Aging and Spirituality will both wrap up and begin with the movie — I Can Only Imagine, a 2018 American Christian biographical drama film. The film is based on the story behind the group MercyMe's song, I Can Only Imagine, the best-selling Christian single of all time. The movie tells the life story of Bart Millard, the lead singer who wrote the song about his relationship with his own father. In 2018, this film won the Dove Award for "Inspirational Film of the Year".

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Our summer movie series begins with this film, gathering on Tuesday, May 25 at 1:00 in Fellowship Hall where we have good ventilation and lots of space to spread out (as well as popcorn, of course). So you may be thinking, if this film is a beginning… how can it be a wrap up? During this past year when we needed to practice COVID creativity, some of us read the book, On the Brink of Everything by Parker Palmer. Reading a book with the title On the Brink of Everything was especially appropriate when it seemed as if the whole world and many lives were on the “brink of everything” imaginable and unimaginable. Though there have been many hardships, this time has also given us new perspectives on the past, present, and future, as well as new insights into that which goes on inside of us that has shaped and continues to shape our lives. Month-by-month we explored ideas like the “dance of generations,” writing our life as we live it, finding ways to stay engaged with the world while we stay engaged with our souls. But our Aging and Spirituality gathering did not get to the last chapter of Palmer’s book, “Over the Edge” though I know many of you have read it already. (If not, you may want to read it before we see the movie.) Palmer writes that when he was in his 40’s he was challenged to “keep death daily before one’s eyes,” not as a “bummer” as he says, but as a challenge to live life each day, to be fully present here and now, and so begin eternal life.With that in mind, we will wrap up our On the Brink of Everything series, as we move into our summer movie series.  

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Throughout the summer we will continue to watch one film a month — June 29, July 27, and August 3 — the last Tuesday of each month. Stay tuned for more information on this summer’s movie  schedule.