“Lost & Found” Short Film: A Lesson on Loving Each Other

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Our Sunday School class at Wilmore Free Methodist (apparently they don’t charge, like those other Methodists do. I may be hazy on the theological meaning of “free.”) focuses on the intersection of culture and biblical faith.

One Sunday was devoted to love – and we started by watching the Oscar shortlisted stop-motion animation, Lost & Found (from Wabi Sabi Studios). If you haven’t seen it, take the time now.

Watch the award-winning short film, Lost & Found:

Watched it? Good. Cried a little? That just means you have a heart.

In our Sunday School class, we disagreed on whether the video was moving and depressing, or moving and uplifting. I vote for uplifting. (Fox will succeed in her knitting project.)

We then talked about this short film in terms of the two forms of sacrificial love shown – by the dinosaur, willing to give his life to save his friend; and by the fox, willing to give up her life so dinosaur wouldn’t have to sacrifice his.

What the Bible Says about Sacrificial Love:

12 “So this is my command: Love each other deeply, as much as I have loved you. 13 For the greatest love of all is a love that sacrifices all. And this great love is demonstrated when a person sacrifices his life for his friends. (John 15:12-13, The Passion Translation)

It’s a no-brainer on how to connect this to our faith – and our supreme example. The challenge came when we stopped looking at our role models, and looked more inward, at our own willingness to show this level of love.

What the Bible Says about Loving Each Other:

9 The light of God’s love shined within us when he sent his matchless Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 This is love: He loved us long before we loved him. It was his love, not ours. He proved it by sending his Son to be the pleasing sacrificial offering to take away our sins.

11 Delightfully loved ones, if he loved us with such tremendous love, then “loving one another” should be our way of life! 12 No one has ever gazed upon the fullness of God’s splendor. But if we love one another, God makes his permanent home in us, and we make our permanent home in him, and his love is brought to its full expression in us. (1 John 4:9-12, The Passion Translation)

It’s not so easy to honestly answer which friends we love enough to unravel for, and which ones we just wished we loved that much.

Then we hit a snag, when we realized that our examples of Dinosaur and Fox, as beautiful as they are, fell short of the kind of thing that Jesus was actually talking about.

What did you learn about love from this short film and scripture? Share in the comments below.