Comments on: We find our fathers where we can

By: Fernando Mora

Fernando Mora — Thu, 09 Mar 2017 18:12:20 +0000

Excellent post. I have not seen the movie yet, but have seen some of the others in the Oscar’s list of nominees. I can see there is emphasis in masculinities with paternity figures that are problematic, such as in “Manchester by the sea”, with a traumatized father due to his incompetence, or the violent father figure in “Hacksaw Ridge”, that leads to a non-violent stance for the young boy, and of course the difficult relationship between father and sons in “Fences”. Masculine heroic spirituality is portrayed in the “Silence” movie, showing also a world of male religious figures that dominated Christianity for many centuries. In spite of the fact that these are movies set in cultural environments that are so different to the Latin American culture where I live, I can see the universality of this topic, and that father hunger, violence, absence, abuse, incompetence have the same effects wherever we are.

By: Emil

Emil — Tue, 07 Mar 2017 02:53:19 +0000

Thanks Mike!

By: Mike Frost

Mike Frost — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 22:53:25 +0000

In reply to Caylon DePalma.

You need to be aware the film is chiefly about the black homosexual experience – the bullying, the violence, the loneliness. The aspect I explore – father-hunger – isn’t central, although it pervades the story. It’s also a powerful insight into why so many young men turn to drug dealing, even though they know the dreadful repercussions.

By: Caylon DePalma

Caylon DePalma — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 22:42:16 +0000

I haven’t seen the film, but your post about it is an inspiration to watch it. There’s something about the visceral reality of the human drama that challenges me as a pastor to re-assess what I speak to and how I speak to it.

I had a dad, but he was a very busy man, and probably without realizing it he was caught up in his own life in a way that didn’t allow him to focus much on mine or my sisters. But there were men who did. And they shaped me…often not for the better. I can definitely resonate with this concept of being father-starved.

I am so grateful to have met Christ. And I am so grateful to have been introduced to a Father whose shaping influence on me is inestimable and yet measurable.

Thanks for writing this.

By: Mike Frost

Mike Frost — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 03:21:57 +0000

In reply to Jeremy Weart. Peace to you, brother. You're rewriting a family script, which is a BIG deal.

By: Nicole

Nicole — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 03:15:18 +0000

Well said Mike! The potential for tragedy and the potential for something deeply wonderful to pervade a life are ever present in the father/child connection. May we be always thinking, intentional and responsive to the fragile heart of a child.

By: Gus Row

Gus Row — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 02:53:18 +0000

Great article Mike… “Present. Tender. Gentle. Merciful. Just like God” How disappointing that many within the christian ‘family’ don’t “hear’ or sense those qualities. I was listening to Deitrick Haddon’s song ‘Well Done”. Great song but it’s plaintive lyric “I just want to be let in and to hear ‘well done'” still suggests a distant God with qualified love and welcome. We’re not doing well with this.

By: Jeremy Weart

Jeremy Weart — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 02:26:53 +0000

My biological dad left when I was three. Step dad came and went. The father wound is real and ever-present. Becoming a father of three children has been an elixir of sorts. But knowing God as father has been the greatest balm for a weary and lonely soul.