This morning I had my first class session since returning from the mainland. It was so much fun to be back.
One of the learning activities my spiritual formation students did during my time away involved watching Babette's Feast. Melissa, who is a really good teacher in her own right, covered for me while I was gone and did a great job of preparing them for the movie. Then today we discussed how the story illustrates some of our weaknesses and how God breaks into our lives as a servant.
We've got some really sharp students! They were very perceptive and picked up on aspects of the story that many students in the States might miss. In some ways life in that small Danish village has many parallels to life on remote tropical islands. Isolation works itself out similarly in all climates.
Today we also started watching another movie -- Transformers. This film will become the basis for a discussion of transformation, mission, the kingdom of God, sacrifice, and the impact of mustard seeds.
Fortunately I'm showing Transformers after Babette's Feast. As powerful as the Feast is, it would be hard to transition from an action packed thriller to the slow slow non-action of life in an isolated 19th century Danish village.
2 comments:
I think Babette's Feast is my absolute, hands-down, without-any-doubt favorite movie! How I wish I could be there with your class, who in all likelihood are seeing it for the first time, and witness their responses.
Brad, if you were to make a list of the ten best films for spiritual formation, what would they be?
Beth -- I had not ever thought in terms of lists. I use movies occasionally but I'm not really an expert. I'd be interested to hear what others would put on such a list.
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