Written by Pastor Graham Cooke, Kennet Valley Free Church.

What makes a ‘good’ movie? The ones that stick in my mind can be stimulating, heart-warming, thought-provoking, life-affirming, challenging, painful even. However, some defy all such descriptions and simply leave you scratching your head.

I watched such a film recently, that can only be filed in the ’Q for Quirky’ category (possibly cross-referenced to ‘C for Charming’) –

The Walk, directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. No, I’d not heard of him either. In fact, the only actor I knew was Ben Kingsley, who gives a somewhat eccentric portrayal of Papa Rudy, the protagonist’s mentor. The film is also responsible for introducing a very useful French saying into our family life; “The carrots are cooked!” Admittedly, it sounds better in French.

The film is set in the early 1970s, based on the true story of French street performer, Philippe Petit, who develops a burning ambition to walk a tightrope between the top of the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York. Before he can do that, however, he has to learn how to walk the high wire. As he learns his trade he carries around with him a small length of rope, which he produces whenever he sees a gap to be spanned – whether between two trees, two buildings, or the towers of Notre Dame. He holds the small piece of rope up in front of his eyes and so envisages- with the help of perspective- bridging the gap. The film moves towards the climax of Petit’s attempt to fulfil his dream in August 1974- the story as tense as the wire stretched between the towers, as he becomes the first man to achieve this feat.

The film is set in the early 1970s, based on the true story of French street performer, Philippe Petit, who develops a burning ambition to walk a tightrope between the top of the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York. Before he can do that, however, he has to learn how to walk the high wire. As he learns his trade he carries around with him a small length of rope, which he produces whenever he sees a gap to be spanned – whether between two trees, two buildings, or the towers of Notre Dame. He holds the small piece of rope up in front of his eyes and so envisages- with the help of perspective- bridging the gap. The film moves towards the climax of Petit’s attempt to fulfil his dream in August 1974- the story as tense as the wire stretched between the towers, as he becomes the first man to achieve this feat.

The first, and only, man to do so, of course, because the poignancy of the film derives from the fact that those towers are no longer there.

If you were to have asked me, on 10^th September, 2001, what the twin towers of the World Trade Centre represent, I would perhaps have said that they were a fitting symbol of Western Capitalism’s upward drive, with its concomitant materialism and consumerism; fitting because that often admirable upward-thrust seems to offer little or no encouragement to reach out and connect with each other-  individualistic silos towering high, close enough to compare heights, yet fundamentally isolated and apart. In the light of the unspeakable evil and murderous destruction of 9/11, such an opinion has become almost impossible to express of course and, indeed, now the Twin Towers symbolise something very different for us.

The Bible is very clear that, whatever political or economic system we’re living with, it is sin’s fundamental nature to divide, to drive a wedge, to open up a gulf, first between people and their Creator, and then between people themselves, not to mention the fissures between humankind and the world we’re called to look after. We see it clearly portrayed in Genesis 3, as Adam and Eve rejected the one prohibition God gave them, following the tempting of the serpent; how first of all they hid away from God; then the cracks between them opened up as they started to play the blame game. Then the ripples expanded throughout creation, as death, with all it’s woes, is introduced into the world along with the fruitlessness, harshness and random absurdity of a fallen creation. So now the damage is done, the carrots are well and truly cooked.

So what does God do as he stands and surveys the gaps, the gulfs, the fissures? Thank God that on seeing his wonderful creation cracked apart, he does not push the ‘destruct’ button and bring the whole project crashing down. Instead, I imagine him lifting up his piece of rope and, with his eternal perspective, determining to span the gulf. He sent his Son, Jesus Christ as the one mediator between God and man, (1 Timothy 2:5) to walk the gap between us and him. What’s more, now that the connection has been made, it is now possible for the gaps between human beings to be bridged too, as God brings all things together under the headship of Christ. (Ephesians 1:9,10) This is Christ’s great work; to reconcile those driven apart by sin, and it is exactly what he has achieved. The first- and only- man to have bridged the gap. The carrots are indeed cooked- or as Christ himself put it, whilst stretched out between heaven and earth, “It is finished!” All that remains is for us to take his hand and allow him to lead us across.

27^th September, 2016