Movie Review: Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang!

Yep. You guessed it. It’s time for another life lesson from a movie. I can’t seem to get away from this feeling of communicating a message. It feels urgent. So, I’m just gonna write … and hope … and be peculiar (this will make sense at the end).

Saturday night we watched “Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang”. I wasn’t disappointed: same character different story, same sense of magical awe different tricks and the same concept repeated - “When you need me, and don’t want me, I must stay. When you want me, and don’t need me, I must go.”

In contrast to the “Letters to God” movie (the movie I reviewed in last week’s post), I love the approach and strategy of Nanny McPhee. She has a purpose and she knows what it is. She has been sent by a sending agency to accomplish a goal. She goes to the need, not expecting the needy to come to her. She draws no attention to herself, allowing the recipients of her actions to learn their lessons by themselves, thus making a bigger impact.

What if we, who call ourselves believers in God, would take the Nanny McPhee approach to sharing our lives with others? What if our concept of approaching people were just like hers: “When (they) need (God), and don’t want (God), we must stick by them, showing them the way to find true meaning in life. When (they) want (God), then they don’t need us to lead them by the hand, we must go.”

Now, I’m not suggesting we dump people. We, however, have to get out of the way. We give them the tools to know how to navigate through life, peering through a new lens, a new world view. When they can navigate on their own, we move on and allow them to pay it forward.

I’m pretty sure when Jesus befriended 12 guys of varied backgrounds, he had this approach. He poured into them. He helped them navigate the world through a new lens, a new world view. Then, he released them to go and do the same.

Herein lies the problem. (Gulp. I’m nervous to type such things, but I fear it’s the truth.) Most of us have forgotten our strategy, our purpose, the one who sends us. We fill our days and thoughts around the latest gadget, newest nail color, biggest sale, and best happy hour that we forget our purpose. I’m not talking to anyone who is not a confessed believer in Jesus Christ. If you are not a believer in Jesus Christ, you are off the hook. This doesn’t apply to you. But, for those of us who have made a decision to call ourselves followers of Christ, we are the guilty.

Where, oh where, are the ones who are strategic, purposeful, and know the one who sends? Where are the ones that live life on the edge, not thrust forward by societal norms but rather a standard high and odd? Again, I think a quiet and dangerous comfort has rested on the shoulders of most church goers. They are not driven, like our beloved Nanny McPhee, but have traded in passion for Christ for contentment with normal life.

Followers of Jesus Christ have been called to something greater than normal life. Normal life is what normal people live. We are not normal! We are a peculiar people who don’t belong here! Peculiar living means living on purpose for a purpose. Peculiar living means not having an agenda, but waiting for direction from One who makes the agenda. Peculiar living means living alongside the needy and hurting, be they poor or polished, and sticking with them when they think they don’t need God. Peculiar people stand for something and aren’t afraid to say what they stand for. Peculiar people don’t wait for the hurting to come to them; they are already there – among the hurting!

Again, my message is for those who claim to know Jesus. If you know Him, be peculiar. If you don’t, find someone who is … truly peculiar … and follow them around until you see Him.