Essays Contents
The Sermon
April 22, 2023
"The Green Promise" (1949)
video link to "PizzaFlix" channel
The sermon dialogue begins at 00:36:30... ends 00:39:00.
The movie itself... runs 01:34:00 minutes.
It is a well-written script with solid characters.
A couple of wise men run this community.
from the video description
"A CLASSIC TIME CAPSULE OF THE AMERICAN SPIRIT
Stars:
Walter Brennan,
Marguerite Chapman,
Natalie Wood
Director: William D. Russell
Following the ecological demise of his last farm,
an aging widower buys a new farm but refuses the advice
of his four children to adapt to modern ways.
An adorable Natalie Wood, just 2 years after her
unforgettable performance in "Miracle on 34th Street,"
steals almost scene as the youngest daughter who
believes the 4-H club will be their salvation.
The Sermon
"My sermon today is inspired by the story of Moses...
and the promise that God... made to him.
That story may be found in the Old Testament... Book of Exodus.
The promise... was that... if Moses and the Israelites...
who were suffering cruelties and slavery...
at the hands of the Egyptians...
would but... have faith...
God would show Moses how to lead them out of their bondage
into a land of milk and honey.
"It was the promise of a new life...
a beautiful Green Promise...(name of the movie)
but before it could be fulfilled
there was a sea... and a wilderness... to be crossed...
thirst and hunger... to be overcome.
The fulfillment you seek... had to be earned.
"Now, I find a parallel between those ancient Israelites
and ourselves... all of us.
We, too, are in bondage...
lashed with the bullock-hide whips of ignorance...
shackled by the iron chains of the unknown...
but the same promise...
the beautiful green promise...
has been laid to us.
Only the sea of doubt...
the barren desert of illiteracy...
the hunger of bigotry...
and the thirst of incompetence...
stands between us... and freedom...
between us... and the land of promise.
"Now, we've been given... not just ONE Moses to guide us
but many...
our men of science...
our doctors... chemists... mineralogists... agronomists...
all those patient seekers after fact and truth...
the delvers... into the mysteries of matter...
the searchers of the mind...
for a better understanding of human behavior...
these men are our Moses...
turning our feet away from the false
and easy trails of superstition...
and guiding us...
along a steep and toilsome path of knowledge...
the one true... and one and only road...
to the land of promise... where we may claim our heritage.
"To my mind, the really sinful man or woman
is the one who... through bigotry and ignorant pride...
refuses... to learn... and calling his ignorance virtue...
tries by self-made rule and by scorn...
to keep all others from learning.
These are the real sinners...
and here is the vilest evil...
to feed their ego...
to disguise their inadequacies...
to hide their quaking fears...
they sneer at the new...
revile the experimenter...
and deride the pioneer...
and then hypocritically defend their actions
behind the fogbound fortress of intolerance."
video link to "PizzaFlix" channel
The sermon dialogue begins at 00:36:30... ends 00:39:00.
The movie itself... runs 01:34:00 minutes.
It is a well-written script with solid characters.
A couple of wise men run this community.
