The other week, my family and I put on Lilo & Stitch - not the sequels, not the new television series which my children don’t know exists and I know nothing about - the original from 2002. I still have the DVD we bought when I was in middle school. As we settled into the movie, I was reminded of how gloriously fun this film is. I love the bubbly animation style, the clever use of classic Elvis songs, and the at times surprisingly dark humor. This movie is a delight from an era when Disney was willing to risk $80,000,000 on an “idea.”
In the past, I’ve always enjoyed the film’s primary theme of “Ohana.” Watching it as someone who has been in “professional” church ministry for more than five years, there are layers to the message of family in Lilo & Stitch that I’d never zoomed in on before, and they are surprisingly relevant to the family of the local church.
Ohana Means Family
There’s a beautiful scene early into the movie where Nani, Lilo’s sister, is at her wit’s end with their newly adopted “dog” Stitch, who is utterly determined to destroy everything he touches. Just as Nani gets ready to administer her sisterly authority and bring their monstrosity of a pet back to the humane society, Lilo shouts out, “What about Ohana?!”
Nani insists the rule of Ohana does not apply to Stitch, who has only just arrived, but Lilo doubles down:
“Dad said ohana means family!”
These words stop Nani in her tracks. Stitch notices the sudden change in her, so much so that he stops his tirade, clearly confused as to why the shouting match is all of the sudden over. Defeated, Nani joins Lilo in reciting the rest of their family motto:
“Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.”
This moment is something of a tipping point in the story - Stitch has been welcomed into the family, and despite his destructive tendencies, he gets to stay. Of course, he immediately goes back to his old ways, but this is the moment where a shift begins. Having experienced the power of Ohana, Stitch’s conscience begins to wake up. The second act of the film is Stitch tasting and seeing more and more of the goodness of family over and against his selfish destructiveness.
Broken…
Throughout the film, there is a repeated admission of Nani and Lilo being a “broken” family. Before Stitch arrives, the messiness and dysfunction in their home is on full display. Lilo hits a classmate in the face for calling her “weird.” A social worker (voiced perfectly by Ving Rhames) shows up to their house in a state of utter disarray and expresses grave concern about Nani’s ability to care for Lilo. The moment the social worker leaves the house, Nani chases Lilo through the house, their sisterly feud boiling over into a raging shouting match of exasperation. It’s hilariously orchestrated, but also heartbreaking as we are shown the difficulty of navigating life without their parents.
In the next scene, tempers having cooled, Nani tenderly steps into Lilo’s room to try and make up. Lilo quietly asks her sister, “We’re a broken family, aren’t we?” At first, Nani tries to push back, but then, in a moment of honesty, admits, “Maybe a little.”
What the film makes clear is that they are not just a broken family because they’ve lost their parents. They are a broken family in that they themselves are imperfect (and sometimes, in Lilo’s case, downright odd). Lilo and Nani fight, yell, and sin against one another. Yet they also love one another dearly and want to do better.
It’s into this family that Stitch, a walking, cartoon stereotype of total depravity, is adopted. And it’s through this family that Stitch is transformed over the course of the film from an evil “monstrosity” into a selfless hero who is willing to sacrifice himself for others.
…but good
Following his daring rescue of Lilo, Stitch explains to the head of the Galactic Council who Nani and Lilo are:
“This is my family….It’s little. And broken. But good.”
Broken, but good.
That, in my opinion, is a profoundly fitting description of the family that is the local church.
I’ve spent almost my entire life in the evangelical church, and I can readily tell you that every one I’ve been a part of has, to some extent, been broken. That’s because the church is made up of sinners, and that sin can and will do nasty things within the body of Christ. To put it bluntly, you are going to sin against others, and you are going to be sinned against. And I don’t mean you’re going to have to suffer a little annoyance from a few people. I mean you are actually going to be hurt by Christians who are supposed to love you, and you are going to hurt them. It might be intentional, it might not. But it is going to happen at every church you meaningfully join and are involved in.
When we are sinned against within the church, we can be tempted to close ourselves off emotionally from our brothers and sisters. Or, worse, we can throw up our hands and say, “The church is just a bunch of hypocrites” and walk away entirely. God’s word doesn’t give us either of these options. In fact, it condemns both of them as sin.
I remember Jonathan Leeman once saying that being let down by those in your local church is in some ways kind of the point. That sounds a bit scandalous at first. What do you mean being let down by my church is the point?!
We were once dead in our sin, but God graciously rescued us, made us new, and claimed us as his own. But this is not a one-time event - God continues to extend to us patience and grace as we continue to fall short and sin against him. That’s simply a reality on this side of heaven - even though we grow and make progress on the journey of sanctification, we are all going to remain engaged in a battle against sin until Christ returns or calls us home. There are besetting sins we are never going to finally conquer until heaven. Yet God continues to forgive us and extend steadfast love towards us.
The local church is meant to be a picture of that kind of love. God means for us to be a family that is broken, but good - a family where we sin against one another and let one another down, but we also forgive one another, are patient with one another, and stick with one another despite our weaknesses and our imperfections. The church is where the gospel gets lived out.
Broken, but Good…on Mission
This broken, messy family of the local church is, amazingly, God’s plan for reaching the Stitches of the world - his Plan A for reaching sinners with the gospel and turning them into disciples of Jesus Christ. Nani and Lilo are a picture of how our imperfect yet genuine love for one another can draw in those outside the family of God. This film is obviously not an allegory for the gospel, but the echoes of it are there.
When Lilo and Nani are at the local humane society to pick out a new dog, it is precisely Stitch’s oddness that draws Lilo to him. Both Nani and the humane society worker are horrified by the appearance and mannerisms of the little blue monster before them, insisting that Lilo must want a different dog.
But Lilo happily stands her ground - “No. He’s good. I can tell.”
We can be tempted to think that our brokenness prevents us from being able to effectively love others - that we need to smooth out all of our edges before inviting others into our lives. But that isn’t God’s plan. His plan is to use sinners - who know they are sinners and need a Savior - to reach sinners. Lilo’s brokenness is exactly what enables her to love the seemingly unloveable Stitch. It’s Lilo’s brokenness that gives her what she needs to not give up on him.
On this side of heaven, it will be much the same with us - a broken but good family of God imperfectly but passionately loving both our church family and those in our lives who do not yet know Christ. And all of it anchored by the perfect love of a perfect Savior and empowered by his Spirit.