Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Epiphany Challenge
To quote "American Idol" judge, Paula Abdul...."Anybody can be famous now...it's like a disease." That makes me think twice or more about this blogging stuff...am I "sick" in doing this? Is it funny or tragic to watch the Idol "wannabes" parade across the TV screen only to be insulted, rejected and leave the stage in tears as if they heard for the first time in their lives that they can't carry a tune across the room, let alone before an audience. Now for my "Epiphany Challenge" - is it not the task of the church to make the Babe in Bethlehem known to all the world during this Eiphany season - to let people know they really are "famous" in the sight of the Lord - that by the grace of God, I am acceptable to my Creator, even though Simon C. might think otherwise? No, we don't have a YouTube clip to show or a link to a blog page written by Jesus. We have only a book called the Bible and testimonies from people like you and me about a God who has made Himself known through one who grew up as a carpenter's son in a town called Nazareth. I read that many of those who audition for "Idol" have trekked across the country and have been rejected more than a few times. What keeps them from walking down the block on a Sunday morning to Fifth Lutheran by the Gas Station to hear the "good news"....I am loved.....I am somebody....God does not make junk? Now that's a challenge to consider for the new year.
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To bring a little Minnesota Lutheran dynamic into this blog:
Here's my favorite Garrison Keillor quote:
“If you can’t go to church and, for at least a moment, be given transcendence; if you can’t go to church and pass briefly from this life to the next; then I can’t see why anyone should go. Just a brief moment of transcendence causes you to come out of church a changed person.”
Why don't these American Idol wannabes go down the street to First Lutheran or even First Baptist is because this taste of transcendence is craved by modern Americans. This is why we go to movies, watch 100 hours of TV a week, and never miss a phone call. We want those moments that will make us feel like we're part of something larger than ourselves, something that proves to us that we are not alone. Movies and TV allow us to live vicariously through other (fictional) people. Richard Rodrigues said it best when talking with Bill Moyers:
"We are a people desperate to make meaningful connections. Even though Americans seem very optimistic, they're also very lonely. We go online to connect to people...find our wife or boyfriend...or at least someone to listen to them. This desperation, "I need to take this call because it may be someone that's really going to change my life."
As your Paula quote indicates, American Idol is the path to fame and although fame has its draw backs, one of them is not loneliness...or so the conventional wisdom goes.
In my experience, churches don't get this. They're busy talking about salvation and soup kitchens and don't talk about real transcendence anymore.
M. Night Shaymalyan's movies are all about this theme, and he's usually spot-on. He themes of isolation to redemption speak to people around the world (some films better than others).
For me, I've found that good Imago Dei theology is the best theological tool the Church has been given to confront this cultural phenomenon. As beings created in God's image, we not only have great worth and importance, but we also can know that we were created for greater things than what the world tells us.
We believe that we are powerless against the powers that be. Oppressive governments, oil companies, big box retailers, what can we do against these powers? Well, if Christ has all the authority in heaven and earth, and he's given it to believers, there is a lot that we can do, and it only starts at the baptismal font. As Luke shows us in his recounting of Paul's ministry: all good, biblical preaching results in a riot in the community.
The Gospel empowers people to fight for change in this world. To show the world that the reign of God is come (see I even brought this back to your epiphany theme :-)
Churches don't have that reputation anymore. They aren't the ones bucking the Powers That Be. In fact, according to the Da Vinci Code, not only is the Church not fighting the imperial powers, they're in bed with them!
So, until the Church gets that message out people are going to settle with the search for fame and other things that allow them to get a mere taste of the transcendence that God offers through communion with his Son.
Wow. That ended up being longer than I planned. Sorry.
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