Magnificent Maleficent

I went to see 'Maleficent' a few weeks back, as I have a cineworld card, and I'm wanting to see a decent number of films. I think I've seen more so far than I did all year last year, and I enjoyed all of them. I would definitely see 'Maleficent' again, if I could persuade anyone to come with me.

It's a film about life and magic, but most of all about love. About romance, sure; but also about ambition, and proper parenting. That's love of power and love of children - or at least one child. That child being Aurora, otherwise known as Sleeping Beauty.

But it's not really about her, though she is a major character. It's about Maleficent, mainly (well, duh), and her experiences with love in many forms. It first displays itself as protecting, with everyone in her realm just caring for each other as a way of life. They act as if they honestly couldn't see any other way to live. And then the story starts. And a love of freedom, as most of them can fly - including Maleficent.

Things beging to happen, and things begin to change with the entrance of a human, a young boy; the first one she's ever seen. And she gets introduced to other forms of love, first friendship, then romance; which brings disappointment and heartbreak.

He gives her what he says is true love's kiss; but it was a lie. The boy got older, became a man, and the man had other loves. And, in the meantime, other people introduced yet more loves, in the form of love of wealth and power. The king of the land where the boy came from wanted Maleficent's land, and brought an army to take it.

Which introduced a love of battle - but the battle was short. The king was mortally wounded, and Maleficent won; but at a cost. She was betrayed, and lost her wings. The man the boy had become took her wings, and in return, became king, marrying the previous king's daughter.

And Maleficent changed. She stopped acting out of love, and started to rule by fear instead, locking away her realm with an impassable hedge of thorns. Well, almost. She could pass through, and did; turning up at the official presentation of the new king's daughter, Princess Aurora. Where she gave the new princess a gift, of sorts. Both a blessing and a curse combined. She promised that the princess would grow in beauty, being loved by all who met her; but that on her 16th birthday, she would prick her finger on the needle of a spindle and fall into a deathlike sleep. A sleep that could only be broken by true love's kiss - a curse which was, in her eyes, both entirely appropriate and unbreakable.

And so the new king did the best thing he could think of to try to avert catastrophe - he sent his daughter away in the care of three good, if somewhat incompetent, fairies until the day after her 16th birthday. You may doubt his love, but know that he never forgot his daughter.

And so Maleficent found herself in the unexpected position on looking after the child who she had no interest in, other than as a means to an end. She came to watch 'the little beastie', to see what happened, and found herself having to protect her more than once; though whether it was the blessing or the curse that inspired such, no-one will ever know.

And, deep in the heart of the forest, near the border of the two realms, tranquillity reigned. And peace grew in Maleficent's heart, as she came to be fond of 'the little beast'. And the two of them, princess and queen became something close to friends. But, then disaster struck, as the curse took hold; the truth was revealed, and Aurora ran from the only friend she'd ever known, back to the castle where her story began. A castle where all the spinning wheels in the kingdom had been collected and hidden away.

She arrived the day before her 16th birthday, and her father, who could see she was his daughter, tried to lock her away until it was safe; but the curse wouldn't be stopped. She went down to the dungeon, and pierced her finger, as she was cursed to do; and fell into a deathlike sleep. But there was hope. A prince from a nearby kingdom had met her a few days ago, and the fairies, Maleficent among them, wondered if he would be her true love. But, alas, it was not to be. He did indeed kiss her, but he didn't love her; and she didn't awake.

So Maleficent mourned. She vowed that not one day would pass without her trying to find a way to break the curse, and not one day would pass without her missing Aurora's sweet smile; and kissed her on the forehead. And Aurora awoke. The curse was broken by the one person who did love her, the one who had been around every day of her life, looking after her; true love indeed.

But the story doesn't end there. It continues with a dragon and danger, and flying and freedom, and a funeral; and it finishes with a celebration, a coronation to be precise. A princess became queen, and a queen abdicated; and the two realms became one. A happy ending if ever I heard one - and a story a bit different to the one you'll have heard, I've no doubt. A story about love, to be sure, but very little about romance.

In Courage

I've been quite busy recently, as I've been working full time - and mainly on my own. As I haven't really stopped doing other things, I have ended up being really quite tired over this week or so. And when I get tired, I can get quite low and spending time with people is the last thing I want to do. Being an introvert, that makes me even more tired.

So, that was part of the reason I wasn't sure if I could make it to my life group/cluster meeting on Wednesday. However, I was pretty sure that God wanted me there, so I asked Him to help me get there; to give me His strength to get there. And I got there.

I can't really remember much of the evening, to be honest. We were discussing our third session on spiritual gifts, which was supposed to be on hospitality, prophecy and encouragement. As two of those are two of my main gifts, that would probably be a good reason to be there; but it didn't turn out that way.

First, we talked about hospitality, which is one I don't find comes to me naturally, and that took an interesting turn. Obviously, opening our homes up to invite people round, as people do for life group and small group each week is a vital part of it, but it was also suggested that just giving people time is being hospitable too. And someone said that it should be the case that if we really love each other, then any of us could phone or just turn up at someone's house because they need to talk. I don't know if that ever would happen, or even could; but wouldn't it be great if it did?

And then, the main part of the evening, which was a little unexpected. We talked a bit about encouragement, and then got on to the main part of the session, where we all got given a piece of paper with our names on it and passed it around for everyone to write something encouraging on it. Which took a little longer than had been anticipated, clearly. And that was presumably why I was there. It's always good to encourage people, and now we each have a permanent reminder of how some people see us.

The one of these I can remember clearly is that someone said I am incredibly kind hearted. I think I know who that is from, because there is one person who has said that to me before. But it's nice not only to know she thinks that, but she stands by saying it. I don't really remembe the rest, but that's fine - after all, the point is that I have them written down and I can reread it whenever I like. We all can.

Born To Burn!

It was Pentecost last weekend, for those who were unaware. And if you don't know what that means, it's what's sometimes called the birthday of the Church. It's described in the book of Acts as a day that started with a prayer meeting and finished with a church of over 3000. In the middle were some other things, such as God resting on people and empowering them to speak in other languages - and enough joy that some onlookers thought that they were drunk. How many church meetings that you know does that sound similar to?

I was at a meeting on Saturday - the day before Pentecost - which had something of that in it. My church had hired the Centaur building at the Racecourse and invited people from local churches (and some not so local) to celebrate with us. There were quite a few people there from various places, including some from Cornwall and Eastbourne - and a couple of thousand others. Not quite as impressive as 3000 joining from 0, but a great gathering nonetheless.

And God was definitely there with us. If there were any doubt, the fact that a girl who couldn't walk got out of her wheelchair during the worship - and hasn't needed it since - made that absolutely clear. Apparently she went to her church the day after, and really stunned pretty much everyone there by walking in. I hope and pray the effects of that grow and grow.

The talk was about how God wants to set us on fire with the Spirit - did you know that bishops' mitres were originally designed to look like flames in remembrance of the first Pentecost? The whole point being that they were supposed to represent what had already gone on inside - and was still going on. And this is something that God wants to do not just for bishops, or indeed, clergy of any kind; but each and every one of us. Always; every day.

What will happen when we allow Him to do just that? What could happen? We know He wants us to change the world; or, rather, He wants to change the world in and through us - so, what would He do in and through us when we let Him? And what will that look like?

There's been a lot of talk about evangelism recently; but, although that will clearly happen, I think it's almost certainly among the least of what He wants to do. I can think of at two things which are much, much bigger than that, in my opinion. The first of these is that He wants to teach us to love, and to grow all our relationships through this. After all, love is what He said would mark us out among people - what others will notice.

And the second is to give us dreams and visions; to challenge our imagination and our faith. If He wants to change the world, He could send us anywhere and empower us to start anything. That's why He said 'the wind blows where it will, and you do not know where it comes from or where it is going; so it is with people born of the Spirit'. Where will you go?

In Memoriam!

A few days ago, it was D-Day; and the celebrations of the 70th anniversary at Normandy, where the Allied troops landed. I didn't realise that, because my historical knowledge is sadly not good - I remember when the peace treaty was signed, because the 11th day of the 11th month at 11a.m. is something that sticks in the memory, as it was intended. So, why do we commemorate D-Day, when ther were many other battles during WWII that were just as costly in terms of lives lost? The reason is that, although there were still several months to go, both sides knew that once the Allied forces had successfully invaded, it was just a matter of time before the war was over. And that is worth commemorating.

I discovered it was the 70th anniversary celebrations, because it was on T.V. all day, or at least between 9 and 5, when I was at work - I don't have a TV at home. And because I was at work (and the only one in), I didn't get to watch most of it, but I did see and hear some interesting things. Like a bit where they were going through the cemetery, and mentioned that it was something incredibly different for the time it was suggested - that all the fallen would be commemorated equally, in that the gravestones would all look exactly the same. No difference in size or shape, regardless of rank or family connections. Death is not always exactly a leveller; but, in this case, respect and gratitude made it so. And will continue to so do - the charter for the graveyard is that the grounds and headstones should be looked after with great care 'in perpetuity'.

I saw some of the church service, and an interview with Eddie Izzard. If it strikes you as strange that they should interview a comdian who is still remembered mainly for dressing in women's clothing (in the U.K. anyway), there was a reason. Apart from the reason that he knows a lot about history and the need for remembrance, and the idea that it makes it clear that everyone is equally affected by the way this turned out. Apart from that, there was another reason or two. The first was that he is currently embarking on a European tour, where he is doing his entire set in each native language, and Germany is in that list. And he'd done a gig (in English, French and German) in Normandy the day before. So, unity on an individual basis, as it were.
But the second reason, which is more important, is that he is donating the proceeds of this tour to charity; and in Germany, the charity is to support an artist. Who has an idea he's putting into action to create memorials for people who were kidnapped by the Nazis. He's looked up as many names and addresses as he can find, and he's making small metal balls engraved with their names, and placing them outside the houses where they lived. Which is important, because it reminds us that it wasn't just the soldiers who suffered and sacrificed in the struggle against the Nazis.

I missed the story about Bernard Jordan, which I didn't see until the next day. He couldn't get onto an official tour to Normandy organised by the British Legion, so he simply decided to sort it out himself. He left in the afternoon, and went and got on a ferry, without telling anyone in the care home where he was going. They started a missing person hunt for him, until someone contacted them saying they'd seen him in Normandy, and he was fine. Good job, Bernard.

Words And Music

I remember reading a post from a friend on his blog talking about the lyrics to worship songs and why they matter. He mentioned a song that he found helpful, a real celebration, and another song that he disagreed with some of the words to. The song describes God's mercy as a miracle, and he thinks of this as a category error. We've briefly discussed it, and (I think) agreed to disagree; but I'm fairly sure he would agree that a category error is probably pretty much harmless, particularly when compared to the theology of some songs.

One issue I do have with the words to some songs (which I don't know the names of, but it's definitely more than one) is ones which have an idea something along the lines of God being my only desire. Apart from the fact that I find these difficult to sing along with because it almost never feels true, I really don't think it's Biblical. One of the first things God says about Adam is that it is not good for him to be alone, and yet he walked with God every day. Adam knew God at that point better than any of us will before Heaven, and God still decided he needed something/someone else. Also, the Bible says that God will give us 'the desires of our hearts' - i.e. more than one desire. And if the only thing God wanted to give us was Himself, why would He need to say that; surely it would be obvious.

And I also have problems with bad grammar in songs, and when singers don't enunciate clearly. The most common occurence of this is when they sing something about 'your rarms', whatever they are. I suppose I should just be thankful there are no songs that say anything about 'your ears'. That I know of, anyway. I don't mind the words being simple, as long as they are good words - sometimes we need simple. Just as long as it's not our constant diet; we also need thought provoking stuff as well.

And on another subject, in a way, another type of 'Christian words' that bothers me in songs is when people seem to insist that all songs recorded by Christians should be about something obviously 'Christian'. I don't have any problem with people writing about God/Jesus/Heaven/judgement etc; but, that's not all there is in the world. God cares about a LOT more than that. About war, and self-worth, and looking out for one another, poverty and politics, greed, beauty, and building up relationships to name just a few things. So why not write about those things as well? I'd certainly listen to songs on them.

And another thing is why is it that a lot of popular Christian music sounds so similar? Not all of it; there is some really creative and unexpected stuff out there, like Rend Collective - and when the David Crowder Band split up last year, he ended up forming a bluegrass worship group. They have an album out called Neon Steeple. Now that was unexpected. We know a creative God who made us in His image, so why isn't there more visible creativity?

And another thing...