It seems that no matter which movie I watch that stars Tom Cruise, I’m always aware that it’s Tom Cruise. What I mean is that while he is a good actor, for me he never seems to "become" the character. All the way through Mission Impossible, I’m thinking, that's Tom Cruise instead of Ethan Hunt. All the way through Top Gun, I’m thinking, that’s Tom Cruise, not Maverick. It doesn’t seem to have hurt his career any, but I really do prefer believable characters.On the other hand, whether or not I like the movie, I always buy into the characters portrayed by Russell Crowe. I totally believed he was Maximus in Gladiator, and then bought into him being John Forbes Nash in A Beautiful Mind. (Disclaimer: these are my opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the management.)
So lately I’ve been spending my Sunday afternoons in rehearsals for the upcoming His Kids’ Christmas musical. Yesterday (due to the distracting anticipation of Trunk 'n Treat) we had to be reminded several times to "be in the scene." We were guilty of saying our lines without becoming the characters we were playing. The director kept saying to us something along the lines of, "Don’t be yourself saying these lines, be the character, interact with the others' characters. The audience has to believe you are this character.
So, we will see in several weeks how well we were able to follow the director’s instructions."
You can draw the parallel here. Most people can tell when we are who we say we are.
So what motivates us to be engaged in active compassion, not only on this 40-Day Journey, but for the rest of our lives? What motivates us to want to engage in active compassion? There may be as many answers to that as there are people in this congregation. I want to be motivated to please God – not my co-workers. I want to be motivated to help others who are in need – not to gain recognition. I want to be motivated to do good for the sake of doing good – not for the credit others might give.
- Sheree Yasko Hill
