Downton abbey Episode 4

This week's episode was one of my favorite episodes. There was a fair that was taking place in the town. It was exciting for the household servants. At this time there was still some grief with Lady Mary and the death she had witnessed in the other episode. We see different people develop more feelings for other. Anna was sick and he brought her dinner. She opened the door which is not allowed. WE see that Mr. Bates cares deeply for Anna. OBrien was upset because she had to stay at the house while Mrs.Hughes and others went to the fair. Thomas asked Daisy to go to the fair with him and william was not happy about that. William is in love with Daisy, but Daisy can't see that. Also Violet bombards Matthew Crawley with questions and fishing for information about the inheritance. The next scene goes back to the fair where Ms. Hughes meets with a man. We later find out that this man proposed to her a long time ago. They were madly in love, but she went to work in the Crawley's home. She gave up love. He was offering it again to her, but she said no. She wanted to say yes,but she did not know how to leave the Crawley home. We also see Gwen meet with Lady Sybil and she tells her that she is not going because someone else go the job. Gwen was devastated at the lost hope of her dream. Daisy meanwhile is giddy about thomas not realizing his true character.William is really angry with Thomas, because he knows that he is in love with Daisy. Robert and Matthew meet and Robert talks about him getting the inheritance. Mary is so upset and does not want to be married to him and does not see it as fair.
There are different themes in this episode. One that I saw was the theme of hoped love and hopeless opportunity. There were so many different people in this episode that we saw into their lives and hearts. We saw Mrs. Hughes with the man that she had fallen in love with a long time ago. She has the opportunity to say yes to him and to be happy, but she says no. She does not do what her heart is saying because she feels that she could never leave her workplace. We see Mr. Bates show his affection for Anna. We see in this episode that he deeply cares about her. There is hopeless opportunity here. We also see with Gwen that she had hoped to get out of the house and pursue her dreams. Her dreams were thrown out the window when they chose some one more "qualified". We also see Branson the driver talk about opportunity. We also see there being an interest in lady sybil. He makes a comment that makes sybil smile when he says he will not always be doing what he was doing. He would go after his dreams.
These perspectives are not supported by scripture. God tells us to have faith and hope. He gives us the opportunity to go after our dreams and for us to marry who He has for us. He allows us to go after our dreams and not be held back . I think that many people feel like they have no chance at life because where they come from. This generation needs to be motivated and revived. This generation needs to know that if they work hard and become a leader they will succeed. I would address these issue pastorally by encouraging them to know that they can achieve what they want in life. They aren't defined by where they come from. The household felt like they could never go anywhere in life. They were stuck being a servant. I would encourage people pastorally that we are all equal and that they have the opportunity like any one else has to make something of their life.

Downton Abbey Blog # 2

This episode was shorter than the first one. I wished that this one was longer. In this episode we meet new characters. We meet Matthew and his mother. Matthew has the opportunity to be the next heir if he marries Robert's daughter. Matthew is a different kind of guy. He does not like to have servants around. He is independent and seems to like doing things his own way. We see more of the characteristics of Mr. Roberts. Mr. Roberts is very compassionate and not judging at all. Mr. Garson is exposed by an old friend by his past. He was a performer and it was very embarrassing for him. This friend was framing him for money and came to Robert's house. Garson expected that he would be fired, but Robert told him that he was to stay and even was going to give money to him. We see the character of compassion in Roberts.

In this episode I see the theme of knowing your roles. We see this with Matthew and the servant that is disposed to him. Matthew did not let his servant help him with the things that was the job of the servant. The servant felt out of place because he was not able to do his job. We see that Roberts talks to Matthew about letting the servants do their job because it is their role and almost their identity. Not letting them do their job is like taking away their identity. Once Matthew lets this man be in his role, the servant takes pride and his confident again. We see the role with Isabel. She did not want Matthews mother to be involved in the hospital. Isabel did not see that it was the role of Matthew's mother to be doing that. We see though that the mother steps out of her role and saves a man's life.
 We see the idea of roles in the Bible. We see that we all have apart in the body of Christ. We all have a purpose and we all have different gifts. We have different assignments that the Lord gives us. One thing I do know though that our roles should not define who we are. In the pastoral sense it should not be about position or title. We are all equal. So the pastor is not greater than the janitor. It should not about having a title it is solely about loving Jesus and being a servant. This generation is driven today by what title they have and it really makes me sad. We shouldn't live by what name we are given by others. It was sad to me that the servant butler was given his worth by his title. I feel like we are all equal and no one is greater than the other. I feel like churches need to learn this more.

Downton Abbey Blog posting # 1

I watched the show Downton Abbey. It was a very interesting show and I loved watching it. The show takes place in 1912. The main characters are Robert who is upperclass and he has a wife named Cora. They have three daughters. We also get to see the lives of the underclassmen that serve at the Robert's residence. There are two different classes that we get to see. The story line that is taking place is that Robert's daughter was engaged to be married to a man that would inherit Robert's properties and more. He died on the titanic and now their family inheritance was in jeopardy. All the while Mr.Bates comes into the picture and his is hired as the new valet. Mr.Bates had a cane and was handicapped but was confident that he could do the job. Robert was willing to give him a chance. Thomas another servant was envious and did everything he could to get Mr.Bates to leave by being evil towards him. Robert and Cora in the meantime where trying to find a suitable husband for their daughter and so a man named Duke came into the picture. The Duke wanted the money and wanted to have the full inheritance. We find out that the Duke and Tomas are homosexual in this scene and that the Duke has hidden agendas. Robert decides to let Thomas go because there were some servants complaining, but when he sent him to leave he couldn't send Mr. Bates. He knew in his heart that he had to keep him there. The Duke ended up leaving once he found out that he would not get full inheritance.
       One theme that I found is the theme of clicks within the household. There were servants that conspired together to get Mr.Bates out. Tomas would talk to Garson who was the head servant to get Mr.Bates out. Tomas was being selfish and would get others involved.Then there were other servants that stuck together not getting into funny business. We see that even among the servants they segregate and have their own groups. I did not think that would be the case. I would have thought that they would have all stuck together. But some servants had their own agendas and not the right heart.
     In the Bible it talks about servants and masters. The Bible talks about how servants must submit to their masters and obey them. The servants for the most part respected Robert and the family and did what was told. Robert was giving Mr.Bates a chance and the servants sabotaged it. They dishonored Robert that way even if it wasn't directly to him. They weren't submitting to Robert by trying to get Mr. Bates fired. These select servants were going against the morals of the household. Robert showed characteristics of having a compassionate heart. He seemed to have a heart that wanted to do what was right. Thomas was one servant that was doing something wrong without Robert knowing,
  I loved this show and am excited to see the rest. My favorite part was seeing Mr.Bates being rescued. I cried. It was sad. Maria did not cry. haha I am really interested in seeing what else is going to happen