The Polar Express: The Necessity of Faith

 After much pushing and prodding by my associate Michael, I finally gave in and said we could do a podcast on the movie, The Polar Express.  Maybe the tipping point was when he presented to me a plea from a former member who now lives closer to the North Pole - somewhere in the wilderness of Alaska - than any other person I know.  I have to admit that the the process used to create the movie is intriguing; however, it’s also a little creepy.  The film features human characters animated using live-action and motion capture CGI animation.  This allows one actor - in this case, Tom Hanks - to play several characters in the story.  And to put it simply, that’s just weird.  Based on a beloved children’s book, I was willing to forge through the “creep-factor” of the movie too see what could be gleaned.  

In watching this movie my heart was warmed and my theological barometer activated.  The story is fairly simple:  A boy is beginning to falter in his faith about Santa Claus.  In the thick of night a mysterious train pulls up in front of his house where a conductor bids him to get on board.  On the train are other children who the boy does not know.  A wild adventure to the North Pole ensues, meeting along the way a peculiar hobo, two train engineers, and ultimately, the elves and the big man himself, Santa Claus.  With each passing moment of this journey from his house to the North Pole the boy is challenged with a simple, but potent, question:  Do you believe?

The movie comes to a crescendo when the myriad of elves are singing (led by a Steven Tyler elf!), the reindeer are dancing, and Santa walks into the middle of the North Pole plaza ready to grant one of the children from the train the first gift of Christmas.  Do you believe?  With all of this surrounding the boy he is still on the fence.  He’s not so sure.  And then a bell falls off of one of the reindeer bridals and rolls on the ground.  When he picks up the bell he clenches it tightly in his hands and begins to whisper:  “…Believe…believe…believe…”.  It is in the letter to the Hebrews where we read:  “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).  In a very real way this is the real gift of Christmas - “The assurance of things hoped for” and “the conviction of things not seen.”  Santa pauses the grand celebration and stands in front of the boy clutching the bell.  “What did you say?” Santa asks him.  And when the boy shares the word “believe” he can hear the bell ringing in his hands.  Faith…belief…

It was roughly 2,000 years ago when shepherds, minding their own business in the hill country of Judea, had a visit from a magical train - I mean a myriad of angels - that burst onto the seen with a fantastic message of life, love, and salvation.  No creepy animation or wild journeys to the North Pole.  Just a simple message:  “And this will be a sign for you:  you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:12).  Believe…believe…believe…. And that is exactly what they did.  They ran with haste to Bethlehem to see this thing that had been told them by the heavenly host.    There was no guarantee that they would find the baby - or any baby for that matter.  But…they believed.  And when they found everything, just as the angels had told them, they couldn’t contain their joy.  We are simply told that “the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them” (Luke 2:20)

It’s funny how at this time of year we are reminded of how precious belief - that is faith - really is.  The boy in the Polar Express reminds us that when we look at things through the eyes of a child everything seems a little simpler and less cluttered.  We can cling to a bell and “believe.”  May we look to the manger of Bethlehem with the fresh and opened eyes of the shepherds - shepherds who received an angelic message and then journeyed to Bethlehem to see with their own eyes what their hearts, through faith, already knew:  The face of salvation had come to the world and His name is Jesus.  Merry Christmas…believe…

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pastor's Kid - So This is What Real Life Looks Like?!

Image
Every so often you come across a film that is different.  You are not really sure what or how to label it.  It is  more than a drama, walks deeply into the waters of personal value or worth, and dares to traverse the divide between the secular and the Christian world.  Is it a Christian movie?  If so, can it exist under the banner of an “R” rating?  And can a Christian film really portray the depth and darkness of the sin that encompasses the individual caught in the chaos of life while arriving at a moment of personal salvation devoid of a “field scene” with outstretched arms towards a cross in the clouds? So what is this film considered?  Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with Benjamin Koppin and Courtney Bandeko, the director and lead actress for the movie Pastor’s Kid (to be released March 15, 2024).  How would they describe this movie they just created?  Well, Ben used the descriptive title, “Arthouse Christian Film.”  This is a type of movie that strays from the mainstr
Read more

Shooting Stars: Perspective When Looking Back

Image
    Sometimes in order to gain perspective you have to step back.   Maybe you have to step way back.   I used to have an engineer friend who called it the “30,000 Foot View” - when looking down from on high you can see the whole picture - and, in a very real way, when we have left our high school days in the past we need the gift of time to gain perspective on who, how, and why those people and events were important in helping us become who we are.   In the new movie, Shooting Stars , released on Peacock/NBC, LeBron James does exactly that!  Co-authored with Buzz Bissinger and brought to the big screen by director Chris Robinson, LeBron James gives to us a glimpse of his perspective of his life as he looks back on his days as a baller growing up in Akron, Ohio.  A child being raised by a single mother, LeBron found friendship, family, and community with three inseparable friends:  Lil Dru, Sian, and Willie.  The four together would go on to play basketball together at St. Vincent-St.
Read more

Like Father: Forgiveness and Community is Far Better Than Division and Isolation

Image
  We have never been more "connected" as people than we are right now - digital communication has changed the entire landscape of the world.  Not too long ago, I read that more than 50% of the world is "connected" by way of cell phone/smart phone.  This means we have access to the internet and that serves as a gateway to the world - and people - and individuals...whether we want to be or not!  With that thought in mind, I stumbled across the movie Like Father  starring Kristen Bell and Kelsey  Grammer.  The premise of the movie is very real - an estranged Father follows his daughter from afar by way of the internet and discovers she is getting married.  He shows up to the wedding, hiding among the faces of those gathered, only to see his daughter left at the altar by the groom because she is too engrossed in her work and cannot electronically detach from her job (the groom looses it when her cell phone falls out of her bridal bouquet).  And this is where our story b
Read more