Sunday, December 07, 2003
This is for you LOTR fans, on the edge for the release of movie 3 next week:
In Book 3 of the trilogy, the Fellowship comes to the ancient city of Minas Tirith, headed by Boromir's father, proud Denethor. The steward of Gondor has long believed his city the only bastion of good still standing against the onslaught of Mordor, and this leads him both to heights of pride in the strength of his city and to depths of despair that his city cannot hold out much longer. He cannot conceive of the work Gandalf and Aragorn and the dwarves and elves of the North have put in to keeping Sauron at bay as well. I think in many ways we are like that as the western Church--especially in America. We perceive of ourselves as the last bastion of Christianity in the world and then either fall into pride, or despair at the way we see it shrinking in our own culture. We do this with modernity as well--scholars of bygone years are looked down upon as if they have nothing to contribute to our struggles today. It is the "Christianization" of John F. Kennedy's humanist remark, "Our problems are manmade; therefore they can be solved by man." This is simply untrue.
Denethor needed to recognize that he was not the only one standing against evil. Had he done so, he would have been humble enough to accept the help coming to him and also strong enough to stand, supported by those from distant lands and different races. The church too needs to realize we are not the only people standing against evil either now or in the past, either in this country or in the world at large. This is a very freeing realization--we stand with "a mighty throng" from days of the apostles until today, in this country and around the world, especially in Africa and Latin America. Do not be conceited--God does not depend on you for His work being done. Do not despair--others are with you.
In Book 3 of the trilogy, the Fellowship comes to the ancient city of Minas Tirith, headed by Boromir's father, proud Denethor. The steward of Gondor has long believed his city the only bastion of good still standing against the onslaught of Mordor, and this leads him both to heights of pride in the strength of his city and to depths of despair that his city cannot hold out much longer. He cannot conceive of the work Gandalf and Aragorn and the dwarves and elves of the North have put in to keeping Sauron at bay as well. I think in many ways we are like that as the western Church--especially in America. We perceive of ourselves as the last bastion of Christianity in the world and then either fall into pride, or despair at the way we see it shrinking in our own culture. We do this with modernity as well--scholars of bygone years are looked down upon as if they have nothing to contribute to our struggles today. It is the "Christianization" of John F. Kennedy's humanist remark, "Our problems are manmade; therefore they can be solved by man." This is simply untrue.
Denethor needed to recognize that he was not the only one standing against evil. Had he done so, he would have been humble enough to accept the help coming to him and also strong enough to stand, supported by those from distant lands and different races. The church too needs to realize we are not the only people standing against evil either now or in the past, either in this country or in the world at large. This is a very freeing realization--we stand with "a mighty throng" from days of the apostles until today, in this country and around the world, especially in Africa and Latin America. Do not be conceited--God does not depend on you for His work being done. Do not despair--others are with you.
// posted by The Pendragon @ 6:17 PM 
