watching faith films with the family

After enjoying a couple of weeks of family time for the holidays, I’m back to my daily single life routine. Aside from time teaching my piano students, the occasional interface with my roommate, D, and weekly check in with my best friends J and M, I enjoy a lot of solitude.

A highlight of my time at my brother’s home was watching movies and television shows. We habitually talk and carry on mini conversations during a typically passive activity. Seriously, I don’t understand how people can just plop down, watch a show, and not air an opinion or reaction. A teaching moment is lost, an AHA moment gets buried, and don’t you know, it’s an opportunity to interject some good lines of your own and have a memory with whoever you are sharing the watching with.

“OMG,why did he make up a stupid lie when the truth is better? Now, he not only looks stupid but he just made his life messy.”

“Close your eyes. They are still kissing.”

“Arrrrggh, if you like someone, just tell them. Do something nice. Now people get to be stupid, confused, and unhappy.”

“Terrible character. Awful lines. Everyone has an accent except him. Why?”

“The story pacing is slow, Here’s some info on the director/actor” (someone reads something from internet)

It’s an entertaining and engaging family time. I came home with many sweet memories. My dearest memory was listening to my brother and his son sing together as the closing credits played to LEGO Movie 2.

Hearing my brother and his young son sing such a happy song together gave me the warm fuzzies. They were in their own world while I was sitting at the kitchen table doing some writing. They watched the LEGO movie at least 3 times during my visit. I can see how people never tire out running the same shows with their kids. My brother and his kids enjoy a lot of cheesy time on repeat together. They push that loop button and keep going.

M was particularly irked when I told him how I loved how inquisitive my nephew was while watching Breakthrough. A true story of a boy who fell through a frozen lake with his friends. He got fished out after being under the ice for over 15 minutes. He died and then un-died.

R: “Does God talk to people who don’t believe in God?”

“God talks to everyone. Not everyone is good at listening.”

“Some people believe in God when they are little and don’t when they grow up. Some people don’t know about God until they’re bigger. Some believe, don’t believe, and then believe again. It’s different for everyone.”

“For some, it’s hard to believe in good things especially as you turn into a grown up. You don’t have to be that grown up.”

“Listening to what you hear in your heart is not easy for everyone.”

R: “Everyone prayed for the kid, even if they didn’t know him?”

“You pray because you are never alone on this world. Be a comforting energy to the world and add to the hope.”

M got upset because I didn’t use the moment to discuss other faiths. The movie sounded “too Christian.” He said I should write Christian stories that teach about other religions. He felt it was imperative on my part.

M: “All war is caused by religion.”

JNET: “All war is caused by governments. They are the ones with the time and money. Normal people are just trying to live their lives.”

M: “You need to educate your family about other religions and not only about your faith. What are you going to tell your nephew if he asks about the Muslim religion?”

JNET: “I only know the details of my own faith and upbringing. Faith is a very personal thing. I may share special moments with my friends of other religions celebrating their faith. I can’t really tell my nephew what it is to be Muslim. I’d probably have my friends who are Muslim sit with my nephew and tell them how they grew up in their faith and what they thought as a 9 year old”.

M likes to butt heads with me and represent the voice of the world to me. He’s consistently annoyed me and yet endeared himself though he has a flair for creating clearance. He’s an only child and never had a sibling that he had to love despite being different.

I love classical music and my brother is a metal head. We can share space and be interested in each other to learn something new and refreshing. My Los Angeles friends don’t fault me if I’m a fan of Boston teams. It’s where I come from and they honor that.

I have friends of different faiths and none want to war with me. Our personal faiths shape us as people in how we relate to one another and our place in the world, War is a government construct. It’s a testament of how the government wants to spend money. Religions and faiths are a testament of its God and people....at least the ones I know.

I may be naive. I just know my world; jnetsworld. I don’t hang out with the mean crowd of power hungry, war mongering, superficial, religious zealots. I don’t see them where I teach, shop, and play. But according to the main stream media (sigh) they are EVERYWHERE.

Well....maybe in government. Power has a way of twisting a person’s soul out of shape.

I believe that most sensible people are living their lives, loving their families with no desire to war and fight, and trying to make the best of an uncertain world. We teach the young ones our best in our respective corners of the world to be better people and we all strive in our aspirations to be decent humans. I’d like to think that the majority of people on this planet are good.

As good as I want to be, I can’t save all the whales, save all the forests, nor defend all the causes from a-z. I can only live my best life and hope when all is said and done, HOPE that I made a positive difference in people’s lives and that the world is a little better because I was here.

I really enjoyed watching a lot of television with my family over the holidays. We shared a lot of laughs and inspired some very thoughtful conversations. I highly recommend, The LEGO movie and Breakthrough (even if you’re not a Christian, it is moving to see how community comes together.)

If you can recommend any faith movies of your faith, I would love to know what to watch. Films that edify community and family whether faith based or not, are important. And if shared, unifying, like music or art.

Normal people aren’t planning wars. They are singing songs with their kids, checking on their family and friends, and hoping they can make it through the day so they can sleep well at night.

What is faith? Like art and music, an expression of the human spirit. Faith is the human expression of one’s relationship to their world and their God.

JNET