I don't know if I'm going to see The Passion of The Christ. I don't think so, but it's not for any really intellectual or political reason. It's because of the Lord of the Rings.
I loved the movies, I think they were brilliantly done, but there is no doubt in my mind that they took something away from me. They took away my ability to read the books and visualize a middle earth that isn't in New Zealand. In this case, I can live with the loss; middle earth isn't all that important in the grand scheme of my life. But I'm really hesitant to do the same thing to a story that is at the center of my faith. I don't want to give Jesus a face. I don't want to define a visual for Holy Week and burn it into my brain. I don't want to take a story which is rich in metaphor and make something concrete from it.
I guess what I'm saying is...I want this story to be mine. I'm afraid that the movie version will be so much louder and bloodier and bigger than my tiny little understanding of the story that it will take over, become It, become The Official Record. Right now, it's this story that we tell in our little community, and we try to work it out together, coming at it with music and light and darkness and silence and liturgy (and the occasional mime performance). It is, from year to year, bigger or smaller or louder or quieter, depending on how I am when I hear it. Some parts move forward, and others recede. I suspect the working of the Holy Spirit in that, nudging me toward whatever truth is most needed in my life. I don't want to lose that sense of exploration, of having the story unfold for me as I'm ready for it.
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