February 3 - The Guitar

February 3

Reel Faith using “The Guitar”, a 2007 film recognized at the Sundance Film Festival

Experience: Stripping away and beginning anew

Revelation 21:1-4

Then I saw new heavens and a new earth. The former heavens and the former earth had passed away, and the sea existed no longer. I also saw a new Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down out of heaven from God, beautiful as a bride and groom on their wedding day. And I heard a loud voice calling from the throne, “Look! God’s tabernacle is among humankind! God will live with them; they will be God’s people, and God will be fully present among them. The most high will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death, mourning, crying and pain will be no more, for the old order has fallen.

I know. “Revelation? Really?” Actually, yes. The book of Revelation is the ultimate testament to starting over. Christians in Rome were facing intense persecution. They could expect to be arrested and then subject to terrible torture and death. The message of Revelation is not that some weird dispensation of God’s justice will take some into paradise and leave others to suffer in some possibly immanent future. It is a message to Roman Christians that even though their lives were festering in despair, the love of God would eventually triumph. Though the world they lived in was falling apart, god was already creating a new one. It took another 150 years, but Christianity did indeed triumph in the Roman Empire. For us, the message of Revelation is again not one of unchanging prophecy, but that God is continually creating the new Jerusalem out of the ruins of our lives.

The movie, “The Guitar” is an obscure indie flick from a few years ago. It explores the disintegrating life of Melody Wilder who at the beginning of the story is diagnosed with inoperable cancer, loses her job, and is unceremoniously dumped by her lover. She completes the razing of her life by renting a new apartment for the 2 months her doctor told her she has left, and then throwing all the vestiges of her old life out the window (including her clothes!). She then reconstructs her environment, filling her credit cards and her new loft with only the best things. She surrounds herself with silk and finery. We see flashbacks to her childhood were she sees a red guitar that captured her heart. She obtains a new red guitar, and embarks on learning to play it. Her heart opens up in unexpected relationships with two different delivery people who arrive at her door. Eventually her credit runs out and she realizes that it is well past the 2 months she was given. Not only that, but physically she is stronger, not weaker. She goes back to her doctor who announces that somehow Melody is now cancer-free. She will live, but how? She has racked up debt and cannot remain where she has been. She sells her luxury items at garage sale prices in an attempt to free herself from their cost. All she keeps is the red guitar she has learned to play in this interim life. Not knowing where to go, she follows 2 young men who were also carrying guitars. They lead her to a park where a number of musicians are busking. She begins to play, hoping to get some handouts as well. Her playing attracts members of a band who stop to listen to her playing. The final scene of the movie shows a joyous Melody playing with the band, and singing along in her restored voice. She is living a life that was unimaginable at the beginning of the story, as is the joy on her face.

I’ve already edited the movie down to a series of clips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqQF_MNlWWA&feature=youtu.be  I think these clips will tell enough of the story without everyone having seen the film.

I see us beginning with a threshold of a large painted sitting up front. Without a word, it is approached and painted over with a coat of white, preparing the canvas for a new work of art.

Doing something really new always comes at the cost of the old, and it is often painful. Beginning a new life, as individuals and as a church, is painful. Resurrection comes after death. The new Jerusalem only arrives after the old one is destroyed.

Clip #1   Diagnosis and desolation – Melody receives the news of her disease, loses her job and her lover in a single day.

                What would we do in the face of such news? Would you want to know?

                What affairs would we have to set in order? How would we do that?

Who would we tell? Hopefully, we have better support systems than Melody did – but when have we felt that alone?

Clip #2   New Space – Melody rents the loft and rids herself of her old life. She enters the empty apartment which reflects her emptiness, but also holds the possibility of a new start.

                How would you create your own spiritual womb?

                If your life were a new, empty space how would you fill it?

                What would be the most difficult for you to toss out the window?

Clip #3   Objects that Speak – Melody’s new friend Cookie is awed by the fine things she has surrounded herself with. Since the film’s beginning, this conversation is the closest Melody comes to admitting she will soon die. She says that she has collected these objects because they speak to her. They whisper to her rumors of her redemption.

                Is that why so many of us are attached our objects? Do they whisper to us of our redemption?

                What objects do, or would, we surround ourselves with? How many really speak to us?

                What one object is one that whispers meaning to you?

Clip #4   Healing and Strength – Melody discovers that she is not waning. She has regained the voice the tumor had stolen, and in fact her doctors tell her that the cancer is completely gone. Good news, but hard news. Melody has completely changed her life. What now?

                Would we recognize the signs of our own recovery?

Is it really possible to so change our lives that the metaphorical cancer in us would no longer feel at home? What would those cancers be?

Clip #5   Starting Over – Melody’s sanctuary is as empty as when she arrived. She watches as the last of her treasure is loaded onto the truck. All she has kept is the red guitar she has learned to play in her hiatus. Lost for direction, she follows other musicians to a park where she tries her hand at busking. This leads to her discovery by a band who evidently invites her to play with them. The movie ends with Melody playing with them on stage, smiling and singing joyously.

                Will we have the courage to follow unlikely guides? to play new instruments?

                Can we allow ourselves to be transformed by all the tragedies of life and still come out smiling?

I also like the prayer that is offered here at the end of the film, even if I am still delving its meaning: In art and dream may you proceed with abundance. In life may you proceed with balance and stealth.