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"Jesus at the Movies: Finding Nemo" | Ephesians 4.25-32 | August 10, 2003 |
Today it is the silver screen that provides the stories and parables for living. Finding Nemo is one of these. We first meet Nemo, a clown fish, as an embryo about to be born into a family who has just moved from the crowded coral city, taking up residence in an anemone in the suburbs at the edge of the coral reef with a view of the wild deep ocean. It turns out that the location puts them in harms way and during the night momma clown fish and all but one egg are swallowed up by a large fish. Nemo and his father are the only survivors. As a result, Nemo's father, Marlin, is overprotective to an obsession. Nemo finds himself being teased a lot and unable to break away from his father's short leash.
One day Nemo, in order to prove that he's brave after his friends dare him, swims out into the drop off. There he is netted by a scuba diving dentist who wants a pretty fish for his office fish tank. Here Nemo finds a menagerie of marine life, all of whom befriend and help him plot an escape. The stage being set, the rest of the movie takes us through all the trials and tribulations of a father who is afraid of the deep ocean and a son who tries all sorts of shenanigans to get out of the aquarium and back home.
As Marlin strikes out to find his son, constantly fighting his fear of the ocean and all of its accompanying dangers, he meets a fish named Dory-forgetful, chatty, and somewhat annoying yet a good traveling companion. She invites herself to help Marlin on his sojourn to find his son. In the many scrapes they get in along the way, they meet and are befriended by a wild assortment of marine life who will eventually lead them to Nemo. They also meet the less-than-friendly who want them for a meal.
When they happen onto a trio of sharks, they assume the worst. However, these are sharks in a support group to encourage each other to befriend, not eat, fish. "Fish are friends, not food" is their motto. In a humorous encounter for adults who know something of addictive behavior and 12-step programs, it is a moment of jocularity. For kids it is a parable about respecting everyone's right to live in the ocean without fear of being swallowed up or chased by big bullies.
Marlin eventually gets frustrated with Dory's annoying habits and her incessant chattering, and asks her to leave. He thinks her presence is distracting him, and her intuitions are taking his focus off his logical plan to find Nemo. Or course we find out that Dory's intuitions are ultimately Marlin's salvation, and we realize that friendships are stronger than logic. Marlin would never have found Nemo if it weren't for Dory, and once again we realize that, true to life, a cartoon forces us to confront the truth that what we see isn't always what is real, and what we think to be truth isn't always the truth.
In one incident Marlin and Dory are swallowed by a whale, and Marlin thinks the only way out is the way they came in. He can't, however, get through the whale's teeth try as he might. Dory gets a sense that they should let go. It seems so illogical to Marlin. "Let go? Where will that get us?" I don't know, comments Dory, but it seems like the best thing to do. Exhausted from trying to get out through the whale's mouth, Marlin sees no alternative and with a bit of faith, they let go, and sure enough, they are thrust out of the whale's belly through the blowhole when the whale surfaces. How many times have we been unwilling to just let go trusting that life-and God-be what will be? We exhaust ourselves with our own solutions when there is a simpler way if we can but trust the system the creator has put into place.
As the tale unfolds, Marlin and Dory and Nemo have high hopes of being reunited and in several incidents get so close you're almost ready to cheer when some little unexpected snag comes along to thwart the attempt. So close, yet so far away. The cartoon fish mimic human life as it plays itself out on the stage of time when we learn as we mature that there are disappointments each day, that the best-laid plans are usually less than fool-proof. There are obstacles at each turn, some very dangerous and some mere frustrating deterrents. What one must learn to survive is to keep persevering, to keep going against the odds to do what you think is the right thing to do.
This thread of truth is discovered throughout the movie in the line 'Keep Swimming.' It becomes the mantra-like motto for life when things aren't going as planned, when one has lost the way, when one is discouraged and beset by disappointments, and when one is in danger. When we first hear it out of the mouth of the wise, though daffy, Dory, it passes us by. It is a logical reaction to the situation, as in 'let's just keep swimming a bit farther.' But as the story unfolds, 'keep swimming' becomes the mantra for doing life, for beating the odds, for not giving up.
Toward the end of the story, after Nemo and his father have been reunited, we think we can take a sigh of relief only to find them snared along with a group of other fish in a fishing net. The fishermen start to haul them to their death. 'Keep swimming down' is the advice to all the fish in the net, and soon the lot of them are able to push the net back to the ocean floor, snapping the rope to set them free. Of course we realize that life doesn't always turn out this way, but hey, we're at the movies, remember? A story such as this teaches young minds the value keeping hope alive, and those of us who have navigated the treacherous waters of life for a few years know the value of hope. One doesn't get out of difficult situations without believing that there is a future. We learn not to give up. It is a valuable lesson.
When there's a will, there's a way. It is the will that is important, and in the movie there are several times when both Nemo and his father are tempted to give up. The odds seem insurmountable, the risks are life-threatening, the attempts that have failed have sapped them of energy. But friends around them, and the renewed will to find one another, provide a way. Keep swimming even against failed attempts until you find the will. Never stop swimming.
Keep swimming. It is a word of hope for all of us. This past year has been a difficult one for New England Church. As wonderful as it has been to enjoy our new building, it is has been tough to balance the budget and hard to imagine taking on a mortgage in the midst of it all. But the word of God comes to use from the mouth of an animated fish: keep swimming. Keep on doing what we do best; don't get so obsessed with being trapped inside a whale of a problem that we forget who and whose we are. We as a church are here for good purpose, providing many boxes of clothes and necessities for children in Iraq, calling the community together to discern the best direction for the neighborhood, a decision based on what is best for the people around us not the bottom line. The bottom line is important; knowing a direction and having a plan and balancing the budget are important. But if we lose sight of what we do best, what we are called to do, just for the bottom line, we risk being swallowed up by the sharks of good intention and bewildered by the vastness of an unknown ocean. Keep swimming. Keep breathing. Keep praying. Keep believing. Keep on keeping on. Amen.
-Gary L. McCann
Ephesians 4.25-32
Each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to one another for we are all a part of the same body. Do not let idle talk come out of your mouth, but only that which is helpful for helping others. Get rid of bitterness, rage, and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as God forgives you.
Tao Te Ching 39
(translated by Stephen Mitchell)
In harmony with the Tao,
the sky is clear and spacious,
the earth is solid and full,
all creatures flourish together,
content with the way they are,
endlessly repeating themselves,
endlessly renewed.
When man interferes with the Tao,
the sky becomes filthy,
the earth becomes depleted,
the equilibrium crumbles,
creatures become extinct.
The Master views the parts with compassion,
because he understands the whole.
His constant practice is humility.
He doesn=t glitter like a jewel
but lets himself be shaped by the Tao,
as rugged and common as a stone.
PASTORAL PRAYER
God of the ages, God of linear and spherical time, we come today to center ourselves in the truths of life, realizing that we must continually refocus our energies and reestablish priorities to stay on the right track. To that end, we routinely come to this place, together, to listen and speak, to engage the company of the gathered as well as your Spirit of life that permeates every aspect of the creation.
Open our eyes to see beauty in all of its expressions, in each event, in each moment, in each person, in each flash of color that penetrates these profoundly complex eyes of ours.
Open us up to see truth in any way it may come to us-whether through the word of a friend, a movie, a party we attend, a bible passage, a frolic with a child, or even through an activity that is mundane or disliked. Mysterious are your ways, creator of life, and we dare not limit you if we are to know life in its abundance.
Open us up to hear the voice of hope in every sound that comes ringing in our ears. What we may label as noise may indeed be a word of joy spoken in an unknown language. When we hear the alarm clock in the early morning, may we see it not as an irritant but a call to a new day, a call of appreciation that we are alive another day. When we hear children screaming may we remind ourselves of the cycle of life and the attendant joy that is known in the unrestrained playfulness of a child.
Open our hearts to know love that may come to us from a friend as well as from someone we don't like. Mysterious essence of love in all its expressions, may we not block out a chance to love and be loved by our preconceived notions of what love is and who loves us. Open up our hearts to express our love to those we know and those we don't know, to soldiers who fight for peace and protesters who also live for peace. We remember today our brothers and sisters torn apart in the Episcopal church over the courage exhibited by some to live for justice and inclusion. We pray that a holy love will permeate their lives today.
Open this day to us that we may live in the now and enjoy every moment as a holy gift. In the name of the one who is in all and is all. Amen.
| Copyright © 2003 by Gary L. McCann. All rights reserved. |