**January at the Movies, 3 Of Gods and Men Matthew 10: ** (4 slides for scripture) ** blank

Transcription

1 **January at the Movies, 3 Of Gods and Men Matthew 10: 5 20 ** (4 slides for scripture) 5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim this message: The kingdom of heaven has come near. 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, [b] drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. 9 Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts 10 no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for workers are worth their keep. 11 Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at that person s house until you leave. 12 As you enter the home, give it your greeting. 13 If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. 14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. 15 Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. 16 I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. 17 Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. 18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. ** blank Every once in a while you come across a movie that really gets into your head I would have loved to have seen Of Gods and Men in a theatre, just to see how others reacted when it ended. I know that Dianna and I just kind of sat there in our living room for a few minutes as the credits rolled, trying to process what we had just seen. And then, as I went through it a second time, looking to choose the scenes that I will show you today, the message in this film continued to resonate in my spirit. It was hard to stop thinking about it. I knew in choosing this film that it was going to be a stretch for some of you all of the other films that we ve done in our January at the Movies series over the past three years have been main-line films. Clint Eastwood, Matt Damon, etc., you know. And then we throw in an admittedly slow moving, French language film with sub-titles but it just shows the confidence I have in the intelligence of this congregation! (You can say Amen!) How many of you managed to locate a copy of this film and view it? I suspected that there would be a smaller percentage of you who might have seen this one than the other weeks, and so 1

2 I decided to show a few more clips today than I normally would both to give you a sense of the story and the fine actors in it, but also, hopefully, to perhaps inspire you to watch the entire film at some point. (And to make that a bit easier, I m going to leave a copy of the DVD and the Blu- Ray disk in our church library, so you can check it out.) ** (Map) Of Gods and Men is a film based on real events that took place in Algeria in 1995 and 1996, centering around a group of Trappist monks stationed in an impoverished Algerian community. This little town is in the middle of a war zone, and the people are suffering the fallout of a civil war between forces of the corrupt government and Muslim extremists. The situation is quickly deteriorating around them, and the brothers realize that they have to decide whether to stay or go. In the end, they are arrested (i.e., kidnapped), and while it is not depicted in the film, they are ultimately beheaded. Since the ultimate execution of these 7 monks, there has been some world wide controversy about who actually was responsible the extremists took credit at the time, but there is also some more recent evidence that they may have been killed by government forces. The movie, however, is not about that, not a documentary trying to assess blame or politicize the whole thing in any way. Of Gods and Men in a deep way, is a movie then, about spiritual discernment. It s about the voice of God speaking to people through Word, liturgy, sacrament, communal life, daily work and ministry. How do we know the will of God in a difficult situation? As tensions grow during the Algerian Civil War, as reports flow in of women killed for refusing to wear the hijab, of Europeans being killed for being Europeans, the monks face the difficult decision of whether to stay or leave. In the film they debate this potentially life-and-death decision together two times. In the first of these meetings, they are divided in their opinions. Some want to stay and some want to go. Their ability to speak freely to each other (speaking the truth in love) is one of the beautiful things in this film. Here s a clip of their first meeting, when they gently, but pointedly, call their leader 2

3 (Brother Christian) to task for not consulting them before he spoke for them to a government official who wanted them out. ** (Video #1) And you see that they are not of one mind when they take their first vote. **(video #2, discussion ) This advice (i.e., to pray further, is heeded by all of the brothers and struggle resulting in final unity is a beautiful thing. Some viewers may be left wondering why they couldn t just pack up and go pray elsewhere (the film critic Roger Ebert even calls it egotism to believe their help must take place in this specific monastery ). What he is missing is what is portrayed wonderfully in the scenes in between their discussions they are tied to this community. They really understand - it s not just about them. The town finds hope in the stability of this monastery which has been there for hundreds of years. The brothers serve these people and clearly love them treating their diseases, feeding, giving advice, celebrating life events with them. They realize that the people are suffering because of this war, too. For the most part, they are innocent bystanders. But the town s people don t have a choice they can t leave. Most views won t know that Trappists, along with other monastic orders, take a vow of stability, a commitment not only to the community of people but to geographical place, in the belief that God works spiritual transformation through this kind of deep rooting. It s a sacred vow for them. For the monks to even consider leaving their monastery, the situation must be dire. In all of this, Of Gods and Men does not portray the monks as perfect individuals. During the discernment process, each individual s weakness surfaces. Again, I appreciated this depiction of their struggle here s a conversation between one of the brothers and Christian, where he clearly expresses the confusion that he is feeling (**video 3 feel nothing ) ** Blank 3

4 Another very powerful scene comes when a rebel group show up at the monastery on Christmas night. They want to take the doctor with them to treat some of their wounded. Brother Christian stands up to them, even as you see the fear written on his face, he is very clear to his mission. To me, this scene personifies true bravery. And like the Apostle Paul on Mars Hill in the Book of Acts, Christian finds common ground with his enemies quoting the Koran to the rebel commander. But as they are leaving he goes a step further and gives a bold witness to these men with guns **(Video #4 See the doc ) You know that Brother Christian understands what he is doing in offering to treat the wounded rebels, and in shaking the hand of this leader, he is making enemies of the world. In another scene, which I won t show, Christian is asked by the Army commander to identify the body of this same man they killed him, and drug his body through the streets behind a truck. Christian s response is No human being should be treated like this. And when he goes in to do the identification, he begins to pray over him, but he is thrown out by the angry commander. ** Blank This is just one of many depictions in this film of what the Scriptures mean when they frequently remind Jesus disciples that they are now representing a different kingdom. We are no longer part of this world, but we belong to the Kingdom of God. And these brothers lived out Scriptural teachings that we find so disconcerting today teachings like Romans 12 if your enemy is hungry, feed him if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. ** Teaching of Jesus, like if a soldier forces you to carry his pack one mile, carry it a second one too, or, You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven (Matt. 5:43-44) Clearly the mission of the these brothers was to personify the love of Christ to a hurting world. And in their everyday lives whether in prayer, working the gardens, giving advice to teenagers 4

5 about love, healing the sick, or responding to angry people with guns, they lived this higher purpose. Even to death. In the course of their prayers, and discussions (both as a group, and one-one-one) they came to unity. Here s a clip of the final vote **Video #5 (Take a Vote) ** Blank Again, to me, something that became very clear, as it was beautifully depicted in this film, was the peace that came upon these men as they not only began to understand God s immediate plan for them, but also as they embraced it. It was liberating and a source of joy for them. I m going to show you one more clip and that will be it. This a scene with Christian and Bro Luc, who is the doctor in the community. And Luc shares something that we come to understand is the sentiment of the entire group: his lack of fear knowing that his life is in Christ. ** Video #6 (free man) Ok I hope you didn t mind all these clips, I know it s a departure from our normal way of doing these messages. I wish we had time to watch the entire movie! Right after taking the final vote on staying, the brothers get together for what turns out to be their last Supper together. It s a very emotional scene, with almost no dialogue. Brother Luc brings out a recording of Tchaikovsky s Swan Lake overture, and some wine. Together, the brothers share in these simple pleasures of life and even more so, in the joy of their brotherhood. You can see the emotion on their faces as the joy is replaced by sadness (perhaps at what they seem to perceive they will have to endure, or what they will be losing, or what the town will be losing), but then even then, in the end they return to joy I ll let you see that one for yourselves. 5

6 There is really not much to say about this film, as it speaks for itself, very powerfully. I found myself moved by the faithfulness of these brothers. I found myself inspired to think about the life I have and to ask myself about my own priorities, about what gives me hope, what upsets me, how much of a priority for me is to simply be in the center of God s will? Is that my source of joy, or do I find it somewhere else? In things, in success, in seeing my plans take priority? These are great questions. And I do hope that you find someone with whom you can talk about them. 6