Family Crosses

This last Sunday was Easter day. At the church which my son and his family attend, the families participated in a wonderful ceremony. The parents and their children built small crosses and wrapped them in burlap. Nails were placed in the cross at the points where the hands and feet of Jesus were positioned. The parents read a text explaining the meaning of the cross and the nails and said a family prayer.

Then the parents explained the Resurrection and the children and parents placed flowers and plant branches into the burlap to represent the beauty of life. The parents explained to the children that Jesus was really dead and then rose, defeating death forever.

Afterwards, the families carried the crosses home. There were as many different crosses as there were families. The crosses were all different. The crosses were all the same. The crosses were all beautiful. Just like us.

Film Comment: It’s Not About the Nail

Watch this short video, It’s Not About the Nail (2013), written and directed by Jason Headley.  The predominant reaction to this humorous film is that it is about relationships between men and women and that it is specifically about marriage.

In my prior film comments, I have taken the stance that films may have applications from a Christian perspective even when that was not the intent of the film’s creators.   Films deal in archetypes and metaphors which can be interpreted in multiple ways.   Films can often be seem as parables.  This is acceptable as long as one realizes that works of art may not fit perfectly into any one philosophical system.

To the Christian, this short film has very stark symbolism.  The woman complains of her headaches.  The man tries to reply, “Maybe it is the nail in your forehead.”  The woman angrily replies that “It’s not about the nail.”

Christians can very clearly see that non-Christians lack Jesus in their lives and that many of their life problems stem from that fact.  The Christian knows that Jesus is right there, right in front of the non-believer’s face.  The non-believer cannot see Jesus at all.

The non-believer will say, :I don’t believe that.  That doesn’t exist.  My problems have to be from some other cause, maybe from you. … It is not about the nail!”

But, to the Christian, everything is about The Nail.