Reflection May 2020
- Details
- Published: Wednesday, 13 May 2020 09:52
- Written by Ian Brown
Faith doesn’t have to be complicated - Reflection for May
Pamela Scott DCS
I don’t often get a chance to watch films due to evening meetings etc but during this time of Lockdown, if there is nothing worth watching on the TV (Let’s face it, that is most evenings!), then my husband and I will watch a film on Amazon Prime. It was common practice that we always chose comedies as that was one genre we agreed on but as the time has gone on we watch many different films and enjoy most of them. Last night we chose one called ‘Andy’s Rainbow’, I would advise if you get a chance to watch it, please do…it brought several, much-needed, tears to my eyes.
Without giving too much away it is about a young man, who has Special Needs and stays in a care home, and a young lady called Rayne, who has had a difficult upbringing and is undertaking community service at the home. While she is working there, her and Andy strike up a friendship and during their time together finds in Andy a caring, thoughtful sole of deep, get simple faith. He also has had a difficult life but sees the good in everyone, constantly looks at a children’s book about Noah and tells Rayne about Jesus and how everyone should be his friend.
As the film progressed, Andy told Rayne that he wasn’t frightened of going ‘HOME’ as he would meet his family who also had Jesus as their friend. He was obsessed by rainbows and assured her that a rainbow was God’s promise that although things will be hard, God is always there to walk with you and help you cope.
As I have reflected on this film, I realise that we often try to complicate faith. I personally spent seven years training to be a deacon. We study, which isn’t bad in itself, but may make us then overcomplicate faith. In Mark 10: 14-15, Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I assure you that whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”
Faith is not mainly intellectual. It is a childlike act of trusting in Jesus. The Christian faith is not contained in volumes of theology books or complex religious rules. It is just the simple reality that “Jesus loves me; this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong; they are weak but he is strong.”
It really is that simple.
Amen