PREACHER’S WIFE

 

FOUR STARS - Uplifting

 

       The “Preacher’s Wife” interplays two common experiences in our daily life.  The first is to be so caught up in the struggles of life that one misses the deeper experiences of love.  Though surrounded by those who love us deeply, our minds are imprisoned in the tyranny of the demands of daily life.

       The second experience is that when God sends help into our struggles in response to our prayers, we are often too busy to notice.  Thinking that only our effort can produce change, we frantically repeat our ineffectual activities, becoming increasingly depressed in our fruitless struggle.  When we finally come to the end of our energy, our common response is to give up, rather than to give God a chance.

       In a wonderful film for the holidays, Penny Marshall has remade the 1947 classic film, “The Bishop’s Wife,”  about a minister and his wife in their struggle not only to serve their community but to restore their own love for one another.  In this version, the high Episcopal church has been replaced with an inner-city Baptist church, and the “Preacher’s Wife” is Julia Biggs (Whitney Houston).

       For those who love gospel music, the soundtrack of the film is worth the price of admission.  With Lionel Richie, Cissy Houston (Whitney’s mother who is a renown gospel singer in her own right), and the Georgia Mass Choir joining Houston, this “Joy To The World” is out of this world.

       The Reverend Henry Biggs (Courtney B. Vance) is a discouraged minister who has served St. Matthews Baptist church for 8 years.  The poverty of his congregation produces a dearth of funds which has left the church impotent to meet the many needs facing the people in their community.  We watch as the church’s youth center is closed down, the boiler explodes and the pastor’s car dies.  We feel his weary frustration as he utters a prayer to God for help.

       When in response to his prayer an angel is assigned to assist him, it is then that the moral of the story becomes obvious.

       Dudley (Denzel Washington) is straight forward with Rev. Biggs.  He explains that he is an angel sent in response to his prayer.  But, Rev. Biggs does not believe him.

       This is often the response of even the strongest of Christians.  Though we have an ultimate trust that God will eventually take care of things in the end, it is receiving God’s help now which most challenges our faith.  To most, it would be much simpler if God would simply leave us alone and then fix everything in the end.

       But the message of the Bible, and of this film, is that God answers prayer.  God helps his people, here and now. 

       But prayer, by its nature, is a request.  If, by praying a person controls God so that a prayer must be granted in the way the person demanded, then God becomes only a puppet on the string of our desires.   

       The Rev. Henry Biggs lives his life with the best of intentions, seeking to meet the needs of everyone else.  How often do we get caught up in feeling that the weight of the world is on our shoulders?  And yet, Biggs, like ourselves, is often overwhelmed with his own sense of inadequacy due to his inability to solve everyone’s problems for them.

       Sadly, the practical effect of this spiritual reality is that we think that we don’t get what we want by prayer, but that we get what we want by working hard.  So we subtly relegate prayer to a perfunctory expression of frustration, and then go back to our frantic efforts to get what we want.

       In the film, Dudley’s coming to help is clearly an answer Rev. Biggs was not expecting.  God may answer our prayers quicker than we may ever realize.  Though the “angels” which may walk into our own life may not be as dramatic or attractive as Dudley, their presence may be just as profound.  Our task, like Rev. Biggs, is to prayerfully be open to advice - even from strangers.

       The primary example of this is in the Pastor’s love and care for his wife and son.  In a charming manner which sometimes borders on improper flirtation, the angel has the effect of opening the eyes of the pastor to the real love and support he has from his wife and son.  Though he has the tendency to take them both for granted and make them wait while he cares for others in the church, Dudley helps him in the way which will truly make an eternal difference, not only for himself, but for his wife and son as well.

       An uplifting film designed to encourage the soul, the “Preacher’s Wife” is a holiday treat which reminds us that loving God and loving our family provides the wellspring for service to everyone else.

 ________________