Reflections on Movies, Muppets, and the Power of Redemption.
I ran to the doorway just in time to see a 37’ white stretch limousine pull up to the theater. Others jumped forward with cameras snapping pictures like paparazzi. The driver, wearing a black suit and sunglasses, stepped out of the limo and stood at attention. “They’re not ready yet,” he said in a deep gravely voice. I might have been intimidated had I not spent an hour on the phone with this gentleman just the day before; he desperately wanted to drive this limo run. It was personal.
Finally, the driver opened the back door and my son Max jumped out, his blue blazer waving with the cold March wind. And then one by one the VIP guests, five of Max’s buddies and four staff members from his day program, climbed out of the limousine. Their smiles were worthy of the silver screen.
It was time for a Movie with Max.
When Renee first approached me with this idea, she was holding her two-week old daughter in her arms. Renee had read about our painful experience in a movie theater at Christmas, and she wanted to do something. “Do you think Max would like it if we rented a theater?” she asked, the sunlight pouring through the church windows and lighting up her hair like red autumn leaves. I’d never met this woman before; I thought she was just an idea person. But one week later Pastor Paul was giving a charge to our congregation.
He was mid-sermon, preaching from Romans, chapter 15, when he began to recount our recent experience at a movie theater. It was when Max became startled in the previews and he cried out. Other moviegoers had no patience with Max, and they ran us out of the theater. As Paul told the story, I could feel my eyes well up. And then he changed his tone. “Leaving that all behind,” Paul said with a smile, “Renee from our church got this great idea.” Paul stepped away from the podium and toward the congregation. “She rented out an entire theater so that friends of Max can watch the Muppet movie with Max.” Paul knew this was more than a movie; it was an opportunity for the church to show love, especially to those who are often pushed aside. “If you’re a friend of Max,” Paul’s voice boomed, “you’re going to the movies, whether you like Muppets or not!”
Everyone laughed. And everyone bought tickets.
For three weeks Renee and I exchanged messages like giddy school girls. Suddenly, everyone wanted to help turn a painful story into something beautiful. A local limousine company even donated the best of their fleet, and this driver pushed others aside to get this assignment. He has a grandson with autism. It was personal. Everyone from the church and community gave their very best. And they got back more than they gave.
Max and I found our seats in the theater and the lights dimmed for the start of the movie, Muppets Most Wanted. My heart was pounding and Max had little beads of sweat on his brow from his limo ride. I scanned the crowd of people around us, everyone wearing a blue wristband printed with the words “Love to the Max.” 500 people came out for this night, many with disabilities, and even more without. There were people we’d never even met. No one came into this theater hoping for a perfect experience. Instead, everyone came into this theater hoping to give someone else a perfectly wonderful experience.
The theater was remarkably quiet, until the Muppets burst into their first song. The music catapulted Max right out of his seat. He jumped forward into the center aisle and began to leap and prance before the entire audience. Dance solo is his specialty. It was exactly where we stood just months before at Christmas, in another theater, when the patrons hurled cruelty toward us. But not this time. This time hearts were open. And Max knew it too. Everyone burst into applause as Max bounced down the aisle grabbing hands and pulling others into his dance. There was lightness in the air that spread like a fragrance. It was irresistible. And all around us we could hear the noises of autism playing in surround sound, the music of our beautiful kids who don’t often use words. It sounded like praise music.
As the movie came to a close, the Muppets began to sing what was clearly the grand finale. No one wanted the evening to end. Suddenly, people flooded into the aisles as if they were leaving. But instead, they began to dance. Everyone free. No armor. No barriers between us.
I looked around in awe and wondered if this is what Jesus envisioned when he said, “Love one another.” When He spoke those words, did he picture this very moment in a theater, when love would take our breath away and lift us out of our seats. When His love would win. God’s story of redemption is written across our lives over and over again.
I turned to see if Pastor Paul was still standing in the doorway where he had been for most of the movie. It had been easy to spot him; he never stopped smiling. He started this church some 25 years ago, a church that has become home to us. But I couldn’t see past the blur of arms and legs floating through the air. The movie screen cast a light on every face, showing the beauty, as if God’s image was glowing from within. I threw my arms around Max and breathed in the sweetness. All of us in the theater, with the popcorn and the Muppets, with our abilities and disabilities, with our hearts wide open, had become as one.
“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 15:5
Written by Emily Colson
What a beautiful gift your church gave you and your son. I was in tears reading this. Such a touching celebration of the beauty of special needs.
SO Beautiful!! God’s redemption and grace shown through Renee and your church! Love to the Max!!
There are no words to describe the heavenly beauty that has come out of these earthly ashes.
Emily, I’m having trouble writing this – as the tears of joy (and some of melancholy) are clouding my sight. Christine is our Max – she just turned 26. For months now, Christine and her helpers have been going to a nearby theater, because she desperately wants to “go to the movies”. The staff allows them to come in, and to get as far as they can into the theater and to watch as much of the movie as she can. Up until last Saturday, the most she had made it through was some of the trailers. God has been most gracious to them, as the staff and patrons have been very understanding and supportive (unlike your experience, which hurt me deeply!) When Christine made into the theater (sat on the floor, but who cares) and then was able to watch some of the trailers last week, the folks in the audience applauded and congratulated her.
Then, last weekend, she was able to get all the way into the theater – a DIFFERENT THEATER, at that – and stayed for the ENTIRE Muppet movie! Our local theater does a “sensory friendly” screening of one movie a month, with the lights dimmed rather than dark and sound turned down to a more Christine-friendly level.
Thanks for sharing not only your bad experience, but the joy and love from Christ that your congregation shared with you, Max and all the rest!
I’m so glad you shared this! I was so moved and sad about your previous experience, and it’s wonderful to see so much beauty and love come out of that. Wonderful.
God does indeed turn mourning into dancing. YOUR congregation is a role model for other congregations on how to show God’s love IN ACTION. God bless you all.
Well of course the tears are flowing….happy tears for all of you! Oh my goodness girlfriend!! I’m speechless except to keep saying, thank you Jesus………I love you sweet one….oh my goodness….
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Praise Jesus. Thank you so much for sharing this. I cried when I read your Christmas post. My kids have silly string in hand so I am locked in the bathroom so I can read this undisturbed. And, the tears of joy are welling. Bless you.
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Thank you, thank you Father for Your great faithfulness and delight in us so individually. Help us to remember these dancing moments when an unkind world would have us think we are less than You created. We are, indeed, each one, fearfully, wonderfully and joyfully formed in You! All praise and glory and honor to You, LORD, our worthy King!
Beautiful! I work as an Educational Assistant, and my hubby is a pastor, so I was relating on two levels. What a gift to you, to Max, but also to those who joined in on the event … THEY will be forever changed in their compassion and unconditional love for all.
Carole
Thank you for sharing your beautiful story! It is so inspiring… and indeed shows how Jesus taught us to love.
Wow. I love your church!! They obviously walk the walk!!! I would be honored to be a member of that congregation!
Emily, your story brought tears to my eyes. Seeing the love of God poured out through a dance must have been amazing. Thank you for the reminder to look beyond the surface the the beautiful hearts beneath those who appear different. I’m taking your story into my day.
While we have never experienced what it means to have an autistic child, what struck me most poignantly was the freedom of abandon in dance that even though this was not a formal worship service, even though it took place in a theter during a Muppet movie, still it was worship in dance, in the joy and forgetfulness of self and love for one another, and just as God honored king David’s whirling dance in worship of his King, so I think He also was overflowing with joy along with his people. This morning I listened to and watched singing of a worship leader and congregation in Jinja, Uganda and found it so intriguing, inspiring, and different from our staid forms of worship (not universal, but certainly more usual here) as compared to some other cultures who worship with their whole bodies and still such reverence and consciousness of their dependence on the blood of Jesus. I know this makes some Christians uncomfortable but for me the worship they sing and dance is catching and I wish sometimes we westerners could come down with a good case of it.
Such a story of LOVE REAL LOVE in ACTION Good 4 u 4 renting the theatre and trusting God 2 sell the tkts! Anything planned 2 give Him glory will b successful What a wonderful lesson in love!! A wakeup call 4 all of us! To love others as Christ would! Like the bracelett says “what would Jesus do?” Thank U 4 sharing that! A fellow Christian.
“I looked around in awe and wondered if this is what Jesus envisioned when he said, “Love one another.” . . . Yes, I think it is. 🙂 What a joy filled redemptive moment. So excited for how God turned mourning into dancing and community!
This made my day..I wish i could’ve been there.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful experience with us. What a great idea!! Truly an “iMax” experience!
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