Taking a break from my faith hope and love studying earlier today, I had some lunch and in doing so came across a scene from Philadelphia that seemed to sum up a part of what this semester has done in me.
Andrew (played by Tom Hanks) is a gay man in the movie, talking to his lawyer, Joe (Denzel Washington) when in the background, an opera comes on. Andrew walks over to the stereo, turns up the volume, then leads Joe into the meaning, expressing the heart of the beautifully spoken words of the female opera singer as the song plays. He enters into her heart, eyes closed, ready to catch every nuance her voice projects. He describes her initial longing, and the suffering and loss that follows in the song, and then the increased desire that the woman says will be now open to experience with another, and then at the end, when the female opera singer is at the climax, he begins to weep, completely absorbed in face of love.
It was fitting. I sat there amazed, even startled. Right after reading so much on faith, hope, and love, I was led into the experience of the heart of the concepts by a gay man. The similarity between the scene and what I just read was almost eerie.
Someone so easily written off as a 'sinner' led me passionately into the love of God. Such seems to be the way God works, what the Kingdom looks like.
I thank this school and the people here who have shown me the humanity and the divine in what so often in the past has been seen as 'secular'. I have been humbled this semester by those who do not seem to 'know Christ' yet seem to reveal Him in such a profound way. Watch this scene and tell me this man does not reveal the glory of God.
fin.
8 years ago
2 comments:
Makes you wonder what it means to know Christ, in the first place, doesn't it?
hey buddy, sounds like a good topic over a guinness. will you be around this break?
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