It's that amazing. It's that entertaining. It's not a great, Academy Award winning film, but Cowboys & Aliens was one of the more entertaining and exciting movies I've seen in a while. It's worth it just to watch Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig kill aliens, in my opinion, but I'm a big fan of both, and in continuing a lifelong trend, Harrison Ford gets to yell about a family member being kidnapped.
The plot in this one isn't too thick. (One person on twitter suggested the plot had two pages. The first said 'Cowboys' and the second said 'Aliens'.) Basically, cowboys are busy fighting aliens who are kidnapping people and will soon destroy the planet. There are some twists and turns to the plot, but it's fairly straightforward. The aliens are clearly identifiable by the fact that they're green (we need more colors for aliens. I'm tired of green.) and like to chew on people, and the cowboys are clearly the good guys, distinguished mostly by the fact that they're not aliens.
If only this world were as simple. The good guys and bad guys don't fall neatly into easily discernible categories. Republicans and Democrats have been wrangling over the debt ceiling for the last few months, and most of it is so confusing that the only thing we can be sure of is that none of them are distinguishing themselves as particularly honorable. If the bad half were clearly marked by being green or different looking, then we'd know more easily who to cheer for.
The church is the same way. Sometimes we know exactly which fight is the right one, but how much energy do we invest in stresses and struggles that we later realize simply weren't worth it? How much easier would life be if we knew exactly which cause was worth the struggle? How much time would we save if we could look at a cause and know that it simply wasn't worth the time and effort we would need to invest in it? I wonder about the conversations and debates we have at the Presbytery level, and am often amazed at how much time we'll pour into a particular topic that seems to not merit that kind of commitment.
How do we know where to invest our energy?
When I read the Gospels, Jesus continues to pour his energy and love into the people around him. In Bible Study this morning, we were reading about the blind beggar who shouted so loudly that Jesus stopped in his tracks to attend to his need.
May we listen to the world with open ears, open eyes and open hearts. We can't always see clearly who our enemies are, and it's hard to tell which causes are a waste of energy, but I believe that if we pour our energy and love into the people around us, each one made in the image of God, than God will do something amazing with that. Sometimes our lives will be filled with battles in which it is easy to know what is right and what is wrong, but more often I believe that we inhabit a world where each decision has positive and negative ramifications, and it is my belief that by truly loving each person involved in the debate we can witness to Christ in the midst of all that we do.
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