@ the movies

Saw Bruce Almighty. I'll be honest: not a Jim Carrey fan; think he is too wacko. However, I'm told we are presented with a milder gentler Carrey and a story line with a religious theme. Carrey plays a self-centered guy who is just not quite where he thinks he wants to be who gets to be God for a while so God can make a point to him.

Carrey's antics are actually pretty funny and Jennifer Aniston is radiant and Morgan Freeman as God is excellent. I didn't plan on liking the movie going in. I was, pardon the pun, agnostic about how effective a movie with crazy Carrey as God would be especially after the trailer hypes his lunacy.

But the film turned out to be an interesting movie. The premise God sets for Bruce is that he gets to be God but can't say so and that he can't tamper with free will. At some point, an exasperated Bruce says, how can you get people to love you with out tampering with free will? Freeman replies: welcome to my world.

I have to wonder if the screen writer has read Philip Yancey's book "Disappointment with God?" That is one of the big points Yancey makes. If God reveals his power in fullness the response isn't love, it is fear. So God works with what Yancey calls a "divine shyness."

The film also focuses a lot on prayer and the dismal results that occur when Bruce uses his computer to organize all the prayers and sets up a macro to say YES to all prayers. Freeman tells Bruce, do you think people really know what they want?

A strikingly great statement about the human condition wouldn't you say?

I honestly have no idea how prayer works. You can tie your brain into a pretzel trying to figure it out: so does an answered prayer mean that God can change His mind about something? But if He isn't changing His mind about it then why pray because it was going to happen anyway?

In the last analysis, I see prayer as a relationship with God. He is not the cosmic vending machine. He is not an absent minded watchmaker who forgot where the watch went. He is the Creator who loves us. Watch people who are in love: they talk about everything with each other.

As far as the asking and receiving part of prayer, the best answer I've read is offered by W. Bingham Hunter in The God Who Hears where he suggests that prayer is the means by which God give us what He wants us to have.

Lastly, the films take home message of "Be the miracle" of course is a pretty safe heart warming message. But just because it is a cliche kind of statement doesn't mean it isn't true.

I'll grant that the films end with that is a tad humanistic and understates the mystery of God at work in that "divine shyness" I mentioned earlier. Nonetheless, we must take seriously our responsibility on this planet. Christian teaching says the church is supposed to be the Body of Christ. So when people say where is God? Well, the Bible says look at the church. We, the church, those who devote our lives to Him, are His hands and feet in this world. This notion is humiliating to God because we are such poor representatives for Him. But what is a God who wants love but won't tamper with free will to do? So he works through those who love Him already.