Homo Narrativus
Telling stories and stories is too human. We’re not like that because of social construction. Stories are part of who we are because they reflect who created us. The plots we create are part of the biggest story. The narrative purpose of creation?Redemption. In the history of the stories written by God, we are characters who make part of the plot that had already been decreed in eternity, whose protagonist is the Word who became flesh and who has its culmination, that is, the narrative climax, the vicar act of the Righteous that is placed in the place of sinners.
- Our writings.
- All our literary heritage.
- Are linked to the broader work; we can see sin and beauty in what we are told in verse and prose; we can see the concerns of the human soul.
- We can see redemption and grace; and Read/listen to the stories in the world that were born of the Eternal Word?and what should this support bring us to observe more carefully and lovingly the most beautiful scenario: the story of the God who redeems sinners and invites them to be friends with them.
And speaking of storytelling, do we have movies? Beyond literature. Today we can read a good story or see it in action through a big screen or a small screen. Cinema is another way that homo narrativus has found in order to dramatize life. And it is from this point, from the cinema, that I want to address another issue: preaching.
There is a phrase that says that if the preacher does not give his sermon, he does not actually preach; and, in fact, applying is not always an easy task, especially when the preacher is out of context with his listeners. The problem of cultural dislocation, when the preacher is not well aware of what has shaped his listeners over time that they live their daily lives in their common affairs, is this where cinema enters as an ally of the preacher. Art is perhaps the cultural element that best serves to make applications in an illustrative way using a good narrative on screen, so the simple fact of watching movies contributes to the development of a sermon. Obviously, I’m not saying this is in every sermon, but it’s good to alternate a cinematic narrative from time to time.
When I preach, I like to use extracts from books to apply a sermon point. The Chronicles of Narnia have the title of the most quoted book, but I went from Pilgrim to Little Prince. Unfortunately, our country is made up of people, who aren’t used to reading good fictional literature, so while quoting books is either an incentive to read, quoting movie excerpts ends up being a little more positive if you’re looking for the app is to link the transmitted content to a good story After all, if the video cassette players had already become popular to watch movies at home , in the era of streaming service, not only at home, but even on the bus, back and forth from work, you can watch movies through your smartphone.
I recently did a survey on my Facebook asking for three good films made from 2001 to the present day, I intentionally made the cut because they are films produced and consumed for the current generation, although good films tend to be timeless, because of their crossover – Cutting narratives, the vast majority of them are the product of an era and speak a lot of a specific generation. There are good movies that can be used to apply what we want to broadcast on our chairs. Therefore, let the preacher watch the films by making them a proxy experience, using the narratives so that their listeners can properly assimilate the content of the preaching when the film’s narrative reflects an applicability of biblical content. The films that I love and that can help in this difficult task are: Every last Man, the Mule, the Return, the Lion?Journey Home, Irrational Man, American Sniper, Black Blood, The Duplicate Man and Joker.
I could not fail to mention that if cinema plays an important role in the formation of the imaginary and as a good entertainment option, we need to know how to measure our time in front of the screen. movies, is there the current series and phenomenon of the marathon running a full season or more?to spend people a whole day glued to the couch or to bed, to see how they feel.
We must be careful not to let entertainment dominate our daily lives. Movies and series can’t make us lazy and unproductive. Laziness is a sin. And entertainment can become idolatry. If on the one hand we have a great resource for the game and to help our doctrinal design, linking a scene to a biblical concept, on the other hand, we have a competitor of devotional activities. You say you don’t have time to pray and read the Bible, have you counted the time you spent with your Netflix or Prime subscription?