Hi everyone, welcome back to the Nightcrawler Experience!
This entry will be both the first part of what will hopefully be a two- part Christmas- related set of entries over the next couple days, and the final entry in this year's partnership with St. John's United Methodist Church in writing devotionals to go along with their monthly Movie Night. They'll probably restart it next summer, but for now, we've decided we can give it a rest for a bit.
Now then, for this, I'll be looking at this month's movie du jour, the Christmas classic 'Miracle on 34th Street' (The 1947 original, not the 1994 remake; No offense to that remake, as it was pretty good too).
In it, Christmas is coming, and a number of people begin suspecting that Kris (Edmund Gwenn), the jolly and kind- hearted man that the Macy's flagship store in New York City have hired to be their Santa Claus, may in fact be the real St. Nick. Among them are the good- hearted attorney Fred (John Payne), the sadly jaded and cynical Doris (Maureen O'Hara), and her equally skeptical little daughter Susan (Natalie Wood). This discovery proves to be a particular shock for Susan, who has such a lack of imagination for her young age that she has never even read or heard a fairy tale before.
Eventually, it leads to many unsympathetic types viewing Kris as insane and seeking to have him permanently committed to a mental hospital. So, Fred decides to defend Kris in a trial hearing for his mental state, with the very existence of Santa Claus now on trial.
'Miracle on 34th St.' is an amazing movie, well- worthy of its status as a Christmas classic. All the performances are great, ESPECIALLY Edmund Gwenn as Kris, who won an Oscar for this performance. He brings all the warmth, kindness, joy, and commitment to what's right that you would expect from Santa Claus. Another standout performance was young Natalie Wood as Susan. She brings such maturity for her young age, perfectly fitting her character, who seems to be on tap for growing up too fast. Seeing her become friends with Kris and coming out of her shell more as the movie progresses is such a joy.The story, the way it plays out, and the way the court case is eventually won are all really well- written. It would be hard NOT to root for Kris and Fred, both in seeking to win the case, and in helping to open the hearts of Doris and Susan.
I can think of quite a few great Scriptural messages that can be taken from 'Miracle on 34th Street.' The first and foremost is on the nature of faith. The main issue most characters struggle with is faith, both in believing that Kris is who he says he is, and just generally in humanity and goodness. People might have a trouble with faith and believing in what they can't see due to feeling it's irrational, due to feeling let down by the world (i.e. One of the main reasons why Doris is so skeptical and has so little room for imagination in her life, and has taught Susan to be the same way, is because of the way her worldview was shattered by her divorce), or many other means. Still, true faith, of the Biblical sort, is stronger than this. As it says in Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Faith means that, while you shouldn't just blindly accept everything you hear, at the same time you shouldn't need to have it practically shoved in your face in order to believe in it. This is what is at stake in 'Miracle on 34th Street.' Fred sums it up in one scene by saying, "Faith is believing even when common sense tells you not to. Don't you see? It's not just Kris that's on trial, it's everything he stands for. It's kindness and joy and love and all the other intangibles." Trusting in and serving the Lord through faith, even when you may have doubts or others may look down on you for it, is what being a Christian is all about.
Believing can also be hard at times when some of the things we seek and pray to the Lord for are not granted. I know firsthand how disheartening this can be. However, a couple important considerations should be made; First, God is not a genie who is required to grant our every request. Second, as I believe I've mentioned in previous entries of this blog, God has a much better sense of the "Big picture" than we do, and a much better knowledge of what's best for us than we do because of this. At times, He may refuse to grant our requests because they are things which could be bad for us in the long run, or because He may have much better things in store for us down the road. Kris touches on this at one point in the movie when Susan asks him if he can provide her and her mother with a better house for Christmas, and says that if he can't, it must mean he's just a nice man with a white beard. He responds, "Now wait a minute, Susie. Just because every child can't get his wish, that doesn't mean there isn't a Santa Claus.....Some children wish for things they couldn't possibly use, like real locomotives or B-29s." For a personal example of this, when I was in college, I (Who have never been much of a ladies' man) began getting closer to a young woman who I'll call "Sandi." As we grew closer, I began thinking we could officially become a couple (Partly because "Sandi" had a rather flirtatious nature, and I kind of misinterpreted that as signaling real interest in me). I prayed to God so many times that this would happen, that He would guide "Sandi" and I together and bless our relationship. When it did not work out that way and "Sandi" and I's friendship ended rather badly, I cannot express how depressed I was and how let down I felt. However, looking back on it now, I can see that God did not give me what I had prayed to Him for because He knew it was not what was best for me. I can see that "Sandi" was wrong for me, and had things gone the way I had hoped back then, it would likely have led to a lot of pain and hardship for both of us. Indeed, God had much better things in mind for me, as I am now in an extremely happy relationship with a girlfriend I adore, and who feels the same for me. Just a little something to keep in mind if you ever get frustrated that something you pray for might not come to pass.
An additional Scriptural message to be taken from 'Miracle on 34th Street.' is on the nature of Christmas, and life in general. In explaining why he's been so active in her life, Susan's, and the lives of so many others, Kris at one point tells Doris that "For the past fifty years or so, I've been getting more and more worried about Christmas. Seems we're all so busy trying to beat the other fellow in making things go faster and look shinier and cost less that Christmas and I are sort of getting lost in the shuffle." He also points out that "Christmas isn't just a day, it's a frame of mind... and that's what's been changing. That's why I'm glad I'm here, maybe I can do something about it." Kris's remark about the nature of Christmas and how it has been changing is, if anything, even truer now than it was when the movie was released. The Christmas season is becoming steadily more and more about commercialism, consumerism, competition (Be it among business owners trying to make more than their competitors, or everyday citizens going to ridiculous lengths to ensure their house is the best decorated in the neighborhood), and simple greed than about the spirits of giving, compassion, and celebrating the birth of Jesus that are its true core. There is actually a website dedicated to documenting all the lethal and nonlethal injuries associated with Black Friday each year. Last year, at least three people were killed on Black Friday, including a Wal- Mart shopper in Nevada who was fatally shot in a fight over a PARKING SPACE, of all things! When kicking off the Christmas season leads to a person being killed over not just an item for sale, but just for a simple parking space to eventually get to said item, you know something is definitely wrong. Christians have always known that they should be more concerned with heavenly matters than with material things. Colossians 3:2 instructs believers to "Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things." While shopping, decorating, and the usual festivities are nice and should not necessarily be discouraged, we must not let them overshadow the true spirit of Christmas or keep us from living out our devotion to the One whose birth that day celebrates.
Keeping faith and not letting holiday bustle hinder how we act and focus our priorities are imperative to make our Christmas truly a merry one.
That's it for this edition of the Nightcrawler Experience. I should hopefully have the second part of my Christmas entry up by the big day, so keep your eyes peeled. Until then, God bless you all!
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