grace too

this will be a short post about the movie keeping mum



you really must watch this film and no one enjoys spoilers so why don't we just concentrate on the comments made by those in the community who watched the film, okay?



the story of the goodfellow clan charmed us all and we had many comments about the lighting in the film, the beauty of the shots, the excellent acting, and the moving recitation of the song of solomon

[spoiler: rev. goodfellow says about the song of solomon: 'o, that is a book about a man's devotion to his Lord.'

grace retorts: 'no, it's about sex.']

at the end we spoke about the existence of grace in the lives of the characters in the story [in which case grace quite literally lived them as that was the name of their new nanny] and then how grace lives with us in our own lives.



the grace in the film comes in to dispatch [hint, hint] of the problems in this seemingly perfect, though deeply wounded family [the husband/reverend is oblivious to his wife and children; the wife is having an affair with her golf instructor, the daughter is fully steeped in her raging libido and the son is being bullied at school]. slowly, the family is transformed into a more visibly flawed, but much more real and happy group.



the transformation does not happen over night but it does happen. is that not like grace in our own lives?



although this is a satirical look at life the message is that grace, once it is invited in to our lives, can do no other thing than transform us.



the message of christ was not 'you are okay just the way you are.' but was, 'you are deeply wounded, so much so that you don't even see it anymore. allow me to come in, believe that i will, and i will change you profoundly from the inside.'



we are all wounded and although many of us have perfect masks to get us through each day that is not the abundant life christ calls us to.



although it is not necessarily noticeable at first it does come, and the problems of this world grow strangely dim. it may even bring resentment from those around us who have become comfortable with the status quo and look on any kind of change as alien and threatening...even if that change promises to make their lives better too.



in the end...the movie got us to look at the fact that grace needs to be a very real presence in each one of our homes and while the methods grace employs aren't always what we would choose we must, like rev. goodfellow states in his sermon, realize that god is mysterious folks, deal with it!



god loves you too much to leave you the same.