Spiritual Lessons from Kung Fu Panda

Kung Fu Panda has the rhythmic dance of martial arts I love in kung fu flicks. It is a fun and hilarious movie that has won my heart.
rating: 4 of 5 stars

Kung Fu Panda offers some lessons for spiritual formation for those with eyes to see. Here are some things to look for:

Indirection

In Kung Fu Panda, Shifu cannot train Po directly. Po is out of shape and has never studied kung fu. He is not quick to learn. Shifu however discovers that to reach food Po can do amaizing things. So instead of getting Po to concentrate on kung fu, he gets him to concentrate on getting the food.

As Dallas Willard says, the spiritual life burns grace like a jet burns fuel. Without grace we cannot address the things that need transformation in our lives. We cannot address these needs head on. Instead through Spiritual Disciplines we place ourselves in a position where God can pour grace through us transforming us into something new.

Freedom through discipline

After training, Shifu tells Po that he is free to eat the dumpling. It can't be that easy can it? Po has to use all of his skills to get the dumpling from Shifu.

Richard Foster writes in Life With God,

Again, Spiritual Disciplines involve doing what we can do to receive from God the power to do what we cannot do. And God graciously uses this process to produce in us the kind of person who automatically will do what needs to be done when it needs to be done.

This ability to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done is the true freedom in life. Freedom comes not from the absence of restraint but from the presence of discipline. Only the disciplined gymnast is free to score a perfect ten on the parallel bars. Only the disciplined violinist is free to play Pagannini's "Caprices." This, of course, is true in all of life, but it is never more true than in the spiritual life (18).

The Paradox of Strength through Weakness

In the final battle, Po's fat, his weakness, is what transforms the power of his adversary into his adversary's defeat. His destiny comes down to this. The dragon warrior needed to be "The Big Fat Panda" in order for his fat to beat the arrogant power of Tai Lung. The surprise lesson in the dragon scroll is that "there is no secret ingredient. It's just you."

The apostle Paul hears God say, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor 12:1-10). This is the great challenge for us as well. God can and does use the weakness in us. In Sabbath, restoring the sacred rhythm of rest, Wayne Muller writes,

Sabbath challenges the theology of progress buy reminding us that we are already and always on sacred ground. The gifts of grace and delight are present and abundant; the time to live and love and give thanks and rest and delight is now, this moment this day. Feel what heaven is like; we have a taste of eternity. Rest in the arms of the divine. We do not have miles to go before sleep. The time to sleep, to rest, is now. We are already home (79).

We are created in the imago dei, not that only, but God is Emanuel, with us. We need not seek some secret ingredient, but rather find the power of God even in our weakness living our feeble lives with God.