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We hope you enjoyed coming to our Movie Night on the Oval and watching "Sing" with us. Here are some thoughts based on the story of the movie that you might want to ponder and share with your family. May God bless you! - Pastor Nick

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In case you don't remember the whole story, here’s a quick recap of Buster Moon from Sing: Inspired to become a theatre producer, he takes on a shabby old theatre, but success has not come easy for him. He’s going to lose it all, but his "never say die" attitude propels him to one last show -- one last chance to put him back on top in the form of a talent show. Due to a typing error, the prize for the competition is $10,000, which he doesn’t have, only putting him further under the pump. When trying to secure the financial support from a rich investor, disaster strikes! The theatre gets destroyed, the talent finds out there's no money, the investor is gone.

Moon’s hard work, determination and resourcefulness have not paid off. His dream and life’s purpose as a producer is literally in shambles. His plucky spirit is crushed. Finally he gives in to his defeat, by washing cars; hitting rock bottom with the utter embarrassment of becoming a koala “sponge.”

Can you relate? Not to being a "sponge," necessarily, but to failing -- despite your best efforts?

The truth we discover is that determination, effort & resourcefulness do not always win us the prize. There is always a faster kid in the race. There is always a smarter classmate who gets the award. There is always a better co-worker who gets the promotion. As the musician Ben Folds says, "there’s always someone cooler than you."

When we don’t get what we have dreamed of, we easily hit rock bottom!

“The best thing about being at the bottom…is you’ve got nowhere to look, but up!” - Eddie the Sheep

In that moment of rock bottom, Buster Moon looks up and hears the voice of Meenah, the elephant, singing Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen. This has always struck me as an interesting song selection. They could have picked any inspiring song to put in the movie – why this? Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel would have worked just as well. Maybe it’s because Hallelujah has a feeling of transcendence and awe. It starts from a place of vulnerability and as the song builds, a feeling of hope and resilience takes over. All while singing the spiritual phrase ‘hallelujah’ which means ‘God be praised.’

“The best thing about being at the bottom…is you’ve got nowhere to look, but up!”

For what it’s worth, when you’ve hit rock bottom, I think looking up is exactly what you should do. It’s in those moments that you can go to God, who loves you no matter where you are.

You can look up, from a place of vulnerability, knowing you’ve got nothing left, no more effort or strength of your own to give.

You can look up and find a place of hope, knowing there is someone who is for you, with you and loves you no matter where you find yourself.

Here’s where it get’s even better. In Jesus, we have someone who doesn’t even require us to look up. Instead, Jesus comes down to us, to lift us up with His love and care. He comes down to us through family, friends, community and church.

Perhaps you have felt that in this Prince of Peace community or in your neighborhood. Perhaps that’s why you came to movie night, to be in a community where you are loved and cared for, through all your ups and downs, disappointments and success.

That’s what being part of a community of faith is all about and we’re glad you are here. We hope you’ll join us, who are equally at rock bottom, and dig deeper with us as we create these places for connection.