Christian Living

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I think there’s a reason so many films have a similar storyline.

So often I find myself watching films where the ‘good guys’ are facing the darkest and most hopeless of situations. It’s like the whole film’s set up to make you feel like there is no hope for humanity, to make you feel that evil and blackness will sweep over the world and all the worst things imaginable will become reality.

Yet,

it is in these moments, in the darkest depths of despair, that we see the heights of human ability. We see threads of light interwoven with the black of hopelessness. It is in these crushing moments that we see humanity’s ability for heroism, we see bravery from the unlikeliest of people, we see sacrifice. Think of Frodo and Samwise pushing on through all of their physical, emotional and spiritual limits, or of Luke Skywalker approaching the death-star, or, recently, of the Dark Knight giving all of himself to climb back out of the pit. From the horror of suffering we see humanity at its most beautiful.

And then, inevitably, hope comes from nowhere, and the story twists in favour of the underdog and the ‘good guys’. Inexplicable twists of fate means that the story is won and evil is defeated.

Surely we need to take notice of the amount of films, stories, fables, fairytales and songs that follow this story pattern? I don’t think it’s coincidence and I don’t think it should be ignored. I want to suggest that these films echo a longing deep within us – a longing for contentment and hope, for everything to be made right again and for our emptiness and hurt to end. Maybe there’s something very human about feeling like this, right now, isn’t enough. I don’t think that this yearning is there just because of some cruel joke or random coincidence. I believe that we long for this is because we are in a story ourselves,

and,

perhaps,

because something within us knows what is going to happen.

But, for now, that’s not where all my interest is. According to the bible, I’m in the middle of the story. I want to look for the beauty in humanity now, for the stories of people rising up in the most difficult of circumstances, for the ‘fight’ and sacrifice. I want to be one of these people, and when I meet them and hear their stories, I feel hope for the future. I don’t think the story is over yet.

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