Recently my wife and I went on a date to see Pixar's newest animated adventure called UP. It represents Pixar's best work to date. Its quick-tempo plot-line, twists, and emotionally grounded laughs take Pixar's tradition of clever animation intermingled with significant family themes up a few more notches. This film offers the viewer a wonderful and entertaining conversation piece. Oh, and did I mention, it's also a great "date movie"? My wife, Danita, and I give it four thumbs-up!


The story is about Carl who spends his whole life trying to make good on a promise to his wife Ellie, his childhood sweetheart. Across the years of their marriage, they dreamed together about going on an adventure to Paradise Falls, South America in a blimp. But, because of the ordinary problems of life, Carl is never able to fulfill his promise. In a poignant scene, his beloved wife dies and Carl promises he will one day yet fulfill their dream. The movie's other main character is a young boy, the tenacious and good-hearted Wilderness Scout, Russell, who by an unexpected fluke joins Carl on his peculiar adventure.


The main theme of this fun-filled-flick, however, gets expressed through bits and pieces of stuff-through Ellie's childhood Adventure Book, through the pair of living room chairs in the couple's old house, through the house itself and its weathered mailbox (that still shows Carl's and Ellie's two painted handprints), through the bottle-cap badge that Ellie pinned on Carl when she welcomed him into her explorer's club, through the Wilderness Scout merit badge sash that Russell wears with both pride and a little bit of secret remorse. All of these objects are emotionally weighted, and the movie gradually explores how these "things" can be freeing instead of a burden anchoring us in our dark past when they are used towards a new purpose-being redeemed in relationship.
For much of the film, our main character, Carl, becomes so wrapped up in the objects that remind him of his past meaningful relationship, that he unwittingly turns his back on the potentially meaningful relationships around him. Carl somehow loses the "who" in the "what."

Losing the "Who" in the "What"
On Sunday, August 30th, the Gospel reading has to do with another man who lost the "who" in the "what." It's the story of "The Rich Young Man" in Matthew 19:16-26. Here, a rich young man comes to Jesus asking Him, "What?" "What must I do to be saved?" However, when Jesus questions the young man, it soon becomes apparent that the man is more concerned with the "what" of his question than with the "whos" for whom those "whats" were created to help him love better. For this rich young man, his relationship with God and with the people in his community came in second to obeying abstract religious rules, like the Ten Commandments. When Jesus re-directed his "whats" to the "whoms" for which they were created, instructing the young man to sell all of his own "whats" and give to the poor ("whos") and to come follow Him (the most significant "Who," of all) the young man just couldn't do it. He was willing to lose his salvation in order to keep his "whats." Just think of it-he would rather have kept his pile of stuff until death (because that's as long as anyone gets to keep their stuff) than to spend eternity with the God of the universe who created it all. Jesus then cautioned His disciples that it is hard, HARD for those with a lot of "whats" to be saved-so hard that it would be easier to cram a camel through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to follow Him into the kingdom of heaven.

Our "Whats" & the Stewardship of Our "Whos"
Here in America, we have great affluence. We have a lot of "whats," which can easily distract us from the more vital "whos." Compared to most of the rest of the world, even the poorest of us is wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. In the Orthodox Church, just like the ancient Temple Jews, our tradition too is incredibly rich in "whats"-with icons and tones and katavasia and canon laws and dogmatic assertions and fasting rules and vestments and patristic quotes and liturgical services and sacraments and parish budgets and infrastructure and programs ...and ...and ...and, so many "whats" that it's exhausting merely thinking about all of it, much less trying to learn and do it all. Like the rich young man in Matthew 19, it is all too easy to lose our relationship with God and with the persons in our surrounding community by centering all of our main focus on abstract religious rules. We too can make the serious mistake of putting all of our "whats" before authentic relationships. If we aren't careful, we can become so obsessed with the "whats" of our Faith that we forget the "Who" of Jesus Christ and the stewardship that He gives each one of us as "ambassadors of His ministry of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5:17-20), loving our enemies, caring for the poor, and reconciling each other and the world back to God. Therefore, the most important things in life aren't things, but "Who," is a serious foundational focus that God has revealed to us through Christ, His Son.

UP
St Paul calls for us to "fix our eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our Faith" (Hebrews 12:2ff). He's not merely talking about looking UP at the beautiful new Pantocrator icon above our heads, he's talking about looking even further UP at the very life and teachings of Jesus, fixing our eyes on Him so that we can follow Him as cross-bearers in this life-willing to die daily, even out of love and servanthood for our enemies. Jesus was willing to see us beyond our present sinful selves into the future, as completely forgiven and fulfilled in Him in the heavenly kingdom. He was willing to see the best in us, even when we gave Him our worst, torturing Him and nailing Him to a cross. Can you imagine how our parish would look and feel if each of us actually were a disciple of Jesus in this way-the way He asks us to be-fixing our eyes on Him so as to follow in the footsteps of His self-sacrificing way? Can you imagine how it would look and feel in this parish if when we looked at our sinful neighbor, we saw them through future eyes, as fulfilled in Christ and we sought to serve Him by serving them? It would be heaven on earth.

I Know Something Good About You

Wouldn't this old world be better
If the folks we meet would say-
"I know something good about you!"
And treat us just that way?

Wouldn't it be fine and dandy
If each handclasp, fond and true,
Carried with it this assurance-
"I know something good about you!"

Wouldn't life be lots more happy
If the good that's in us all
Were the only thing about us
That folks bothered to recall?

Wouldn't life be lots more happy
If we praised the good we see?
For there's such a lot of goodness
In the worst of you and me!

Wouldn't it be nice to practice
That fine way of thinking too?
You know something good about me;
I know something good about you.
Author Unknown

Wow! When Assumption is a parish where people treat each other this way, where the "who" takes precedence over the "what," it is heaven on earth! Day by day we continue to pray, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Can you imagine us fulfilling that prayer and being such a place? Can you follow in the footsteps of Christ to such a place? I know that you can because, looking UP, "I know something good about you!"

Allan Boyd  (Pastoral Assistant MDIV)