“Ashes”
SCRIPTURE
But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. —Isaiah 43:1
DEVOTIONAL
In 1974, 26-year-old director, Steven Spielberg, was working on his second film entitled “Jaws.”1 If you haven’t seen it, it is basically about the three men who tried to catch and kill a Great White shark that was terrorizing a summer tourist beach. Despite the storyline, the film eventually put Spielberg on the directorial map when it became the first “summer blockbuster” hit. But making the movie was a disaster. The shoot was scheduled for fifty days, and it took a hundred and fifty. The budget was $4 million dollars, and they ended up spending $9 million. It was a constant party on location in Martha’s Vineyard and (it is believed) that while one of the actors was always drunk, two of the actors didn’t get along. However, the biggest challenge was the mechanical shark.
Before the magic of computer-generated imagery (CGI) in order to film a Great White shark eating humans, you had to either (a) train a Great White shark not to bite down so hard or (b) build and operate a mechanical replica of the shark. However, the replicas kept breaking down. When the shot was right, the “sharks” malfunctioned.
At one point, Spielberg was speaking to a friend who was producing horror films in the 1970s. The young director was lamenting all of the troubles of fighting against the elements and the troubles with the cast. But his biggest challenge, he explained, was the sharks. He couldn’t get them to work. His friend listened for a while and then offered some advice. “Don’t show the shark,” he told him. “People don’t fear what they can see. People fear what they cannot see…so don’t show the shark.” If you were to watch the movie today, you would have to wait 121 minutes into a 2 hour and 10-minute film to see a shark. Turns out to be good advice.
Jaws earned $477 million globally, won three Oscars, and is considered one of the top movies of all time. More than that, it launched Spielberg on an illustrious career that would prove him to be one of the greatest directors of all time. Most importantly, that early film was how the young director first learned that the greatest special effect happens in the human heart. “Don’t show the shark.”
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- What do you really fear? Losing a loved one? Being found out? Being hurt?
- What power does that fear have over you?
- More than any other subject in the Gospels, Jesus tells his disciples not to fear. Why do you think that fear was something that Jesus spoke about so often?
- While fear can be helpful, when does your fear prevent you from living into your true self? How does it prohibit you from being a faithful disciple?
“Fear knocked at the door, Faith went to answer it, and no one was there.” —Rosamunde Pilcher
PRAYER
Dwell steady when I fear the haunting unknown, so that I find the clarity to understand its power, the wisdom to shape my relationship with it, and the confidence that whatever tomorrow brings, you are already there, calling me home. Amen.
1 Jaws. Dir. Steven Spielberg, performances by Roy Scheider and Robert Shaw, Universal Pictures, 1975.
The daily devotionals for the season of Lent are written by Rev. Dr. Kirk Hall, Associate Pastor of Formation at First Presbyterian Church from 2010-2013. He is currently a founding partner at The Metis Project, LLC. and lives with his wife and two girls in Salisbury, Connecticut.