Category Archives: It’s a laugh!

ER does post modern Christianity- apparently!

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Michaela is a big fan of ER. You could say she watches it religiously.

So when I came across this clip on you tube I had to have a listen. Apparently the painfully trendy ER staff had to call in the chaplain to speak to some bloke who was seeking forgiveness for his crimes at the end of life.

Evangelical shock jock radio station Way of the Master Radio enjoyed it, and took the opportunity to take a pop at liberal post modern trendy folk who they see as populating the ’emerging church’. Have a listen- its fun!

It kind of raises the question of how Christians are portrayed in the media. In the UK, for the most part- they are not. It is perhaps a different story in the USA…

There was another programme this week on Radio 4 called ‘God and the movies’. You can listen again on this link.

Apparently Hollywood has woken up to the marketing opportunities of targeting the 200 million or so Evangelicals in middle America.

So Mel Gibson’s film ‘The passion of the Christ’ spawned a line of other movies- many of them very bad… some quite good.

There seems to be a move towards low budget ‘Godsploitation fims’ (I kid you not!) Check this out- BIBLEMAN!

bibleman

But there is this other return to films that contain strong moral themes- films like Iron Man or Superman, which seem shot through with references to Biblical themes- redemptive messianic moments set to stirring music, and displayed by beautiful polished people…

Is this a good thing? Surely using mass media to convey something truthful about God is a good thing?

I confess to cynicism. Hollywood is about manipulating images for profit. Do we really want to sell Jesus in this way?

But then movies remain the shapers of mass consciousness perhaps like nothing else…

I think I will steer clear of Godsploitation movies- unless to suck from them some emerging-post-modern humour. Call me shallow if you will!

William will never go bald…

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Will (right) and cousin Nat

Will (right) and cousin Nat

My kids unkindly keep reminding me that I am losing hair. They love to look down at the places where my hair used to be thick and bushy like a badgers back, and poke at it with their fingers.

It is a regular theme for my boy Will.

I try to suggest that we have enough common genetics to suggest that he will follow in my follicles.

But today, he had an answer.

“I will never go bald like you because I am always going to have hair long”

We laughed- but he did not get the joke. Ah the innocence of hirsute youth…

Will, Emily and Baldy

Will, Emily and Baldy

Sarah Palin and Halloween…

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This made me chuckle on the BBC news page- apparently the most popular costume that people will be wearing to Halloween parties in the US is a Sarah Palin suit and mask.

Check it out here

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | US Elections 2008 | A very political fright night

This kind of begs the question- what is Halloween about? What is it for?

I know you can get all historical and talk about all Hallows eve, which all sorts of Christian traditions had fun with. But then, the point was the relationship to All Saints day. (There is some stuff on Wikipedia digging into the different Christian responses here.)

It is this ridiculous Americanised commercialism that makes me grind my teeth. A celebration of plastic Hollywood ghouls and cuddly devils with strap on horns. What purpose does it serve? What is it about? I know Christmas has become a commercial de-Christianised affair, but at the heart of the secular version (X-mass) you can see some kind of value base- family, good will to all men, the giving of gifts and the stocking of soup kitchens. But Halloween???

You can even accessorise your pooch

You can even accessorise your pooch

And we Brits have bought into this big time. There is a DIY shop in out little town that has cleared half the shop just to make space for all the Haloween tat. Statues and lights and signs.

I am afraid that we have taken a decision to veto Halloween as a festival entirely.  We discussed this with the kids, and tried to have a discussion about how as Christians we do not appreciate the focus on demons and darkness, but as ever, the social pressure to conform and join in the endless round of parties and trick-or-treating is great. The kids end up feeling as though they are missing out, which does not feel good either. They are going to a party tomorrow that tries to celebrate light, but this will not fully compensate.

I think making sacrifices because of decisions made on the basis of ones faith is a good thing, when done with conviction and moderation. But I still wonder whether I am over reacting? Is it really only a bit of fun, a kind of release valve to allow us to take a sideways glance at our fears?

I don’t buy it though. Not even if it comes with free plastic demon horns…

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Christian music is cool- honest… check out Sonseed.

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I grew up listening to Christian ‘rock’ music. I have confessed this before. When others were listening to Meatloaf, or Aztec Camera, or Prefab Spout, or Genesis, or the Police- I was into a whole different vibe…

The legacy it left me with was a record collection that I can not easily share with most of my friends. Not that anyone still plays records.

I fessed up to this musical background here, on the Aoradh website.

So you will appreciate how gratifying it is to discover that the Christian music is now popular, trendy and culturally relevant.

Proof of this can be seen in the following clip- which is attracting huge attention on you tube. Thanks to TSK for the heads up.

Lazarus laughs again…

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There are many people mentioned in the margins of Bible stories… some by name.

There is the Gentile-convert-to-Judaism-convert-to-Christianity called Nicolas of Antioch, chosen as one of the seven stewards in Acts chapter seven- along with Stephen, the first martyr. Nick from Antioch- what was his story then? Spiritual gypsy perhaps? A bit of a hippy? But considered trustworthy enough to be given a role as a servant of the embryonic church, and mentioned by name for thousands of years to come…

Later recorded though (By Irenaeus- see here) as starting another Gnostic sect and getting his doctrine all Hippy-shaken.

Then there is Simon the Leper. Mentioned a few times, including as providing a feast for Jesus in his house in Bethany (Mark chapter 14)- you may remember this as the time when a woman broke an alabaster jar of expensive perfume and poured it on the head of Jesus- almost as if she had some idea that soon he would be anointed for burial… who was she- and what motivated her towards this act of excess- what had she seen in Jesus- how had he touched her life?

But back to Simon the Leper. How did he get his name? Was it because he was an extremely spotty kid and the cruel nickname stuck?

Or perhaps he really had been a leper?

If so, why was he mingling with people and not away in a leper colony with the other unclean people, outcasts, not party throwing?

Could it be that Jesus healed him? And after he showed himself to the priests, and was declared clean, he returned home, and his story was known far and wide?

We know that Jesus had some other friends in Bethany, whose story is more well known- the wonderful story of Lazarus, perhaps the most hen-pecked of people in the Bible, sandwiched between Mary the starry eyed dreamer, and Martha the houseproud (if grumpy) hostess.

It is the stories behind the stories that are fascinating- the filling out in three dimensions of these half glimpsed characterisations. Mary, who in many traditions was the same woman who broke the jar of perfume, and was known as Magdelene, from whence she had returned to live with her brother, under some kind of shameful cloud.

And after the events of the story- what happened to these people? Did they make the journey to Jerusalem to watch the triumph and tragedy and then glory of what we now know of as the Easter story?

Were they in the upper room when the Spirit came in power?

Was Lazarus the same man who went as a missionary to what is now Cypress, and whose bones still lie in a shrine there? Did his sisters go with him? Did Martha give those Cypriots what for when they trod dirt onto her clean floors?

So here is something I stumbled on that retells some of Lazarus’ story again- enjoy!