Confession: It All Started with Billy Budd

Whether I’m reading a book or watching a television program, I do it. I can’t help myself when taking in a movie. From time to time, while reading an article in a newspaper or magazine, it’s almost a compulsive response. These days, it’s gotten so bad, that I even do it while reading a tweet. It even just happened when a friend posted a clip of Tracy Chapman singing “Talkin’ about a Revolution” back in 1988.

Mrs. Reed got me hooked when I was in the twelfth grade. I was only 16 years old when she had us read Herman Melville’s Billy Budd. Our Advanced Placement class took on a variety of assignments. Mine was to interpret the Christ-like qualities of the title character. I’ve never been the same since.

Not long after Billy Budd came T.S. Elliot’s “Journey of the Magi.”  My obsession was building. Two years later, I was on a short-list of classmates who enjoyed our college-required “Great Books” class (all except for The Princes of Cleves, that is). Whatever the story, layered symbolism drew me. Stepping through the successive chambers of the nautilus, I discover something being said (or not said) about God.

So there it is. The truth is out. I confess: Imagery, theological and Christological, fascinates me.  I find myself enthralled at God-images present in daily life, experienced in art and music, visible on the written page and the big screen.

As with so many dualities in our world, I find there are strict and loose interpreters when it comes to spirituality in the public sphere. Some people are deeply disturbed by movies like “Bruce Almighty” and its spin-off “Evan Almighty.” Fine folks fear disrespect of the faith. Equally excellent people think: “No big deal.” Films such as these playfully and provocatively address questions about God, faith and doubt. But are they bad? Blasphemy, it seems, is in the eye of the beholder.

Personally and vocationally, when spirituality enters the secular sphere I’m thrilled. I love it when people ask God-questions, whether they know it or not. For the record, how often do regular, non-religious Joe’s and Jane’s consider God’s ominpotence, omniscience, and response to prayer?  With humor or without?  Sitting in the comfort of their own couches, those who consider themselves “spiritual-but-not-religious” (the fastest growing faith-group in America, by the way) can consider a miracle and personal responsibility of being a faithful servant of God. 

Way back in 1997, I began to hear quiet whispers about a rejected boy chosen for a curious path into an unknown world. His name was Harry. Children loved the books about him. But soon, I began to hear the strict interpreters complaining. It took me a few years to catch up because I was in the heights and depths of a seminary education and there were authors like Athanasius and Karl Rahner and Elisabeth Schussler-Fiorenza to read. By the 2001 debut of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, I had discovered a story that was the stuff of many a teaching-moment.  For there within the first few chapters of Book 1 was a tremendous illustration of Prevenient Grace.

During the same span of time, Spirituality & Health magazine linked with Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat to show how pop culture reveals spiritual themes. A few years later, the Brussats spun-off to form “Spirituality & Practice”, naming annually the most spiritually literate movies. They have successfully led me to many a wonderful film.

I suppose it all harkens back to my God-given ability to see something beautiful and life-giving, no matter the circumstance. How is God present in the most stark and desperate moments? Even, as I type, glimpses of the girl in the red coat come swirling into my mind. If I’m not careful, here comes a rush of many more.