Sweet Spots

Tolkien
Movie Review by Teri Hyrkas
Tolkien, the film is about the youthful years of English writer J.R.R. Tolkien, well known author of the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It was released in the US in May, 2019. The screenplay was written by David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford and the movie was directed by award-winning Finnish director Dome Karukoski. It stars Nicholas Hoult as Tolkien and Lilly Collins as Edith Bratt, Tolkien’s boarding house sweetheart. According to Internet Movie Database (IMDb), Wikipedia and others, Tolkien bombed at the box office. The film cost approximately $20 million to make and has grossed only about $9 million as of the date of this writing. Rotten Tomatoes, a well known source for measuring the critical response of viewers to a given movie, assigned Tolkien a score of 51%… obviously not an “on-trend blockbuster.”
There were plenty of reviews that panned the movie. I think I can guess why critics and moviegoers might be inclined to disparage and be disappointed in Tolkien. The special effects and cinematography of director Peter Jackson’s film production of The Lord of the Rings (TLOTR) are so spectacular that they have become permanently embedded in the public consciousness. I believe Jackson’s movie scenes are inextricably linked to the author, Tolkien, because of the strong connection between Jackson’s movies and the books. Therefore, the very name “Tolkien” conjures up visions of TLOTR’s heart stopping special effects, phenomenal topographies and larger than life mythical creatures as created by Jackson.
By comparison, Karukoski’s Tolkien has only brief flashes and short, gauzy representations of fantasy-like moments and dragon-filled visions. Indeed, Karukoski’s most vivid, disturbing Jackson-esque scenes are related to Tolkien’s military service during World War I. In these, Tolkien – the young soldier – encounters the brutal actualities of modern warfare. Woven through these devastating war scenes, Karukoski has cinematically placed fleeting, dream-like images of demons and heroes. It was no surprise, then, to read the frequent objections made by reviewers of Tolkien which boiled down to, “It did not have the impact of a REAL movie. It is only a biopic — boring, banal and lacking in imagination.”
However, poor box office results and unreasonable disappointments of critics do not reflect on the quality of the moviemaking, the level of acting, or the value of the story portrayed in Tolkien, all of which I rate far above Rotten Tomatoes’ 51%. Rather than being about the extraordinary adventures of a Hobbit, Tolkien is a movie is about three kinds of love that J.R.R. Tolkien experienced in his young adulthood: Love of truly committed friends; love for a cherished soul mate; love of language and story.
The events of the film move through Tolkien’s young life and start from the “impecunious circumstances” which cause his widowed mother to move with her two young sons from a picturesque rural setting to an apartment in the industrial city of Birmingham – a dwelling found for them by Fr. Francis Morgan, a Catholic priest and friend of the family. Not long after the move, Tolkien’s mother dies. Fr. Francis, now the legal guardian of the Tolkien brothers, again provides aid by finding a benefactor who accepts the orphans into her boarding house. J.R.R. is then enrolled in King Edward’s School, where he excels as a student. King Edward’s is the location where Tolkien meets three young men who become his closest friends during his youth. The companions form what they call an “unbreakable alliance” that carries them through the years at King Edward’s School and on to university. This is the first love and “fellowship” of Tolkien’s young adult life.
It is at the boarding house that sixteen year-old Tolkien meets 19 year-old Edith Bratt, another orphan, and they fall in love. Their relationship is interrupted when J.R.R. fails to earn a scholarship to Oxford. Tolkien then grudgingly agrees to cooperate with Fr. Francis — who swore to Tolkien’s mother that he would see to it that her son went to university — and refrains from having any contact with Edith until he is twenty-one. J.R.R and Edith’s love for each other seems unlikely to survive the forced separation. Edith is the second love in Tolkien’s life and the challenge to their relationship is pivotal to the movie.
What about Tolkien’s calling as a writer? It is before the war as a student at Oxford that Karukoski depicts Tolkien as recognizing his third love — love of language and story. In 1913, after years of studying the classics, J.R.R. decides to change his major to English language and literature. This is clearly the correct course of study for him because in 1915 he graduates with first-class honors.
But it isn’t until twenty-two years later, in 1937, when he is a professor of English at Oxford, that Tolkien takes to heart a random line from a student’s paper and begins to write The Hobbit. An instant success, this book, according to the movie, fulfilled the pledge that the four young friends of the “unbreakable alliance” made to each other at King Edward’s School: “To change the world through the power of art.”
It is true that Tolkien is not an on-trend blockbuster movie, but it is also true that it is a beautifully rendered, well acted portrayal of the quiet,yet influential life of a beloved author and the integral part that love plays in helping him to use his art to change the world. As Christmas approaches, the season in which love Himself is born, Tolkien just might be the perfect movie to watch with your family.
Merry Christmas!

Publisher: IVP Books (November 19, 2019)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0830846638
ISBN-13: 978-0830846634
–Review by Vern Hyndman

Beth and David Booram’s “When Faith Becomes Sight” is an invitation story to Spiritual Direction. If for any reason the term “Spiritual Direction” causes a hitch in your giddyap, this book is perfect for you.
For those who have been nurtured in relationship with a spiritual director, this is a huge affirmation of your journey and an encouragement to continue.
For those who have no real framework for the possibility that Spiritual Direction open in your life, buy this book.
And for those who are the blessed guides of others, who attract and care for people using the ancient framework of Spiritual Direction, consider buying a case of these books to distribute to folks who are not quite ready to engage.
The source of inspiration for this work originates in a quote from William Barry, “In order that an experience have a religious dimension two things are necessary: God who can be encountered directly and a person who is on the lookout for God.” (p. 202).
The Boorams reference the Wesleyan Quadrilateral as a foundational principle for their lives and work. “One framework that we have found useful in navigating the need to balance our emotions and experience with our thinking and reasoning is the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. The Quadrilateral is described in The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church: ‘Wesley believed that the living core of the Christian faith was revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, vivified in personal experience and confirmed by reason.’ ”(p. 208).

The book is arranged in three parts:
Part 1: Looking For: Recognizing Signs of God
Part 2: Looking Through: Discovering Our Conscious and Unconscious Lenses
Part 3: Looking Within: Entering the Deep Waters of Your Soul
Each chapter provides questions to stimulate self-reflection.
The Boorams define Spiritual Direction;
… here’s a brief description of spiritual direction that might help orient you as you start exploring what could feel like new terrain. Christian spiritual direction is help given by one believer to another that enables the latter to pay attention to God’s personal communication to him or her, to respond to this personally communicating God, to grow in intimacy with this God, and to live out the consequences of the relationship. (p. 210).
We acknowledge, however, that the term spiritual direction can be somewhat confusing if not misleading. Neither the person receiving direction (sometimes referred to as the directee) nor the one serving as the spiritual director are to be considered the originators of direction. The assumption in the background is that God alone is the true spiritual director. Gratefully, that enables us to relax and let go of any pressure to fabricate something or make things happen. God initiates, we simply respond. (p. 209).
Rather than a purely didactic style, the Boorams draw on their long experience in Spiritual Direction and wrap important ideas in composite stories. The stories are very interesting and engaging, and help to flesh out the topic.
Every story has a setting, and the Booram’s setting is Fall Creek Abbey, which is an urban retreat center in Indianapolis. I have visited this retreat center and heartily recommend it. Wide porches and a beautiful back yard, with an Abbey that is both traditional and comfortable. https://www.fallcreekabbey.org/ This year is their fourteenth cohort of training Spiritual Directors.
Spiritual Direction provides a distinct alternative to the more intuitive way forward of “just try harder.” Trying harder will eventually break your heart. The Boorams reframe the challenges, such as the internal resistance with which we derail ourselves. They bless the resistance as they invite their audience to grow past it. “Resistance in our life and relationship with God “is not something to be condemned or pitied but rather welcomed as an indication that the relationship with God is broadening and deepening.” So what exactly is resistance? Resistance is an unconscious or semi-conscious rejection of something or someone that intimidates us or makes us feel anxious.” (p. 161)
A powerful idea Beth Booram offers in the context of blessing our self-imposed limitations is illustrated by this short conversation. “She listened and then calmly said to me, “Do you know who that was talking with you on your way here? Your false self. And all you need to say is, ‘Thank you for trying to protect me as you’ve done my whole life. But I don’t need you to do that anymore.’” Dave also suggests that when we find maladaptive practices that thwart our growth or progress that we practice kindness. “Thanks for seeking to protect me, but I don’t need your help anymore.” (p. 182).
Spiritual Direction is chock-full of semiotics, and the chapter “Recurring Themes and Symbols” deals directly with the practical application of semiotics. “First, a theme speaks of the “big idea” of a story or musical composition. It tells us what the story or composition is about. Symbols are images that represent larger themes and more abstract ideas, like a dove for peace or a skull and crossbones for poison. And a motif is a repeating pattern that reinforces a theme. So, while we might use these terms interchangeably, each one does represent a unique idea. Your life is composed of large themes, often represented and reinforced by unique symbols and motifs that are personal, distinctive, and give structure to your life story. (pp. 21-22).
The book reclaims desire.
• When you’re completely honest with yourself, what do you really want?
• In your most personal, private moments what do you deeply, ardently desire?
• If you stop trying to play the capable, responsible hero, what is it that you need?
• What longings do you have that just won’t go away no matter what?
How do you feel when you read these questions? Uncomfortable? Overwhelmed? Curious? Excited? These questions can be experienced as a doorway to deeper intimacy with God, yourself, and others, and an unsolicited invitation to revisit past disappointments and might-have-beens. When we’re alone and most in contact with our true hearts and allow these questions to surface, they can either energize us to dig beneath our day-to-day surface activity and discover a refreshing fountain within or leave us scurrying toward distractions and the comfortable familiarity of what is. A wellspring is an apt metaphor for this irrepressible, God-given capacity to desire. Like it or not, try as we might, ignoring our core desires is just about as effective as capping an artesian well. If you succeed in stopping the original flow, it will only burst forth in new and unwelcomed eruptions. (p. 146)
By reframe desire, a massive signifier and opportunity for growth opens. “Surprisingly, we discover that desiring isn’t primarily about fulfilling. Desire is a powerful spiritual energy that moves us toward God and the life we were created to live”. (p. 148)
The Boorams provide a wonderful view of the Trinity which sums up their work, “There’s one final and reassuring theological reality that must be emphasized as we end. While you endeavor to be on the lookout for God, be assured that God is on the lookout for you! God, for all of your life, has kept his eye on you, aware of when you sit down and rise up, even knowing your thoughts from afar (Psalm 139:2). This God you seek has always been seeking you. The Trinity’s patient and persistent desire is that you know God for who God truly is and become open to receiving God’s gifts of unremitting love, forgiveness, and grace.” (p. 203)