There is a scene near the end of both the book and the movie “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” when all appears to be lost. Harry is trapped in the deep and dark chamber under Hogwarts. His nascent love, Ginny Weasley, is unconscious and near death, and the giant basilisk, a venomous, serpentine monster, lashes out at Harry. Things are desperate.
Month: August 2016
Good But Not Safe
There is a dinner table scene in the lowbrow 2006 Will Ferrell comedy “Talladega Nights,” in which NASCAR star Ricky Bobby’s family pauses before a meal of Domino’s pizza and Taco Bell to say grace. Ricky begins not in customary Episcopal Church fashion, but rather with the words, “Dear Lord Baby Jesus…”
The prayer meanders, until Ricky says again, “Dear tiny baby Jesus, with your golden fleece diapers and your tiny balled up baby fists,” at which point his NASCAR trophy wife, Carly, interrupts and complains, “You know, Sweetie, Jesus did grow up. You don’t always have to call him baby. It’s a bit odd and off-putting to pray to a baby.”
God in the Midst of the City 