Fellowship of the Ring with Paul McDonald and Jay Heck
Paul McDonald and Jay Heck begin their series on the Lord of the Rings, beginning with The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) starring Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, and Orlando Bloom (among many others). They discuss how we, like Aragorn, must go through our initiation to develop the character capable of carrying the kingdom. Beauty invites us into our strength and heals us when we fall. Friendship and being childlike will prove to be more important than strength in arms and great wisdom.
Join us as we discover our stories in this movie!
About Jay
Jay Heck is married to Heather, with son Baer (18 and off to college in a few weeks) and daughter Bozlie (17). He is the Director/Founder of Being Sons, an "Outfitter" of the masculine soul. God changed Jay when He invited him to follow the rabbit hole of identity as His son, and that changed everything. Now he creates content and adventures to help men discover their identities as sons.
Read more about Being Sons at their website: www.beingsons.com
Check out the Being Sons Podcast
Subscribe to the Being Sons YouTube channel - short videos to illuminate sonship
Adventures include:
Boot Camps (for men only)
First Tracks (1-on-1 adventures for father + sons 9-13)
First Bloom (1-on-1 adventures for father + younger daughter)
Trailhead (1-on-1 adventure for father + sons 14+)
Quotes
When I watch the Lord of the Rings, I feel like I’m watching the story I’m living in.
“We can’t live above the identity we’ve embraced.” –Morgan Snyder
It’s easier to fight small battles on a small scale, but we know we’re made for more.
We are staring at what could be our future, and are terrified.
We fear that inevitably we will fail those most important to us, and end up by ourselves.
Arwen is a picture of the Holy Spirit—turning our attention from our past, from what we’ve been, and focusing on who we truly are, inviting us to believe in it.
You will fight for what you love most.
“The enemy is full of cruelty, malice, and a desire to control all life.”
Many men have not received the invitation to see themselves as God sees them.
Beauty calls us to strength and heals grief.
We need to be open and receptive to the beauty that is around us.
We need to find the poet, the artist, the lover that is inside of us.
The great kings are the ones who love what they are fighting for most.
“Some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend and legend became myth.”
We don’t have a vision for what masculinity is.
We have an ache, this hole in our hearts that will never be satisfied by the story we are pursuing in this life.
Aragorn had to develop the character capable of carrying the kingdom.
In our masculine journey, we have to embrace things that don’t make sense and trust that in the future the plan, the story and our character (all having been prepared by God), are going to come back together again.
When you have someone willing to say, “Here I am. Send me.,” God provides the support to get us there.
The key to authentic masculinity is being a child and trust fully in the Father, as Jesus did.
Frodo needs his Sam, and Sam needs Frodo to become who they were meant to be.
We miss the assignment we’ve been given because it doesn’t look like the one we want.
If you don’t bloom in the small kingdom where you’re called, you’ll never be a good and noble seed to be planted in a much larger story.
The mark of maturity in a man is a reluctance to take power offered to him.
Themes
There’s a story I’m living in that I can’t see.
The transformation of Aragorn—from a whiny loner, one who wanders, stands in the gap, overlooked, battles hidden enemies, afraid of his glory, reluctant leader, chosen exile. He’s hidden for years in preparation for his assignment. Starts as an orphan, and becomes more than he thought possible.
Aragorn is afraid of his weakness, being like his ancestor—Arwen calls out his strength. She sees the man he’s destined to become.
Fighting on the fringes of a battle that no one knows is being fought.
We desire to be part of a larger story, to have a life of significance, but face the fear of our past and our failures.
The power of beauty to invite us to strength, and soothe the grief we experience.
Toxic masculinity vs true masculinity—the idea that men are what’s wrong with the world. “Men are the reason evil still exists.”
Aragorn as a picture of Jesus—a king in exile, hidden, who might not appear to be doing much, and we wait for him to return. Healer, warrior, poet. Can fight the religious leaders in one moment, and heal the leper with a tender touch the next.
The evolution from the small story to a big story. We can’t be the center of our story—we would never find satisfaction.
We can’t be king until we have gone through the tests and trial to develop our character, until we’ve learned to handle the pressure of becoming a warrior, healer, poet, and leader.
Aragorn’s success did not depend on the fellowship staying together, but in his integrity and character when it falls apart. Our mission is fluid.
Our mission is to bring peace, while the enemy sows seeds of division.
Being childlike will prove to be resilient to the power of evil.
Friendship can be more important than strength in arms or great wisdom.
We all have a role to play that only we can accomplish.
The roles that are most hidden are the most important.
Sometimes we have to walk away from external success in order to develop internal character and integrity.
The hardest and best decisions often feel like death.
Resources
The Chosen: https://watch.angelstudios.com/thechosen
Questions
What character resonates most with you? Who do you most want to be?
What battles are you fighting?
What role would you like to play in your life? Where do you face fear in stepping into that role?
Where do you say, “I can’t do this.”? Where do you feel paralyzed?
How do you think God sees you? What would His words be to you?
How would you define true masculinity?
What does success or failure look like? How do you define it?
Where you are being asked to do something, although you do not know the way?
Where are you in the process of initiation? Do you need to lay something down, or pick up the crown?