LIVING IN THE SHADOW OF CHRISTIANITY

I was watching a television programme some months ago about the children of prominent celebrities living in the shadow of their parent’s success. Each of the “children” (now adults) complained of the difficulties inherent in being taken seriously in the entertainment industry because of who their parents were. The parent’s success providing a reason for their inactivity – an excuse for their lack of success.

The Bible outlines two purposes for shadow – to protect people from the light (enabling them to recover from the heat of the day), and to cover up unhealthy and immoral practices.

Jesus, on the other hand is the light. The source of truth, wisdom, warmth and strength.

19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

21 but whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

Many Christians seem to sit in Christ’s shadow, occasionally bathing in his reflected light and feel that is enough to secure their eternal salvation. Jesus calls us to seek the light: the knowledge, truth, warmth and strength that only he can provide.

Too many of us relax in Christs shade without ever really venturing into his light, similarly too many people relax in the shade of committed Christians –attaching themselves to their activities, their ministries without ever venturing to discover their own.

It is impossible for us to move wholly out of the shadow of Christ, we must occasionally recover in His shade, but it is absolutely appropriate for us to move out of the shadow of other Christians and to encourage other Christians to move out of ours.

We are called to be the Light of the world - to reflect the light of Jesus onto an unsaved world.

Lord we thank you for the light you provided in venturing onto this earth. You are a lamp that shines out of the darkness of this world, providing hope and direction where previously there was none.

We acknowledge our responsibility to carry your light – so that others can also find their way out of the darkness.

And Lord we ask for the conviction and determination to step wholly into your light: to bathe in the truth, knowledge and wisdom that only you can provide. Amen.

BATTLEGROUND:The place of God in the Cinema

I am very interested in cinema, and was busy exploring this interest when I came across a provocative comment by a French, christian academic and film critic. Dr Olivier Clement made the statement that if Christianity was to make any true inroads into the main stream media (and cinema in particular) it needed to "transform the sadness of death into the sadness of God".

What a remarkable statement. Just think; if we were to take any of the famous film tragedies of the last few years and shift the focus of the films away from the sadness of death and onto the sadness of God what dramaticaly rich cinema we could create.

Take "Titanic" for example; if the focus of the tragedy was not the fact that "Jack" died saving "Rose", but on the true story of the young pastor (whose name escapes me) who spent his final moments of life swimming from person to person securing their salvation before he died. What if he had secured Rose and Jack's salvation? How would that have uplifted the nature of the story? Instead of grieving the loss of life we could find hope in the salvation of those souls. Imagine the impact of that on modern cinema.

Popular culture, by the way, has not always been devoid of the Christian message.

If one was to examine any of the popular film genres between the 1930’s and the late 1960’s one would notice a dramatic shift in the positioning of Christ in the spiritual theme of most films. Prior to the 1960’s Christianity was accepted as the foundational belief of the English-speaking film marketplace and it was promoted (if not practiced) by most English, American and Australian film-makers. I have not included other European nations in this discussion because this truth did not necessarily hold for them – the first and second world wars created an anti-God reaction that dramatically coloured the perspective of many of their film makers and cultural movements, many of whom adopted an existentialist, nihilistic, atheistic position: Life is pointless, there is nothing after life, there is no God.

America, Australia and to a lesser extent England were not as directly impacted as northern and eastern Europe by the world wars and so an acceptance of Christian truths continued to be promoted in popular film. Prayer was regularly depicted as a practical option in moments of crisis: i.e Frank Capra’s opening to It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) depicts prayers emanating from a number of houses to ensure the safety of George Bailey, and Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) openly leads his merry men in prayer before embarking on their mission against the evil Prince John.

The belief that God had, ultimately, things under his control was evidenced in dramas such as The Grapes of Wrath (1940) where the stoic determination of a family savaged by the depression is reinforced by their faith in Him, and Battleground (1949), when the Chaplain uses prayer to strenghten the resolve of battle weary, drastically outnumbered G.I's before the final battle. This fundamental belief in the justness and, indeed, the existence of God begins to wane by the middle years of the 1960’s.

America’s unpopular involvement in the Vietnam War and their subsequent spectacular defeat at the hands of the Communist Forces of North Vietnam, saw a cultural reaction against “conservative” Christian beliefs and this was evidenced in the spiritual themes of popular culture. The “make love not war” slogan arose, was taken out of it’s spiritual context and used as a tool for dismantling Christian morality and ethics, leading to the other catch-cry of the late 60’s: “If it feels good – do it”.

The ramifications of this cultural shift manifested in all genres of all areas of popular culture, particularly music, theatre and film. Nowhere, however, is the shift away from the sanctity of Christianity more evidenced than in the film genre of the American Western.

God had a tangible hand in the films of John Ford, Anthony Mann, George Stevens and Howard Hawkes, major directors of the Western of the 1940’s and 50’s, with people of God being generally represented as determined, courageous and capable proponents of the Christian Faith. By the mid –1960’s this had dramatically changed.

Suddenly preachers and Godly people were often depicted as weak-willed, morally corrupt cowards, as in Clint Eastwood’s High Plains Drifter (1973), brutal, avenging assassins as played by Robert Mitchum in Five Card Stud (1968), or as insane, deluded sociopaths as realised by Donald Pleasance in Will Penny (1968). Christianity was largely being presented as either a haven for the weak minded, or a toxic pollutant to the mind; something one should avoid at all costs. This positioning has continued for forty years.

The fifties were the golden days of the Biblical epic. From Mervyn LeRoy’s Quo Vadis in 1951 to William Wyler’s Ben Hur in 1959 Christian messaged films saw unprecedented box-office success. But by the mid - late 60’s such efforts were seen as unpopular and unprofitable. King of Kings (1961), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), and The Bible (1966), are considered box office flops. Jesus of Nazareth (1977) was a six hour epic that was made for television, and heavily edited for cinematic release. Although highly regarded by both theologians and film critics it too was not a box office success.

Recent years have seen the release of only a few Biblically based movies. The most notable (and successful) being The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) by Martin Scorsese and 2004’s The Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson. Paradoxically both were highly successful because they were both highly controversial, both of them flying in the face of accepted theological positions. The Last Temptation of Christ developing the concept that Christ explored a carnal relationship before surrendering to the Cross, while The Passion of the Christ preoccupied itself with the brutality suffered by Christ (events that garner only a passing mention in the scriptures) rather than his death and resurrection – the cornerstone of the Christian faith.

If any positives are to be gleaned out of the success of these two films, it is that they have put Christianity once more on the agenda for potential film-makers. But if we are going to develop that genre and it’s inherent possibilities let’s do it effectively and dramatically, and with theological and scriptural accuracy.

Olivier Clement's suggestion might be the clue that can effect this.

15 He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God.20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

THE DANGER OF SELF WORSHIP

In February of last year noted left-wing journalist Hunter S. Thompson took his own life. He staged the whole event to create the maximum impact on his family and friends, and to totally devastate his wife. He rang her up, chatted lightly, promised to see her when she got home and then blew his brains out while still on the phone. Fortunately she had rung off before he performed the "coup' de grace".

I discovered this story while flicking through an old edition of "Rolling Stone" magazine, a periodical to which he was a frequent contributor, and I couldn't help comparing his story with that of another famous philospher and writer: Ernest Hemingway (a major inspiration for Thompson). Both men lived without God, both men felt possessed of a wisdom and insight into the essence of life that transcended the bland, pedestrian awareness of "mere mortals" and both men chose to blow their brains out rather than deal with the challenges inherent with the twilight of life. What Gives?

History suggests that such self-destruction is the natural outworking of an existence where the place of the one true God has been taken by one's self. When you replace God with yourself you will soon become disillusioned with the limitations of this false God. Inevitably you will turn your back on this lesser spiritual entity and apostasize yourself!

In the case of Hunter S. Thompson it wasn't enough that he self-destruct. His insatiable ego insisted that his exit include as much collateral damage as he could orchestrate. He had to leave a legacy, an image of himself that others could continue to worship beyond the grave. He couldn't live with the truth of his frail, twisted, decadent humanity so he killed himself to create a myth that others could revere, and revere thay have.

Rolling Stone magazine spent most of that edition not only remembering his life but celebrating his death, as if it was the honourable act of a great human being. They enlisted the aid of actors, jounalists and authors to eulogise his passing. People such as Jack Nicholson, Johnny Depp, Tom Wolf et al. shared anecdotes of Thompson's (at best) provocative, and (at worst) sickeningly offensive behaviour as if they were priceless heirlooms to be treasured forever. Nobody interviewed his wife, nor referred to his final "gift" to her.

Lost, self indulgent, egocentric souls such as Nicholson, Depp and Wolf will continue to revere the lives (and deaths) of people such as Ernest Hemingway and Hunter S. Thompson because doing so justifies theirs.

Self-worship can only lead to self-destruction and celebrating it is a pathetic way of distracting from the hopelessness of a life without the one true God.

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:
10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE

Oh, It's good to be blogging again. The last few months have seen me so busy dealing with the other aspects of my life (parenting, partnering, puppetry, Kid's Church, working, looking for work et al..) that the very idea of blogging has just seemed too hard and time consuming.. and I've been all the poorer for it. So it's time for me to get blogging again. So I'm back to sharing some random observations.

Some years ago a noted journalist wrote an article called : Below the bottom line. And in it he criticised the government of the time for putting the well being of the Australian Economy above the well being of the Australian people. His argument was that since the Government’s “bottom line” was the Economic status of the treasury, it followed that all governmental decisions and actions were dictated by that bottom line. Therefore not only did the majority of the Australian people not factor into those decisions, they suffered from them – they fell below the Australian Government’s "bottom line".

Our behaviour is governed by our “bottom line”. If our bottom line is “money” then our behaviour will be governed by a determination to acquire it. If our bottom line is being liked/ being popular then our behaviour will be determined by that. If our bottom line is pleasing our spouse then our behaviour will be impacted by that desire, similarly if our bottom line is displeasing our spouse our behaviour will be governed by that.

Jesus wants our bottom line to be him. He wants our behaviour to be governed entirely by him.

John 13:12-20
12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them.
13 "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am.
14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.
15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
16 I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
and
20 I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me."

Precious father, Strengthen our hearts Lord God, that we might continue to make Jesus the bottom line of our lives, the dictator of all our decisions, the governor of all of our actions. Amen.

CHANGING OUR STARS

One of my favourite films is “A Knight’s Tale” with Heath Ledger. It recounts the story of a Knight’s squire who, upon the untimely demise of his master, disguises himself as the dead Knight in order to complete a joust, collect the prize money and thus rescue his two friends and himself from starvation. His victory, however, plants the idea in his head that by continuing to joust as a supposed knight he can somehow “change his stars” and become the real thing. His plan falls over, however, when his fraud is discovered and he ends up in the stocks, only to be released on the wishes of the King to be, and ultimately given a true Knighthood by the same Prince.

The message of the story is that one can “change their stars”: that we have control of our own fate if only we are prepared to “chance our hand” and “go for it”. The action of the film, however, exposes a slightly different truth: that our “stars can change” but only if the King decides to change them for us. In the film Heath Ledger’s character had to bring himself to the attention of the future King, but it was the will of the Prince that made him a knight, not his own.

This is true of all “fairy tales”. Character’s change their futures by spectacularly bringing themselves into the favour of the King and then he bestows on them their reward – a new life.

Right principle, wrong king.

Jesus Christ is the “right” King.

We can “change our stars” but only by bringing ourselves to the attention of Jesus, and, like all kings, we do that by humbling ourselves before him… throwing ourselves prostrate before him, begging for His forgiveness for our wretched, sinful lives, and asking for His permission to start again on the journey He has planned for us.

Are we bringing ourselves to the attention of the King? Are we submitting to Him daily? Are we humbling ourselves before Him?

So many “Christians" complain that their lives aren’t what they would like them to be (see scotwise.blogspot.com – Tues. 24/1/2005 for more details on this condition) – it’s because they aren’t bringing themselves before the attention of the King, not humbling themselves before him, asking for his forgiveness or his guidance.

Our futures are changed by the grace and will of the King. We can never do it meaningfully without Him.

THE RELEVANCE OF THE GOSPELS

I love reading the gospels. Although in all honesty I find that I tend to read Luke above the others because, on reflection, I think I find it more relevant to my situation. And that’s the wonderful thing about the gospels - each of them was written as a response to people in different situations. Matthew wrote to convince the Jerusalem Jews that Jesus was the promised Messiah, Luke wrote to convince skeptical gentiles (particularly the Greeks) that the rumours that Jesus was the Son of God were true, John wrote to convince Christians of flagging faith to strengthen their belief and not fall prey to the influence of false teaching, while Mark wrote to reassure and strengthen converts in Rome who were suffering dreadful persecution at the hands of the Emperor Nero.

I decided to have a look at Mark’s account of the last supper. It’s a shorter account than Luke and John and almost identical to Matthew, targeting specifically Jesus’ knowledge of his betrayal by Judas and the significance of the sacrifice of his body and the shedding of his blood as the communion elements of the New Covenant;
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take it; this is my body." Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many," he said to them. "I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God."

This was written as an encouragement to heavily persecuted Christians. No matter what was happening to them Christ sacrificed his body for them and shed his blood to wash away their sins. More than that he will drink and eat with them again in the Kingdom of God, and when is that? On his resurrection from the dead!

What a wonderful encouragement! Throughout Mark’s account of Jesus’ life he highlights the reward for suffering, providing evidence to support his position that the suffering of believers will not be in vain, that Christ’s promises to us will be fulfilled. In fact he prefaces his account of the passover with the rerassurance: “it was just as he had told them”. His promises are real!!

Just as the persecuted Christians in Rome could look forward to a glory beyond their suffering; so can we. So let’s cling to the hope to which we have been called and call upon the power that has been gifted to us.

Ephesians 1:18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. AMEN.

DODGING THE DARTS OF DAILY DISAPPOINTMENT

I’m sitting here at the computer listening to the strains of “Sesame Street” wafting in from the lounge room when suddenly I hear Yoda from “Star Wars” on the programme. Being an avid fan of the Star Wars franchise I leap from my workstation and into the lounge-room captivated by the idea that Yoda, that delightfully wise and witty Jedi Master, is featuring on my four year old’s favourite T.V show.

But, alas, I was deceived, the voice was the same but the character was decidedly different. It was Grover, a silly, hairy, blue puppet (with no ears) who regularly features on the programme, not the spiritual, cute, hairy, green puppet with magnificent ears that I hoped was featuring. Engulfed in disappointment I lumbered back to my workstation to report on this shattering experience.

Disappointment is an interesting emotion. I realize as I write this that it is probably the most common emotion that I experience. Not only do I experience it daily, but I experience it many times a day. It is now 9.05 am and I have been up since 6am. Already I can recount five incidents so far this morning that have disappointed me:

On waking - the realization that after completing a twelve hour shift (on her day off) that it was now going to be five more days before I had an opportunity to spend any quality time with my wife.

After preparing omelettes for the children for breakfast my seven year old decided that she wanted warm rice and milk.

Our thirteen year old ate for breakfast the lunch I had prepared for my wife to take to work.

My wife worked out the actual amount of money she would take home after tax despite all the hours she had worked this week.

I walked into the garage to discover the mess the children had made yesterday after having friends over to play.

All of these examples are petty and very common place – I know, but that’s the point: disappointment is a common-place response to petty situations. It is a recurring emotion that, for many, might take place dozens of times a day.

I walk in a haze of disappointment every day. Pathetic isn’t it? I’m sure I’m not the only one, but I’m probably one of the few who recognize it. We all get stabbed by daily darts of disappointment. How do we cope? How do we survive?

I thank the Lord for my faith. Satisfaction is the antithesis of disappointment (dissatisfaction) and true Christian faith has the uncanny ability to provide deep, personal and spiritual satisfaction – putting worldly disappointment in it’s true, diminutive perspective. Consequently, I’m defined by my faith not by my disappointments.

But what of the rest of the world?

I was talking to an unsaved acquaintance the other day and the conversation struggled to rise above the dissatisfaction and disappointments of his daily experience. He has no faith, his life is defined by his disappointments. I know Christians who, despite their faith, are similarly defined. When our worldly dissatisfactions overwhelm our faith we have some serious spiritual readjusting to do.

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

Father God, I thank you from the deepest parts of my being for the gift of Christ’s sacrifice. A sacrifice that saves me from being defined by the disappointments of life and delivers me into the hope of a future in your presence and the satisfaction of knowing that I am on the path intended for me…. The road to Glory. Continue to strengthen my conviction Lord, and to find the determination to continue to guide others on to the same path. In the name of your precious son Jesus. Amen.