The decision that ruined Anakin Skywalker

I'm watching Star Wars Episode III for the 58th time tonight. It is a really great story about letting your fear control your actions. The story documents the change that happens in Anakin as he goes from being a Jedi (good) knight fighting for justice to a Sith (bad) Lord fighting to keep control of others. The major decision that Anakin makes that screws him up, and it is a gradual decision, is that he decides to stop listening to the corrective voices of his masters within the Jedi and starts listening to the voice of Darth Sidious AKA Chancellor Palpatine who puffs Anakin up, telling him things he wants to hear. He progressively stops listening to the voices in his life that are questioning his motives and trying to guide him back on the straight path and starts listening to the voices that justify his action, paint him as a victim of injustice, and tell him how great he is. There becomes a point in Anakin's story when the good voices no longer even make sense to him anymore.
I think this is a constant struggle for all of us, to listen to the voices in our lives that are correcting us and that even feel like a punch in the nose and not to the voices that point the finger at others, justifying and condemning others.

MOVIES
I saw V for Vendetta the other night and enjoyed it. Topically it was similar to the Matrix movies, touching a lot on governments & control. This one was really more about one person deciding to become a symbol that would unite a country to bring about a value of the character, in this case freedom. It made me think about how Jesus kind of did the same thing through the Lord's supper. He became a symbol to unite a people to bring about kingdom on earth, God's kingdom. The strange thing is that this kingdom looks like freedom to those who understand the bondage that they used to be under, but it looks like slavery to those who think they are free already.
I also rented Seven Samurai a Japanese movie made in 1954 by Akira Kurasawa. His film work has inspired many American film makers. The Magnificient Seven is a remake of Seven Samurai, as is a Bug's Life. George Lucas also borrowed much from Kurasawa's work in the Star Wars story. Anyway, It was a great story of poor farmers who are raided annually at harvest by bandits. They go and hire 7 samurai to protect them against the bandits. The samurai of course kill all the bandits. The movie seemed kind of long and you have to be forgiving when you take 2006's movie sensabilities to watch a 1954 movie, but it was good all around and had lots of great quotes in it. Kurasawa also made another samurai movie called Yojimbo, which inspired a handful of Clint Eastwood's westerns, I want to see that next.

LOST
Last I am a huge LOST fan. This week we found a map of the Dharma stations on the back of a blast door scrawled in neon visible only with black lights. So it looks like who ever Desmond's partner had been he was trying to figure out a way to escape? Maybe he knew something was going on. It is designed in an octagon just like the Dharma symbol but has only 7 stations, "the Swan" being at the bottom. Is the question mark the "others" layer? Is there a connecting passage from "the Swan" to the center station? Will we ever find out? We also found out the prisoner who claimed to have crashed on the island in a hot air balloon was lying, almost certainly making him one of the "others" who seem likely to be Dharma Initiative staff. Last we found a parachute drop shipment of supplies which seem to have been intended for the Dharma Initiative folks. So has someone outside the Island been supplying them since the 70's? LOST is a great cliff hanger show. Its 4:08 AM so, until next time.

What it means to follow Jesus

But who do you say I am?

Pete answered, "The chosen & promised one from God!"

Josh told them not to tell anyone and went on to say,
"The son of man must suffer alot and be rejected by the
religious leaders of today, the pastors and religious celebrities
and seminary professors. He will be murdered and on the
third day will rise."

Then turning to the crowd Josh said,
"If anyone wants to be like me, he must do what I'm doing.
He must deny himself (Stop living for yourself),
pick up his cross daily (Accept unjust treatment by others for their sake),
and follow me. (to what looks like a defeat on earth, but is actually true success)
Because everyone who is afraid to die is surely going to die!
But if you are willing to die because of me your life will be saved!

I mean think about it, What good would it be if you gained the whole world
(by serving yourself) and in so doing ensured your own eternal suffering?"
You have to choose sides.

If you are ashamed of me and the path I am asking you to take
then I will be ashamed of you when I come back.
And remember when I come back I will not be diguised as a mere man
but in the divine glory of God the Father and our angels.
My divinity will be unquestionable then and
if you chose to serve and justify yourself rather than others you'll be sorry.

You can take this to the bank, some of you who are standing here
will not die before you see the Kingdom of God!

Have you seen the kingdom of God TODAY?

The danger of safety

Luke 8:22 NDV (Napolian Dynamite Version)
On this one day Jesus went and got in this sweet boat so his followers followed him into the boat. Big J said, "Hey dudes why don't you fishing guys using your boating skills and take us across the lake." So they set sail. The sun and wind and the crowds were wearing him out like hand to hand combat with a pack of nunchuk toting ninjas so he took a snooze below deck. As quickly as sleep descended on J dog this killer storm descended on the lake. The winds were so strong J's followers had to hold tight on to the boat to not be blown overboard and at the same time the waves were filling the boat with water. Panic set in as the guys realized they couldn't bail the water out with the wind blowing and that if the boat kept filling with water it would soon sink. After trying everything they knew how to do to no avail, they woke up Jesus. "Dude the friggin boats about sink. Gosssshhhh!" Jesus not being a morning person pulled his comforter around him and waddled up on deck and yelled "KNOCK IT OFF!!!" Immediately as if they were listening to him the wind stopped and then the waves stopped too and the sun peaked out from behind the clouds. His followers eyes got as big as dinner plates of quesadillas. Waddling back toward his bed with his comforter still pulled tied around him he looked at them and said "WHAT?" Thaddaeus said, "Dude my friggin llama won't even do what I say, Fat lard."

It struck me today as I was reading this passage how Jesus' followers realized through this event that Jesus was God or at least really super tight with God. Jesus wasn't worried about the storm. As I was describing this passage to my wife it hit that the danger was what made them realize that they were with God. As a believer I believe, in my head, that God is with me, but no always do I believe that so much with my hands and feet and mouth. Much of modern fundamentalist faith is about safety and security, but those things protect us from God. It is when we are safe and secure that we don't need God. Jesus didn't position himself in places of safety and security and he promised his followers that they would not be safe or secure if they followed him. Safety is dangerous for us because it distances us from God. When the lake is calm we stand proudly on the deck with our hands on our waists and our chests pushed out. It is only during the storm that we get on our knees and hold on to whatever we can find.
So what am I saying then, that we should ask for storms? I don't know, but a belief system built around safety and security is killing us. It denies a Jesus who knowingly takes his followers into a deadly storm. It teaches me to think that I am closer to God on a clam day when I read my Bible than on a turbulent and uncertain day spent in tears.
I think safety is dangerous.