Here’s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media & culture: 10/09/23

Indefensible. That’s the only word I can think of describe this weekend’s cruel and heartless attack on the people of Israel.

Speaking of the vicious assault Israel singer-songwriter Don McLean – who penned the song Jerusalem – put out this statement: “It is hard for me to control the emotions I feel for Israel at this time. Having lived in Israel, I remember the neighborhoods I now see being bombed. I knew the people who faced this kind of hatred every day and went to a party every night because life is something to celebrate and it is so precious. Being there changed me forever. I have lived in a different way ever since. I was proud to write the song “Jerusalem,” for the Mayor of Jerusalem and I sing this song every night during shows. On this earth, Jerusalem is at the center of the atom of life and salvation no matter what might be going on anywhere else on the planet.”

Meanwhile, though my conversation with Roma Downey took place before this current violence, her new children’s book is a reminder of the importance of giving our littlest ones a foundation of unshakable love that will fortify them as they grow up and step forward into a world that – though often beautiful – can, at times, be really dark and scary.

The moon belongs to everyone. The beloved star of TV’s Touched by an Angel, bestselling author and successful producer of several faith-themed movies and television shows, Roma Downey is out with a new book (illustrated by New York Times bestselling artist Holly Hatam) that uses the heavenly body to comfort children and empower them with confidence.

JWK: Tell me about A Message in the Moon. What inspired you to write it and what is the message?

Roma Downey: My new children’s book…was inspired really from my own life. My mother suddenly died when I was only ten and my father stepped into single parenting. He was such a great dad. Fast forward seven years and it was time for me to leave Ireland to go to college. I was going to go to England. I was a bit anxious about leaving him.

You know, John, this was way back in the days before there were cell phones. It’s hard for us to remember that such a time existed. The lodging house that I was going to be living in didn’t have a payphone. So, we knew that our communication was going to be a little bit spotty. He took me out into the garden and he said “Look, don’t be anxious. If you can’t get hold of me or if you’re homesick or if you miss me, just look up into the night sky.” He said “Look at the moon because I’ll leave a message for you in the moon.” It was such a lovely touching way to consider our separation that I really took it into my heart and I said “Great!” So, I was in Brighton in the south of England going home after a day at university and I would look up into the night sky and I would pick up my dad’s message and I would leave a message for him.

So, this idea was really born in my heart…I’ve shared that story with a few people over the years and they’d say “Oh, I love that! I’m going to do that with my kid! I’m going to share that with my child!” – and I thought maybe there’s a way to take that idea and work it into a children’s book. So, that’s what I’ve done with A Message in the Moon. That’s the core of the story and the book has turned out so well!

I worked with a beautiful illustrator to collaborate. She’s come alongside me to create these beautiful drawings. I think she’s really done a fine job of creating the glow of the moon and a feeling of the love that comes from the moon. You may remember, John, I wrote a book called Box of Butterflies some years ago. So, while Holly and I were discussing what imagery we could create in the book that would suggest the love message that was arriving (via) the moon, I said “Could we try to do that through butteflies?” because they were so significant in my life. She tried that and it has worked every so well. It’s given (the book) a sort of whimsy and a sort of magic. I think little kids are gonna love it!

When I was raising my kids, I was a working mom so I was so glad to into bed at night with them putting them to sleep and I’d read storybooks to them. It was great. It was something that we shared and that we loved to do. So, I really hope that this can become a staple book on the nightstands of parents of young children or grandparents if their grandkids are coming to do a sleep over. My hope is that it will help children if they have any kind of separation anxiety if (for example) mom and dad are going off to work or (if they’re) going off to camp for the first time or maybe (they’re) doing a sleepover for the first time – all the different ways that (they) can leave a message in the moon and be reassured that (they’re) not alone.

JWK: What’s the age group for this book?

RD: It’s for whatever age you start reading for little ones. I probably would have done this as young as 18 months. You know, they’re not going to understand the themes of it but (certainly) two to seven, I would think – somewhere there, the first seven years of life. I think it will make a nice (book) for moms and dads to pick up…I don’t have grandchildren yet but I’m hoping the next few years I will. Maybe folks will pick it up for their grandkids or nieces or nephews.

Anyway, it’s very sweet and it has a lot of charm – and a lot of meaning. There’s a kind of deeper meaning in it. The difference between writing a regular book and writing for children is that it can’t be overly complicated. So, the story is simplified a little bit so that young children can understand it.

I’ve included a little prayer at the end. I grew up with nighttime prayers with my father. We would kneel at the side of the bed every night. Every night we would say a prayer and we would go to sleep knowing that we are folded in the wings of angels, that we were safe, that we were protected and that we were loved by our Heavenly Father.

I think that there’s something about the moon because the moon is there whether we can see it or not. In the day sky the moon is there. If it’s a cloudy night, you can’t see it but the moon is there. There’s something in that kind of consistency of the moon and the moonlight that I think is symbolic of the ever-present love from God for us – that whether we can see Him or not, whether we’re in a place to perceive grace or not, God is still pouring out His love for us. I try to weave that a little bit into the story as well.

JWK: How important do you think it is to read to children and to introduce them to positive, optimistic ideas at a young age?

RD: I think it’s everything. I think this is the age that our children start to wrap their little minds around these ideas. You can plant them in a way that is easily digestible, that is cute and beautiful. The illustrations in this book are beautiful and the themes are simple but very reassuring. I think that’s so important – particularly as we go into adulthood.

You know, I don’t think we change from the basic needs and I think part of our basic needs is that we all want to belong, we want to feel connected, we want to feel reassured and we want to feel safe. This book is all about that. You are not alone and, in case you ever feel like you are, anytime you see the moon you can pick up this message – and that’s very sweet. I do that with my kids still.

Just the other night we had a supermoon. I took a picture of it. It was glorious out here. I don’t know if you saw it but was glorious! It was so big and so bright! I took a picture of it and I sent it to my daughter Riley and I said “I left you a message.” We’re both in Southern California – we’re about an hour apart from each other – and she took a picture of her moon and sent it to me. So, we still do that. I did it when she was at university. It’s just a kind of loving way to send little love messages.

JWK: So, what your father passed down to you, you passed down to her.

RD: My father passed on while I was at university. To be honest, John, I was a little concerned about seeing the first moon after he passed because we had shared communication through it. I felt that the moon would be silent after my father died – but it wasn’t at all. I still pick up the messages from my dad. He’s just leaving them now from the other side of the moon. So, that’s also very comforting.

And, the last thing, when I was doing some research around the moon – reminding myself about the moon in case there was anything that I could incorporate into the story as it was coming together in my mind -I was reminded that the moon has no light source. The moon is just a reflector of light. It just reflects the sun’s light. I thought wouldn’t it be nice if we all started leaving messages of love at the moon and then the moon does what she does best which is that she just reflects all that love back down to us and that moonlight can become a love light and we can all feel that as well.

So, I have great hopes for my little book. I think that it’ll reach the hands and the hearts of little ones. I’m hoping it will encourage a tradition of reading together as families – and praying together as families. I’ve included this little prayer at the end of it that I’m hoping parents and their little kids will get into the habit of saying together. It’s simple, it’s short and it’s accessible.

JWK: Do you have any memories of  being read to as a child?

RD: Oh, yes! I remember my mother reading to me. My mother, she loved to sing! She would lie on the covers next to me as I was going to sleep (and) she would sing to me. The favorite song that she had was from the musical Carousel. The one that goes “When you walk through storm, hold your head up high…and you’ll never walk alone.” It’s interesting because that theme is a similar theme to the theme that’s in this book. You’re not alone. You’re connected.

My father would (also) read to me. We would kneel down at the side of my and we would say our prayers together. He would tuck me in and he would read. As I got a little bit older, he would read poetry to me. He loved Irish poetry. That’s when I was a little bit more grownup.

I think it’s a lovely tradition to start with your kid, particularly as we move into the digital era. Everybody’s got their phone, their iPad and their laptop. Don’t get me wrong. I love my iPhone as much as the next person but I think there’s nothing like holding a book in your hands and turning the pages – particularly for kids. There’s so much story in the illustrations too…My experience of reading to kids is they love to point out the different things. A storybook takes on a life of its own…A few of the early deliveries are out. We’ve been getting some feedback from moms and dads saying they’re little kids are loving it. It’s a very sweet little book and I hope that it’s a blessing.

JWK: Do you have another children’s book in you after this one?

RD: Never say never. If you had asked me ten years ago if I had any books in me I might have said “I don’t know.” Yet, in the last few years I’ve published Box of Butterflies, I’ve published Unexpected Blessings and I published Be an Angel. I would say writing is definitely going to continue to be part of my future – but nothing’s percolating yet.

But I really enjoyed the little kids experience. It kind of allows you – for a minute – to remember what it was like to be a little kid yourself. I had to write it and think what is this communicating? How might this feel? It’s about the feeling. I want the kids to go to sleep feeling that they’re loved and they’re safe. That’s really what I want to communicate. No matter what you’re feeling – no matter if you’re little best friend has moved across the country or if grandma lives in another city – you can leave them a message and you can feel connected. That’s a good feeling.
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Following an Oscar-qualifying weekend limited theatrical at the box office, The Burial arrives on Amazon Prime this Friday.

Inspired by a true story, the legal drama directed and co-written by Maggie Betts (Novitiate) stars Jamie Foxx as flamboyant real-life attorney Willie Gary who takes on the case of Jeremiah O’Keefe (played by Tommie Lee Jones), the struggling owner and operator of a small chain of Mississippi funeral homes suing a huge Canadian-based corporation for allegedly stalling on a deal to buy a few of his homes to deliberately drive him completely out of business.

IMHO: Here we are in October and I can say to you, with a couple of months to go in 2023, The Burial is the best movie I’ve seen so far this year. It’s intelligent and inspirational with complex lead characters that you care about. Jamie Foxx gives the best performance I’ve seen him give since 2004’s Ray. Tommy Lee Jones also turns in some of his all-time best work. The supporting cast too is superb, fleshing out completely believable characters. Director Maggie Betts, who co-wrote the script with Doug Wright (based on a 1999 New Yorker article by Jonathan Harr), delivers a taut legal drama that seriously explores tough issues, resists the urge to preach and is likely to stand the test of time.

The plot of The Burial (pun not intended) follows the legal battle between a relatively small chain of family-operated Mississippi funeral homes (run by O’Keefe) and a giant funeral home behemoth known as The Loewen Group managed by a predatory scoundrel named Raymond Loewen. At least as portrayed here by Bill Camp (who played a far more sympathetic character in the recent summer hit Sound of Freedom), the guy might as well have been named Death Vader since, by his own admission in the movie, he had no qualms about exploiting families when they were at their most vulnerable for cold-hearted financial gain.

The script deftly balances grit and cynicism with heart, idealism and occasional well-delivered touches of humor. As for performances, Foxx (who, thankfully, is reported to be recovering from health difficulties earlier this year) delivers a captivating turn as the preacher-like attorney and so-called “Giant Killer” who has earned a reputation for winning big cases against colossal corporations that are seen as legally invincible – so much so that I’d be up for another movie about him. As you’d expect of anyone who has cost major corporations like Anheuser-Busch and Disney millions in court, Willie Gary has enemies. As you humble critic, I don’t know enough to say for a fact where the truth lies. What I do know is that, as played by Foxx, he is one memorable cinematic character. BTW, the Disney case might make for a particularly entertaining sequel.

As stated earlier, Tommie Lee Jones,  as Gary’s aggrieved client with whom he develops a real affection for, also delivers as standout performance as does the rest of the cast, including Bill Camp as the aforementioned as the corporate villain, Jurnee Smollett (as the opposing attorney), Alan Ruck (as O’Keefe’s longtime lawyer and friend), Pamela Reed (as O’Keefe’s supportive wife) and Amanda Warren (of CBS‘ too-soon cancelled East New York as Gary’s supportive wife). Relative newcomer Mamoudou Athie (Jurassic World Dominion, Elemental) displays a screen presence that suggests we’ll be seeing more of him.

There is some strong language (not too much but some) that explains the movie’s R rating.

The Bottom Line: The Burial is Highly Recommended.

John W. Kennedy is a writer, producer and media development consultant specializing in television and movie projects that uphold positive timeless values, including trust in God.