Countdown Day 26
We might say that Christians are people who have entered a certain sedentary membership or arrived at a status validated by some group or institution, while disciples are learners (and unlearners) who have started on a rigorous and unending journey or quest in relation to Jesus Christ. It’s worth noting in this regard that the word “Christian” occurs in the New Testament exactly three times and the word “Christianity” exactly zero. The word “disciple,” however, is found some 263 times. (28-29)
From A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith (available February 9, 2010)
"A New Kind of Christianity is a stellar accomplishment, a combination of hard tack fact and unfettered hope, an overview in delightful narrative of the long way of our coming to this time and of the multiform ways of our arriving. In every way, a dispatch from the front." (-Phyllis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence )
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How to Help in Haiti
The good people of Bread for the World have put together a list of trustworthy organizations through whom you can help our neighbors in Haiti. Here's the list. Please help.
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tokens podcast
If you like Garrison Keillor or Bill Moyers, I think you'll like Tokens: a casserole of music, story-telling, comedy, interviews, musicians, and theology. Here's a taste of the kind of music you'll hear ... the hauntingly true song "Mercy Now" by Mary Gauthier:
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On suicide and saving lives …
I had the chance to pre-screen a new movie coming out next week, called To Save a Life.
There used to be a category called "Christian movies." All were sincere, and a few were quite good, but many were characterized by three things:
1. The weak and predictable storyline of the movie was an excuse to have a nice "clean and together" Christian present an often-formulaic version of the Christian message.
2. The Christian characters were usually way too good to be believable, and the nonChristians were believably human, until they got "saved," after which they became somewhat unbelievable.
3. Apart from the evangelistic presentation, there wasn't much of value to the movie. In other words, apart from the religious message, there wasn't much of a message.
As a result, Christians liked these movies, but they wouldn't work so well for folks outside the church.
If To Save a Life is considered a Christian movie, it marks the beginning (I hope) of a new stage of development in that genre.
1. The story of the movie has integrity. It has twists and turns that mirror, not a formulaic "testimony," but the unpredictabilities of life. Several times I thought, "OK, here goes" - expecting a trite resolution to a conflict, and each time I was surprised.
2. The Christian and nonChristian characters of the story are interesting and believable. There are outspoken and committed Christians in the film, but none of them are "clean and together." True, it's an Orange County version of life that's a far cry from where most of live, but through TV and film, Orange County is a pretty common setting for films.
3. The movie has a message that stands or falls apart from any evangelistic impact the film will have - a message about suicide and the common cruelties of high school life that can drive a kid to suicide.
The acting was solid (with a peripheral exception or two) and the production very good. People who were satisfied with the old genre of "Christian movies" will find the film way too gritty and realistic. They'll lament the presence of a lot of teen partying, some teen sex, and a bad word or two, and they'll grieve the absence of a formulaic gospel "invitation." But I think that youth group leaders will have in "To Save a Life" something they will don't get often enough: the kind of movie they can encourage their kids to see - and bring along a friend who has no connection to the church. Good and worthwhile conversations will follow.
And I hope that more films like this one will follow as well. You can learn more at www.facebook.com/tosavealife.
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Countdown Day 27
Before going to today's quote, just a reminder: there's a contest where you can win a free copy of the book by posting a reply to a simple question here. Here's today's quote:
So, just as a new path opens up new territory in which cities can be built, the gospel is for us a movement, a pioneering adventure, leaving behind it a pathway along with institutions that are constructed, renewed, replaced, and so on. But the movement is never contained or controlled by the institution any more than the wind is contained or controlled by the branches through which it blows; no city along the path should be taken as the journey’s end. (28)
From A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith (available February 9, 2010)
"Now and then gifted people emerge who see the situation from a higher and more helpful level. Brian McLaren is one of those seers." (Richard Rohr, author of Everything Belongs and The Naked Now)
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