St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church

The Road

1 Lent February 22, 2015

February 22: The Road: Morality,

Tradition, and Hope

March 1: The Father: God in the

Midst of Ashes

March 8: Second Sunday Breakfast

March 15: The Son: The Word of

God

March 22: The Coast: Love’s Embrace

Lent 2015: Sunday Mornings

“The Road”

Table Conversation What are the most important traditions

and values you want to hand down to

your children?

What is in you that you hope lives on in

your children or grandchildren?

The Road

The Road is a story written by author Cormac McCarthy, set in a dystopian future American landscape.

The two main characters are a boy and his father, presumably alone in a dangerous and cold world.

The story is about what we hand down to the next generation. It is about the passing on of tradition and all that is good about humanity.

The Fire

The symbol for the goodness of

humanity, and that which we want to

pass onto the next generation in the

novel is fire.

Watch 24:00 – 26:40 The Father and

the son talk to each other about the

importance of “carrying the fire.”

Notice the son’s fundamental

question: are we good?

Table Conversation

What is the “fire” that you will carry

through the season of Lent?

The Environment

The world has suffered an unnamed

calamity, and very little has survived. This

creates a setting where there is very little

ambiguity – it’s obvious what distinguishes

the good from the bad. (Watch 41:45 – 47:15)

The Son

It is helpful to know that in the book and

in the film, the boy was born after the

calamity occurred, so he has no

knowledge of our world except what he

learns from his father.

(Watch 00:25-7:00)

Wilderness

In Hebrew, the world for wilderness is “midbar.” In Hebrew thinking, the wilderness was a dangerous place, a place that was desolate and deserted.

In Deuteronomy 8:15, the wilderness that Moses and the Israelites travel through is describes as “that great and terrible wilderness with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there is no water.”

Wilderness

Wilderness

It is in the wilderness where the Hebrew

people meet their God upon Mt. Sinai.

It is in the wilderness where Jesus faces

temptation for forty days.

It is not a place we want to be, but it is a

place where we must go.

What is your wilderness?

But wilderness is also holy

The Father in the Road ultimately

affirms the world he now occupies, even

in its hostility, saying “If I were God, I

would have made the world no

different.”

(Watch 1:31:50 – 1:33)

Next Week: March 1, 2015

The Father: God in the Midst of Ashes