Popcorn Parables are coming soon to a church near you…and you can get a head start by watching the four films that we’ll springboard off of this year. The theme is “True Grit.” What does it take to live courageously in the face of the many challenges we face every day? Mark Twain lamented, “It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.”
The four films selected tell the story of four very different people who had one thing in common: They displayed true grit in their time and place.
Bonhoeffer will introduce you to a real hero, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor and theologian who sought to live out his faith during the Nazi nightmare. His classic book The Cost of Discipleship is a must read for the serious Christian who takes Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount seriously. Where Bonhoeffer showed true grit was when he radically rethought his ethics given the obvious horrors of Hitler’s regime. Bonhoeffer paid the ultimate price as he was hung in a Nazi concentration camp just days before the allies liberated the prisoners.
Temple Grandin paints the courageous young woman’s perseverance and determination with the isolating challenges of autism at a time when it was still quite unknown. As is so often the case, there were key people in Temple’s life who came alongside her and took her seriously when so many didn’t. Professionally, Dr. Temple Grandin is recognized as one of, if not the leader in understanding and appreciating animal behavior.
The King’s Speech tells the story of King George VI’s struggle to tame his stutter and make his unique contribution to the British effort to stand alone against the overwhelming strength and apparent invincibility of Hitler’s military machine. Two men join forces in a remarkable way which is nothing short of true grit. (I do have to add a warning on this film…it’s rated R for a good reason…the language is profane. There was a family version released this past April, but I could not find the DVD available on line. If anyone knows where and how to get the family version that leaves out the words our kids don’t need to hear, let me know.)
Popcorn Parables will open at St. Andrew Sunday, August 14. So get some friends together and see one or all the DVD’s as your “homework.”
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