On Sunday, I preached the first of this year's sermons on religious themes in new summer movies, considering the deeper lessons of the new animated film, "Finding Dory." This is the sequel to the very popular movie, "Finding Nemo." In the new movie, Dory, a blue tang fish with short term memory loss, relies on friends to help her look for her parents. Because she can quickly forget things, Dory needs to rely on the help of others.
In large ways, the search in the movie is not just for Dory's parents, but for Dory herself. What is it that makes her unique? Were these qualities she was born with? Or some that she was taught.
This reminded me of the education of Moses, the Hebrew boy who was raised by the daughter of the Egyptian pharaoh. During the course of his life, Moses had many defining encounters with others who shaped him, including with God in the burning bush and on Mt. Sinai; but there also was a part of Moses that seems to have been born in him.
Sorting out some of these threads in both the adventure of Dory in the movie and the life of Moses described in the Bible, I realized that there was a deeper story here about discovering one's core identity. For Dory, it is something much more than a fish with short term memory loss. For Moses and the Hebrews he lead out of slavery in Egypt, it was about understanding that they were not slaves, but God's chosen people. And for us today, it is about learning that we are not disappointments or failures, but that we are each a precious and loved child of God. Without recognizing these core identities, it is difficult to understand the rest of who were are.
Click here to listen to the sermon. In addition you can listen to the Communion meditation and closing benediction.
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