Yes, I find spiritual value in movies, just as I find spiritual value in any form of story.

What comes to mind immediately is the profound effect AWAKENINGS had on my theology of salvation. My thinking changed dramatically after watching it.

Then there are the movies that tell of great moral courage (THE CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR is the most recent that I've watched) that call me examine my own behavior in living out our Quaker Testimonies.

And sometimes a good story can simply make me want to be a better person: LORD OF THE RINGS, CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, FINDING NEMO, DRESDEN.

All stories that take us out of ourselves can carry a spiritual message. Some are desirable and some not, of course. I find redemption a constant theme in good movies. The Shawshank Redemption even uses the word in its title. One of the most 'Christian' films I have ever seen was 'The Spitfire Grill' if anybody remembers that.

I believe I first heard the term, "school of the spirit" from Andrew Murray's writings. When we are in this school, then anything becomes a vehicle through which God can teach, train, equip, correct. . . us!

A clip from The Matrix is used by one of our leaders to illustrate how the enemy masks himself as beauty and distracts us.

A movie I continue to be profoundly encouraged by is Lars and the Real Girl -- a story of how a whole community gathers to walk alongside one man suffering from a delusion.