Monday, November 26, 2007

Joshua: the movie.....A Christmas message?

My family watched "Joshua" last night. What a wonderful message!! I read the books of Fr. Girzone and felt that they were nice stories with a message, but wasn't very excited about them. I read 3 of the "Joshua" books and lent them to someone...don't remember who now. hmmmmm

Anyway, as we were watching it, our 12 year old began to see the relationship of the story to Christ's life and both of them were glued until the end. I actually looked over at my knight-in-shining-armour and he was glued too! What a message, what timing for us to have netflixed it.

The main message is this: Modern man has lost their sense of community. We have lost our sense of service to each other and have delved deeper into ourselves and become self-involved to the point that we no longer love our brothers, whoever they may be.

The ending has Joshua having an audience with the pope and telling him under no uncertain terms that he must send the message that God is love and that people have become unable to love. He said, "Tell them about me, tell them that I love them." It actually was a very gripping moment in the movie.

During this season of Advent, we need to slow down this runaway train called commercialism. We are the examples for our next generation. I heard about customers' actions during the "Black Friday" shopping nightmare, they were BAD examples of neighborly love and kindness. Our society has lost it's perspective on the real meaning of life. The local TV station interviewed dozens of people who left their families at home to camp out at retail stores on Thanksgiving evening in order to get a "good" deal on stuff. Stuff that will have no impact on our lives a few months down the year. People have purchased their Christmas trees and decorated their homes for Christmas the day before Thanksgiving around here.....what happened to autumn? Thanksgiving?

Who's running this society anyway?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds good..

Jane said...

Sounds like something I'd like to watch. Thanks for your thoughts on it. I don't get the camping out at a store thing either. I get the idea that people do it because they are told to by retailers, like they have no minds of their own. That said I went shopping on Black Friday. :) I really needed a new computer though.

Allison said...

We own this movie and the part where F. Murray Abraham recognizes Joshua as His Lord at the Vatican and breaks down....I sometimes replay that scene a few times....

Ebeth said...

Hi Jackie!

Jaimie, yeah, but you didn't camp out and leave the turkey sitting on the table with family and friends hanging around.

+JMJ+ I think we are going to buy this movie...I absolutely loved watching my husband and children gripped throughout most of it...the message came clear!

Ebeth

Michele said...

do you have a link beth where i can view the movie?

Jeff said...

But... I DO love my brothers and sisters... as long as I can still get my bright, shiny thingamawhatzit ad a killer price when I go shopping at 4am on Black Friday because I would rather rush out and try to think of who I can buy for because the big-box-retailers are telling me what I want to buy by setting "special" prices, and running the risk of blowing my entire budget, instead of thinking about the people I really care about throughout the year (and picking up things as the year goes by).

You mean the meaning of life isn't commercialism? It isn't the promotion of Christmas decorations, and the blurring of holiday/special events edges... (I vaguely remember something called Thanksgiving... doesn't that fall somewhere between Halloween and Christmas?)

Sarcasm aside... I have a love/hate relationship with the holiday season.
- I love the autumn weather - the bite of a cold day, the smell of a wood burning fireplace while walking around a neighborhood to look at lights and decorations, and the faint hope of seeing snow for a white Christmas.
- I hate the fact that it has resorted to "how much can we make consumers spend this year" and "how soon can we start the marketing campaign".

Honestly, I very much agree with the message. I think it's sad that, to use the title of the inspiring book for "A Christmas Story" - "In God We Trust... All Others Pay Cash"...

Ebeth said...

Divine Mercy....If you have a Netflix account, you probably have "Joshua" available with the "Watch Now" feature on your computer. I highly recommend Netflix, they are very reasonable, quick, and the choices are vast.....Definitely better than free TV!!




Jeff: Why aren't you a published writer!! I am always in awe by the insights into your soul! Thanks for your input.....may I frame it?

Hugs!!
Ebeth

EC Gefroh said...

I liked that movie too. I especially the main actor in it because he played such a different role in Ghost.