at the movies with cc-east!

That's my acronym for Compassion Christian-East!

I was talking about acronyms earlier with Ivan and Peyton.

They were unfamiliar with the word, but they've go it now!

(smile!) 

Tonight was the last screening in their "At The Movies" summer series.

We only got 4 weeks this year, instead of 6, but it's been a good bunch.

It's been me, Smitty, and Mary these past two movies, as Tony's family has preferred pool time while the two kids are here.

They've missed two sports-themed films.

Tonight's feature was "Forrest Gump", so the marquee talked about 'running', and 'showing up', and 'loving'.

All are definitely words that describe the character played by Tom Hanks!

The film clips we saw concentrated on the love line between 'Forrest' and 'Jenny', but with intersections of 'Bubba', 'Lt. Dan', and, towards the end, their son.

The message was about showing grace toward others, even through simple gestures.

The first was when 'Jenny', as a child on the school bus, said to newcomer 'Forrest': "You can sit here if you want."

The second was when 'Bubba', as a fellow soldier on the bus off to the battle zone in Vietnam, said to late entry 'Forrest': "You can sit here if you want."

Small things truly do carry much weight.

My favorite thing, though, was all the letter-writing that 'Forrest' did.

"Love in the mail," that's what I call it. 

(smile!)

The unspoken message in tonight's sermon was about accepting others as they were, differences and all, just as Jesus did to those in his life.

In particular, this film was about accepting someone with mental and physical handicaps because, as with last week's film, we are all stronger together.

Last Wednesday CC-E gave us "Remember The Titans", a biographical sports story about two football coaches, one black (Denzel Washington) and one white (Will Patton), at a small school in Virginia that was having a serious problem with racial bias.

The year was 1971, the same year that Savannah had problems with that same issue in our schools, as the school zones had been redrawn by the politicians to allow for more diversity in all of the public schools.

I was in middle school and got beat up and kicked on the ground by a group of black students from Savannah High.

Why had they done that?

Simply because I was white and didn't make it to safety inside in time.

Mama kept me out of class for a week, sending me back with Mace in my pocket.

Fortunately, I never had to use it.

Anyway, back to the movie: the school had the black coach take over the football team, and his task was to turn them into a blended force.

He did so by assigning them to rooms together while training, making sure each pair consisted of one white and one black, and thereby ensuring they would have to get to know each other one on one, not as a group.

That made the difference.

Prejudice cannot live outside a nameless, faceless, group.

The guys all found they were stronger together, that their diversity unified them.

What a great message!

Diversity is what unifies us...

as it did for the hobbits, elves, dwarves, and wizards in the first movie...

as it did for the differently-talented people in the second movie...

as it did for the blacks and whites in the movie about the Titans...

as it did for all who interacted with the slow boy from Alabama.

Our differences make us whole.

 

i thank You, God, for this series of sermons and movies.

A fresh perspective always is a benefit.

Time with family is, too.