The Profound Theology of Lilo and Stitch

At first I didn't like Lilo and Stitch. After watching with Charlie for a year or so, yesterday I was suddenly and profoundly moved by the story. Let's see if I can capture the revelation I had.


Lilo lives with her older sister as her legal guardian in Hawaii. They don't have a lot of money, and they have big noses. Lilo gets teased a lot, and her sister is stressed about keeping her job and having enough money to get by.

Aliens Stitch, Juma, and Pleakly move in with Lilo and her sister. Stich becomes Lilo's best friend.



Jumba is an "Evil Genius Scientist" and had for years created more and more evil experiment creatures to wreak havoc on the universe. Stitch is the last of his 626 experiments. Each experiment is catalogued by number and by it's evil ability. Jumba is now working for good with Lilo's team.



Pleakly is a 3-legged gender-bending neat freak. I think Pleakly is a boy, but he likes to wear Lilo's sister's clothes. He often also takes the role of mother hen of the extended earth/alien family.


Here comes the theology:
Lilo and Stitch are on a mission to track down all of the 625 Evil Experiments before the evil Dr. Hamsterweil does. Lilo has figured out that every experiment has "One True Home" where it's gifts are used for good.
There is a shredding experiment thats one true home is mowing the grass. And a too-much electricity experiment whose one true home is an abandon lighthouse that will always now have electricity. And on and on and on.

"God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good." (Gen 1:31a)


I'm taking a Qi Gong course and two weeks ago the instructor told us to release the bad energy on our exhale and take in the good energy when we inhaled. It concerned me all week. I didn't want to be a litter-bug, sending out all sorts of bad energy into the world. So I asked him about it, and he told me the idea was that the energy was "bad" because it was in the wrong place, but when you release it into the universe, the universe gets it into the correct place where it is good and helpful energy.

So whether it's the bible, or a children's show, or a system of Chinese energy work: everything, in its proper place, is good. Amen!

Great Video: Ancient Mesopotamia

With 36 hours until showtime, I've found a great video for our Movie rotation for our All About The Bible rotation. It's called Ancient Mesopotamia. It's geared specifically for 3rd-6th graders, runs 23 minutes, and although a little hokey in places, it kept my husband and I interested and even taught us a thing or two. You can see a clip from it here.

Now, the only issue is we've got it on VCR and we only have setup for DVD. So much for a day off with Absolutely Nothing To Do. Jesus turned water to wine--surely a priest can turn VCR into DVD!

St Francis Day Pet Blessing

Every year I've been a priest, I've lead a St Francis' Day service with a blessing of the animals. This year's event was the most well-attended. We had a total of 46 humans, a couple dozen dogs, and a few cats.

Everyone was well-behaved during the service. It is fun to watch pets and their owners find their spot for the liturgy. They seem to have an innate sense about how close they can be to others.



Although humans are physically far from one another, these pet blessings seem to me to be one of the more intimate services we have. There is something so precious about the bond between pet and human. I know my dog has often been a physical reminder for me of God--comforting me when I'm sorrowful, dancing for joy when I return home, convincing me to play and exercise when I get too wrapped up in work...

Thank you, God for all the animals in our lives.