Psalm 33 - The Greatest Showman
The next Psalm in my movie week takes me to the circus. Specifically to the Barnum Circus portrayed in the movie-musical, The Greatest Showman. There were several parts of this Psalm that led me to this movie. The film is a true celebration of the wondrous diversity of humanity but also interspersed with some beautiful lessons.
The Psalm begins with music - praising the Lord with all sorts of instruments and with singing. The movie begins with a bang - the title song being sung in the center ring of the circus. Powerful, energetic, celebratory. Surrounding Barnum is the beautiful diversity of those around him. The song continues as it eventually fades to a flashback of the young Phineas T Barnum and the rest of the story begins. But, like the Psalm, it starts in song and celebration.
The Psalm continues into a celebration of God as seen through elements of the creation and natural world around us. “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth. He gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle; he put the deeps in storehouses.” As so many of my photos are of the natural world, I had a lot stir in my remembrance but I went to some of the animals (or ones somewhat related) that we saw in the movie but I saw, thankfully, in their natural habitats. Photos of elephants, lions, giraffes, and cheetahs from South Africa and Kenya are at the end of this post.
But the Psalm also spoke to a crisis moment in the film when Barnum’s ego-filled ways finally catch up to him and everything crashes down. The Psalmist writes:
A king is not saved by his great army;
a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
The war horse is a vain hope for victory,
and by its great might it cannot save.
Truly the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love,
Barnum isn’t a king, but he is one who, through most of the film, is reliant upon his strength, his creativity, his charm, and his drivenness. And all of it is lived out at the expense of those around him. And it all eventually catches up and he loses virtually everything he has. It is only when he begins to make amends in humility that restoration can begin. Barnum didn’t have a great army but he put his salvation into his own strength and his own self instead of others. And then after the crash, he begins to realize there are others beyond himself and others who truly do love him not because of what he’s accomplished but because of who he is.
As I said at the beginning, the movie is a celebration of humanity. But those words were not my own, but instead they were the words of Barnum’s most vocal critic in the film.
Putting folks of all kinds on stage with you… all colors, shapes, sizes… presenting them as equals… Why, another critic might have even called it ‘a celebration of humanity’,
In a time right now where we are seeing so many actions trying to eliminate the celebrations of the beautiful diversity of humanity, this film honors it, celebrates it, and shows off how a bearded woman, a tattooed man, a “giant”, a little person, people of color, rich, poor, egotistic, humble, and caring can all live together.
Here are the animal photos followed by a few clips of some of my favorite songs from the film.
Grace, Peace, Love, and Joy,
Ed
PS - Those eyes!
Great pictures, I have been to South Africa and some animal places on a safari. I don’t like circuses at all because the animals are not treated fairly but I was interested to read your words about Barnum.