...well, a challenge. But bear with me!
Both films take place in the not-too-distant future, on the fictional world of Pandora. Humans have traveled to Pandora to mine its rich resources, and also in hopes of eventually colonizing it. Pandora is inhabited by a primitive but sentient race called the Na'vi. In the first movie, a former marine named Jake Sully is part of an experiment that puts his mind and consciousness inside a Na'vi body (or avatar) in order to infiltrate and ultimately defeat them. But he falls in love with Pandora, it's culture and people, and with a female Na'vi named Neytiri. He ends up leading the Na'vi to repulse the human invasion force.
In the second film, Jake Sully, now fully Na'vi, is raising a family with Neytiri, when the humans return and renew their attempts to invade and mine Pandora. Fearing for their safety, Jake and his family flee their forest home, and take refuge among a tribe of water-dwelling Na'vi called the Omaticaya. Much of the second film centers on their attempts to learn the ways of a new people in a new home. Eventually he human invaders find Jake and his family, and along with the Omaticaya tribe, they must once again fight for their survival, for their way of life, and for their world. The result is a spectacular film with stunning imagery, a compelling and poignant story, and of course, some very recognizable themes to those who are familiar with the Bible and the Christian message.
So, with all that established, let's dive right in to the waters!
Inventing a Religion
I'm not going to pretend that James Cameron, the writer and director of the Avatar movies, is a Christian or is somehow trying to tell a Christian story. I will say, however, that the Christian story and Christian Bible is so prevalent in our world, our history, our literature and art, and so deeply engrained in our collective psyche, that's it's almost impossible to tell any kind of spiritual, religious story without being heavily influenced by it. And Avatar: The Way of Water is possibly one of the most spiritual films made in recent years.
The The Na'vi people in the film are deeply religious. Like us, they are monotheistic. Their sole deity is named Eywa. Interestingly, if you rearrange the letters of Eywa's name just a bit, you get Yahweh, the name of the Judeo Christian God. Eywa is represented as a female or "mother" God, while Yahweh is represented as a male, or "father" God. In the Christian tradition, while we often refer to God as "He" or "Father" we believe that God actually transcends all gender, and I suspect the Na'vi could say the same of Eywa. In any case, both use the metaphor of God as the "divine parent" of us all.
The Na'vi pray to Eywa, they gather together on a regular basis for worship at sacred places led by a spiritual leader, and they even engage in rituals like "first communion" for their young ones. They believe that when someone dies, their body returns to the elements, but their spirit or soul lives on in eternity. I have to admit, in an era where Hollywood films often belittle and demean people of any religious faith, it's refreshing to see a film that elevates not just spirituality, but the actual practice of religion, prayer, and divine intervention.
