ISBC 24 - Something to Live For
Chapter 24 of Hope: A User's Manual
Just a quick reminder…please pick up MaryAnn’s book if you haven’t already. I cannot recommend the book highly enough and these reflections are all very much rooted in what she shares and I would love for you to support her and her work. You can also follow MaryAnn here on Substack at The Blue Room. Ok, onto chapter 24…
A totally under appreciated movies in my opinion is one that came out in 2006 called Stranger than Fiction which starred Will Ferrell (in a very non-Will Ferrell-type role), Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah, and Emma Thompson. It is a wonderfully imaginative story about an IRS auditor who finds out his life is being “narrated.” I don’t want to say a lot more about it because it is such a special film to just take in if you haven’t seen it before.
It was the film that was a bit of the backbone for my Doctor of Ministry cohort as we wrestled with ideas of how ministry happens in a digital culture and so it has a deeply special place in my heart. We were wrestling with big questions of communicating the Jesus story in a radically changed and changing culture and this film helped give language to us of imagination, creativity, and of possibility. I guess it gave us a story pointing to hope.
And so, I went right to this film when I read this quote from today’s chapter:
And here is the ending: “They did not all live happily ever after, but they lived. And most importantly, they had something to live for.”1
They lived. They had something to live for.
That’s at the heart of the film and here’s a clip of it that is low on spoilers but speaks to this.
Harold Crick lived.
This whole next section of the book is about hope living in story. We can share all kinds of things about the science of hope, or why hope is important, or a host of other things, but stories are always the best things to share. In this case, stories of when hope matters and hope transforms. The story of Harold Crick is a story of hope - hope for him, hope for Karen Eiffel, Ana Pascal, Penny Escher, and Jules Hilbert. Each one of them has an experience of what it means to live and of a hope of something beyond the mundane everyday.
So if you haven’t seen it, I cannot recommend it highly enough. It is a beautiful story of hope.
And yes, Harold Crick lived.
Have you seen the film before? What was your experience?
Grace, Peace, Love, and Joy,
Ed
McKibben Dana, MaryAnn. Hope: A User's Manual (p. 109). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.
I haven't seen this since the theater. I remember liking it but not a whole lot else. I should revisit it.
As this section of the book began, I couldn't help but think of The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. When the Resistance is trapped on Crat, no one answers their call. But as the story of Luke Skywalker's final stand makes its way across the galaxy, to the point that even children are telling it, it inspires people so that a whole fleet of regular people follow Chewie and Lando to Exegol.
SMH and chuckling… it’s one of my all-time favorite movies. Of course.