Silence in the Balcony

A Moment of Silence at the Movies

Since mid-November 2011, I haven't had much time to blog about the movies. In effect, it's been like a silent retreat. Not that I haven't seen any films lately. And not that there hasn't been any spiritual messages in those films. Quite the contrary.

However, due to time and work and the holidays, I haven't had much time to myself to pause, reflect, and then write out my theological reflections on the movies I've been seeing.

But as Oscar season is shaping up and as the award-worthy year-end movies have yielded some great spiritual lessons, I feel called to return to the balcony (also known as this blog) and take some time to engage us in conversations about the spiritual themes that run through all these films.

So thank you for your patience during this silent period. It's time, though, to let the pictures roll. See you around soon...

It's a Wonderful Life

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor..." Luke 4:18

At Christmas, one of the most popular traditions today is watching favorite holiday films - and for many, one movie in particular still stands out above the rest: Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life (1946).

This charming tale tells the life story of George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart), a simple man from Bedford Falls, New York, who dreams of traveling the globe - but due to one circumstance after another, remains in his hometown to tend the family business: the Bailey Building & Loan. After years of hardship, on Christmas Eve night 1945, George reaches the end of his rope and contemplates suicide - until the angel Clarence (Henry Travers) is sent from heaven to save him from certain death.

Very little of the film is actually about the holiday, except that the movie's most critical encounter (George and Clarence) takes place on Christmas Eve. But in another sense, that date may be the least important connection to the feast and what it stands for.

George Bailey's life is, in fact, a wonderful reflection on what the coming of Christ is really all about. This understanding is captured in two passages from Luke:

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my savior...He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones and lifted up the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things and the rich he has sent away empty.

(Lk. 1:46-47,52-53) and

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.

(Lk. 4:18)

This canticle of Jesus' mother Mary (Lk. 1), praising what God can and will do through her son, lays the foundation upon which she raises Jesus to become the man we call Lord. And in one of his first public addresses (Lk. 4), Jesus echoes his mother's song by laying the cornerstone of his own ministry in Galilee and Judea.

It is by these Gospel standards that our hero, George Bailey, lives out his life - and that we can do as well, at Christmastime and throughout the whole year.

As we see in Wonderful Life, George has grand dreams for himself. A natural explorer, he has saved up money for a trip around the world - and is just about to embark on this journey when tragedy strikes. His father dies, leaving his Building & Loan to an uncertain fate - and must choose between his long-hoped-for adventure and saving the family business from collapse. He chooses the latter.

Again, four years later, when his brother Harry (Todd Karns) returns from college, George resurrects his travel plans and hopes to leave the Building & Loan to Harry's supervision. But when his brother gets married and gets a job offer from his new father-in-law, George again defers, putting the dreams of his family before his own.

And on his wedding day, with a fantastic honeymoon planned out with his new bride Mary (Donna Reed), a Depression-era bank run occurs - and to rescue his customers from poverty, George uses his honeymoon savings and, in so doing, helps the low and middle class citizens of Bedford Falls through the crisis.

George always had a chance to escape, to make a wonderful life for himself, but he choose to help those in need - his family, his friends, and his community - sacrificing his dreams on their behalf. He followed Jesus' commands to the utmost: "Go and sell all your possessions and give them to the poor" (Mt. 19:21) and "No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what he has left behind is fit from the kingdom of God." (Lk. 9:62)

In a season that is so preoccupied with receiving gifts from others, the lessons of George Bailey and the Gospels can be hard to swallow. So instead, we might minimize the impact of this film to sentimentality and the love the friends.

But Wonderful Life is a movie that should really challenge us. This is a prophetic tale of social justice just as much as a misty-eyed holiday classic.

George Bailey teaches us to look beyond ourselves and our wants - and to even look beyond our family and friends - and see instead how we can address the needs of the greater community. At Christmas, we are challenged not just to love our parents, children, and closest friends, but to take action for the poor, the disenfranchised, the sick, the marginalized, the helpless, and the dying.

It's not easy to do it. George Bailey could only take so much sacrifice - and on Christmas Eve, contemplated suicide. But the angel Clarence reminded him - and our God reminds us in prayer: "Whoever loses his life for the sake of the Gospel will surely find it again." (Mt. 16:25)

It's not easy to do it. But there are small steps we can take to move closer to that prophetic call. We can more intentionally work for social justice causes. We can find out who the poor and disenfranchised are in our local community, and work to help them. We can give freely to those who go without.

It's not easy to do it. Especially at Christmas, it can be hard to think beyond our gifts and our family and friends. And when the Salvation Army bell-ringer is gone and the holiday food drives are over, the poor and hungry will still be there. It's not easy because the problems are often so big.

So as we celebrate Emmanuel at Christmas, it falls to us to carry on the mantle of Christ when we leave our churches and finish our holiday meals. Like George Bailey, we need to be reminded how wonderful our lives will be when we step up and serve the world, sacrificing our blessings for the sake of others.

It's providential that It's a Wonderful Life is still with us decades later. But the next time we see it, let's make it more than a cliche, more than a seasonal favorite - and make it our rally cry to be more like George Bailey in our world the other 364 days of the year. If we each did that, then all humankind may be able to say "it's a wonderful life" and for that, "glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace and good will to all."

Tower Heist & In Time

"Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of the night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake... so, too, you must also be prepared for at an hour or day you do not expect, the Son of Man will come." Mt. 24:43-44

In the middle ages, tales of Robin Hood stealing from the rich became incredibly popular among the poor peasants of the English countryside. And during the Great Depression, movies about money-stealing gangsters were the favorite of low income Americans. Could it be that, today, in our recessed economy, we are once again drawn to stories about the downfall of the rich?

Two movies this month, Tower Heist (staring Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller) and In Time (with Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfriend), revolve around this very issue: the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer - and someone needs to stand up to this injustice.

Tower Heist is a comedy where a band of apartment complex workers, whose pensions were lost in a Ponzi scheme involving Wall Street executive Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda), take matters into their own hands to redistribute Shaw's wealth to their fellow employees. While their actions are still criminal, one cannot help but root for the motley crew led by Murphy and Stiller. Too often, the richest 1% can get away from crimes that the other 99% must suffer for... and we cheer on those who try (albeit illegally) to balance the scales of justice.

In Time, in much the same vein, is an action thriller set 150 years in the future when money doesn't exist and the only commodity is time. Humans are paid in hours and minutes - and the more time given, the longer one has to live. What happens is that, even without physical money, the rich will still live longer and the poor will die sooner. The film follows one poor man living in the ghetto (Timberlake) who, after unexpectedly receiving a century of time, decides to set matters right and steal hours, months, and years away from those with time to spare.

Despite their divergent approaches, both movies remind us of what Jesus said in the Scriptures: "the poor you will have with you always..." (Mt. 26:11) - but also what he said about the proper placement of the poor in our world: "many who are now first should be last, but those who often finish last must be the first." (Mt. 19:30).

Too often, those who enjoy riches and power are so consumed with their wealth and dominion that they forget that God's kingdom is about equity and social justice. Even if we have limited income, temptation can come to each of us to squander or lord our possessions above those who do not. At one point or another in our lives, we have been guilty of misusing the gifts - spiritual or physical - that God has graced us with.

Our time on earth, Jesus also says in Scripture (specifically Mt. 25:31-46), will be judged according to how we helped the poor, the hungry, the suffering, and the marginalized in this life. Money, power, and prestige will matter for nothing.

So we cheer on our movie heroes (like the feisty band of misfits in Tower Heist or Timberlake and Seyfried's Bonnie-and-Clyde characters in In Time) just we would cheer on Christ, who redistributes favor based on those who deserve it most. Perhaps we should tune into that excitement we feel when the rich get their comeuppance in these types of films. Perhaps this is God's way of urging us to do what we can to tip the scales of justice in favor of those who need it the most.

So when should we start moving in that just direction? Right now. Not after the holidays or when we feel secure enough in our own financial situation. Not when things settle down for us or when we have the time to spare. Instead, God calls us to action as soon as we can.

In these two movies, the heroes had an impact because they didn't wait. They jumped into action when the need arose. "Be sure of this," Jesus tells his disciples, "if the master of the house had know the hour of the night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake... so too you must also be prepared, for an hour or day you do not expect, the Son of Man will come." (Mt. 24:43-44).

Let us make the most of the time given to us. In Time reminds us that those who think they have all the time (i.e. money and power) in the world do not really "live" - but those who recognize that their last moment could be around the corner live life to the fullest. The same should go for us.

As we do not know the day or the hour, we should make sure that the life we live now is lived to its fullest extent: by giving to the poor, loving the marginalized, deepening our relationships, forgiving our enemies, and taking in all of God's grand creation.

And that time is now.

Spiritual Popcorn, Halloween Style

What can scary movies teach us?

Around Halloween, we often pull out our favorite scary movies (or those not-so-scary ones that still remind us of this dark and autumnal time of year).

We might think about familiar classics like the original Dracula and Frankenstein (both released in 1931) or silent movie icons like Lon Chaney's The Phantom of the Opera (1925). Or maybe we prefer the screamers of the 70s and 80s like Jaws (1975), Halloween (1978), Alien (1979), Friday the 13th (1980), The Shining (1980), or A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). Even today, we might enjoy watching modern scare-fests like Silence of the Lambs (1991), The Blair Witch Project (1999), the Saw franchise (beginning with the first in 2004), and the most recent, the Paranormal Activity series (released in 2009, 2010, and 2011).

What drives these films (and their box office success stories) is that all of them center around the concept of fear. Filmmakers love to scare us - and audiences love to be scared. As distinct as The Mummy (1932), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), and Hostel (2005) might be, they all come down to fear.

These movies tap into a primal notion that we are all afraid of something or someone. Whether it's as simple as a fear of heights or spiders - or larger things like terrorism, crime, or losing one's job, fear can paralyze us and control our actions.

Seeing these movies might help us put aside our real fears for a few hours and enjoy an imaginary fright on the silver screen (or watching other people run in terror might distract us from our own situation). Perhaps these films allow us to laugh at the silliness that fear can bring - giving us strength to laugh at our own bogeymen. Or just maybe we want to test our strength - and show ourselves that we can withstand any horror.

But aside from a little escapism, what do these Halloween favorites teach us spiritually? Here are a few things that we might glean from this harvest crop of films:

1) "Fear not, beloved, you are safe. Take courage and be strong" (Dan. 10:19). These are God's comforting and encouraging words to the prophet Daniel - who spent his life in the frightening company of lions and really strange visions. But they might also be words that inspire heroes like Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) in the Alien franchise (1979, 1986, 1992, 1997), Sarah Conner (Linda Hamilton) in the Terminator movies (1984, 1991, etc.), or Fr. Damien (Jason Miller) in The Exorcist (1973).

With a firm hope in God and using the gifts God gave them, these heroes prove that fear has no control over them in their quest to save the day and come face to face with their monsters. Not to say that these characters weren't frightened, but they overcame that fear and received the courage they needed.

The same might be said of us. We are called to pray to God for the courage to face our worst fears, to use the gifts and resources that God has placed before us, and move forward with confidence. We know God's love is the absence of fear - and we are armed with that at all times. We are challenged to take a step into the darkness of night and, like our movie heroes, stand courageously and be assured of God's constant protection.

2) Another thing that our favorite Halloween movies teach us is to stand together. While films where the monster knocks off characters one by one can be fun to watch, it is even more impressive when all the characters come together in the face of danger and fear.

In Ghostbusters (1984), Independence Day (1996), and the Harry Potter franchise (2001, continuing through 2011), an outside threat is defeated when characters work together. "Where two or more are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them," proclaims Jesus (Mt. 18:20) - and God gives great strength to those who sacrifice individual glory for mutual partnership in the journey towards victory.

In our age of polarization, now more than ever we are challenged to put aside our differences, reconcile with those who have hurt or wronged us, and love those outside our comfort zones - in order to truly be united against greater evil. Together we can often accomplish more than when we are on our own, but in order to get to that point, we must forgive, love, and show humility with one another.

Perhaps our favorite scary movies would have been a lot shorter if only the characters worked together from the beginning (instead of the creature dividing its victims and devouring them one by one); but that's the movies. In reality, coming together as one people is much more exciting to watch - and defeating our fears with mutual support is much easier than being stranded alone to face those demons.

3) In some, though not all, scary movies, the crowds misjudge the monster. In Frankenstein, and especially in its Mel Brooks' spoof Young Frankenstein (1974), we learn that the creature is not an empty horror in need of extinguishing - but rather a living, breathing person who is just afraid of fire (and has a short temper). Similarly, the Phantom under the Paris opera house is a lonely, rejected, disfigured man with incredible talent and a simple need to be loved.

In The Sixth Sense (1999), nine-year old Cole (Haley Joel Osment) is considered a "freak" by his classmates and family, but in all actually he is the heart of the movie, full of love and unconditional sympathy for those in pain. But so few people want to learn more about this misunderstood boy that he becomes a "ghost" himself - detached from a cold, dark world.

Sometimes the monsters aren't monsters after all. Once we get past the fear, we see something to pity or, more importantly, to love as another child of God. Perhaps the reason that Scripture tells us to avoid fear is because we're fearing the wrong things. The disciples were afraid of the Romans and the tax collectors, but as Jesus approached with love the Centurion and Zaccheus, he showed them that these men weren't the monsters they were made out to be.

We fear the unknown and who/what we don't understand. Are there people in our lives that we fear or avoid - who God might be calling us to love and embrace instead? As we learn in Night of the Living Dead (1968), even zombies are people too.

So who are the "misunderstood monsters" in our day and in our daily lives? Who are the misjudged "bogeymen" that we so easily shun, dismiss, ridicule, hate, or rally against - and should we reconsider our actions? For not all monsters in our favorite Halloween stories are actually monsters - and they have much to teach us about the way we judge and view one another. Let us pray that we might see them as God sees them before we end up like the mob with pitchforks, clubs, and torches.

Scary movies are all around us this time of year, but after we get a jolt on Halloween, let us pause on the Feasts of All Saints (November 1st) and All Souls (November 2nd) to look back at the spiritual lessons we can take from the horror, the silliness, and the truly frightening.

Consider this story, told in retrospect by the gospel writers, found in Scripture: "During the fourth watch of that stormy night, Jesus came to the disciples, walking on the water. When they saw him walking across the sea, they were terrified. 'It is a ghost,' they said, and cried out in fear. At once, Jesus spoke to them, "Take courage, it is I. Do not be afraid..." (Mt. 14:25-27)

Ghosts, storms, and terror... yet in the midst of all that, Jesus appears to comfort and save the frightened disciples. The same is true for us - for no matter how scary things get in our lives (from the little phobias that give us the chills, the spooky movies that we love to watch, or our fears related to work, home, health, money, and personal insecurities), we just need to know that God is there for us - to walk alongside us as we summon our gifts and courage, as we learn to forgive and love one another, and as we reach out to the misunderstood monsters. In all these, God is there, telling us every day: "Take courage... Do not be afraid."

Real Steel

"You come against me with sword and spear and scimitar, but I cam against you in the name of the Lord of hosts...!" 1 Sam. 17:45

Real Steel imagines a world in the not-too-distant future where people demand so much violence from their boxing and wrestling matches that robots have taken over in the ring (since mechanical athletes can take a lot of physical punishment and quench the appetite for intense violence without the loss of human life).

This particular story, however, is told from the perspective of Charlie (Hugh Jackman), a tired ex-boxer who now makes his living behind the controls of low-end robots. Moving from county fair to illegal underworld boxing matches, Charlie can never seem to reach the big leagues - mostly due to his impulsive spirit and brazen overconfidence. He is stuck in a seemingly endless cycle where he ends up destroying his work and then begs for money to start over again, only to lose yet another robot in the process.

Against this backdrop, we come to learn that Charlie's son Max (Dakota Goyo) is now an orphan. It seems that Charlie has been battling these bad habits for awhile, as this is the first encounter with his son since he was born (as Charlie abandoned mother and child when things didn't go so well 11 years prior).

In a crude effort to cut his losses and make a few dollars, Charlie agrees to temporarily watch over Max for the summer in exchange for $100,000.

But once father and son are reunited, the story takes a new turn. Max becomes the most unexpected partner in Charlie's boxing business, offering advice and creative ideas that actually seem to work. Max also brings into Charlie's life a new robot: Atom, a beaten-up, near-obsolete, junkyard sparring machine.

Max sees himself in Atom... abandoned, overlooked, and sold for scraps... and because of this, makes it his mission to bring Atom up-to-speed and become the best fighter in the ring. His first test is to convince Charlie that he and Atom are worth taking a risk on. It's an important hurdle that, once overcome, yields an adventure where Atom actually moves up the ranks and, surprising to everyone, goes steel toe-to-toe with the international grand champion robot behemoth, Zeus.

Max's story and Atom's story are not unlike many of the stories from the Scriptures, where the heroes emerge from the least likely places and to everyone's surprise. The message God seems to send is: don't underestimate the least, the powerless, or the forgotten ones.

Consider David, the lowly shepherd boy from the backwater country, unnoticed even by his own family. It was David, small and diminutive, who stood up against the mighty Goliath when no one else stepped forward. "You come against me with sword and spear and scimitar, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of hosts," said the young David (1 Sam. 17:45). When no one else thought he had a chance, it was David who proved everyone wrong.

Throughout history, God seems to favor the poor, rejected, and underestimated while others forget they're even there. Max and Atom fit well in that incredible tradition.

Do we ever feel like Max or Atom, underestimated by others? Or do we ever act like Charlie or Zeus, passing over the poor and rejected in favor of the strong and successful? Most likely, we have been on both sides of the ring at different points in our lives. Either way, it's never too late to learn this lesson again.

In his ministry, Christ reminded us of this when he befriended the lepers, the sick, and the blind; when he reached out to the short and forgotten Zaccheus up in the tree; and when he raised up a possessed woman to become the first witness to the Resurrection. It was Christ who taught us, "the first shall be last and the last shall be first" (Mt. 20:16), and through his death on a cross, fulfilled the wisdom of Scripture: "...the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone." (Ps. 118:22)

Whenever we feel that we are up against impossible odds, we must always remember that those are the places where God shines the brightest. God favors the lowly, and lifts up the least among us. And because of that, we also need to be conscious that we do not reject the least in front of us each day - for if we do that, we reject those whom God empowers.

Let us pray that, with faith in a God who loves the least, we might be lifted up when we feel the lowest. Let us also pray that we may never put down, ignore, reject, or diminish anyone in our path, most especially those whom we least expect to save the day.

The Way

"Follow me..." Mark 2:14

The Way is a movie that took its own path to your local movie theatre. Refusing to let major Hollywood studios declare this independent film unfit for major theatrical release, director Emilio Estevez took the promotion of The Way to the people by way of a father/son road trip through America (see this article for a peek into that journey).

Except for Estevez and his father Martin Sheen, The Way doesn't feature any blockbuster stars or include mountains of special effects. Rather, it's the story of a simple journey - and in that simplicity, it shatters all expectations.

Sheen stars as Tom Avery, an American eye doctor whose only son Daniel (played in flashbacks by Estevez) has recently died while on pilgrimage through the Pyrenees mountains on his way to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Tom immediately heads overseas to identify and collect Daniel's body - but while in France, he is inspired to continue his son's journey to Santiago.

We come to learn that this decision was a father's way to repair a broken relationship and come to understood who his son really was and what Daniel was trying to tell him in the last conversation they ever had together: "Dad, you don't choose a life. You live it."

With Daniel's equipment, guides, and backpack, Tom sets out on the very long journey across northern Spain just as his son would have done. This is an ancient pilgrim route (called the "Camino" or "Way") towards the shrine of St. James the Apostle, whose remains are found at the Cathedral in Santiago. However, this pilgrimage journey has actually very little to do with venerating the bones of a saint, but savoring the experiences one has along the road to get there.

Along Tom's path, he has his own unique experiences of pain, struggle, and faith - and has chance encounters with an assorted cast of characters including: Joost (Yorick van Wageningen), a kind-hearted, playful Dutchman who says he walks the Camino to loose weight; Sarah (Deborah Kara Unger), an embittered Canadian who claims to make the journey to quit smoking; and Jack (James Nesbit), an Irish writer who tells passers-by that he is researching a book about the pilgrims along the road.

Like the travelers in The Wizard of Oz, Tom and these three companions learn that, while they started the journey alone, they want nothing more than to walk together (though not without inevitable complications and disagreements that come from the fusion of very distinct personalities as these).

The movie, like the pilgrimage, gets more interesting the farther along the path they go. With each passing kilometer, the pilgrim group has entertaining adventures, meet an eclectic collection of locals and fellow travelers, and discover more depth about one another than they ever hoped to learn. The destination, then, is not the culmination but rather the capstone to the journey: an affirmation of the beauty that was seen and a blessing to the redemption that had come.

The Way reminds us of the fact that pilgrimage is a lost art. Begun in an era before minute-by-minute busyness and the art of multi-tasking, people would go on pilgrimage as we today would step onto a plane for a much-needed vacation (not that we have much time for that today, either). The pilgrim way was a chance to cleanse oneself from the pressures of the world, to renew oneself during the inevitable periods of silence and routine that go into a very long walk, and to open oneself to the new experiences and new people that we may encounter along the way.

Perhaps now more than ever, we need more pilgrimage moments in our lives. Like the first apostles who left their work and anxieties behind and started down their pilgrim road with Jesus with a simple invitation ("Follow me..." Mk. 2:14), we, too, might need a gentle push to get us going along the way.

We each have a starting point (for Tom, it was a penance for the distance he created with his son; for Joost, it was the need to feel accepted despite his weight problems; for Sarah, it was an addiction; for Jack, it was writers' block)... but as we walk onward on our pilgrimage, we peel back the layers to discover an even-greater reason to make the effort. What might your starting point be? What pains, struggles, or rationale would you have to taking time for a pilgrimage? What might be your goal?

Taking time away might seem like a luxury we don't have, but the fact remains that there will never be a perfect time to set it all aside and set out on pilgrimage. Jesus' disciples had work still unfinished with they followed him; in this movie, Tom had appointments waiting back home and Jack had deadlines he had to meet. If we make the excuse that now is just not the right time, we may never walk the pilgrimage we are called to make. Imagine what might have been missed if the apostles refused Jesus' offer... or imagine how bad a movie this would have been if Tom just went back to America after identifying his son's body. Imagine how dull or crazy your life may be if you don't take your first step towards pilgrimage - whatever that may be for you.

And then imagine what possibilities there may be on your own road ahead. Imagine what your Camino would look like. Imagine the adventures, the people, and the personal growth that may be just around the corner for you.

The producers of The Way took their own pilgrim route to make a meaningful film, despite objections and doubts from big studio executives. The result is a simple and yet profound invitation to all those who watch to take their own journey. The Way may very well be the cinematic equivalent of Jesus' invitation to the first disciples, "Follow me..." The film may be challenging us to move ahead, to take that first step.

The questions remain, then: What will your first step be? What's stopping you? and Where will you go?

Blessings on the way.

Moneyball

"See, I am doing something new! Now as it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" Isaiah 43:19

Moneyball is a film about charting a new and creative course of action against those who entrench themselves in long-standing traditions and presumptions... and to some degree, it's about baseball.

The movie is a dramatic re-telling (done very well, I might add) of a rather dull concept: the movement of high-level baseball executives towards relying more on analysis and sabermetric approaches to scouting ball players. But the producers of this film (and a creative writing team that includes the brilliant Aaron Sorkin) have transformed an otherwise boring piece into a David-vs-Goliath, come-from-behind tale of incredible proportions.

The story follows Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), General Manager of the Oakland Athletics (As), who is haunted by fact that, no matter how far he takes his team, he still loses the last game of the year every time. It's a sports irony that the team that loses the World Series (or the SuperBowl for that matter) is more embarrassed than the team that ended their season in last place. As the movie begins, we see that in 2001, the As went to the playoffs and lost to the New York Yankees (and in the off-season, lost three of its top players in trades to other high-profile teams, including the Yankees). Regardless of the As success, Beane can't help but feel miserable.

Into this fray comes Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), a fictionalized version of a real-life executive, Paul DePodesta, a young adult economics expert fresh out of the Ivy League who believes that something new must be done to shake up the long-standing tradition of baseball scouting. Brand's method relies more on stats and numbers than on gut instinct, which is what had carried major league scouting for decades. Beane, who himself was scouted on a gut reaction to his high school ball playing and subsequently failed in the big leagues, sees that this might be his ticket to ending the curse of losing that season's last game.

The complicated sabermetric system that Beane and Brand put into place has a strikingly simple goal: to get the ball players to first base. As Brand puts it, hits mean runs and runs mean wins. So the key is not to plan elaborate moves or media-friendly personalities in the field, but to simply get onto base. One step at a time - and the first step is the most important.

While this sounds natural, the film shows that the other scouts, the news media, and the As manager Art Howe (Philip Seymour Hoffman) are furious of this change. For them, to ignore fielding and crowd-pleasing players is just plain silly. But Beane and Brand stick to their method, in the hope that something fresh and new will win the day.

While society lauds its greatest heroes as those pioneers who charted new territory, it is still so very difficult to try anything new. The "default" position of many people is to maintain the status quo and live within their comfort zone. Businesses, family life, sports, governments, the film industry, the media, financial institutions (and yes, even churches) prefer to keep things as safe and stable as possible.

But faith teaches us something different - though often with much resistance throughout history. Patriarchs, prophets, and evangelists have all gone against the status quo (and many have been exiled, shunned, or even killed as a result). Why? Because ours is a God of shattered expectations!

In Isaiah, God tells his people: "Remember not the events of the past. And the things that have been done since long ago, consider not. See, I am doing something new! Now as it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" (Is. 43:18-19)

For as adventurous as we want to appear, we long to keep the status quo. We like things the way they always have been and always should be. God knows this flaw and gently tries to move us to new heights. Whether in our faith lives, at home, or in our work, God urges us to never become too settled, lest we miss an opportunity or a chance to move forward and upward.

There is also a great analogy of God's desire to break the status quo with the ball playing methods that Beane and Brand proposed: just get on base, one step at a time. We often fear change because we get overwhelmed at the possibilities it gives us. We fear it so much that we forget to look five feet in front of us (or in baseball, 90 feet to first base) to realize that real change begins not with an explosion but with a footstep.

Are there areas in your life (at home, at work, in your faith journey, in your relationships, and so forth) where you feel that you're simply maintaining the status quo? As a result of this, do you feel that you're just treading water and really moving no where? Is God calling you to change - to perceive something new?

Each of us has been there - and it can be frightening to change because it means leaving the comfort zone. But God is always there with us (see Mt. 28:20 for proof), urging us on to make that change one simple step at time. It's not always going to be easy to make these new moves - and like Beane and Brand, there will be resistance from others, temptation to give up, and frustration that things aren't changing fast enough. But with God by our side, we are challenged to never give up, never surrender.

Let us pray that we may all have the wisdom and courage to uproot the status quo that might be draining us - and to try new things, to set off in a new direction, and to chart a new course towards a world that will transform us. God be with us as we go.