Ronnie McBrayer

Genesis at the Movies, Part 8: The Wrestler

God asks Jacob question: “What is your name?” It is an invitation to confess.  He answers, of course: “My name is Jacob.” I’m a rascal - trickster - a fraud. Never had the man been so honest. And that honesty - that confession - changed his life. God says in response, “Not anymore. You have wrestled with God and you have prevailed. Your name is now Israel.” Jacob wasn't blessed because he had worked so hard for it. No, he had worked so hard, he was now so exhausted and so at the end of himself, that finally he could received what only God could give him. His moxie took him all the way to the door, but only an unclenched fist could open that door; only an open and empty hand could accept what was on the other side. It didn’t just happen on this one night: For years God let Jacob just wear himself out with the struggle - using up all his strength, strategies, and craftiness. And now - finally - Jacob was done. Spent. Deeply wounded. Now completely incapable of getting what he wanted with his own power; only then could he receive what was needed.

Genesis at the Movies, Part 7: The Village

Ronnie's exploration of Genesis arrives at one of the book's most difficult passages: What Jews call, "The Binding of Isaac." Ronnie says, "All ancient religions were built on the same foundation: 'God is angry…We stand in constant danger of being destroyed…Only the blood of the most precious - the most innocent - can save us.' So, when God comes to Abraham with this sinister demand, it wouldn’t have sounded all that unusual to Abraham. Child sacrifice was a customary and common practice of the time. But this God - Yahweh - was not the fickle, unpredictable, bloodthirsty gods worshipped in Mesopotamia or Canaan or in MesoAmerica. This God had shown himself to be steady - trustworthy - gracious and good to Abraham.
"Abraham’s understanding of God should have been cross examined, for this was an opportunity to listen more closely - to test the spirits, as the Apostle John said - and demand better answers, better instructions; to hear the better word of a better God. Of course Abraham believed in God, but did Abraham believe in a good God? Of course Abraham had faith - we know he did - but did Abraham truly understand in whom his faith was placed? Abraham could be counted on to do as God told him - of course, it’s Abraham But could Abraham be counted to see that the God he had come to know, was far better than any God he could imagine?"
 

Genesis at the Movies, Part 6: Field of Dreams

In Part 6 of Ronnie's series on Genesis, he arrives at Abraham - and Ray Kinsella, portrayed by Kevin Costner in "Field of Dreams." Both mean hear the Voice, and heed an inexplicable calling - an intuition, a vision, a dream - emerging from out of the ether. They "go the distance," to quote the Voice, displaying a tenacious faith that simply keeps going. 

Genesis at the Movies, Part 5: The Empire Strikes Back

The Dark Side, that monstrous, powerful energy from the Star Wars universe is, per George Lucas, "grasping, clutching, greedy desire. It is to want; to control; to have supreme power.” And so, we arrive at Genesis 11 and the remarkable story of the Tower of Babel; something I will refer to this morning as, “The Empire Strikes Back,” for that is exactly what happens here.  The whole post-flood population gets together to do something that not even their ancestors would have dared. They begin building a tower into heaven. This was a siege tower.
Their goal was clear, as the Babylonian word for "babel" means, “gateway.” Babylonia means, “gateway to the gods.” They intended to storm heaven; to throw down the Creator; and put themselves in God's place. A line from Bob Dylan summarizes the "Dark Side" - not only of the Force - but as a constant of human nature: “God is in his heaven; and we all want what is his. But power and greed, and corruptible seed, seems to be all there is.”

Genesis at the Movies, Part 4: Castaway

Part 4 of Ronnie's series on the Book of Genesis highlights Noah and the Flood: "There are a lot of reasons the story of Noah and the Flood is told as it is. To show the superior powers around the nation of Israel that Yahweh remains supremely in command; to show that the Hebrew God is not capricious - that God is capable of emotion, regret, even change; to show that God ultimately commits himself to human flourishing: But above all it is told to embolden a washed-up, washed-over, and washed-out remnant of survivors who are barely hanging on by a thread. For they were at a crossroad with a choice to make: They could give up their faith and be assimilated into the faceless mass of that Empire - or - resolutely, courageously, rebuild on the fresh mud of the freshly inflicted disaster they had suffered. 
"This isn’t really a story about animals marching two by two. It’s the test of one family’s persistence. It’s not a story to ferret out historical facts. It’s intended as a lesson in survival. This story is the second option: 'We will not be assimilated. We will not forfeit our hope - not even in a world washed away - not even with a God we don’t fully understand.' This story is written as an act of holy defiance - against their circumstances, against their sufferings, against easy answers, against those who had imprisoned them - and against God himself if need be. They refused to quit believing, and chose to survive for their own sake and the sake of all others.”

Genesis at the Movies, Part 3: The Counselor

From talk three of Ronnie's series on the book of Genesis: "We can’t really deny this gift of free will. We can only wrestled with it, because as a gift, it is the most problematic one God has given us. We have freedom, but it has its limits. Those limits make our choices in life extremely important. As El Jefe said to the Counselor: 'You are the world you have created.' What kind of world will it be? For yourself…your future…your family…your community? It’s a heavy responsibility, but it’s inescapable." 

Genesis At the Movies, Part 2: Gravity

In Part 2 of Ronnie's series entitled, "Genesis At the Movies," he takes on the chaos of the pre-ordered universe; how God overcame darkness and confusion; and how we as God's creatures and Earth's inhabitants are called to foster, cultivate, and otherwise to cause Creation to flourish. Ronnie says, "This isn't  'environmentalism.'  No, this is stewardship of all: Natural resources, pristine landscapes, a thriving population, food for the all who are hungry, water for all who are thirsty, peace for all who are at war, justice for all societies and people. It is a call of responsible caretaking, to make Creation all that God intends - and equally - a call to forsake our self-centeredness that threatens God's good world. F or in the irony of all ironies, the only species with the ability to safeguard the world and cause this world to flourish, is the same species with the capacity to destroy it - and almost everything living on it." 

Genesis At the Movies, Part 1: Back to the Future

In a new, ambitious Sunday morning series of talks, Ronnie dives headlong into the book of beginnings, the Book of Genesis. Each talk will have a movie theme, to engage the listener, this week's being "Back to the Future."
Ronnie says: "The book of Genesis was not composed and collected as a scientific explanation for the formation of the Universe... as literal, datable, fixated history...or as  a combative, adversarial text to be placed in the hands of Christians, to wage ideological war with philosophers, archeologists, geologists, astronomers, modernists, post-modernists, or Darwinians. It was composed and collected in the form we have it today, as a theological anchor; a touchstone that future generations could return to, to remember their family history. It was composed and collected so that people would not forget their God. It is a book about the past. But it was written to ensure a bright and healthy future."

Forget The Former Things

"Yes, if I could tell of everything that will enter your life in the days, years, or even decades ahead, it just might kill you. But if you take a few moments to sit and think about everything you have already survived - you just might discover that you are tougher than you thought you were - more adaptive than you are giving yourself credit for - and have a wee but more faith than you thought you did. You just might remember that how you have gotten through hard and fearful times in the past, is by going through hard and fearful times. 'The wave crashes over us,' as James Hollis says, 'but that same wave recedes and leaves us standing.'”

Hope Calling

Ronnie shares the story of Gary and Ronda Fleming, emphasizing the hope that comes with the Advent season: "Ronnie, your introduction of Emily Dickinson's poem, ‘Hope is the thing with feathers,’ resulted in a momentary emotion-filled mental trip from the Simple Faith sanctuary to a time in the summer of 2014, where we had a personal and very profound experience with hope as a thing with feathers..."