What religious movement emphasizes unity among all Christians globally?

Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Dude Abides

Home
Progressive Christian

Last updated on: January 9, 2009 at 11:02 am by Cathleen Falsani

2009-01-09T11:02:00-07:00 Cathleen Falsani

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

GODSTUFF

IN THE MIDST OF A SPIRITUAL WINNOWING, LOVE WINS.

A few days ago, I had one of those conversations that seem to make the world spin slower, allowing me to see crystal clearly, if only for a moment.

We were vacationing at a friend’s cottage on the shores of Lake Huron in Ontario when a knock came at the door one evening. I answered it and was overjoyed to see a small, familiar face peeking through the frosted glass — Jack, the precocious grandson of the next-door neighbor.

I’d met Jack on vacation a year ago, when he was 5 years old, and was besotted from the moment he sang the first few lines of the Canadian national anthem (in French) for revelers at his parents’ pre-New Year’s cocktail party. Jack is an absolutely darling boy. Smart, attentive, sensitive and sociable.

This year, Jack wanted to show me the contents of his pockets — Canadian coins — and asked me to show him how they were different from American coins. After we compared quarters and pennies, Jack turned to me and said, “Know what I love about money?”

“You can help people?” I answered, thinking it might be what he was thinking, too.

“Yeah, that’s good, but also you can buy things,” Jack said.

My heart sank a little. Don’t get me wrong, Jack’s mother and father are wonderful parents, and I didn’t chalk his honest answer up to anything other than a societywide post-Christmas toy coma. Also, earlier in the day, he’d taken some of his own money and bought an awesome radio-controlled car. He was clearly proud of his big-boy purchase, and his guilelessness was adorable.

Still, Jack’s answer gave me pause. I think it was the fact that he used the word “love” when talking about money.

“The love of money is the root of all evil,” Scripture says. Not money itself, mind you, but the love of money.

I thought of Jack and our conversation while watching the phenomenal film “Slumdog Millionaire” this week. Set in the slums of Mumbai (when it was still Bombay), the film follows two orphaned brothers as they cannily survive the unthinkable abuse and hardships that come with being born “slumdogs.”

The brothers are, in many ways, night and day. Jamal, the younger sibling, is seemingly altruistic at heart; trusting, generous and loving. The elder, Salim, is harder of heart, even as a young boy. He’s scrappy, conniving and longs for the wealth he doesn’t have, which he eventually attains but at a dire cost. (Interestingly, Salim is the more overtly religious of the two. In one scene, as he’s about to do the bidding of his boss — a violent gangster — he first kneels to pray asking God’s forgiveness for his sins.)

When Jamal and Salim are orphaned in the midst of a religious riot — Hindus against Muslims — in the slum, they flee for their lives trailed by another orphan, a young girl named Latika. Salim doesn’t want to risk helping her, but Jamal insists, sparking an unrequited love affair that lasts into their improbable adulthoods.

“Slumdog Millionaire,” which rightly has garnered heaps of critical praise and near-deafening Oscar buzz, was directed by Danny Boyle, the British filmmaker who also made “Trainspotting” and the magnificent “Millions.” Brotherhood, childhood, lust for money and righteous souls are themes Boyle has visited masterfully before and with an eloquence in “Slumdog” that resonates perfectly at this difficult time in our history.

Jamal becomes the unlikely winningest-ever contestant on India’s version of the TV game show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire,” and as he recounts the story behind his story in flashbacks, we see — in the glare of the literal spotlight — the stark contrast between the love of money and the love of other.

Jamal has nothing. He suffers for love. He struggles not for wealth, but for connection — to the people he loves, to the destiny he believes God has written for him, a destiny ultimately beyond his control.

Sure, 20 million rupees would help make his physical life a whole lot easier, but without love, he still would have nothing. It sounds trite, but there was a soul-moving truth to the story Boyle tells in “Slumdog,” one that has connected with millions of moviegoers who themselves are struggling with money, meaning, connection and what really matters in life.

Rather than anything he could have hoped to plan for along the way, it is the seemingly insignificant details of life that pave his road to riches (spiritual, romantic and otherwise). As the intricate plot unfolded, I thought of something the writer Frederick Buechner said: “All moments are key moments.”

The briefest of conversations. A chance encounter. Just a glimpse of something ultimately can wind up being the key to everything.

This economic-shame spiral we’re living through is an opportunity for a kind of spiritual winnowing. When we have less, when we lose what we think we can’t live without, we have a choice: We can focus on what was lost, or on what we have.

We’re being pared down, as a society, as a people. The majority of us will have to make do materially with a lot less than what we’re comfortable with, and that can be frightening. Or … it can be enlightening. Liberating, even.

The love of money is the cause of many problems in our world.

The love of other is the greatest commandment and, it would seem, the solution.

No matter how the game is played, love wins.

Always.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

January 6, 2009

Next Post

January 11, 2009

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A little happy ARCHIVED COLUMNS BECOMING FAMILY BelieberNess BREAKING NEWS! Disquiet Time DJ JEFF'S SPINTASMS falsani FILM from OCRegister From Sojo.net God Nods GODSTUFF I Take Requests incubatespirit LURKING IN THE NARTHEX On My Nightstand ONEMOMS Polling the Room PONTIFEXCELLENT Thru My Eyes TWO CENTS Uncategorized Upcoming Events VASCO VASCO'S HEART

Select a Month January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 July 2014 May 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 April 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 October 2003 March 2003 December 2002 October 2002 January 2001

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What religious movement emphasizes unity among all Christians globally?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Pietism Adventism Ecumenism Monasticism