Avengers Assemble - Freedom, Faith and Friendship

The second film in our Film and Fatih series was Avengers Assemble. Here are some thoughts about some of the themes in the film. (Again, Spoiler Alert, obviously)

Not alone but part of something bigger

Individual Avengers only become effective as they learn to work together:

Loki: "What have I to fear?"
Tony Stark: "The Avengers. It's what we call ourselves, it's sort of like a team. Earth's mightiest heroes, that type of thing..."

Being a Christian means being part of an incredible team and learning to value and work with people who are different to us:

1 Corinthians 12: Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it... If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.

A God worth our worship

Loki demands submission but doesn’t deserve it:

Loki: Kneel before me. I said…KNEEL!!! [Scares the crowd into submission]

Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It is the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power; for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel.

Old German Man: [stands up] Not to men like you.

Loki: There are no men like me.

Old German Man: There are always men like you.

Jesus deserves our worship because he has given himself for us:

Revelation 5:9: And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.

An unnecessary God?

The film suggests that humans are too complex and clever to be ruled. We don’t need gods:

The Other (in mid-credits scene): Humans. They are not the cowering wretches we were promised. They are unruly and therefore cannot be ruled. To challenge them…is to court death.

The bible tells us that our cleverness can sometimes blind us to our need for the real God:

Romans 1: For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images...

False gods and evil people can make us feel disillusioned but...

Romans 5:8: But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Natasha Romanoff: These guys come from legend. They're basically gods.

Steve Rogers: There's only one God, ma'am. And I'm pretty sure He doesn't dress like that.

The Hunger Games - The Power of Hope

This Autumn we have begun a series of Film & Faith evenings where we watch a popular film and them have a short discussion about it. The idea is to try to think 'Christianly' about the things we watch. The first film we watched was The Hunger Games, the first in the incredibly popular series based on the books by Suzanne Collins.Here are some thoughts about it (NB Spoiler Alert. But then... you're probably only reading this if you've already seen the film. Right?):

In a hopeless world, President Snow uses hope to control and manipulate people:

President Snow: Seneca... why do you think we have a winner? 

Seneca Crane: [frowns] What do you mean? President Snow: I mean, why do we have a winner? I mean, if we just wanted to intimidate the districts, why not round up twenty-four of them at random and execute them all at once? Be a lot faster. [Seneca just stares, confused] President Snow: Hope. Seneca Crane: Hope? President Snow: Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous. A spark is fine, as long as it's contained. Seneca Crane: So...? President Snow: So, CONTAIN it. 

In a hopeless world, Jesus embodies hope and offers it freely and generously to all:

Romans 15:12-13:  And Isaiah says, “A new king will come from the family of Jesse. He will come to rule over the gentiles, and they will have hope because of him.” I pray that the God who gives hope will fill you with much joy and peace while you trust in him. Then your hope will overflow by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Katniss shows that hope can inspire change.

The manipulation in the hunger games goes wrong and Katniss ends up inspiring ‘too much’ hope in people, such that they begin to fight against the unjust system.

The hope Jesus gives doesn’t manipulate, it inspires us and gives us true purpose:

Titus 3: 4-8:  But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour was shown, he saved us because of his mercy. It was not because of good deeds we did to be right with him. He saved us through the washing that made us new people through the Holy Spirit. God poured out richly upon us that Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ our Saviour. ⁷ Being made right with God by his grace, we could have the hope of receiving the life that never ends. This teaching is true, and I want you to be sure the people understand these things. Then those who believe in God will be careful to use their lives for doing good. These things are good and will help everyone.

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The Real Easter

Have you seen the ‘Real Easter Egg’? It’s a fairtrade Easter egg that includes both delicious chocolate AND the story of Jesus. What a great way to remember the real reason we celebrate without taking away the fun of eating large amounts of chocolate! Usually, when it comes to passing on the good news of Jesus, Easter eggs are a bit of a distraction. Along with the Easter bunnies and lambs and flowers they provide a backdrop of ‘new life’ symbolism that’s almost as sickly sweet as the chocolate itself! The real story of Easter is a bit more edgy! Jesus did come to bring new life...because there was such a massive problem with the old one! Jesus didn’t just come with a message of bunnies and flowers and ‘everything’s fine’. He came because the world isn’t fine. When Jesus was criticised for spending time with some of the less accepted members of his society, he explained, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. I didn’t come to invite good people to be my followers. I came to invite sinners.” Yup... I’m afraid the real Easter story starts with sin – real, horrible, deadly sin. But in his incredible love, God responded to our sin by sending Jesus to die on the cross. It’s not an image that fits with the cute, cheap niceness of commercial ‘Easter’. It’s not ‘nice’ but it is ‘good’ and Jesus sacrifice on Good Friday paved the way for his glorious resurrection on Easter Sunday. We too can share in his new life: the real, resurrection life that lasts forever!

For an account of the real Easter story designed to appeal to teenagers and young adults see 'The Third Day' published by the Good Book Company. (See the trailer below) Definitely no bunnies in sight and you'll have to provide your own chocolate!

It's a wrap!

The filming portion of the youth video project is finished...at last! It took several weeks longer than we planned and involved a lot more gaffer tape and barbecue skewers that you might imagine but the footage is finally ‘in the can’. Now we’ve just got to edit it all! Some of the outer-space scenes were filmed on a green screen, set up in St Aldhelm’s church centre. Assistant editors William and Matt have helped transform some of those scenes into truly intergalactic experiences (see the clip below).  The crew of the starship ‘Destiny’ are currently in Catharine’s computer, having their voice recordings matched with their puppet performances. They will be launching off on their adventures in time for the children’s holiday club at Emmanuel church during the Easter break. It might not sound as if it has much to do with the Easter story but actually Captain Adamson and his crew will be illustrating some really big ideas like sin, salvation, forgiveness and eternity!

Teens record new song

A couple of our young people have recorded a song to be used alongside the youth video project at our various church holiday clubs this year. The tune is Katy Perry’s ‘Firework’ but Catharine has written some new lyrics all about God’s great, cosmic plan to save his people. The recording was done at St Aldhelm’s church centre by singers Maisie and Tabby and our own amateur music producer Pete Evans-Jones from St John’s. The track is receiving the final tweaks before being released (initially at Emmanuel church before Easter). Watch out for ‘The SpaceQuest song’ making an appearance at a church near you!