Last night in our Ash Wednesday service we showed two movie clips as a part of the Liturgy. They appear at two separate times and pertained to particular Scriptures of Lent. They fit the moment very well.
Scene One, Schindler’s List: This was the scene where a large group of Jewish people were outside shoveling snow when a Nazi guard pulled one man and shot him in the head. The blood stained the ground as it ran down from his head to the tip of his fingers.
Scene Two, Crash: In this scene the Persian shop owners walks up to Daniel, the Latino locksmith who he thinks has destroyed his shop. There is yelling back and forth as Daniel keeps point at his daughter for her to stay inside the house. Scared, the daughter runs out to her dad with the mom right behind. (spoiler alert). As she gets to her dad the gun goes off right in the daughters back. The father let’s a cry from the bottom of his heart. The mom breaks down. We come to find out that the daughter has not been shot. The parents are thankful. The Persian man is confused.
Did I mention that we watched these scenes without audio?!? Amazing! Powerful! I could hear the cry of the father when he thought his daughter was shot ring in my head from when I watched the movie the first time. I heard it so clear.
Why I am saying this?
I say this because I am curious to know what movies, books, songs, poems, etc, whatever, become those resources that help move us, that help us live faithfully. What helps change our worldview to the kind of worldview formed by the liturgy? What helps us live out our baptisms Eucharistically? These are the questions with which I am curious? These kinds of things do not have to be “Christian” in the manner that we have “Christian music” and “non-Christian music.” U2 for example is a good example of “non-Christian” music. Crash then, in this sense, becomes a Lenten reality for us. I have been considering the Iron and Wine On Your Wings song as particularly Lentful (did I make up that word?).
God, there is gold hidden deep in the ground
God, there's a hangman that wants to come around
How we rise when we're born like the ravens in the corn
on their wings, on our knees crawling careless from the sea
God, give us love in the time that we have
God, there are guns growing out of our bones
God, every road takes us farther from home
All these men that you made how we wither in the shade
of your trees, on your wings we are carried to the sea
God, give us love in the time that we have
So, help me out. Help me think through this.
4 comments:
Great song!
I have so many I don't know if I can make a list. A few things that come to mind emidiatly are the book "My Name is Asher Lev" by Chaim Potak, The movie Shawshanke Redemption, and so much music I don't know what to single out.
Your post haqs inspired me to make a playlist for lent, I will post in a bit. Thanks Scott!
A playlist is a fantastic idea!
I watch a lot of movies, mostly foreign classics, but the ones that stand out to me most as far as Lent goes, would have to be Krzysztof Kieslowski's The Decalogue, which was originally released on Polish television, Robert Bresson's Diary of a Country Priest, and Werner Herzog's Strozsek. Painful viewing the lot of them.
As far as books go, my favorite reading for Lent is Hans Urs Von Balthasar's Mysterium Paschale.
By the by, it is great to see you on here, Scott. Danica and I miss you guys.
One more! The movie Au Hasard Balthazar is another excellent Lenten movie.
Post a Comment