Lord Save Us From Your Followers
Movie and Lunch
So today was movie day with the staff as we downloaded the new documentary by Portland area filmmaker, Dan Merchant. Merchant spent two+ years researching and filming around the country as he dived into the question, “why is the gospel of love so dividing our nation?” So five of us sat down at lunch today and watched the film while shoving chicken nuggets down. The verdict… very compelling.
Now I had sat down last week and read the book which Merchant put out accompanying the release of the film. It was a great prelude to watching the movie. Here’s a quote that stuck with it, a quote that came out of the mouth of Tony Campolo fifteen minutes into the film. Loosely quoting St. Augustine, Campolo says, “The Church is a whore, but she’s still my mother.” Wow! Referring to the consistent unfaithfulness of the church to the true nature and call of Christ, Campolo still sees the church as the source and key to the development of his faith. I thought immediately of the Derek Webb song, “Wedding Dress” in which he sings, “I am a whore I do confess, I put you on just like a wedding dress…”. And that was just the first part of the movie.
Merchant goes on to unwrap the overarching theme that Christians have gotten off course and in many ways reflect little of Christ. Not a new theme, but his dissection of it through interviews with a variety of individuals including Al Franken, Michael Reagan, Sister Mary Timothy (drag queen from San Francisco), Ron Luce (he bothers me for some reason). Merchant also powerfully replicates the confession booth from Donald Miller’s book, “Blue Like Jazz” by setting up his own booth in the middle of a gay pride festival. The footage of these confession is powerful, shocking, and heart-breaking.
Take a look at the book and the movie. It can be downloaded from the website, Lord Save Us Nation. Get the book as well — Interested in what you may think. I have a three week series to speak in July and considering how to use this material to challenge our church community. Any thoughts?
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