on being proper . . . or should it be Poppins?

My wife often reminds me of my English heritage, especially if my behavior is tending toward the overly "proper" end of the spectrum. I think it was this "proper" side of me that found it hard to appreciate the musical "Mary Poppins" when it first came out. But I'm glad to report that I must be changing over the years. I just finished watching the movie with Clara and surprised myself by thoroughly enjoying it. What surprised me even more were the not-so-hidden messages throughout the film that I completely missed the first time I saw it years ago.

Now some of us more "proper" folk may be offended by the idea that God can communicate through other means than the Bible - especially not through such an ungodly means as the movies! But, as I've already indicated through a previous entry, I no longer hold to that opinion.
Mary Poppins is another delightful example of God's truth coming through to us by an unexpected means.

Jesus taught us that the Spirit of God is like the wind that blows wherever it wills. How does Mary Poppins arrive? Blown in by an easterly wind, she is, . . . and she leaves when the wind changes. Despite her highly unorthodox ways, what changes does she bring? Love . . .joy . . . peace, to name a few. Of course, the highly proper (uptight) Mr. Banks is not able to receive Mary Poppins' graces and ends up instead with a headache. On the verge of firing Mary, she exercises one more gift of grace and influences him to not only let her stay on, but also to take his children with him to work. Well, things seem to go from bad to worse as these two innocent young children refuse to give up their "tu-pence" to the chief banker. They want the money to go to the old lady feeding the birds and he wants it invested in the bank. Their stubbornness results in a run on the bank and the firing of Mr Banks (who was informed that the only other time there had been a run on their back was after the Boston Tea Party). But right in the midst of all this a miraculous change is happening in Mr. Banks. He finally realizes that it's more important to spend time with his children than to hold down a financially lucrative career, so he joyfully embraces his newfound freedom and celebrates by repairing the broken kite and taking his children out to the park to fly it.

As the children are joyfully heading to the park with their father, Mary Poppins is quietly observing the scene from her balcony, conversing with the parrot-head handle of her umbrella. The parrot makes the most profound comment of the whole film when it tells Mary that the children "think more of their father than they do of you" (because they had run off without saying good-bye to Mary). Isn't that exactly how the Holy Spirit works? He doesn't draw attention to himself, but rather testifies to the Son, who in turn reunites us with our heavenly Father as well as with our earthly fathers (the spirit of Elijah and John the Baptist). There are other interesting "manifestations of the Spirit" in the film that are more controversial in character (such as out-of-control laughter) so I won't dwell on them but can't help mentioning at least that one (very improper . . . but read your Bible and see if the Holy Spirit always induced people to act in only proper ways).

Let's go fly a kite,
Up to the highest height;
Let's go fly a kite
And send it soaring
Up to the atmosphere,
Up where the air is clear . . .
- final song in "Mary Poppins"


"Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.' The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
- Jesus, speaking to a religious leader

"Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."
- Jesus, speaking to his own disciples