Film Friday To quote a line from a song in La La Land: all we’re looking for is love… a voice that says, ‘I’ll be here and you’ll be all right.’ It seems to me that our deepest need is to know that we matter. We long to feel secure, valued and cared for, and down the ages many of us have found hope and affirmation in relating to God through Jesus. It doesn’t make life easy or straightforward, not at all, but it does bring us purpose, and it means we have somewhere to take our struggles, fears and problems. ‘I will not abandon you or leave you on your own,’ Jesus promised us, and he knew what this world could be like, he knew its grief and troubles. He knew what it was to be misunderstood, rejected and ostracised, just as he knew joy and laughter and friendship.
When Jesus met a woman at a well In John chapter 4 he showed her respect and love, and restored her hope and dignity. Just what the character of Diana needs in this dark and disturbing film. We’ll soon be celebrating the God who has stepped into our shoes once more, no mere fable of a baby in a stable, but the coming close of a God who can speak our language, who knows the daily grit and the grind. He understands. And so we can bring all we are to him, all the shades of our humanity, and ask for his help to make it through each day.
Film Friday: Spencer
Fri 26 November 2021
No this is not a film about the accident-prone Frank, but rather ‘a fable of a true tragedy’ about Princess Diana. Her story is one that keeps on being retold, and the clue here is in that description which appears at the start of the film – ‘a fable…’ This is a stark, invented, lonely tale about three days at Sandringham in which Diana is clearly falling apart. Out of control and at odds with all around her. And so food and clothes become her means of rebelling. The royal family is portrayed here as distant and lacking in any connection with her. She is like a stranger wandering in a desolate land. Crying out for love and understanding.
Great posting on Diana Dave. Food for thought and ideas for my sermons. Thanks.