Percy Jackson

At the weekend most of us went to see the new movie - Percy Jackson and the Olympians - The Lightning Thief. We have a box set of the books and it was with anticipation that my Lightning Thief reader looked forward to seeing the movie - it was the first time he had read a book before seeing the big screen version.

"It was different, and the Aries bit is so good in the book, they should have...." and so it went on. I thought of the books I have read and seen in movies and of the often startling difference - I have yet to see Revolutionary Road, I don't think I can stand the heartbreak on the big screen.

It would be impossible to compress all of the subtle twists of story from a three or four hundred page novel into a two hour, or less, movie. Things have to go, plotlines have to bend and change. Movie making is a very different prospect to writing a book.

Yesterday at the National Cathedral, Dean Lloyd spoke of glory. No quick fixes or cute stories. In some ways, perhaps, a risky subject - after all glory is not sound bite religion or easy answers. Glory is big and requires something of us, Glory is outside our control and within our reach. But the Gospel does not neatly package and that is why is was good to hear a sermon which did not try to cello-wrap Jesus into neat sushi sized bites.

St. Paul is faced with a similar issue as he begins his letter to the Galatians. We can imagine what happened - he told them the story of Jesus and then left. Even some of those with good intentions might start editing bits and pieces - those with a more selfish agenda might do more than tinker around the edges. But St. Paul is not making a movie, he does not have to redact and fit things around - the Gospel, he says is the Gospel, and when it is edited and changed it is not the Gospel any more.

This sort of confidence in the message can be hard for us. We are often tempted to knock the edges off, to talk practically about buildings and projects instead of honestly about who Jesus is. We are tempted to allow the social Gospel to be our message, interaction with the world around us to take over from pondering the Divine. Talking to each other to become so all-consuming that talking to, and listening to God, become an afterthought.

We are lucky, we are not asked to make a movie and we have a whole lifetime and not two hours to live into this Good News which we proclaim. We just need to have the confidence that our story, the story of Jesus is good enough as it is. Our battle is not with ancient and mythical creatures but with our own tendency to fit everything neatly into very, very small boxes.