Better Late than Never

After a long hiatus that took in Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Pentecost and Whitsuntide, Cool Chic and In Christ, the blog, is back. And whilst the Christo calendar might be light on full-on festivities for a wee while yet, it felt only good and right to re-boot, reconnect and start again. Of course, there is Lammas to look forward to and it rather conveniently coincides with when the pre-collections will be in store and one can celebrate harvest in a something suitably chic, but as with most Christos, I am a bit ebb and flow and the silence has been as much to do with a spiritual fallow time as anything else.

So what’s it all about?

“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations? Tell me if you understand?” Job 38:4

So begins the latest Brad Pitt  and Sean Penn starring movie, Tree of Life. I have to say as I sat in a super comfy screening room in the bowels of the Charlotte Street Hotel, sipping my more than serviceable South African Chenin Blanc (they rarely feed you at these things in case you wondered, although alcohol, the great leveller, is always available), I was surprised to be met with a bible quote. Not to either spoil the plot or indeed front as if I am a seasoned film critic, I couldn’t help but be moved, thrilled and desperate to share about this film. I implore all Christos to go and watch it. This is not a heavy handed why we believe what we believe effort a la Passion of the Christ, which I also feel is an important film, but this is a quieter film, tying in the more challenging elements of God, belief and existence. The subtlety is probably evident because from my admittedly hurried research (God bless Wikipedia), Terrence Malick is not a full-on Christian, but all the themes are there. The God fearing family, the disappointments internalised by us all, the tragedies that frame us and the lifelong quest we are all on to make sense of it all. Interspersed with the smaller story of the family, we have huge sequences of creation, the universe, space, even dinosaurs!

It is these sequences combined with the tragedy that the family copes with and lives through that tie us back to the verse. The book of Job, admittedly my least favourite book in the Bible (give me the scary Lake of Fire passage in Revelation19:20 every time over most of what is in Job), is one that is full of uncomfortable truths played out against a huge backdrop. Rubbish things do happen to believers; you can be hardworking, and well meaning and an all round good egg and still have a longer than fair and rougher than necessary season. But this is the shocker bit, we are not meant to take it as a lack of care or a desertion from the Almighty. The clue is in the verse. We were not there at the beginning, we were micro-matter or whatever the technical term is. Even the most eminent scientists will still say there is much to learn about the universe. Even, they know only in part, what He knows fully. It is the mystery of His will and the majesty of His creation that should keep us humble and more to the point comforted. We serve an omniscient, omnipotent Creator, it is all used, even the supposed rubbish, for a greater higher purpose. And we are blessed to be part of it.