EXPRESSIONS OF FAITH
Faith makes life full

By Janet Powell

Emotions create the color in our lives. They tint the world with grays and dark browns when we are upset. Passion stirs us and we grow in compassion as we bask in the beauty of art. We begin to notice the tiny things in life that really matter. We begin

to really believe because we choose to trust and obey; joy surges through us as we praise a God that makes sense when we realize that chaos is created by man. God shows us how foolish and deadly we are when we do not have him in our lives. When we honor him first, miracles happen.

For those of us who have faith, nothing else makes life full and beautiful. We feel gratitude; we know happiness. We become humble and transcend worldliness. We tithe because we put our money where our heart is. We no longer worry because we no longer are of this world. Faith moves us to a new dimension.

It began with a risen Lord!

The faith and talent of Mel Gibson created "The Passion of the Christ," which wove the threads of emotion in the color of pain, suffering, death and a glimmering drop of God's tears, not to the end of a movie but to the fulfillment of a promise. Some went and closed their eyes to special effects that looked like blood and torture. Perhaps these were the people who could not look at the reality of suffering in the world.

They closed their eyes in the way people did in villages around concentration camps. The Holocaust was too real. They couldn't look. They said it didn't happen. Maybe these were the people who welcome a flower-covered cross but cringe at the thought of the price of it.

The real Christ suffered for his children. The real stripes were deep and merciless. Gibson's truth was moved by faith and an actor with the initials J.C. who was 33 years old and a devout Christian.

Yet, after all, it was only a film ... unless one, too, was moved by faith. Then, reality bowed the head and the heart quickened. One saw evil walking among the people of the world. The hooded woman in Gibson's "Passion" carried its seed in her arms. It looked like a baby for a few minutes. Innocent. Then, the demon smiled. But, wings of angels whispered through the theater and softly touched the faithful, protecting them with a tapestry full of love.

As for the criticism about anti-Semitism: Yes, the crowd in the film was Jewish. They were poor, frightened and led by an evil man. The crowd could have been the mockers in Iran, the bowed heads I saw in Moscow streets, or the same people living in fear in so many places. They are among us today, repeating the evil words of leaders greedy for power. They are victims.

Some topple from mountains of money. Some stay poor. They get lost in the dust of fear. They try to deaden the pain with alcohol or drugs or by staying busy. It doesn't work. The message flying off the screen on wings of angels is repeated every hour of the day for those who see.

It's in the Bible and fellowship with other believers. It is not of this world. It's called faith.

Janet Powell is a member of Hope Chapel Waianae.