Pastor Sean Palmer considered what the story of the paralyzed man and the film Lars And The Real Girl have to teach us about the demands of love, and how communities are called to carry the lost and hurting by way of loving acts that may seem radical, or even foolish, to the world.
Text
Luke 5: 17-20
“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket — safe, dark, motionless, airless — it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”
- CS Lewis
“If there are so many desperate people walking around…what would happen if we treated their illnesses and their delusions with compassion, acceptance and tolerance instead of this shunning thing we do.”
- Nancy Oliver (Screenwriter, Lars And The Real Girl)
“Lars doesn’t make the choice to be loved, he makes the choice to love. It doesn’t need to be a transaction. You can just give.”
- Ryan Gosling (Lars in Lars And The Real Girl)
Reflection Questions
Sean suggested that most of our regrets can be traced to a lack of love and kindness, and that the true Christian definition of the sin of sloth is not merely laziness, but the failure and unwillingness to meet the demands of love. In what relationships, circumstances, or with what "type" of people, have we decided that love is too hard or inconvenient, or that we simply decide not to?
A character late in the film says, "...That's what people do when tragedy strikes. We come over, and sit." Who are the first responders in your life, and in whose lives do you fill that role? If not, who is God calling you to seek out? Throughout your week, will you intentionally keep your eyes and your heart open for the outcast or hurting person who needs someone to sit with them?
Worship Set
Leaning On The Everlasting Arms
10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord)
All The Poor And Powerless
Come And See
The Master's Calling
Come Behold The Wondrous Mystery