From the "Laugh or Cry?" File
Check out this article from yesterday's Washington Post. Above the fold there is a large picture of a man dressed in camoflague holding up a Bible. Following is a long story about Christ Mountaintop Chapel in the DC suburbs, where Pastor Rob Seagears has committed to preaching on whatever the highest grossing movie for the week happens to be.
A few choice quotes from the article:
The Summer Cinema series... seeks to attract those who don't ordinarily attend church while making the experience more fun for those who do.
Seagears bases each week's message on the highest-grossing movie the previous weekend. He sees the movie, then prays about how to extract a biblical message.
Creative services can provide an edge in a tight "religious marketplace," said David Roozen, director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research in Connecticut. "There's a lot of experimentation going on in worship these days," Roozen said.
He removed his cap and aviator glasses, led a prayer, then preached on the importance of relationships with God, other believers and non-Christians. (He also urged people not to see the movie.)
"It's all about engaging your audience," he said.
I too felt ambivalent about the report. On the one hand it felt like the preacher was doing anything possible to be flamboyant. But it is true that engaging people within the culture that they live in has to be done.
Maybe I am just squeamish because I don't know that I would ever go that far to make a point. I have on occasion done a monologue as if I were some Biblical character. I might consider even putting that Biblical figure in a contemporary setting. But what this pastor does seems to cross some line. I cannot quite define it.
In a sense it convicts me of something else too: it has literally been years since I have gone to a movie. I do not find the time for it. But I know that film is a clue to the culture.
Posted by: Joseph M. Smith | Sep 1, 2008 7:10:28 PM
What would he do for a Freddie Krueger film?
Posted by: Morris Brooks | Sep 4, 2008 11:14:32 PM
Can this become a case of do what I say, not what I do? I've never understood pastors or movie reviewers who continue to see questionable movies and then continue to tell their audience, don't see this!
Posted by: Glenn | Sep 9, 2008 8:07:12 AM