"Shrek: Fiona Finds Her Call"

Hebrews 5:1-5

This week's message will focus on  the faith message we find in the family film Shrek, particularly the role of Fiona, the princess who is really a troll. Fiona has parents who are royalty, king and queen of the land and they have a daughter who is a troll, at least part of the time. She lives as a princess during the day but becomes a troll at night.  It is a spell that can only be broken by true love's kiss.  The story has many complicated twists and turns, but when the true love's kiss finally breaks the spell, Fiona's true nature surprises her... no longer is she permanently a princess, as she assumed she would be, but is forever an ogre.

Hebrews 5 begins, "Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf" and continues, "And one does not presume to take this honor, but takes it only when called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him,“You are my Son, today I have begotten you”

God calls us all, we are all God's children.  We are put in charge of things pertaining to God. We take it when we are called.  We wait and listen for God to say "You are my child. Today I have begotten you."  The key is to allow the Holy SPirit to work in our lives so that our discernment includes God and not just our own egos.  We must listen for God's call on our lives, rather than assuming we know what it is.

Fiona assumed her true self, her true role in life was to be a princess and that the ogre part of herself was the curse.  This was a false assumption. When Fiona truly accepts love, true love, into her life she discovers her calling was not what she thought. And that her calling is actually much more complicated than a princess waiting on a white knight to save her. That her calling may make her ugly and not worthy in the eyes of the world, but in the ways that matter... the ways of love, truth and friendship, she is worthy of much more than she ever dreamed.

When we consider the groups of people we have oppressed over the history of humankind, we find people who have been made to feel less than in the eyes of the world and their journey is often ugly and complicated and filled with struggle.  For example, we have ostracized and tried to strip away indigenous culture from the Native Americans while glorifying Columbus.  We have put blinders on to the ways racism continues to rear its ugly head in our world and pointed to the Civil Rights Bill and the Voter Rights Act as ways to show we are 'over it. We have used biblical scriptures to condemn people's sexual orientation and called it Christian principles.  What if we just let people alone to be who they really are, rather than seeing who they are as something less than, less appealing, less deserving.

Hebrews tells us we have some 'appointment' by God. Some 'calling' to fulfill. What might yours be? What might mine be?  It's more than just what we see ourselves doing day to day. It is what we choose to leave hiding deep within the confines of our hearts... oppressed by our own ego, that we need to bring to the forefront to truly see what God has in store for us.

"The Summons" song in The Faith We Sing hymnal has a lyric that goes, "Will you love the " you" you hide if I but call your name. Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?"

What is the "you" you hide?  How can you allow the spell of ego to be  broken so that you can break open what God really wants from you?  Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below.

Thanks, everyone!