Toy Story 3

     Today, as I attended the funeral of an elderly friend from a former church, I found myself thinking about "Toy Story 3". Though I know the real heart of Art now resides in heaven, there is something poignant about seeing a life of 92 years condensed into an obituary on a piece of paper you hold during the service and then throw away.  Parting is painful. That's why I cried at "Toy Story 3", though I seldom cry at funerals. There are three scenes in the movie that move me to tears. In the first, the little boy of the original movie, owner of the toys, has grown up and is ready to head off to college. His mother walks into his nearly empty room, wordlessly places her hand on her chest and just stands there. Her child is leaving. Her heart is breaking. Been there, done that. The parting is not permanent, but it is definitive. A line has been crossed, the parent/ child relationship has changed, for the better, but it has changed and change is painful. Tears.
     In another scene, the toys are sliding down a conveyor belt toward an incinerator. When, despite all their efforts, they realize there is nothing they can do to save their lives, they reach out to hold hands/paws/appendages. If they cannot change their fate, they can at least face it together. Of course, in the movie the beloved toys are rescued at the last moment by conjoined triplet aliens, but their silent solidarity in the face of doom seems a beautiful analogy of the human condition. We can face the worst life has to offer, as long as we have a hand to hold. Tears.
     At the end of the movie, the young man delivers his rescued toys to a girl who wants, and needs, them. One at a time, he introduces her to the toys and, before he leaves, he plays with each one, one last time--a gesture of respect to those he is leaving behind. Tears. I could draw all kinds of spiritual analogies from "Toy Story 3", but the important thing for Christians to remember when we face the painful parting of death, is that at the last moment, we are rescued by the most alien being in the universe, the coexistent, triune God/Man--Jesus Christ.