Chocolat- SBNR

I spent this cold February afternoon watching one of my favorite movies, Chocolat, which I still think should be required viewing for all who call themselves Christians and are serious about reaching out to the lost and hurting. I watch this movie every year, several times, usually in the Spring since the story takes place during the six weeks of lent before Easter. I'm not sure all the reasons I love this film. Maybe it's because it takes place in a little village, as bleak as this one is, I like little villages. Or maybe it's because it takes place in the Spring...new beginnings and a chance to start again, as happens in this town. Or maybe it's because I can relate to Vianne and the gypsies, that feeling of never really belonging anywhere because your ideas and convictions are different from everyone else. Or maybe it's because that one woman changed the entire town by standing by her convictions. There are more reasons than I can count as to why I love this movie. Although this is not a Christian movie and was never marketed as such and has a PG-13 rating, it is one of the most profound films I have ever seen. It's not a new release. It was made back in 2000. I only discovered it about 4 years ago. There are many avenues you could take as far as teaching from it's themes and characters. My favorite line is at very end of the movie and is said by the young Priest Pere Henri. It sums it up nicely: 

"I'm not sure what the theme of my homily today ought to be. Do I want to speak of the miracle of Our Lord's divine transformation? Not really, no. I don't want to talk about His divinity. I'd rather talk about His humanity. I mean, you know, how He lived His life here on Earth. His kindness, His tolerance. Listen, here's what I think.... I think that we can't go around measuring our goodness by what we don't do, by what we deny ourselves, what we resist, and who we exclude. I think we've got to measure goodness by what we embrace, what we create and who we include."

 

 Last year Rubel Shelly summed up the entire movie in his weekly devotional. I love what he says about it. If you decide you want to view it, don't forget to have plenty of your favorite chocolate on hand...you'll be craving it and see me if you want to know how to make Mayan Hot Chocolate from a 2000 year old recipe..I have it!! Here's what he said:

Spiritual But Not Religious

            Some people have dismissed it as a "trendy phrase," but I take it very seriously. The notion that people can be authentically spiritual without being caught up in all the trappings of religion makes perfectly good sense to me.

            To be "spiritual but not religious" - a notion so commonplace these days that it has its own acronym (SBNR) - typically translates to this: "I believe in God and need divine guidance for my life, but I don't trust 'organized religion' and won't let some church or religious zealot sit in judgment on me and tell me how to live my life by his list of rules."

            Ever see the movie Chocolat? It is a cinematic parable about the gray, barren landscape of life under the thumb of a zealot or an authoritarian church. The conflicted mayor and an intimidated young priest are quick to judge, exclude, and bully people into conformity with their expectations. Life is harsh and bleak.

            Into that town comes a woman who is conspicuously disinterested in church and is unbowed by attempts to make her conform. What she brings with her is a remarkable sense of empathy that enables her to value its outcasts and to effect a number of reconciliations among the browbeaten citizens. She is clearly spiritual (i.e., compassionate and loving) but unwilling to be bullied by oppressive people and institutions. She is clearly the SBNR heroine of the story.

            Chocolat lays bare the historic failure of religion. It can degenerate into rigidity and power struggles. Its message of faith, hope, and love can collapse into struggles over power, ego, and money. And how dare anyone try, with a straight face, to deny this has happened repeatedly over the centuries!

            Old Testament prophets railed against priests who abused their power or worshippers who substituted their prayers for actual kindness to the poor. Jesus was angry enough at the abuses of organized religion that he drove animal-hawkers and currency-changers out of the Temple. So there must be something to the idea that deeply spiritually people can be turned off by religion!

            Unlike Vianne, the fictional heroine of Chocolat, the solution for SBNRs is not found simply in flouting the rules and defying the authorities. What is at stake is more complex and serious than playing the rebel. A restudy of Jesus from the Gospels would be a great point of beginning. He seems to have found a way to honor his Father, live under Scripture's authority, and build healthy community - while neither playing nor cowering to the power games of organized religion.

            If you have been turned off by religion, you are in good company. Just be careful not to throw out the Bethlehem Baby with the nasty old bath water!