Jeanette Perrault
The beloved 1992 movie musical Sister Act, starring Whoopi Goldberg, shares the story of a nightclub singer turned convent nun in witness protection from the mob. The movie is full of wholesome comedy and hijinks and ends with Whoopi Goldberg directing a concert during Pope John Paul II’s visit to the convent. The song the sisters sing is “I Will Follow Him,” an adapted version of the 1963 romance song sung by Peggy March. This adaptation at the end of Sister Act proclaims that no matter where “he” may go, no matter how deep the ocean or high the mountain, nothing can keep them away. “He”, we can presume in this setting, is meant to be Jesus.
Although the song is a bit cheesey (albeit entertaining), there is truth in the lyrics. The line they sing that stands out and is different from the original song is that nothing can keep them away, “Away from his love.” The pursuit of following Jesus they sing about is not about following in order to achieve and receive Christ’s love. Instead, it’s a profession of the unrelenting love of God through Christ, through the depths of the oceans to the heights of the mountains, and they will follow “him” because of it. (You can read the full lyrics here!)
In the letter to the Ephesians, Paul expresses the expansiveness of God’s love, both being “rooted and grounded” in it as well as the love from Christ going beyond all knowledge and understanding. It’s not easy to follow Jesus, and most often it doesn’t make much sense. But when we have the love of God that grounds us, pursues us, and never leaves us, and was given through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, placing our trust in Christ and following him becomes the way forward. As both Paul and Whoopi Goldberg say, nothing can keep us away from Christ’s love.
