June 1 ~Why Does Our Humanity Thrive on Screen, But Falter in Real Life.

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Sixth Sunday of Easter

Acts 16:16-34

Psalm 97

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21

John 17:20-26

(The context of this sermon was 100% written in Canada by a human)

Perhaps some of you have already gone to see Mission Impossible this weekend and revelled in Tom Cruise’s famous stunts. Reading the first lesson, it certainly feels like an action- movie plot, and we can imagine a Hollywood movie exec pitching it.

How would it go? The movie opens with a young woman enslaved by the villains of our story. She is dirty and dressed in rags, but, naturally, under all the grime, very beautiful. (“We’re thinking, Ana de Armas, the executive might say.”) Her slavers are using her skill at fortune-telling to line their own pockets: buying stocks before they rise, and winning lottery tickets. Think” White Lotus” wealthy, the people swanning around in fancy clothes in their oversized mansions, ordering people around, conspiring over future plans that take advantage of people – really unlikeable. Our poor protagonist is strong and fierce, but exhausted by their demands.

Enter our dusty, weary heroes: Paul and Silas. (“Perhaps,” the executive might say, “we can get Ryan Gosling and Timothy Chalamet if they are free.”) Paul is the leader, testy, but in a charming ‘Harrison Ford’ kind of way. Like spies in another land, they are trying to get the regular people to rise up against their tyrants and make the world better.

They have a “meet-cute” with the slave girl – “We’ll sort that out later”, the executive says – and she tells their fortunes (cue special effects) that identify who they are. But Paul doesn’t like that, so he uses his own secret healing skill to stop her fortunes. Our bad guys find out – and after a chase, they capture Paul and Silas and throw them in jail. The slave girl, now useless to them is put – inexplicably – in the cell next to them.

But the jailer – maybe a grizzly, bent-over Anthony Hopkins – takes pity on them, and feeds them. He doesn’t have the keys – only the bad guys do – but Paul, ‘MacGyvers’ the door open mysteriously (or was it a higher power?) – and also frees the slave girl.

The final scene: The jailer, meanwhile, has seen the light, and quietly begins teaching his family and friends the lessons he learned from Paul and Silas to create a more equal and just community. We last see our heroes, walking the dusty road, on to their next mission.

Not a bad movie, don’t you think? But then, so much of our sacred text contains the kind of characters and certainly the values that we see in our favourite movies. The misunderstood protagonist who finds her power. The crusty heroic team who saves her. The villains who get their comeuppance. And what do our heroes – the ones we remember by name and cherish in our culture – fight for? Not money and not power. They fight for love and family, for hope and peace.

There are a lot of narratives being told in the world right now. The real ones we read about in the newspaper are often the very opposite of the gospel. We see immigrants in the U.S. being snatched off the street and deported without a legal defence. We see children starving in Gaza and children stolen out of Ukraine. We see dictators solidify power, and democratic voices silenced. Why does what we know is right – what inspires us in stories and movies – seem so lacking in the real world? Why does our humanity thrive on screen, and yet falter in real life? Who are we in the gospel: the ones enslaved by villains, or the heroes rising against them?

All that to say, that while our story in the first lesson may seem dramatic, the gospel message that Paul and Silas were spreading has never been more relevant. That movie executive also took some liberties with the story: the slave girl, unlike Lydia, is featured in a much longer story, yet is never named. Paul is annoyed with her, we are told and calls out her demon. The bad guys, as far as we know, never do get justice. But God is present in both stories: in the resilience of the young girl; in the determination of Paul and Silas; in the willingness of the jailer to open his eyes.

These stories can seem like a good distance from our own lives, out of touch with the world we live in. And yet, the values and teachings they present are universal. What more do we need now – in these times – than resilience, kindness, mercy and openness?

Unlike the jailer who witnessed the power of God, we must look for it more deliberately in our own lives. God is here, among us. Indeed, our movies with their themes of generosity and self-sacrifice speak to the universal importance of the gospel. Even when humanity has lost its way, human beings know who they want their heroes to be, what those heroes should stand for, and how those heroes should act. As our psalm writer says: “Light dawns for the righteous, and joy for the honest of heart.”

One last thing: That jailer, we are told, came to believe, and that belief was solid. This is another lesson for us, as we manage misinformation and mixed messages: to be careful what we think is true, and to safeguard our beliefs, which can be hard to change. When you feel confused by fake news and false facts, you need not look far: when everything else is stripped away, the gospel clears our heads and reminds us what to believe. Amen