Psalm 105:1-11, 45b First Presbyterian, Pasadena Romans 8:26-39 July 30, JESUS AND THE MOVIES: PARADISE ROAD James S. Currie

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1 Psalm 105:1-11, 45b First Presbyterian, Pasadena Romans 8:26-39 July 30, 2017 JESUS AND THE MOVIES: PARADISE ROAD James S. Currie I daresay that the words we just read from Paul s letter to the Romans are more familiar to most of us than his words from the same chapter that we read each of the past two weeks. They are uplifting and powerful words of comfort. They point to Jesus Christ as the emblem of the love of God. They point to the role and mission of those who have been claimed and called as representatives of his kingdom. They point to the role of the Spirit in the lives of those kingdom representatives. How can we hear these words and not be inspired by them? How can we hear them and not want to give our very best as followers of Jesus Christ? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?... Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. And then this passage reaches its climax with an extraordinary claim by Paul: For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. These words are addressed to Christians in Rome, the capital city of the Empire. It was not a popular time or place to be part of the Christian movement. Not for another two-and-a-half centuries would the Christian faith even be considered acceptable in that 1

2 part of the world. In 1997 a movie came out that, at least initially, did not receive much publicity or favorable reviews. Paradise Road, starring Glenn Close, tells the true World War II story of women who were in Singapore in Malaysia with their husbands, some of whom were military, some of whom were diplomats, and some of whom were businessmen, when the Japanese attacked and took them prisoner. It was February 1942 when the Japanese attacked and took Singapore. The Japanese separated the women and children from the men, and tortured them. The prison camp was in the jungle where conditions were deplorable and many of the women and children died. The nationalities represented in these Japanese internment camps were Dutch, English, Irish, Portuguese, Chinese, and Australian. After two years one of the women, Adrienne Pargiter, wife of a tea planter and a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, played by Glenn Close, and Margaret Drummond, a missionary, decided to pool their talents and start an orchestra. Initially, the Japanese prison guards were not amused and thought the women were planning some kind of conspiracy. What kind of orchestra was this to be? Many of the women were skeptical. They had no instruments. Besides, they were not interested in antagonizing the guards any more than they already had. But Adrienne persisted. They would not need any visible instruments. The only instrument they needed was their voices. No words, just an Ah. Eventually, enough women were on board with the idea and Adrienne would write the music. When, finally, they were ready to perform -- if only for themselves -- the main guard went to get the head guard. As he was going, the voices of the women began to 2

3 join together, in parts, singing the music of the peaceful Largo movement to Antonin Dvorak s New World Symphony. You may recognize it as Martha plays part of it now. In the end they performed more than 30 works. Many of those women did not survive the war, but some did, including Betty Jeffrey whose 1954 book inspired this movie. Such an effort not only lifted the spirits of the women and children in that intern camp, but it seemed also to lift the spirits of the prison guards. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Sometimes the Spirit looks like, or sounds like, a piece of music, one that speaks to us in ways that words cannot. There s certainly biblical precedent for it. Many, if not most of the psalms, were, we think, often sung. David soothed the troubled mind of King Saul by playing music. While in prison, we are told, Paul and his companions would often sang hymns. Even at the last supper, we are told that Jesus and his disciples sang a hymn (Matthew 26:30). Beyond the Scriptures, consider the gifts such composers as Isaac Watts and John Wesley and Fanny Crosby, among many others, have bequeathed to the church. Singing some of those hymns not only testifies to the gospel, but it also brings comfort and strength, particularly at times of grief. Or think of how Handel and his oratorio Messiah or Mendelssohn s Elijah or Brahms Requiem have inspired and comforted so many. Last week, when we considered the movie The Shawshank Redemption, we saw how prisoner Andy Dufresne felt liberated by rebelling against the warden and the 3

4 system by playing Mozart s Marriage of Figaro and then keeping it in his mind and heart while serving two weeks in solitary confinement. Maybe your music of choice is something else, perhaps not what most consider religious music at all. Paul concludes this particular passage with that great affirmation: For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Such powerful words! And yet, instead of telling us what cannot separate us from the love of God, suppose Paul had written something with a more positive tone, something like: For I am convinced that God can speak to us of the love, grace, and presence of the Spirit of Jesus Christ in the direst of circumstances -- through music, through speeches, through art, through literature, and in ways we cannot even imagine. Perhaps Paul s way is more powerful. Nevertheless, I suspect that even with the words, How could we sing the Lord s song in a foreign land? (Psalm 137:4), the psalmist somehow found a way to sing the Lord s song in Babylon and take comfort in it. Those women in that Japanese internment camp found a way to sing the Lord s song in a strange land, one in which they faced torture, starvation, and death. I suggest that even those who did not survive those circumstances took great comfort and solace from the beautiful music that that vocal orchestra offered. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. That s the gospel for those facing grief, depression, fear, anger, anxiety, loneliness, doubt. Not even those circumstances 4

5 can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. So, friends, what songs give you faith? What songs do you find uplifting? What music inspires you? What music seeks you out and speaks to you? As people of faith, we have deep wells from which to draw. Thanks be to God for the gift of music and the proclamation of the gospel of hope, faith, love, and mission through it! 5