The Meet Hope Podcast
The Meet Hope Podcast
131: Let's Go to the Movies This August!
Movies speak a universal language. They captivate us through stunning visuals, compelling characters, and transformative storytelling. But what if these blockbuster films contain profound spiritual truths hiding in plain sight? In this episode, Pastors Rick and James give us a peak into Hope Church's upcoming "At the Movies" sermon series—an innovative approach to exploring faith through the lens of popular cinema.
This series presents the perfect opportunity to invite friends so be sure to bring one with you or share with them online at meethope.online.church!
NOW PLAYING:
August 3: Top Gun: Maverick
August 10: Inside Out 2
August 17: Moana 2
August 24: Superman
August 31: Wicked
Thanks for being a part of the HOPE community as we continue conversations about faith and hope! You can learn more at meethope.org or find us on socials @meethopechurch. Join in for worship on Sundays at meethope.online.church! Have a question? Contact us at podcast@meethope.org.
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Welcome to the Meet Hope podcast, where we have conversations about faith and hope. Hope is one church made of people living out their faith through two expressions in person and online. We believe a hybrid faith experience can lead to a growing influence in our community and our world for the sake of others. Welcome to Hope.
Speaker 2:Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of the Meet Hope Podcast. My name is Rick and I am excited to be here with my good friend and Hope Church, james.
Speaker 3:Lee. Hey, James. Now I want to know what was the adjective you were thinking about to add there. We will never know. I was going to say movie buff. Yeah, fellow movie buff.
Speaker 2:Yes, there you go.
Speaker 3:Because today we're talking about movies.
Speaker 2:We are talking about movies. Yes, I love movies.
Speaker 3:Rick, what is your favorite movie?
Speaker 2:My favorite movie. It is the Godfather and the Godfather Part 1, and I know that sometimes I could be a little bit in the minority there, because Godfather Part 2 is considered the better of the two films. It's one of those movies that, if I am flipping channels and that movie is suggested in my Hulu, in my Hulu stream, or if I can't not watch it, absolutely love it. I can jump into it any place and I love it because I love watching the development of Michael Corleone's character from the hero of military service to becoming the villain I mean the ultimate villain and loved every other character, loved watching the family dynamics. It's just a great film. You find yourself rooting for Michael Corleone. How can you root for this man who?
Speaker 3:becomes horrible.
Speaker 2:He's just beyond corrupt, but yet he's Michael Corleone, yeah.
Speaker 3:I got to say I love Godfather. Masterpiece, cinematic masterpiece, great filmmaking. It stands the test of time. You can even watch it now. It's still great effects, great story. I I'm gonna be on the other side of that conversation where I I do believe godfather part two is the better film, just more complex. I just remember, after watching that movie, having a more visceral, visceral reaction. Uh, with the themes it was darker. But yeah, they're both great movies, all right. How about you favorite movie? Uh, for me it's got to be forrest gump. Uh, that was just a such a movie that shaped me. It was very formative for me. I think tom hanks was phenomenal. Uh, robin wright, she was amazing.
Speaker 1:It was such a great movie.
Speaker 3:I love how it does not have a clear antagonist and yet still this character is forced, is going through many different obstacles in life and overcoming them through kindness, through being himself. Uh, and I, I love I'm able, I was able to watch it, uh, right before taking my ap us history and I did really well on it. So it hits all these key moments in US history, does it beautifully and has great CG for its time. So, yeah, very innovative movie as well.
Speaker 2:Wow, yeah, and another one we mentioned I mentioned to you was another movie that I this is a movie that, if I'm flipping channels, there's no way I'm not going to watch it. I can pick it up Any spot is Jaws. Yes, and Jaws is celebrating his 50th anniversary and that's a big deal. And I said I was eight years old, but I think it. But if it was 50th anniversary, that means I was 10 years old, so I don't. And that's where I saw Jaws for the first time. Wow, scared out of my mind. Your parents took you, my grandmother took me to see Jaws.
Speaker 2:My grandmother is rolling in her grave right now because she's so embarrassed that I am outing her that she took me to see Jaws when I was 10 years old.
Speaker 3:She probably thought it was a family friendly movie. There's a good chance.
Speaker 2:She has no idea what it was about. It was a summer blockbuster and horror movies were not. I don't know if they were. You know Albert Hitchcock movies, but you know I again this is this is. This is 50 years ago, but yeah, I love it and I can't not hear dun-dun dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun.
Speaker 3:And I loved how you don't see the shark until like two-thirds of the way into the movie.
Speaker 2:And still you're terrified out of your mind.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely yeah. Fun fact, in the first scene they say that there was a little glitch in the technology. Did you hear about this? So in the very first scene, when the woman is eaten by the shark, yeah, the first scream is real, because her legs were attached to a device. I was supposed to go left to the right yes, yes back and then down.
Speaker 3:Yes, but the there was a technical malfunction, so the first function had the two machines holding her each foot going in the opposite direction so it split her legs. So the first screen is actually real. And then they got it to work and then it went back and forth and pulled her into the water. Fun fact. Yeah, yeah, movie filmmaking was very different back then. Yeah, you think so. Yeah, less cg movies really shape the way we see the world, doesn't it?
Speaker 2:they really do yeah, yeah and and so yeah. So're probably all wondering why are we talking about movies right now? Because in August we are launching at the movies.
Speaker 3:As our next sermon series.
Speaker 2:Next sermon series. Excited about that, can't wait to begin the series. But, james, why would we do a series called at the movies I love?
Speaker 3:that. So I love movies. I actually was a filmmaker for a while. I love making movies too. The thing about movies that people don't realize is it's actually a multimedia, multidimensional storytelling tool. So it's not just a visual tool. It's the art form of acting, of music, composition, framing, set, design, production, design all of these art forms intersecting and coming together to tell one story. And I think about how Jesus did not teach with just dry bullet points like love people, be nice, or God loves you Right, or or God loves you. God is like a father who loves you. Know he? He taught in parables, he would tell stories, he would create, draw out these visual images, right.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I think about the pair, the parable of the prodigal son rather than saying God is like a father who loves you. He tells this par, very moving story of a father and two sons and their interactions to tell the gospel truth. And so my friend Ian Chee he is a filmmaker as well and he said you know, if Jesus were alive today, he'd be a filmmaker because he was a visual storyteller. So I think visual stories speak.
Speaker 2:These movies. They help us to find God's truth in unexpected places, in something like a Hollywood movie, right, and there's the movie posters, the lights and popcorn and all those kinds of things, and we're going to do that and kind of replicate some of that in our worship space. So, yes, we're going to have popcorn, we're going to have popcorn machines and we're going to have a good time as we also look at the deeper spiritual themes in these movies.
Speaker 3:Also with the At the Movies series. We want this to be an invite opportunity. So at Hope we believe that the table is open to everyone. We would love to see non-religious folks, nominally religious folks, to get more engaged, find a place where they feel like they could belong. So if you have that family member or that friend who is on the fence about church, this August series at the movies would be the best time to make that invite.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a great way to invite a friend?
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely, so tell me more about these popcorn machines, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you know it's been a little bit fun on staff because we're sampling popcorn. Yeah, so it's been a little bit fun on staff because we're sampling popcorn. So that's going to be fun as we figure out the best popcorn to bring to our Sunday movie premieres.
Speaker 3:And we've also been watching movies during work hours, because it's work and because we're watching movies, yeah, research, yeah.
Speaker 2:So let's talk about some of those movies, right? Yeah, yeah, so I'm going to launch the series in August. I'm excited about showing scenes from Top Gun Maverick, yeah, and so I'm preaching that one and let me say this movie has more to say about discipleship than others might think. Maverick is trying to prove that he's the or. In the first movie, he was trying to prove that he was the best, but he doesn't have to do that anymore. His mission now is to train and equip others, and that's the shift that every follower of Jesus has to make. It's not about being the hero, it's about making heroes. That discipleship and leadership in the kingdom of God is about identifying and cultivating gifts in others. It's about empowering others. It's about amplifying our impact when we can work together, when people are gifted and encouraged to find their gifts, and so I'm really excited about this. We're going to see that Maverick had to let go of the cockpit and he had to move on to investing in other people, and that's our calling too.
Speaker 3:Oh, I love that. I'm really looking forward to that message, Rick. Yeah, that's gonna be awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm excited. And again, just this week we were showing Top Gun clips in the worship space. So we're getting ready.
Speaker 3:That's exciting, yeah, and the following week I'm also looking forward to Pastor Heather's coming back to give us a message on Inside Out 2. My kids and I love this movie. It's all about growing up as a child, growing into a teenager, growing into what it means to be an adult, which brings new emotions, especially anxiety, and explores what happens when we try to control or suppress our feelings. I think talking about emotional health is a healthy part of our spiritual journey as well. God gave us emotions. They're like dashboard indicators, right and so I think that's going to be really, really exciting to hear about too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know one of the key verses she's focused on is in Philippians 4, 6, and 7, where it talks about that there's this path to peace that we can acknowledge our emotions, that we can thank God, we can refocus. There's this idea of this emotional maturity that is found in Christ.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I think it's gonna be an exciting message that she's even pulling some ideas from neuroscience that how we can rewire our brains with God's help. So, yeah, it's going to be an exciting one. And the next one is you, james, right, it's Moana 2.
Speaker 3:Yes, so Moana, the first movie, has got to be one of my favorite Disney movies. I remember watching Moana the first time and just seeing the immediate parallels to one's faith journey, how the ocean, the sea, is like the presence of God. God is everywhere, the spirit of God is everywhere, sometimes feels like he's not there, sometimes it's very active and yet we always know he is there and how we are also called as Christians, not to be isolated in our own island but to be out in the ocean as voyagers. And I'll be going into Moana 2.
Speaker 3:The one thing I love about Moana 2 is that in Moana 1, she's all by herself. She meets maybe one or two other characters, but essentially she's on the journey by herself to save her island. But in Moana 2, she puts together a crew. Wow, and right there I go. Yep, that is definitely the next step in our faith journey. Right, we can't do it by ourselves. What does it mean for us to journey and be voyagers together? What does it mean to build a crew? And yeah, that's the spiritual. I don't want to spoil it too much, but that's the some of the spiritual truths I want to navigate.
Speaker 2:Well, that sounds good. Now, the next week after that is Jason Shin, our youth director, jason's preaching, and everyone loves when Jason preaches because he's too cool and he has to preach on the newest movie, that is out. Yeah, he is. He's using Superman, so everyone get excited about that.
Speaker 3:Not one, two or three or four, but like 2025, superman.
Speaker 2:Yes, and so that's going to be a great message. Anything else to say about that?
Speaker 3:No, I think that one. You just really need to come on Sunday to learn more about it, because actually we're in the dark too we don't know what he's going to talk about.
Speaker 2:Have you seen?
Speaker 3:Superman. Yet I haven't.
Speaker 2:I haven't either. We'll have to go watch it.
Speaker 3:Let's go after this.
Speaker 2:We'll definitely make sure. I'll make sure I've seen it before Jason preaches.
Speaker 3:And Rick, you're going to wrap up the series with wicked.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I was. I was upset that the movie ended in act one. Right, so I was. I was really into it. I didn't even know. Time was flying so fast and I go wait, it's over, like I won't spoil the movie. Well, if you haven't seen the movie, go watch it, but the story is very powerful. Alphaba is labeled as wicked, but what we find is that she is someone who is brave, principled and misunderstood, and so I think in life we label people as villains or based on the way people look or the way they act or the way they're perceived, we tend to judge folks.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. And you know what? I had the same experience seeing that movie. I, um, I, I went. My family wanted us all to go together, so we did, and I didn't know it was a part one, and I walked out saying I don't think it was marketed as part one.
Speaker 3:This is the ultimate cliffhanger.
Speaker 4:It wasn't marketed as part one and the entire pop culture community was like in an uproar because everyone people in the musical theater community know the story of Wicked all the way through and they were even like in the dark about it being a part, like no one. It just wasn't marketed that way. Like you said, it was marketed as like I mean it was great marketing because they're like, well, everybody's going to come back, you know. But yeah, and it was marketed as like I mean it was great marketing because they're like, well, everybody's going to come back, you know.
Speaker 2:But yeah, good point. But so I was a little upset about that, but at the same time, to your point, the story is powerful. I think it and again, the message is great about grace, how grace breaks in. She's not trying to be a villain, she's just trying to do what's right in her life. I'm going gonna be looking at Romans, chapter 12, verse 2, where it talks about transformation and that how the word transformation is not a minor change, but it's about this profound inner change that takes place inside of us. And this happens when we start. We have the shift in our brain and our thinking and our pattern changes and we allow God to continue to rewrite our story. So this story, this message, is for those who may feel misunderstood, those who may feel like misfits, anyone who feels they've been labeled by the world that this is that. Grace says you don't have to be good enough, you just have to be willing to see God working in and through your life. So I'm real excited about that.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's at the movies. Man, I'm getting pumped already. It's going to be one of the best times all year to invite someone to church. You know movies right? They're familiar. Yep, they disarm people, and we're going to do the best job possible in pairing these movies with God's truth and man. The results are going to be exciting. Yeah, it's going to be fun.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm really excited. There's been a lot of energy among the staff as well. When we bring this up, we're really, really excited about the ways in which we can create the worship space and the lobby to be inviting. You're going to smell popcorn when you walk in. Yeah, absolutely. And there are also going to be movie nights, is that right? There's going to be some movie nights throughout the month of August, I hope so, yeah, I think we may be working on that.
Speaker 4:I know that the meet and greet in August for you, James, that the kids is doing a movie night that night.
Speaker 3:Moana 2 is showing August 13th, on Wednesday, awesome. So yeah, that would be a great time to come and watch the actual movie. If you haven't seen Moana 2, come to August 13th and watch it then, because it is a phenomenal movie.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, you know what I think? That's it for this episode of the Meet Hope podcast. We'll see you soon at the movies, at the movies, yeah, yeah. So bring a friend, you don't want to miss it. Oh, and, the series begins August 3rd and, yeah, it'll be over the five weeks, exciting.
Speaker 3:B-Y-O-P. Bring your own popcorn.
Speaker 4:No, no, you don't have to, because we'll offer you popcorn.
Speaker 3:Yes, just bring a friend, we'll see you there.
Speaker 1:Thanks for being a part of the Hope Community as we continue our conversations about faith and hope. If you don't already, please join us for worship on Sundays or on demand. You can learn more at meethopeorg or find us on socials at meethopechurch.