The Sunday Sermonette – Between Two Worlds.
When I was a teenager in the mid-60s, Saturday mornings at our house were busy: washing clothes, dusting, vacuuming, and cutting the grass. The afternoons, however, were not, and watching the Saturday Matinee Movie via Dad’s Zenith TV was part of the even tenor of those long-lost days.
Dad had already seen one of the Matinee movies at the picture show in the late 1940s. He told me I’d like it because it took place on a magnificent ocean liner. I was hooked, and we watched “Between Two Worlds.” It explores the concept of Life and Death and the choices we make that shape our spiritual journey. According to the movie trailer, it’s a fantasy drama about “A most unusual voyage. The engrossing story of a strange ship…”
That strange ship is a metaphor for life, a journey we all share, which is also a journey between two worlds, the physical and the spiritual. Each of the ship’s passengers had a unique story to tell about the choices they had made in life. So do we. And like those passengers, we will be rewarded or judged for our choices.
Journeying across life’s oceans, we soon realize that our choices do have consequences. When we choose hate over love and lies over truth, we quickly learn that our choices often come back to haunt us. If we choose to be willful instead of helpful or to live in negativity while shunning the positive side of life, our lives can spiral out of control, drowning in a rough sea of fear, doubt, and loneliness.
When we choose to hate and lie, when we think of only ourselves, do we not realize that those priorities are entirely at odds with Father God’s? Because they are, conflict is inevitable! The more dramatically we are drawn to those priorities, the more dramatic the ensuing conflict—and, thus, the eventual heavenly judgment.
In the movie, the Reverend is played by Sidney Greenstreet, one of my favorite character actors from Hollywood’s Golden Age. But the Reverend is not who he seems to be. While talking with a passenger about what possibly lies ahead for all the passengers, he states: “Death. People have all sorts of notions. It’s really very simple. You see, my son, you make a Heaven or a Hell for yourselves on Earth… Some people waste their moment on Earth, waste it tragically… But you, my son, you used it beautifully, as it was meant to be used, and you may be sure there’s nothing here for you but joy and contentment. Are you happy now?”
Are you happy now? Are you struggling between two worlds? Are you creating your own Heaven or Hell on this Earth? Only to find out in the end—come Judgment Day—that you must carry your creation with you throughout all eternity?
“Between Two Worlds” is only a movie, a movie that has a beginning and an end. Heaven and Hell have beginnings, too, but no ending. Where you spend them is your choice. But remember, you are not alone in making your choice. Talk to Father God and His son, Jesus. They can guide you and help you make the right eternal choice as you sail aboard this strange ship we call life, navigating its tempestuous seas. Their guidance is always there, a beacon of hope in the stormy seas of life.
Ponder this and go forth.
