Phantom of the Opera

My two favorite operas by far are Les Meserables and Phantom of the Opera. I love the beauty of the them, the complexites and the great mirror into the human heart. I watched Phantom this afternoon and was struck by one artistic element.

The character of phantom is actually quite handsome are the beginning. The visible half of his face is quite nice to look at it and the dark hair is slicked by in an attractive, respectable manner. He moves gracefully and quietly, drawing you into the mystery of this man. But as the story develops he becomes more and more grotesque. Why? Because his character begins to come out and we see the depths of evil within this hurting individual. And as you recoginze all this, you find him more and more loathesome.

At the climax however he lets Christine and Raul go free, and when confronted with the purity of real love he melts. As he smashes the mirrors you see only half his face and somehow there is something attractive about it again. The image reflected in the mirror of the deformed man is distorted and no longer defines him, holds him captive and he escapes into the night.

This reminded me of the attractivness of evil. That evil can be enticing by the mystery of it but also by the presentation and packaging of it. That Satan was created first as an Angel, the most loved and beautiful, therefore I believe, though he is eternally fallen, he retains some of this beauty and uses that to mask the evil. Think about it, sin at first glance does not look utterly evil, no. It is wrapped with a flimsy layer of false promises that look good. But as you delve deeper you begin to see the wrapping fade away and see the true nature of it. Much like in the Phantom of the Opera. As Christine delves deeper into a relationship with the Phantom she sees more of his dark character and we as the audience see this as well. Unlike the Phantom though, there is no restoration possible for Satan and the evil he produces, but for those taken captive by it there is freedom...

Simple Mind

I was praying for a friend this afternoon and was smacked upside the head by God with the realization I am utterly inadequate when it comes to prayer. We all are. Think about it. First off look at the structure of prayer: we pray to God, by the Son, through the power of the Spirit. We can't even talk to God on our own, we need two others to get us to that point!!! Second, in Romans 8:26 Paul says it like it really is, "we do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." Our finite minds simply cannot grasp that which we should be praying for. Isaiah 55:8-9 tells us God's thoughts and ways are way beyond our comprehension. The heart and mind of God are so far deeper than ours, who am I to approach prayer with any hint of pride, boldness yes, pride no.

So I was sitting there praying for a dear friend, that God uses the next two months as a time of intense preparation for what lies ahead. And I was hit with this; what if all she really needs in the next two months is rest? Or quality time with friends and family? What if her whole life up til now, or the last five years has been the intense preparation? I don't know the mind of God. I can't presume to know it. That's why I need the Spirit. Because he takes that simple-minded, one dimensional prayer and makes it what it should be. In the end, the root of my prayer is that God makes ready my friend and I believe that is what the Spirit takes to God. And I believe that is what God answers. Similarly when I pray for the fellowship of believers I crave God will answer but it might be with the details I map out.

Such is the bigness of God colliding with the smallness of me. Amen.