Effie Trinket

          “Effie Trinket” was preached at Princeton Theological Seminary on November 4, 2015. The assignment was to take a well-known movie and use it as the main source of imagery in an eight-minute homily. The text must come from one of the Pauline Epistles. I was assigned the movie, Catching Fire. Inspirations for this sermon included scripture, narratives, and the transformation of one of the prominent characters from the movie: Effie Trinket.

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Philippians 2:1-11

1 If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2 make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

6 who, though he was in the form of God,

    did not regard equality with God

    as something to be exploited,

7 but emptied himself,

    taking the form of a slave,

    being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

8     he humbled himself

    and became obedient to the point of death—

    even death on a cross.

9 Therefore God also highly exalted him

    and gave him the name

    that is above every name,

10 so that at the name of Jesus

    every knee should bend,

    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue should confess

    that Jesus Christ is Lord,

    to the glory of God the Father.

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Effie Trinket is as prim and proper as they come. And this makes sense; she was a citizen of the Capitol. The society that she was born into raised her to be this way. A society known for their ever- and over-flowing wealth; a society whose wealth has caused them to be oblivious to the poverty and the starvation and the sickness that consumed the surrounding districts. Yes, Effie was the model citizen, just as oblivious and shallow as the rest of them. She was known for her flamboyant and unique sense of style. Her outfits matched her bright and bubbly personality exuding her own sense of ecstasy and euphoria. Effie didn’t have to try to be the best dressed; she was the best dressed! She was the epitome of fashion. And even better, she was strict in her manners and controlled in her thoughts! She would make the perfect Capitol Escort for one of the districts in the upcoming Hunger Games. And so that’s what she did. Effie Trinket became the Capital Escort for District 12! And that is where she meets Katniss and Peeta for the first time.

For those of you who have no idea what I’ve been saying for the last minute, I was giving a description of a prominent character from the Hunger Game series. For those of you who haven’t seen or read the Hunger Games, let me briefly explain. The Hunger Games is a trilogy of books turned movies written by Suzanne Collins. In a future, dystopian society, the nation has been split into two main groups – the Capitol and the twelve Districts – after a war labeled as the Rebellion. The citizens of the Capitol were the rulers and the wealthy; they held all the power. Effie Trinket was a citizen of the Capitol. The twelve Districts were the workers who served the Capitol where each district controlled a different industry. The poorest of the twelve – the home of Katniss and Peeta and the district in which Effie was assigned to be the escort – worked in coal mining. In punishment for their Rebellion, each of the twelve districts must randomly select a boy and a girl – the Tributes – to fight to the death in an annual televised event known as the Hunger Games. Twenty-four teenagers were forced to go into an area where there would only be one surviving victor… and this was all for entertainment of the Capitol.

When we first meet Effie in the first movie, she is thrilled and excited to be a part of the Hunger Games. She gets to accompany the Tributes as their escort and serve as their Capitol Guide! She knew it was a great honor, and she loved every minute of it! You can actually see her joy as she selects Katniss and Peeta as District 12’s tributes at the Reaping. Katniss and Peeta fought throughout the game, and in the end, both were named the Victors. But in the second movie, “Catching Fire,” when the Reaping occurred, there is a transformation happening within Effie. Only previous victors would be selected as the Tributes to fight in the games this year. That means Effie would have to select Katniss and Peeta again, two people she has grown to love. When Effie selects Katniss as the female tribute, a single tear rolls down Katniss’s face. But if you look in the background, you can see Effie dressed in an extravagant gown made of monarch butterflies, a beautiful metaphor for the transformation Effie is experiencing. There is no joy on her face this year. She is uncomfortable… sad… distant…  It’s a powerful scene, and you can feel the aura of humility. Effie is conflicted between the life she was given and her newfound compassion for others. A woman born into privilege now feels helpless and afraid. A woman who lived her entire life being exalted was humbled before our very eyes.

I won’t spoil the rest of the movie or talk about the third one, but Effie continues to be filled with compassion and empathy throughout the series. At her core, Effie is still Effie, but there is also this transformation occurring within her. She lives into her own humility. It is rough and shaky and slow. At times, it is even visibly and unbearably uncomfortable, yet Effie grows into a kind and caring soul who does what she can to serve those who have been deemed by society as less than her.

Like Effie, living into this humility is what I’m asking us to do. We are part of the Capitol. I’m not saying that we have been spoiled in life or that everything in our lives is some great gift given only to us, but I am saying that we have been born into some sort of privilege that others will never experience.  We weren’t born into this privilege because we are in any way better, but rather, this is the life we were given.  That means we are not the enemy but because we were born into this life, we have been given the power and the opportunity to do something with what we’ve been given. We have been given a gift that allows us to transform into something that could serve the greater community instead of just ourselves. This transformation starts with the act of compassion.

To feel for one another can be such powerful and contagious act. There is an emphasis of unity that lets others know that they are not alone. You are giving them a space to voice their pain, their struggles, their grief. You are acknowledging that despite how they world may treat them, that they do matter and they do have a place. In humility, regard others as better than yourselves. Be of the same mind. Share the same love. Look to their interests and listen to their pain. Let your light shine as a burning beacon of hope. After all, Christ has done all of this and more for you.

Christ – fully human and fully divine – equal to God the Creator – came to live among us as the Incarnate Son in the form of a slave to humankind. Rather than being born into glory, Christ was born in a manger. He lived a life of obedience, taking the weight of the world on his shoulders. All pain and every sin was given onto him. In everything Christ did, he humbled himself for our sake. He humbled himself even to the point of death by crucifixion. His humility and his obedience led him to the cross. In that moment, in his death and in his resurrection, he was exalted above all things. Name above all names. Every creature will bow down and confess him as Lord. Christ’s work was done for us in the ultimate act of compassion.

Let us imitate Christ. Allow the power of the Savior to transform our bodies of humiliation into bodies of glory. For in the day of the resurrection, we too will be caught up in the divine movement of exaltation. “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Effie Trinket is as prim and proper as they come, but Effie Trinket is also compassionate. She was a woman born into power and wealth, but she was also born into a world where she could serve. Effie was transformed before our very eyes. Effie’s humility is an imitation of Christ. Be like Effie. Be like Christ. Humble yourselves and serve the Lord. Compassion can change the world.      Amen.

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If you would like to see the character of Effie Trinket as portrayed in the first movie compared to her character in the second movie, please watch these two short clips. It was in these two scenes where I felt I witnessed Effie's transformation.