Please note, Coco is rated PG. This past Sunday, I preached about Coco and how we don’t need to fear being remembered after this life is done because that is not what gives us a place in God’s Heavenly Kingdom. It is by God’s Grace, and God’s Grace allow that we become part of the Body of Christ, the Communion of Saints, the Kingdom of God. Part of the inspiration came from how many churches have so many plaques to those who died their or served there in the past. The older the church, the more these seem to cover the walls. Yet even in younger parishes, people still seek out and desire to be remembered through these plaques. There is a fear present here, and it is the same as we see in Coco. It is a fear that we will vanish if we are not remembered. Again, this is completely contrary to what we see and believe with our Faith. It also distracts from who the Saints of the church really are. The Saints include those who have died, but they also include us. We forget this too often. We often forget that this is what All Saints’ Day was originally about in the first place. While we should follow the spirit of remembering our deceased loved ones, as Coco reminds us, we shouldn’t forget that we are all part of the Saints of God. Don’t let any memorial plaque ever prevent you from realizing your personal place as part of the Heavenly Kingdom, the Body of Christ, the Saints of the Lord!
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Please note, Encanto is rated PG. In Luke 10:17-20, the Seventy Jesus sends out to proclaim the Word of God return "with joy" that "even the demons submit" to them in Jesus' name. Jesus ends his response to them saying, "do not rejoice at this, that the demons submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."
Encanto gives us a sense of what Jesus means. The Madrigals have superpowers, but they learn this is not what matters most. It wasn't even the point of them receiving their magic candle in the first place, as discussed before. The point of the the candle was to give them a fresh start. Throughout the movie, we see they need a fresh start now. It's not thanks to their powers they are able to rebuild. In fact, it takes rebuilding to get their powers back. Instead, it is their ability to come together, as a family and community, to do the work needed to build their home again that restores them not to their former state but to a new and better way of being for all of them than before. What matters for the Madrigals is that they have a new start, both when they first got their powers and now when they have them back. That is what having our names written in Heaven means. We have gained a fresh start from the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing else matters for us, just as it didn't for the Seventy or the Madrigals. Please note, Encanto is rated PG. At the end of Encanto, the Madrigals rebuild their home, this time with help from the town. While, as you can see from the photos above, the house is rebuilt in the same form, the family itself is not the same. Before the change, Isabela felt pressure to be perfect all the time. This was reflected in her clothing, the flowers she produced with her powers, and the man she allowed her family to arrange her engagement to. However, along the way her sister Mirabel helped her realize she could use her powers to create all different kinds of plant life. She began to experiment with them, making creations that weren't always perfect, yet beautiful none the less. Luisa is incredibly strong, but, as her sister Mirabel learns, worries she'll buckle under the pressure of her responsibilities. By the end of the film, Luisa has her powers back, but now has learned to take time for herself to relax and maintain her strength.
When coming into Faith, we maintain the gifts and strengths God has given us, yet we do not walk away unchanged. We see this through Paul's own journey in Acts. While he regained his sight, he was never the same, joining the early Christians he once persecuted in their mission to reveal God in Jesus Christ to the world. We might look the same after coming to Faith, yet there is something about us that never remains the same. This is what we see in Paul and the Madrigals, especially with Isabela and Luisa. Please note Encanto is rated PG. In our first Encanto post, we saw Alma Madrigal losing her way, paving the path for the cracks in the house and the loss of the candle. For Alma, the miracle is tied up with losing her husband Pedro. It almost seems that her holding on so tightly also comes from wanting to honor Pedro as the family moves forward. However, as she learns, in honoring the past, it is important to know what the miracle is really for. This tension is something we see in the Burial service too. There's a need we have to honor our deceased loved ones. Doing so means honoring who they were in life, and as Christians that means pointing the way for others back to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, a great Burial service places the emphasis is less on the deceased and more on Jesus Christ and the hope of the Resurrection. It becomes a tool of evangelism for believers and non-believers alike. In this way, we can honor the past while also honoring the way forward! Please note, Encanto is rated PG. In Encanto Alma, the head of the Madrigal family, becomes so worried about the state of the miracle that she inadvertently helps cause the cracks in their house, leading to the loss of the Candle. She's so concerned about maintaining the miracle that she forgets it was really about providing the family what they needed: a new start in their time of trouble.
This is similar to what we see in Numbers 20. There, the Israelites are once again complaining, this time that they have no water to drink. God tells Moses to hold his rod up and command the water to come forth from the rocks. Previously God had told Moses to tap the rock to bring forth the water. God tells Moses to do it differently this time so that the people of Israel can see it is not the method but the Lord who is providing for them. Moses forgets this and, out of his own fear, he disobeys God and uses the old method. It works, yet disobeying God costs Moses the opportunity to go into the Promised Land. When we fear or worry, we can often forget our purpose: to love and serve the Lord. Hopefully we can learn from Alma and Moses and remember whose we are and know that God will watch over us, even in the most difficult of times. Please note Encanto is rated PG. The desire not to talk about Bruno brings an interesting dynamic in the Madrigal family in Encanto. Instead of being open about what happened, the Madrigals sweep everything under the rug. This is the opposite of what we see Jesus do. As He prepares to die on the cross, He tells His accusers that: I have spoken openly to the world; I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together; I have said nothing secretly. Not everyone desires to be as open as Jesus. Peter, for example, tells Jesus to be quiet instead of discuss His coming death on the cross. Jesus' response is to tell Peter, "Get behind me, Satan!" Keeping secrets can be extremely unhealthy for families and groups. Jesus realized this. We should too. In Encanto, keeping secrets reaches the point of disfunction, leading to the major problems the Madrigal family faces. Fortunately, though, Bruno's family loves him still, are glad to have him back, and are thankful he's okay. To keep ourselves healthy and out of danger of falling apart, we need to consider following Jesus' example in keeping things out in the open. It's tempting to brush things under the rug, yet that often doesn't help anyone. Instead, it's better to be open about the past so that we might have a brighter, and transformed in Christ, future. Please note, Encanto is rated PG. In Encanto, one family member is missing: Bruno.
Bruno has the ability to see the future. This created problems for him because people more often than not didn't like what they heard. People's treatment of Bruno is not dissimilar from how we often treat God. Often times we don't want to hear what God has to say to us. We even see this in Scripture. When the ancient Israelites don't want to listen to God, they follow their own path, one that leads to their eventual exile. Jonah in his anger at God's forgiveness of Nineveh sulks outside the city gates long enough for a plant to grow up next to him. Jesus is put to death because some of the religious leaders in His time didn't like what He had to say. Peter and Paul had to deal with religious and state authorities who didn't like what God had given them to say either. When others didn't want to hear what Bruno had to say, he thought it was best that he go away. Even though so many have not wanted to hear what God has had to say over the years, fortunately God did not do the same thing. God continues to be an active part of our lives, even when we are ungrateful and follow our own path instead. Instead of blaming the messenger, as Bruno's family and community did with him, we are called to listen to what it is God is saying to us. Even when we don't do a good job of that, thankfully God will remain there for us until the day we are willing to listen. Please note, Encanto is rated PG. Generally when I watch or read something, I have a pretty good sense of whether there is something there for me to talk about with The Gospel according to Superheroes. Encanto was not one of those things.
Then the 3rd Sunday after the Epiphany came. As I looked over the readings for that day, I realized I wanted to talk about how even with the best of intentions, we can go the wrong way down. Often times it takes the miracle of Christ Jesus in our lives to draw us back from our mislaid intentions and bring us back to God. I realized that the crux of Encanto's story spoke to what I was seeing in Scripture. However, It’s a Wonderful Life provided a story that would also connect with those readings, and I felt more people would be familiar with that film. Encanto, though, was perfect for The Gospel according to Superheroes, not least because it is about, in essence, a family of superheroes. Thus the first Encanto post was born. The interesting thing was Encanto fit one of the other readings for that Sunday, the reading from 1 Corinthians. I hadn’t preached on that passage, but it would come up in a Christian Formation session I was working on. With both 1 Corinthians and Encanto on my mind, the second Encanto post was born. The other posts on Encanto came about from my continued thoughts and conversations on the movie, including thinking about the Paschal Candle due to an upcoming Baptism at the time. Right now, I have at least one more idea with Encanto coming soon. After my first watch through, I didn’t immediately see how I could use Encanto for Gospel according to Superheroes. Fortunately I was open enough to listen to God and realize I needed to give it a second look as a tool to see the Gospel message more clearly. That’s really the whole point of Gospel according to Superheroes. What I hope to share is an openness to finding God’s word in even the most unlikely places. I also hope to share what I have learned so that you might be able to hear God speaking to you too, no matter where that might be. Please note, Encanto is rated PG. In Encanto, there's the magic candle that gives the Family Madrigal their powers. It can never go out, otherwise everyone will lose their special gifts.
In some ways, the candle in Encanto reminds me of the Paschal Candle. While there are no dire consequences if it goes out, the Paschal Candle is supposed to remain lit throughout the entire Easter Season (at least for all of worship during that time). The candle in Encanto gives everyone their gifts, and as we've discussed before, these gifts are similar to the gifts we receive through the Holy Spirit. Baptism is the key moment when we receive the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and it is one of the services where we are supposed to have the Paschal Candle displaced and lit, even if it is not in the Easter Season. Finally, the candle in Encanto is given as a miracle to Alma Madrigal as she is escaping with her family from people trying to hurt them. There's a parallel here with the Israelites journeying out of Egypt to the Promised Land. In fact, when the Paschal Candle is lit at the start of the Easter Vigil, there's a mention of the Ancient Israelites' journey. In symbolizing Jesus Christ's death and Resurrection, the Paschal Candle also reminds us of our own journey out of sin and back into our full relationship with God. While the candle in Encanto isn't the same as the Paschal Candle by any means, it is a tool that can remind us what the Paschal Candle is for us as well as its importance to us in our own lives of Faith. Please note, Encanto is rated PG. Recently, I learned of a family whose children declared Encanto their favorite movie. This is because Encanto is one of the few films out there without a real villain or a "bad guy". Instead, the conflict is centered around the family finding their way again.
As I reflected on this knowledge, my thoughts turned to Scripture. If we look at Scripture as a whole, there's not really a conflict with a villain per se. Yes there are times, such as with Jesus' temptation in the desert, where we see a direct conflict with evil through beings like Satan. It's also true that Revelation focuses on the battle of Heaven versus the forces of evil. There's even the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Yet that serpent is merely a tempter for the ones who really go against God: Adam and Eve. And while much of Torah, Joshua, and other books in the Tanakh are centered on the military skirmishes of the ancient Israelites, when we look deeper at Scripture, we see the main conflict is between the people and God. Really the main division in Scripture is between ourselves and God. There's not always a big bad guy for us to have to punch. Sometimes the real battle is the one within. Scripture teaches us that. While there are forces that seek to drive a wedge between us and God, it is ultimately ourselves who create that divide. Fortunately Scripture is also about the work God does to bring us back. For younger children movies like Encanto can be good because they are less scary. They can also teach an important lesson that sometimes the greatest conflict is within ourselves. What Scripture further teaches us, then, is that this battle can be won with God's help, for God is always by our side bringing us away from darkness back into light. |
Please note, there maybe Spoilers in the Posts below!
The Rev. Trey KennedyHere is my take on how Superheroes and other characters can help us know God better. Categories
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