A Redemption Story - November 28, 2005

Wow! We saw a great movie over the week-end, Walk the Line. It’s the story of Johnny Cash and the story of his love for June Carter, played by Reese Witherspoon.
It’s also a story of human redemption. When I mentioned that in a sermon I had titled,
Antidote to Cynicism, a friend said it opened up a helpful way to understand the movie.
Oh, it does have great music and amazing singing by Joaquin Phoenix who plays Cash and Witherspoon who also sings really well. June Carter wrote the song “Ring of Fire” as an expression of the overpowering and even dangerous love that she and Johnny Cash shared. The movie ends at a period still early in Johnny Cash’s musical career, with 35 years of creative work still to follow. The 1990s were an especially fruitful period with the American Recordings series. If you want to see how the story of redemption plays out in Cash’s music, watch the award winning music video Hurt, a cover of a song by Nine Inch Nails. It offers powerful religious imagery.