Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Nightcrawler Experience!
This will be the first part of a hopefully four- part series which I am doing kind of in partnership with St. John's United Methodist Church. The pastor there, Rev. David Averill (A dear old friend of mine from our seminary days), is doing a series in which he screens an animated movie at the church on a Friday night and then gives a sermon tying into it on Sunday mornings. He asked me to help him with this, writing devotionals to go along with each movie and be passed out at the screenings, and then go a little more in depth on other possible Scriptural messages in the film here on the Nightcrawler Experience.
For the first installment in this series, I will be looking at the beloved 2009 Pixar film 'Up.'
I'm sure most if not all of you (Certainly those at today's screening of it at the church) have already seen this great, heartwarming movie:
Carl Fredricksen, a widower who's let bitterness take over after his wife died, gets the idea to use tens of thousands of balloons to fly the house he and his wife shared over to the beautiful jungle of Paradise Falls, where he and his late wife had always dreamed of one day going. He unwittingly picks up a stowaway in the form of an enthusiastic little boy named Russell, and while making his way there, also finds himself saddled with a strange bird that Russell takes in and names "Kevin," and a lovable dog named Dug. These four have an incredible adventure while trying to get the house where Carl wants it to go.
In my devotional I wrote to be passed out at the screening, I pointed out how Carl's crazy and seemingly impossible yet brilliant plan ties into Jesus's point in Matthew 19:26 that "With God, all things are possible." I also pointed out that key to this, achieving our dreams through trusting in Jesus, includes us actively following after Him and making sure that we're doing what He knows is best for us, using the Psalmist's example in Psalm 119:5-12.
However, I think a couple more Scriptural messages can be found in 'Up,' as well.
For instance, one major faith- based message I saw in 'Up' concerned living selflessly, putting others' needs ahead of your own. Carl Fredricksen started his journey only concerned with his own goal of getting his house to the location on Paradise Falls where he wanted it. In fact, later in the movie, Carl's self- centered devotion to this goal led to him allowing the bird Kevin to be captured when it came to a choice between helping Kevin escape or putting out a fire that had been set on his house. By the movie's climax, however, Carl learns to start caring more about the needs of others, as he finds himself willing to sacrifice his goal in order to save the life of young Russell. This is a perfect example of what is taught in Philippians 2:3-4: "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others." Overcoming selfishness can be a major hurdle, especially in our current Western society, but it's one we need to overcome in order to be fruitful for the Lord. Jesus selflessly allowed Himself to die on the cross to pay for our sins, so the least we can do is kind of pay it forward by being kind and selfless to others.
Another Scriptural message to be taken from 'Up' involves letting go of the past. Carl's relationship and marriage to his late wife Ellie (Which the house kind of represents) was wonderful, but as we see through Carl's reading of the final note of Ellie's adventure book, she did not want him to hang on to their past so tightly, regardless of how great it was. As her final note in it explains, her last wishes were for him to move on and live abundantly in the next chapters of his life. Carl then lives this out, first by emptying the house of all the material things that are weighing it down and keeping it from flying (Similar to how we all have unnecessary baggage from our past that weighs us down and we should let go of), then finally by letting go of the house itself after he saves Russell. While we shouldn't forget our past experiences, good or bad, as they have helped to shape who we are, if we hold onto them too tightly like Carl does for much of the film, it can keep our eyes off of the here and now and rob us of any hope of living well in the future. Scripture is pretty clear on the point of moving forward in life rather than constantly looking back, especially due to the saving effect of accepting Jesus changing our lives and priorities. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says that "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; Behold, the new has come." Furthermore, Philippians 3:13- 14 says that "Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." By not letting ourselves be too closely tied to our pasts (Whether it be good experiences or bad ones), we can move ahead and better serve and honor the Lord now and build a better tomorrow for His Kingdom.
Both of these points, and the potential consequences of not following them, can be further seen in 'Up' by contrasting good old Carl with the film's villain, Charles Muntz. Some of my favorite kinds of movie villains are those who represent the hero's darker nature, or the sort of person the hero could have ended up becoming like if they had made different choices or had different circumstances, and I'd say Muntz fits the bill perfectly. A couple other examples of this are Gaston from 'Beauty and the Beast' (He represents the sort of person that the Prince would have almost certainly ended up becoming like if he had never met the Enchantress and been transformed into the Beast), and Justin Hammer from 'Iron Man 2' (He represents the sort of person that Tony Stark would have likely ended up becoming if he had never been kidnapped by terrorists in the first film and forced to re- evaluate his life).
In 'Up,' Charles Muntz shows what Carl could have ended up becoming like if he continued obsessively focusing on the past and on his own selfish desires. Muntz had become so obsessed with reclaiming his past glory and position by capturing the bird that he was willing to flat- out murder anyone that he even just believed might have been planning to capture the bird and bring it to civilization before he could. That he would stoop to such depths further shows that Muntz was not motivated by decent goals such as contributing to a scientific discovery and helping to teach people about the world, but that he was only doing it because he wanted the personal glory and status that would come with such a discovery. Muntz's selfishness and fixation on the past drive him mad and eventually destroy him, while Carl's learning to move on and put others ahead of himself are what enable him to prevail, become a father- figure to a young boy in desperate need for one, and set about living the rest of his life to the fullest.
So, that's my look at 'Up,' one of Pixar's best films with loads of great messages about living for Christ.
That's it for this installment of the Nightcrawler Experience. I should have a similar devotional entry up next week looking at the next film in the lineup, 'Big Hero 6.' Until then, God bless you all!
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