ruah arts group

Which is best? To remain obscure, perpetually in debt and tortured, but humble? Or to be invited to higher places and step by step win acclaim, falling victim to vainglory? Perhaps there’s a way to remain both humble and be recognized in the world, and if I had my guess, this may be the destiny of Grassroots Films, whose talent is obvious, and name increasingly whispered amongst the film circuit, but whose goal is the greater glory of God and the salvation of souls.

This is all fanfare to say that Grassroots Films just was awarded the Best Documentary Feature at the Maui Film Festival, an “Audience Award.” Having seen this very good feature myself in Madison (or at least a version of it) last November, it’s not so surprising that it’s becoming recognized. It is surprising, though to see the mission statement of the Maui Film Fest. It’s kind of spiritual, actually.

It all seems very lovely and inspirational. Get this. This mission is

The Maui Film Festival is built on the belief that great filmmaking is pure alchemy. When filmmakers choose to tell compassionate life-affirming stories, they can change darkness into light. It is this belief in the power of creativity to enlighten, as well as entertain, that is the guiding principal that gives the Maui Film Festival its character, its energy and its soul.

You can be as inspirational as you want but you can’t have a good film festival without funding, and you can’t get funding without sponsorship, and you can’t get sponsor ship without starpower, or in this case “luminarypower.”

A-LIST ‘LUMINARIES’
Since the inaugural Maui Film Festival at Wailea, the Festival has chosen an ‘ohana’ (family) of honorees that it prefers to call luminaries, rather than merely celebrities. As the Festival defines it, a luminary is a film artist whose overall body of work sheds as much light as heat and whose talent and work ethic place them in a category that transcends mere celebrity. A luminary is the real deal.

The list includes: Joan Allen (Galaxy Award), Angela Bassett (Pathfinder Award), Jessica Biel (Shining Star Award),Adrien Brody (Friend of the Festival),Tim Burton (Silversword Award), Patricia Clarkson (Pathfinder Award), Claire Danes (Nova Award), Geena Davis (Stella Award), Clint Eastwood (Silversword Award), Jake Gyllenhaal (Shining Star Award), Laird Hamilton & Dave Kalama (Beacon Award),Woody Harrelson (Navigator Award),Ted Hope (Trailblazer Award),Anthony Hopkins (Silversword Award), Helen Hunt (Stella Award),William Hurt (Navigator Award), Greg Kinnear (Navigator Award), William H. Macy (Rainmaker Award), Bill Maher (Maverick Award), Mike Myers (Silversword Award), John C. Reilly (Navigator Award), Rob Reiner (Lights! Camera! Passion! Award), and Owen & Luke Wilson (Shooting Star Award).

It’s all very fancy and certainly hopeful in a world growing darker by the day. Congratulations, Grassroots!

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Grab a tissue.

 Then see it.

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In the beginning of ruah arts group, darkness was on the face of the deep thoughts, and the group was without form and void. I knew I was supposed to begin a faith and culture group. I’d tried once in Indianapolis and failed, so now what?

I prayed.

It was Christmas time, and my husband I returned to our place of beginning–Indianapolis. We were visiting my old work place, a great parish I commonly refer to as “The Super Parish of the World.” We spent time in their brilliant adoration chapel, and per the suggestion of my spiritual director, I began to meditate on the Nativity of Our Lord along with St. John’s Prologue. God led me to then meditate upon Genesis 1’s account of Creation. I thought about darkness. I thought about the darkness of the world. I’d been sensing in my soul a great darkness looming in this world, an approaching wasteland such as we’ve never seen. This troubled me, because the world so often seems to be sleepwalking. People and societies have the appearance of being alive, but they are the walking unconscious; they are asleep–spiritually, morally, emotionally, intellectually and interpersonally.

In the midst of this meditational nightmare, God shined a light upon the abyss. I saw in this time of prayer that it is in the darkness that God creates, such as in the Creation of the World, and the child’s beginning in the womb. When all seems lost or barren in the dull depths of life, it is then that life begins. Love is as strong as death (Song of Songs 8.6). Truly the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (Jn 1.5). I began to see that this not only a time for radical hope, but it was the moment to bring forth the light of faith and culture as I’ve been called. As I continued to pray over Genesis 1, I visualized the wind (in Hebrew, ruah) overshadowing the face of the waters. And I knew it was the time to begin, and that we would call the group ruah. I think it was Plato who said the beginning is the most important part of the work.  As we begin, I ask for your prayers for docility to the Holy Spirit, that Breath of God, in pressing forward into the dark towards the great Light Invisible. Parting tip: Read T.S. Eliot’s “Choruses from the Rock” if you have not. Read it again if you have.

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