Messenger or Message

There's a movie called Full of Grace and I probably don't recommend it, because it's all shot in VERY dark shadows and moves very slowly...but more importantly, I do NOT know what's going on with it.  I watched the first half today while subbing for the Camp Minister so she could go on the Senior Retreat.

But there is a moment, when Saint Peter goes to the Blessed Mary for help, unsure how to lead the early church (10 years in) and frustrated that the sects are quibbling about doctrine and that conspiracy theories and charlatans are sweeping through the ranks and sometimes helping recruitment.  Because sometimes I worry human nature doesn't change.

Peter says that Jesus wanted His church built on a rock but wonders how he could possibly be a rock for this movement.  The fictional version of Mary tells him, not actually addressing anything he's talking about (and not in the perpetual way TV and movie characters do where they speak needlessly in parables and metaphors), that she believes God turned our biggest weakness as humans into our biggest strength.  We are never satisfied...He filled us with a longing that only He can satisfy.

It sounds so much better when she says it.

It's funny how I think this movie is kind of dumb -- or really dumb -- and SO depressingly and SLOWLY shot.  But there's wisdom buried in it.

I wonder if that's true of everything.  It's a fun game, actually, thinking of the least likely place to find the wisdom of God.  You can get a lot further off the grid than a lousy movie made to appeal to the religious crowd, of course.  But every time we are skeptical at the source of a piece of wisdom, at a sliver of God's light, we are just the people of Nazareth -- shocked the Messiah could be the kid who scraped his knees on their streets.

They call it the ad hominem attack in rhetorical nerd circles.  The argument, the piece of wisdom, the message of God, rejected because of who says it.  And every single time, it feels justified to the person doing it.  They're just trying not to be a fool.

I think we worry about foolishness too much.  We should worry about going deaf to the people who we think should be dumb -- because we don't get to decide where the light of God shines out or in whom.  We ignore a lot of light trying to do so.

In closing, I'd just like to point out for the upteenth time on this blog (I'm pretty sure) that the second verse of Battle Hymn of the Republic is about seeing your enemy on the battlefield worshipping the same God as you and seeing God in those same worried watchfires.

It doesn't mean you don't go to battle if you believe it's right.  But the Light of God is not yours, and you miss a lot not to see the light on their side.

I have seen Him in the watchfires of a hundred circling camps

They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps

I can read His righteous sentence in the dim and flaring lamps

Our God is marching on.