If a Fedex plane crashes and the pilot ejects safely, the nightly news aerial footage will be accompanied by the anchors voice saying, “Here’s a look at the wreckage.” But if a passenger airline crashes and all souls on board are lost, the tone will be more somber and the reporter’s voice will relay, “Behind me you can see the terrible carnage of the flight.”
The most disturbing scene in any dinosaur film is when the Tyrannosaurus Rex, a carnivore, tears into the flesh of the other reptilian beasts.
A carnival was originally a day similar to Mardi Gras, a final “day of the flesh” before entering into a season where you sacrifice pleasures of the flesh.
The Latin root “carne” is shocking. It simply means flesh, and flesh in its carnal nature (there it is again) is often repulsive; flesh is often scandalous.
And yet, I recognize, as someone whose full-time job is in things of Christianity that our faith tradition has a revered word that borrows from this scandalous Latin root, the term “incarnation”.
Those with no familiarity (or perhaps even interest) in this foreign word might ask what all of this has to do with movies; a place known for tearing tickets, smells of popcorn, reclining seats and movie stars.
The relevance is great.
“Incarnation” is a word that comes up at Christmas time. A word that describes the event of a specific baby’s entrance into the world as “God made (into) flesh”.
And yet, this scene is not as serene and ready for a Christmas card as it first appears. This baby was birthed in the average pain and mess of childbirth. This newborn came not in the sterile environment of a hospital, but in the contaminated and unsanitary space of a structure reserved for animals. The visitors that day, shepherds, show up smelling like what they daily walk through.
The original scene of “God made flesh” was repulsive and scandalous, unexpected on God’s part. And yet, the Christian says that of all the ways that the God of the universe could have entered the stage to care for mankind, this was His preferred route.
But again – films, musical scores, movie trailers and Oscars – what does all of this have to do with the movie world?
Well, the incarnation tells us that God’s preferred method of caring for people is not to sit back and let people come to Him once they have cleaned themselves up enough where He might welcome and accept them. He doesn’t wait until they adopt the correct policies and understand the right doctrines. No, His preferred method of caring for people is to come to them in flesh as the stench of their flesh abounds. He comes to them in an appearance that is not only like them, but is them; He speaks the language they speak and lives in the world they live in.
God’s preferred method of caring for people is to come to them in flesh as the stench of their flesh abounds.
Even though it is repulsive and at times scandalous, this is “incarnational care”. And I believe it is a basic principle His followers are to model.
At times, I have seen (and participated in) a Christian system of caring for the outsider that misses the heart of incarnational care. We are willing to care for others only once they enter our realm. Once they understand our Christian lingo, then they can benefit from our truth. Once they step into the church then we can care for them. Once they enter a Christian film then they can hear the message. These things will only happen when they enter into the “sacred” and drop the “secular”.
But these categories of “sacred” and “secular” are dissolved when the sacred stepped into the secular, when God became flesh.
The categories of “sacred” and “secular” are dissolved when the sacred stepped into the secular, when God became flesh.
This truth transcends the theater, but it must be found there. And it must be found in the Christian’s relationships at work, in our interactions with the family next door and how we respond in the culture and issues of the day. We meet people where they are, we get on their level, speaking a language they both understand and use, with words that portray a truth that can change them forever.
As one steps into the theater, I don’t want the non-believer to feel duped and say, “Aha, here is a film that was not made for me, this is a film for the Christian.” No, I want them to not say anything because they intuitively know the film is simply a film, and the film is for them because it is for everyone.
And yet, while this film is speaking their language, it is not speaking their worldview. This movie is taking them down a path that is peculiar and unique, one where in the end they brush up against redemptive aspects of the God who was made flesh.
And the beauty for the Christian is that participation in something like this is not limited to the action found between the opening and closing credits.
While this film is speaking their language, it is not speaking their worldview. This movie is taking them down a path that is peculiar and unique, one where in the end they brush up against redemptive aspects of the God who was made flesh.
