So I’ve had this idea for a Hollywood movie that’s been kickin’ around in my head for a number of years. It was inspired by movies like “1201” and “Groundhog Day”.
Believe it or not I heard about Groundhog Day in a church service… seriously, this guy was up there talking to us about God-stuff and then ka-pow right in the middle of his talk he drops in this clip from Groundhog Day. I’m sittin there in this hard pew when BLAM! a commercial.
It was like a little Hollywood whilst sitting on holy-wood
(sorry, I couldn’t resist)
Anyways, I had never seen the movie but the clip he showed tweeked my interest and soon after I went looking for a copy of the movie. When I watched it I was kind of shocked that a church would be promoting that kind of content…. but I figure they’re probably getting so desperate for people to fill those pews these days partnering with Hollywood probably seems attractive…
Anyways… the whole incident inspired some creativity (maybe that was the point) and I had this idea for a movie.
In my movie it’s Saturday and a Reverend is prepping for Sunday – doing whatever pastors do to get ready for Sunday (perhaps downloading his message from www.sermonswap.com... OK, OK I’ll try to be serious)
Let’s start again…
In my movie it’s Saturday a good, noble, faithful pastor gets up early to go to his study. Once there he goes over his sermon in preparation for Sunday morning when “poof” suddenly the devil appears before him. The devil tries to tempt him with some small sin… Something like using some of the church’s petty cash to buy lunch or something similiar. The good pastor resists the temptation and we follow him through his pious but otherwise insignificant day. He goes to bed and wakes up thinking it’s Sunday but it’s not… it’s the same Saturday he’s just lived…
He goes to his study…
Devil appears and tempts him…
We don’t know how long this goes on, perhaps years… but eventually the devil clues him in to what is going on. He (the pastor) is stuck in a loop of eternal Saturdays.
There is a subtle shift in the devil’s temptation…
“Go ahead… give in… it’s not going to make a difference you are going to wake-up at the start of this same day tomorrow. All of your “sins” will have been erased and no one will ever know. You can use the church’s money for lunch and it will be back in place when you wake up. Heck, you can empty the church’s bank account and fly to Las Vegas for the day and all will be back to normal when you wake up tomorrow. Not “forgiven” not “forgotten” it will never have happened.”
The perfect sin…
Great name for the movie now that I think of it… The Perfect Sin
So this goes on and on and on… perhaps for years… remember he’s a good and faithful pastor. He never ages, nothing changes… every day… every single day is the same blinking Saturday… the same sermon prep… the same blasted devil with a new temptation.
Like Groundhog Day the movie, the pastor is first fascinated and intrigued. He explores the possibilities of a re-day with a degree of childish joy. Still remaining true to his principles. He looks for opportunities to do good, he eases suffering, helps the needy, gives generously just to see the joy and relief on people’s faces. He empties his own bank account and gives to the homeless and charities.. it’s safe because he knows that come “tomorrow” the money will be back in his account the charges will be erased from his credit card and he will have opportunity to do it all over again.
The devil has moved on from the smaller temptations and is now tempting him with some biggies… seriously, who is going to know you don’t even have to ask for forgiveness or repent you are going to wake up tomorrow before the sin even takes place. If you don’t like it today you don’t have to do it tomorrow…
A hundred Saturdays pass… two hundred… a thousand and then without even thinking about it the pastor finds himself sitting at a little Bistro having lunch…
…with the church’s money.
He is wracked with guilt (I told you he is an honest pastor)… but he wakes up the next day and the money is back in place…
In my movie the pastor eventually begins to explore sin… I mean come on, it’s been three thousand Saturdays… the same Saturday. He has done all the good that he can possibly do in a single 24 hour time-frame. It will all be erased in 24 hours… I mean, didn’t the church money reappear each time he had lunch… each time he gave it to the poor… so he begins to explore…
Fast-forward another thousand Saturdays… twenty-thousand if that makes you feel better and our pastor is now steeped in sin… he’s found his Ground-hog Day groove and the devil his feeding him new ideas every morning. Every funky, filthy fetish you can imagine and Pastor Faithful is in the thick of it…
What do you think?
Is it possible to resist temptation when there is no consequence? (see my previous blog entry)
Is the only reason you don’t give in to your secret fantasies the reality of facing the consequences tomorrow?
…be honest now – it’s just you and the screen…
So the movie ends when the Pastor stumbles towards his bedroom late one Saturday night. His sermon for “tomorrow” has sat untouched through thousands of cycles.
He stumbles past his open study door and sees it lying there on his desk.
He catches his reflection in a hallway mirror and is stunned by what he has become…
…repulsed… disgusted… ashamed…
He falls on his bed weeping…
He doesn’t even bother to undress anymore he knows he will wake up in bed in his PJs on Saturday morning like he has countless times before…
He cries himself to sleep…
He awakens…
…It’s Sunday morning.
1 comments:
Yes! You wrote the blog! Now it's time to write the screenplay and submit it... but what will you do with the revenue?
Rick
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