The Seventh Seal

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We must make an idol of our fear, and call it God.

I didn't like this film of Bergman's, as much as the other three I have seen. Though, a few scenes almost buried me six feet under, as usual - like the confession scene, in which the priest has been replaced by the figure of death - unbeknown to the one confessing his lack of faith. Bergman seems to always hit the core of faith crisis - the ones without answers, yet still the ones that define our many reformations, though always hidden beneath the surface or behind the curtain, so as to justify our newest doctrine.

I think we would be able to put these reformations to rest, if we were able to replace fear, with forgiveness. We have had violence occur to members of our community as of late - and it seems much easier to respond with fear, than with intentional forgiveness. However, there has been prayer, processing, and vulnerability around both subjects - and today, I was reminded of this:



It seems that in one of those reformations, it was said that "you should fear not, if you are forgiven", without also saying (or instead of saying) "we should fear not, if we forgive those who trespass against us."

The prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray - so basic, yet so central, and so defining of the Church in Acts, before the many reformations began blurring the clearly defined lines of the New Covenant. Thankfully, the prayer still exists.

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