pat loughery

I planned to use a couple of chapters from Whale Rider for the introduction to yesterday’s sermon, in which we looked together at Matthew 12:1-21. In that part of the story, Matthew describes a Jesus who is passionate about – uh, “helping people to understand” cultural symbols. Specifically, the symbol of Sabbath, one of the boundary markers for the Jewish people.

Early in the movie, Whale Rider includes about 11 minutes in which Pai and her classmates sing a traditional song about the whale for her village. The song happens in the longhouse, the center of tribal activities. Pai’s father, Porourangi, returns from abroad to catch the performance, and then spends some times with his father (Koro) in another part of the longhouse, surrounded by the tribe’s history in carved form. The scene set ends with a voiceover of Pai introducing Porourangi’s canoe, which he had begun to carve, but gave up when she was born. The section is rich in meaning, and provides a fertile ground for discussing “what symbols define this people?”

But our reliance on technology bit us on the bum again. We couldn’t find the DVD player’s remote control, and this particular movie wouldn’t play from the buttons on the player itself. So we were out of luck. I had to scramble to try to introduce the topic, and we talked about those symbols which identify us as Americans. It was a good discussion, but a pale imitation of what it could have been, I’m afraid.

As for our own group, we considered some of the symbols that define us. And I asked them a question: how would you feel if instead of singing songs and teaching the kids and talking about God’s story together – what if we hauled a BBQ down the street and made lunch for our neighbors instead?

I wonder if they think that was a rhetorical question.