Dear Evergreen family,
I looked at myself the other day, and I was a walking billboard…from head to toe. My shoes had Asics logos on the heels. My shorts had a Champion logo on the front. My hat had a Trailheads tag on it. Then there was my shirt. This was one of those shirts where organizations pay for a slice of advertisement on the back. I was advertising 15 different organizations on my back and I couldn’t name half of them. I was truly a walking billboard. I was conveying messages without any intention at all.
One of the mysterious ways that God works is to use us to convey messages without our intention. The Old Testament talks about God using other nations to convey messages to the Israelites without those nations having any idea they’re serving the purposes of God. The grace of God just works this way---through unsuspecting persons and groups---to reach other persons and groups with important illumination.
In this spirit, welcome to our September message series: “At the Movies.” Movies do this all the time. God speaks through films whose filmmakers never imagined they were offering the message of Christ to the audience. We’re going to look at four: this Sunday, On a Clear Day (2005, PG 13); on September 19th, It’s a Wonderful Life; on September 26th, Toy Story 3; and on October 3rd, Star Wars.
To get the most out of our time together, watch each film before the corresponding Sunday. So, this week, check out On a Clear Day. This one is not as well-known as the others, but I believe we’ll discover that the fingerprints of Jesus are all over it! As you watch, see if you can find those fingerprints, and on Sunday we’ll see if I found what you did!
May God bless us all.
Your Fellow Minister in Christ,
Mark