Wow, you are a very wise human being. Not because you agree with me! Hahahah. But just because while you don’t, you are still open to the dialogue and the conversation. So kudos to you. Today we entrench and double down on our positions more so than ever. Which is sad really. I would like to think that I am 100% open minded, but obviously am not. But I would like to at least understand where I am missing it or where I am being closed minded.

What is fascinating about L’engle is that she was an outcast and declared a rebel by normal Christians, or legalistic and regimented Christians that are regularly threatened by the true meaning of the gospel and the Bible. Which has been a fascinating study for me lately. (Disclaimer, this is me cracking on established religion and Christianity as a whole for a minute, and I’m just talking to Sara, the rest of you can listen in all you like! Hahah ok. Just kidding. Jump in, the water is warm.) and if you flip back to the Old Testament – the Jews really began to miss the larger point of the gospel and where the idea of sacrifice was heading. And that carried through to the New Testament. So, the Messiah comes (if I am right, if not it’s just an interesting anecdote) and when he does – it is God saying – guys you are getting this all wrong. So what do they do? Well, duh, they kill him. And a new Church is founded on this guy’s ideas of their having missed it. I mean, he did rise again after all, and they saw it with their own eyes, so they were all in.

These guys were all in because there was no church. There was no capital R Religion. It was a relationship with a man that blew their minds for three years before he died and then ascended. (Did not our hearts burn within us?!?) So these gatherings of little Christ’s or Christians (as they were called to mock them by others of the day) were all about a relationship with the God of the universe who had befriended them. Then had died on their behalf to reconcile them to the Father, right?

So my point here being that being a Little Christ is about a relationship between you and God. Period. It isn’t your church. It isn’t confession (which, I have to just as an aside, isn’t even Biblical, but whatever. I’m not trying to pick a fight with Catholics – please email me if any of you are Catholic and you’d like to chat about how confession really is Biblical, love to hear how.) or whatever. But just you and God. Christ did a reset on what it’s all about. And then over the last 2,000 years, Little Christs,l have done a great job of taking over the world and making it about power and about those that are in and those that are out. But really, it should just be about you, and your relationship with the one that created you. Not me. Not your priest. Not about anything but his forgiveness. Right? (Not right as in, do you agree, but do you follow the logic.)

But we – not you we, but the Church we… I really hate pronouns – have regressed. Instead of being a home of grace and forgiveness and healing… we have become a den of guilt, reprisals and stonings of our broken. (Because really – a church without the broken, is a broken church.) we have become the Pharisees that we (again, the church we) love to make fun of. If I had any guts at all, I would write up a new list of indictments against the major churches of the United States and drive around to each one and nail them up on each church in the U.S. like Luther did hundreds of years ago.

Which, finally, brings me back to L’engle. Right? She, by writing this book, was hurling herself at these unmoving gates. She talks about the mind blowing force that is the love of God. She was calling out the Church for their hypocrisy. She was calling for forgiveness and for love amongst little Christs around the world. Because currently, we aren’t known for our love, we are known for our hate. Right? And that is 100% wrong. Christ called us to love our brother. Heck, he took the 10 commandments and made them even more difficult to do by saying (in the sermon on the mount)… not only don’t kill anyone, but don’t even kill anyone in your heart. (Which I fail at every time I drive! Hahah.) Not only don’t have an affair, but every time you want a woman walking by on the street? You just had an affair for real! So yeah, Christ moved the needle on the Pharisees. He totally changed the equation entirely. Which, for me, I’m totally dependent on God all the time to stop murdering people on my commute, or having an affair with that runner going the other way. Because without Him, I’ll have 7 affairs and 22 dead people by the time I get home from this flight I am on right now (which accounts for my long windedness – sorry!)

All that to say, the Church is wrong. The church was wrong to make your relationship with God all about confessionals. The church was wrong to tell you that your relationship with God is actually about tithe or about communion rites, or about obligatory works cutting that old woman’s lawn or what have you. Sure, once you have a real relationship with God you will suddenly (or not so suddenly) want to give. Suddenly you’ll stop caring only about yourself and start caring about others. And wanting to share about the amazing grace that you have been given.

So, yes, by Disney making this movie about some random kids wandering around the universe? Well, in my humble opinion, they’ve gutted the point. She was railing against non-Christians and Christians alike that were missing what grace really was. This was her treaty nailed on the church front door. This was her call to arms for love and forgiveness. And a diatribe against those that don’t understand what little Christness is really all about.

But mostly, I think, it’s about appropriating something that was intended for one purpose and then utilizing it for something else completely out of context. (Of which, I tried my best to explain what that was, but alas and alack, most certainly failed to some degree or another.) But your comments are insightful and appreciated.

You’ve certainly made me look at this from another perspective, which is no small feat. As a tiny bit of context, I guess I’d call myself agnostic, because I’m open to the possibilities and I think it would be the height of hubris to say any of us truly knows how we got here or where we’re going. But I’ve always found religion a little scary (I blame my early, formative years going to a Catholic church and finding confession to be absolutely terrifying). I think the current political climate has also made the divide between religious and non-religious people that much greater, at least in my experience, because there are some religious folks out there who want to police others’ choices in a very austere, uncompromising way – and of course, it’s those loud, angry voices that we tend to hear the most.

So I think that’s where my knee-jerk reaction came from – basically, that religion is simply too alienating and divisive to put in a Disney movie right now. But I also know that’s obviously not true across the board, and now I’m left wondering what I missed out on.

You’re also absolutely right when you say: “We love defending ideas and thoughts from these vulnerable authors and thinkers being trodden on by these enormous corporate leviathans. But when it comes to Christians? We give Hollywood a pass?” I have to admit I never really thought on this, or cared enough to, I suppose. But that was L’Engle’s vision, and a huge part of the story – maybe even a vital part. Because the film obviously doesn’t work the way it is now, and rather than opening it up to a larger audience by removing the religious aspects (as I think the filmmaker intended), it failed to truly reach any audience.

Anyway, I’m rambling on and on! Just wanted to say you made me think and I appreciate it!

And yes, of course Hollywood is hedging its bets. But why are you OK with that on my behalf? If someone to a book on Atheism (not that that’s what you are, just randomly picking an opposing vantage) and appropriated it for a Christian purpose, would you be cool with that? Why or why not? I would be the first to be like… woah! Everybody slow the heck down… that was a legit Atheist vantage and we’ve flipped the script? Really? And we are OK with this why?

And personally, between myself and yourself Sara, they destroyed your encounter with this source material. You will never known now that magic that you missed because Disney decided to hand you a de-toothed milk toast of a movie, instead of just going all in on the book. I mean, the movie was pretty bad. Doubtful it’d be much worse to put the context back in. I mean, it was the point after all.

But yeah, I get your point Sara. And I’m thankful you spoke out. Actually quite touching you would really. so thanks for that.

I think that’s partly what the filmmaker meant when she said we can move on to other elements of the story. There are so many more non-religious viewers now than ever before, and I think she was trying to filter the story through a broader lens that more people can relate to. Otherwise, frankly, the movie becomes niche.

That’s not to say that my non-religious opinion is the “right” one, but I think Hollywood is just hedging its bets, as it often does, trying to appeal to the largest audience possible. Overall, though, I think it fails to work for religious or non-religious viewers because it’s just not that good. It could have been adapted into something much more powerful, but they dropped the ball for sure.