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All I want for Christmas is a… another “Rocky” movie. Rocky VI opens in theaters December 22nd. That’s right, folks — just when you thought you had seen all the “Rocky” movies you could stand to see, there is a new one coming just in time for Christmas.
I know for many it is a movie that has already been made four times too many, but frankly I am feeling a bit nostalgic. Thirty years have passed since the debut of the original “Rocky”. It was a great story for a 13-year-old boy. Rocky Balboa was a classic underdog fighting his way to the top with gutsy determination. He pounded on sides of beef and ran the streets and steps of Philadelphia until he was ready to claim his prize.
I really liked the original. The sequels have not done as much for me. Rocky was still brilliant through the taking down of the Russians, Mr. T., and a host of other challenges and challengers.
I am a little concerned about Rocky’s age. Thirty years have passed since he first climbed into the ring with Apollo Creed. He is not getting any younger. Sylvester Stallone is 60, so how old does that make Rocky Balboa? I don’t know if Rocky actually does any boxing in Rocky VI, but then I have to wonder if you can have a “Rocky” movie if Rocky doesn’t box. Anyway, I just don’t want to see him get hurt.
There is a twist to Rocky VI that sets it apart from its predecessors. This “Rocky” is being marketed to churches. Just when we thought Hollywood had abandoned people of faith, out comes Rocky VI just in time for Christmas with a message of courage, integrity, faith, and victory. If you don’t believe me, then visit Rockyresources.com and check out the “Fight of Your Life” discussion started under leader resources. Wonders never cease.
However, for Christmas to be Christmas, it will take more than a movie to accomplish the feat. The coming Christ child is met by obstacles at every turn, not the least of which is a world that seems bent on destroying itself. We will announce His coming in the days ahead by reading the Prophet Isaiah:
For a child has been born for us,
A son given to us:
Authority rests upon His shoulders
And He is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Prince of Peace.
When He is born, He will speak. He will be the Word of God made flesh, Immanuel. While He is with us, He will say to us, “Love your enemies, treat others the way you want them to treat you, pray for those who persecute you.”
When Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the crowds cried out:
Blessed is the King who comes
In the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven,
And glory in the highest heaven.
The Pharisees told Jesus to quiet the crowds. Jesus said, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.” Sometimes we in the church lose our voice forgetting the word that God spoke to us in His son Jesus Christ. That clear word gets mixed up with our consumerism, our patriotism, our national security, and even our sense of morality. When that happens, the voice of the church is bold, loud and proud, even if it echoes little of that which spoke it into being. Over time we forget that He came to bring peace and that He expects His followers to do likewise.
Dwight Eisenhower, five-star general and U. S. President, understood the connection between the words Christ spoke and the choices faced by those who hear them and would adhere to them when he said, “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children….This is not a way of life in any true sense.”
Omar Bradley, another World War II general, expressed the same thoughts when he said, “We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount.”
May we draw near to the manger as the Christ child is born. May we hear His words.
Joy and peace,
Ed
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