Pain

Recently, Heather and I watched the movie “Shadowlands,” directed by Richard Attenborough. I am sure we saw it in the theatre when it first came out in 1993. But I had forgotten what a profound and touching film it is.

“Shadowlands” tells the story of the relationship between the American poet Joy Davidman and the British writer C.S. Lewis. They met in 1952; she was thirty-seven years old, he was fifty-four. In the “Shadowlands” version of the story Lewis (played brilliantly by Anthony Hopkins) is portrayed as a stiff, remote, self-contained academic. He has organized his world so that he never has to deal intimately with the unpredictable complexity of people. No one has access to his heart, until the brash and brilliant Joy Davidman comes crashing into his life. After two years of friendship, they come together in a marriage of convenience in order to enable Davidman to remain in Britain. But, when it is discovered that she has cancer, Lewis is no longer able to contain his feelings and a deep loving relationship develops between them until Joy’s death in 1960.

Brian McLaren Sessions IV & V Victoria, B.C.

Session IV – “Our Potential Role in Peoples’ Lives” 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Q. – Language – what about Father and Son jargon that reinforces a patriarchal vision of God?