jcardinell

Saturday, July 22, 2006

The Lady in the Water

A savior comes to earth. The savior comes from a land of perfection that, while it knows evil, is not corrupted by evil. The savior comes with the power to lead the earth into love and peace. That power is instilled into man and that man will suffer a martyrs death as he fulfills his purpose. With the completion of the good work, the savior must ascend to the perfect world. The evil beast is working to kill the savior and prevent the ascension. The ascension must happen to usher in the kingdom of peace promised by the savior. Those chose before the foundation of the world all play their part to usher in the kingdom. The guild works, the healer heals, the interpreter teaches humanity, and finally the guardian is there to protect.

This is a summary of M. Night Shyamalan new movie, the Lady in the Water. This movie is a bed time story. Like every bed time story, this story has a moral. This movie tells us, like Signs, that we are all here for a purpose. However, this story moves past the generalities of that movie. Lady in the Water is a picture of the Christian Church. The plot line spends most of its energy finding the disciples who will usher in the kingdom. These disciples must all use the skills given to them by fate, by God(?). If it were not for these disciples, the kingdom of peace could not take its place in the world. However, it is only as they come together as one body that they are able to fulfill their purpose.

The Lady in the Water does not stop with ecclesiology. This story touches on the question of theodocy. This is the human question. The story asks us, where is justice? Why is evil allowed to wage war without judgment? We learn from this story that, while justice is slow in coming, it is coming. Justice comes just in time. Just in time to teach us what we need to learn and to let us see what we need to see.

Did M. Night Shyamalan set out to write a story about the church? I don’t know. Maybe he is just answering the questions that plague all of humanity. Why am I here? Why do I enjoy doing crossword puzzles? Why have I been placed in this seemingly meaningless situation? Moreover, does God care about me; does he care that I hurt? I don’t know M. Night Shyamalan, but one has to wonder about his spiritual journey. From The Village’s critic of religion the to Signs’ observance that their some sort of order in the universe to this present bedtime story we can see that he (or maybe we as the viewer) is headed somewhere. I wonder where the journey will lead.

Friday, July 14, 2006

K-Love did this article on our church's Summer Evangelism project.....

I thought some of yall might wanna hear it....(and pass it on)

click on this link (http://www.klove.com/News/Default.aspx)
then click on "spiritual"
then click on "Listen" (below the title "thousands impacted by Mississippi church summer of service")
(by the way "impact" is not a verb!) :)

I am not sure how often they rotate these stories, but
right now it is at the top of the list.

and if you have k-love in your area tune in to the hear
the radio version of this article.