My Power Rangers and I have been grappling with the above phrase for several days. Then one of us led our amazing Sunday school class this morning on the same subject. She talked about "Spiritual Materialism," which to me means the constant striving to DO more vs. accepting who were are created to BE and finding God deep within ourselves.
In the midst of all this Dave and I went to the movies on Friday to see "The Adjustment Bureau." As you know, I love movies. Always have. I love the big screen. I love being with a lot of other people but not having to talk to them.
But "The Adjustment Bureau," starring Matt Damon, one of my favorite actors (and he seems like a pretty good human being as well), is a mess.
It depicts God and a bunch of angels dressed like 1960s IBM employees as controllers of our lives. And the goal is to get from point A to point B. As one of the angels says, God (The Director) doesn't care about our emotions, just our actions.
What?
I thought our emotions; love, hate, guilt, greed, sadness, joy, courage, to name a few, were the whole ball game. They're what prompt our actions. Remember when Jimmy Carter got into trouble because he confessed to lusting in his heart?
I always thought God wanted our biggest motivator of our actions to be love.
By the way, just so's you know, "The Adjustment Bureau" has a terrible ending. It's the equivalent of the big car chase - only on foot - then it's over.
To top off this deep theological dilemma dealing with the statement "You are what you seek," my minister ended his communion sermon this morning with a reminder of the ending of the 1984 Sally Field movie, "Places in the Heart."
The ending takes place in an old country church in the south. They're having communion. (I may not have this just right because I saw the movie 27 years ago.) Sally takes the communion plate, passes it to her long dead husband. He passes it to the man who killed him. He passes it to a black man who was brutally murdered, he passes it to a blind man who can now see, and so on.
One of the best movie endings - ever!
***
In the midst of all this Dave and I went to the movies on Friday to see "The Adjustment Bureau." As you know, I love movies. Always have. I love the big screen. I love being with a lot of other people but not having to talk to them.
But "The Adjustment Bureau," starring Matt Damon, one of my favorite actors (and he seems like a pretty good human being as well), is a mess.
It depicts God and a bunch of angels dressed like 1960s IBM employees as controllers of our lives. And the goal is to get from point A to point B. As one of the angels says, God (The Director) doesn't care about our emotions, just our actions.
What?
I thought our emotions; love, hate, guilt, greed, sadness, joy, courage, to name a few, were the whole ball game. They're what prompt our actions. Remember when Jimmy Carter got into trouble because he confessed to lusting in his heart?
I always thought God wanted our biggest motivator of our actions to be love.
By the way, just so's you know, "The Adjustment Bureau" has a terrible ending. It's the equivalent of the big car chase - only on foot - then it's over.
To top off this deep theological dilemma dealing with the statement "You are what you seek," my minister ended his communion sermon this morning with a reminder of the ending of the 1984 Sally Field movie, "Places in the Heart."
The ending takes place in an old country church in the south. They're having communion. (I may not have this just right because I saw the movie 27 years ago.) Sally takes the communion plate, passes it to her long dead husband. He passes it to the man who killed him. He passes it to a black man who was brutally murdered, he passes it to a blind man who can now see, and so on.
One of the best movie endings - ever!
***
