christian media.

According to this article by NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100927647 the highest grossing independent film this year wasn't Slumdog Millionaire or Milk. It was a Christian movie called Fireproof starring Kirk Cameron.




This NPR article about the continuing growth of Christian media and art really bothered me. And it's not just that Kirk Cameron happens to subscribe to a more conservative/evangelical theology that is different than my own. It has to do with this obsession we have of separating Christian and Secular culture. As if God is only present in one place. These Christian filmmakers talk about culture as though it's all about immorality and sex and violence, as if it is the enemy of God. But actually there is a lot of really beautiful, powerful God-filled art and film out there. Slumdog Millionaire and Milk are two great examples. Both films confront us with ideas about equality and justice and the power of love. All of these are essentially Christian messages. I really believe that God speaks through those films.

Fireproof has these very overtly Christian images of the Bible, prayer and the cross. These are important pieces of our faith, and in my life have been powerful forces. But with Christian music and film making I wonder if we sometimes end up just preaching to the choir. I mean, aren't the only people who are going to be impacted those that recognize and relate to those images already?

I've been thinking about the parables of Jesus. Rather, than speaking in religious terms, Jesus tells stories that essentially don't have God or scripture in them. They are stories of working people, of masters and servants, of families, of nature. Everyday things that people experience. But people could relate to those images, and in the story, even though religion isn't overt, we find God's presence over and over again. Christ understood that the redeeming message of God couldn't be divorced from culture and context. He didn't simplify God into a religious concept. He spoke in the language of the people, used metaphors, told stories and in doing so invited them into this great mystery of the Divine.

One of my favorite Christian books in Ben Pasley's Enter the Worship Circle. I love this book because it challenges its readers to find the divine everywhere, to make their whole lives worship. He writes, "Some might argue that since not all artists believe in God, we could not find God in their work. On the contrary, many artists who do believe in God have so poorly caricatured the nature of the divine that they do little but diminish God. It is often the innocent and uninitiated that give best expression to a vision of God... Whether in realism or abstraction, the artist has the ability to tell the story of experience, and we have the opportunity to listen for the Divine."

On the one hand, I do believe in Christian art. I believe that songs, stories and art that represent God as revealed through the Christian faith are important. I love going to worship and singing praise songs and experiencing artful expressions that embody who Christ is. Without artistic expression, religion dies and becomes sterile. It is an amazing expression of our living God. But to say that this is the only place that God is revealed and expressed puts such incredible limitations on God. We don't need to fear non-Christian culture, and assume that only overtly Christian art is "truly meaningful to the kingdom of God."

God is speaking in all these amazing ways, everywhere and every moment. If we draw a hard line between "Christian" and "Secular" we miss so much of the God who is present in all of creation. Also, when the Church becomes divorced from culture and the people of that culture, religion stops being relevant. We can no longer speak into lives in the meaningful way that Christ did. There's a huge difference between being counter-cultural and anti-culture. By separating ourselves from "secular" culture we don't save our Christian identity, but in fact we lose it. Christian identity means being Christ in the world in a meaningful way. It means meeting people where they are. It means experiencing God revealed where one least expects.

I mean, didn't you like Kirk Cameron better when he offered those happy accessible messages about growing up, finding identity and being a part of a family on the show Growing Pains?



I love bananas too, Kirk, and think they are an amazing part of God's creation. But is an apple less created by God just because it doesn't have a convenient pull-tab and hand grip? I actually think you are a nice guy, but please stop being the spokesperson for Christianity and get back to "sharing the laughter and love" like you used to.

Giving something the label of Christian, doesn't necessarily mean that it offers a more life-giving message.