Flash Forward and Taize
Some of you may or may not be familiar with Taize and its music. In the ELW there are a number of Taize hymns. They are simple, repetitive, and powerful.The other night we were watching a show on ABC called "Flash Forward." The story line is that there was a worldwide blackout for around 2 minutes. In that time, people saw glimpses of their future. Now everyone is trying to put together the pieces and figure things out. As we were watching, in the background the hymn, "Stay with Me, Abide with Me" from Taize was being played and sung. That just blew us away.
A character has emerged in the show whose life has been changed in such a way that he is telling people about God and Jesus. It was quite a powerful episode. The part with the hymn is toward the very beginning after they recap what happened previously. Here's the link:
http://abc.go.com/watch/flashforward/235637/254571/revelation-zero-part-1
I'd be interested in seeing what you think.
Comments
I've not been to Taizé but know their aims, music and, resources well. bless the researcher at ABC who recommended the soundtrack! yes, I was really elated as soon as I heard the music. not expecting that at all, it was beautiful, until the story came to a preacher dude, who actually made the reference to God explicit, and then it was amazing! they were going for full impact.
what was my verdict on reflection? thankfully christianity was addressed respectfully and quite realistically with emotion, rather than being ruled out as stupid as often happens in sci-fi. unfortunately it portrayed the ignorant superstitious "God of the gaps" conclusions that christians always find themselves jumping to -- it has been clear to the viewer for a few episodes that the cause of the flashforward is of human not divine/otherworldly origin, yet it was also clear to the viewer in this episode that the preacher dude thought otherwise. so there we were left, judging the innocent guy with our humanistic lens. at least humans were left with the "why" question hanging. so close yet so far!
Thanks for your reflections Pete. Blessings.
After that, I needed a Taize fix.
Years ago I had driven by Taize in France (it's a little dirt road off of a country road) but was afraid to be treated. I went to Cluny, down the street.
I googled everything in the area and managed to miss the two Taize services around Easter.
Luckily I found one last week.
The genius at FastForward needs an Emmy.