Reminders this Week
A movie and a satirists caught my attention this week and reminded me that the practice of Christianity, that set of teachings that the gospels all share, is more important than Christendom’s dogma, theological relativism, or desire to dominate the world. I had heard about the film, The Book of Eli and read a review or two. It is set in America after the great flash. The America that exists after nuclear war. Eli wanders east to west through a wasteland of charred earth, vehicles, and occasionally people surviving by force and fear. A voice told him to protect the book and carry it to a place in the west. It is a brutal film in its vision of the aftermath and the cause of the great flash. “People said that it was because of the book that the war began so the survivors found all of them and burnt them.” Near the end of the film the two main characters, Solara and Eli share this brief exchange.
Solara: I didn’t think you’d ever give up the book, I thought it was too important to you.
Eli: It was, I was carrying and reading it everyday, got so caught up in protecting it, I forgot to live by what I’d learnt from it.
Solara: And what’s that?
Eli: To do more for others than you do for yourself.
Also this week I caught a bit of The Colbert Report. One night Colbert did this opening bit that is brilliant. Is Jesus a democrat or a liberal? Well, no. By today’s labels though he would be. He simply cared and practiced an ethic, a way of living that leads to Truth and gives meaning to life. Some say his death and resurrection are the most important. I think it was his living that mattered, matters most in my living.