I realize I am a little late to the game. The Oscars are already long forgotten, but I just watched Arrival this weekend.
I was drawn to it because I had heard about Amy Adams' amazing performance as a linguist who meets an alien race who has mysteriously come to Earth.
Strong female lead? Thoughtful science fiction? Sign me up.
I found the thought-provoking movie I was expecting. What I also found, quite unexpectedly, was to be face to face with a new telling of Virgin Mary and the Annunciation.
This is where I am right on time.
The feast of the Annunciation is celebrated this year (and most years) on March 25th.
To clarify, I am a Protestant - why am I so into The Annunciation?
It is a beautiful tale where God surprises an unlikely woman and draws her into God's plan and God's story.
I think that more people would be caught up in the wonder of this story too if they could get past the word Virgin. We seem to rarely get to the courage and daunting nature of Mary because we want so much to argue over her adjectives.
I fell in love with Mary and her angelic visit through art.
These are some of my favorites.
Annunciation, Fra Angelico, 1438
Henry Tanner, The Annunciation - 1898
What we see here is an encounter. A moment where through interaction, visitation, an unexpected arrival - the world is wholly changed - both for Mary individually and for humanity.
There is a spark in Mary's eyes - a recognition and awe, a great big yes despite hesitance and fear and more unknowns than knowns.
And Mary speaks and she redefines the world:
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour;
he has looked with favour on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed;
the Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his name.
He has mercy on those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm
and has scattered the proud in their conceit,
Casting down the mighty from their thrones
and lifting up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away empty.
He has come to the aid of his servant Israel,
to remember his promise of mercy,
The promise made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and his children for ever
Her words are radical. A single, young woman is the most blessed creature on Earth, the poor are chosen by God, the rich are sent away. Power looks entirely different than what humans have valued.
God serves humanity in mercy and tenderness - God will come as a small child born by a woman with enough heart to encounter God and say yes.
In Arrival - we see the echo and the new chorus of an Annunciation story.
From Arrival
Arrival is not about angels - but it offers a look into the Annunciation that is as fresh as it is faithful.
We see a story of a woman who has an encounter that redefines not only her story but the World's story. In meeting the heptopods - the world is flipped upside down (literally in this case). Dr. Louise Banks has the bravery and courage to take off her gear and press her hand up against the barrier to reach out to the strangers who have come into her life. She does not know whether they bring blessing or violence or a little of both - but she still says yes to the power and possibility of the moment.
In realizing the gift that they bring - a gift so many fear and see as a weapon - she understands that there is no forward or backward in time. She can see the future.
The system by which we live our life - time and aging and the forward progress of time - is undone in her own speech and action.
The visitors and the encounter and hospitality of the stranger opens up a new World. For Mary - the social order was flipped. However, the argument could be made that Mary's Magnificat is also a vision of our Future - the Kingdom of God - glimpsed in her encounter but to be more fully seen later.
Louise also has her own magnificat of sorts as she speaks peace to a world hungry for and quaking with war. She chooses hospitality over hostility.
Salvation comes from embrace and the move toward understanding.
The parallels continue as we realize that the way the movie opens - the pieta of a daughter and mother in the hospital is not the past but the future.
She chooses her future - knowing it will bring her pain. She chooses a child knowing that child will die.
Here are the major parallels:
1. Encounter is What Changes Us: In Arrival, Louise says there are days, "that define your story." These are the moments where you are thrown out of what you thought life would look like and stand face to face with an unexpected messenger of your destiny. God works in the unexpected, grace is a gift given often out of the blue, the ordinary turns transcendent in one moment. Encounter with the stranger is a door to the Divine. The world and all that you knew is able to be turned upside down - this is divine imagination and a reminder that our lives are wholly and holy adventure. '
2. Divine Encounter Flips The World On Its Head (Or Knocks Us on Our...):
Annunciation is the moment where you have the heart and brave foolishness to take off your gear or take off you societal role and claim a new reality and future. It is an acknowledgement that once you have seen a new face of God - you are changed and you are living into your new story.
3. Saying Yes to Your Story (Even Though Afraid) Is Hard and Hopeful Work
In both these Annunciation stories - fear and trembling and it's flip side of awe and allure - are part of the story. Annunciation is speaking with voice trembling and feet unsteady. it is about feeling and co-creating your way onto a new path. It is the fledgling work of conception and creation - a small seed of hope that holds great possibility. Fear is part of the journey, and pain and doubt - but so is being game anyway.
4. Imagination, Wonder and Curiosity are Connectors:
It is the imagination and awe that connect us to one another. Louise is slowly enchanted by the mystery of the Heptopods and is drawn to them through curious engagement and not desire for domination. Maybe this is seen as naive - maybe that is the key to who changing encounter comes to - those who might have the sense of wonder to be changed. Understanding takes persistent engagement, vulnerability and intimacy. This is the lure of Mystery. Both Mary and Louise have the ability to risk their very selves and their solid future because they are enchanted and curious - because they possess the compassionate curiosity that draws them into Divine imagination.
5. Love Is Worth It - As Louise says at the end of Arrival,
"Despite knowing the journey... and where it leads... I embrace it... and I welcome every moment of it."
Both Louise and Mary say yes to the their task even knowing that there is the the pain and loss and heartbreak included. They both will hold their children as they die.
They choose this path anyway because of the love that it will also give them. They look at their futures wide eyed and with clarity and say yes anyway. They see the tears as worth the joy. They see brokenness as part of the story - not something to safely avoid. They are acting out of their agency to accept the light and shadows in the gift of love.
I realize that Arrival is not an overtly religious movie and there are many places where drawing too much of a parallel takes us into dangerous territory. Yet, there is something valuable and necessary about seeing our old and ancient stories in the art of today. We are often too caught up in defining things as religious or not, as Catholic or Protestant, as Red or Blue or even as Virgin or Whore - that we miss the magic that happens in the meeting and in the middle.
The Annunciation is the day to live into the imagination of God and say yes even though we cannot define it, or fully know it.
The yes does not mean everything will be all right or easy.
The yes is a way into the joy and tears of full life - hard fought and the simple gift of experience and risking
It is hopeful work and it is holy work.