The Church and Story

A couple of weeks back, I let myself get sucked into an argument about whether drama or story should be allowed within a church service.

The argument was played out at Christ and Pop Culture, which gave a link to an interview with Pastor John Piper, which you can read here. (A better rebuttal of Pastor Piper than mine can be found here.)

In a nutshell, Pastor John argues that while no one will go to hell for doing so, that any use of story or illustration anywhere within the church service will damage the kingdom.

The purpose of a church service, the argument goes, is to provide a specific style of “till Jesus comes” preaching. Any church that uses anything that helps the congregation “stay with them and be moved and get helped” undermines the power of such sermons as being the core provider of salvation, and thus is anathema to Pastor John.

This includes any use of illustration, from a drama performed by an actor to a story the preacher himself tells.

I have to admit, I wasn’t even aware of the “sermon wars” – the existence of a “my type of sermon is the one true way, and anyone who preaches another way is of the devil” struggle.

Sure, I was aware of the music wars (“If it has a beat, Old Scratch wrote it!”) and the communion wars (“If the wine is fermented, it negates the power of the bread!”), and we all are aware of the baptism wars (“Dunking if for donuts, not disciples!”).

Apparently such a sermon war exists. (Kenneth E. Bailey, in the first chapter of JACOB AND THE PRODIGAL addresses this tangentially, as he feels he must start the book by validating the use of metaphors, parables and dramatic action while discussing theology.)

I do agree with Pastor Piper that not all churches should use illustrations within their sermons; but I do not agree with his notion that to use anything within a service that “moves” or “helps” the congregation is a danger to the power of sermon.

Paul and Jesus used illustration to clarify their points; it did not negate their power and authority. Many of our brethren have entire church services that do not even contain sermons; their communion with G-d is in no way diminished by that omission.

Pastor Piper argues that if anything other than preaching is shown to either hold, move or help a congregation, that therefore we can (and shall!) assume that preaching can do none of those things.

Either/or.

Thinking that everything must be an “either/or” doesn’t not fit with a G-d that refused “either/or” in his very Gospel; in a savior that is not either G-d or Man, but rather a “both/and.”

The use of parable or illustration does not work for Pastor Piper — all the more power to him (I mean that sincerely). Does that mean all other congregations must choose to believe that either there is no power in parable, or that there is no power in preaching?

Absolutely not.

It is a false dichotomy from the get go.

Tomorrow: The question about church drama that should have been asked.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

Life Tips from Screenwriting

Donald Miller showcases on his blog how one aspect of good screenwriting works in life as well, in an entry called: "Lance Armstrong Saves a Cat."

I'm going to have to write a book someday on life lessons from the school of script writing.

Someday.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

Geek Rush

(Standard view for most sessions – yep, this is what it looked like from my pov for three days…)

-Friday afternoon rolled into San Diego. Didn’t even unpack the luggage – walked straight from the hotel valet to the Con

-Went into a panel we didn’t care about in order to secure seats in the room for a later panel that we did care about. You do a lot of that at the Con.

An author, in defending how thick the book he wrote was, said, “I spent an entire month writing that novel. How small do you expect it to be?” I alone in the room laughed. Apparently he wasn’t joking.

-Heard the best response to the question: “How do you get your ideas?” To which an author asked back, “I’m trying to figure out how you turn your ideas off?”

-Heard Stephan Pastis (PEARLS BEFORE SWINE comic strip) give his hilarious lecture, complete with cartoons and stories from the trenches of syndication.

Best take-away – Stephan claims his writing did not become good until he stopped trying so hard. He would draw and write as fast as he could, preventing himself from over-editing his initial ideas; he just let it flow.

-Walked the exhibition hall floor. Couldn’t get within six feet of the booths sponsored by the studios. If you want to punish a claustrophobe, make them stand in the middle of the exhibition hall at the Con.

-Saw all kinds of costumes. A full family of Jedi knights, including a lightsaber holding infant in a stroller. A squadron of Predators. A full on transformer – Bumblebee. The entire Superman and Batman family of characters. A number of anime characters, a Patrick from Spongebob and a gaggle of girls wearing red cat hoods. You see a lot of stuff like that at the Con.

-Skipped out early that day, instead seeing the movie MOON. Well worth it.

-Spent Saturday morning taking an extended breakfast with friends who live in SD. Doing the Con casual this year, no need to rush.

-Stood an hour in line for a SteamPunk event. Didn’t get in despite the wait. You do a lot of that at the Con.

-Random line overheard while pushing past a mob swarming for a freebie: “I don’t know what that is – but I want one!”

-Two sessions that you can usually get into that never disappoint: Quick Draw (think improv for artists) and voice over panels.

-Got into the Ray Bradbury session. The moderator spent the first 20 minutes of the one hour session ignoring the fact that Ray was sitting next to him, instead schilling for his own projects, which had nothing to do with Bradbury.

The only entertainment was watching him scramble to come up with connections to justify using up this session for the hawking. One book was a remake of a project that was inspired by an artist that had once met Ray Bradbury. Another was a movie project that might consider casting minor roles with actors that may have at one time been in a play written by Bradbury. Sad.

-The highlight of Ray’s session: showing a clip of an interview with Mike Wallace on the night of the moon landing. The lowlight: seeing how feeble and a bit crazy the sci-fi master has become.

-Passed a lady wearing a baseball jersey and lacy panties that were a tad too small to fulfill their proper function. If it was meant to be a costume, I couldn’t tell you what character. As we passed, heard her complain to her male companion, “People keep staring at my butt. I don’t know why.”

Catherine prevented me from stopping to explain to her why.

-Watched the pilot for HUMAN TARGET. I was a fan of the comic back in the seventies; the tv series isn’t much like the comic. But I liked it a lot anyway.

-Skipped the three hour line for evening screenings, opting instead for the one and a half hour line at Spaghetti Factory. If you are going to be in a long line, there might as well be food at the end of it.

- Stood in line with a lawyer, who happened to also have sold four screenplays, and has a sister who writes on a television series. You do a lot of that at the Con.

-Witnessed a security guard stopping an actual robot replica of R2D2 from rolling into a restricted area. Apparently that was the droid he was looking for.

-Sat with 2,000 of my closest friends watching a DOCTOR WHO panel including showrunner Russel T. Davies and star David Tennant. My wife swooned over the star, which really was as it should be. Responding to a shout of “We love you!” Tennant looked over the massive audience and replied, “And we love you. Each of you in a slightly different, individual way.”

-Left the Con, headed back to LA and sat in traffic for several hours. You do a lot of that at the Con.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

Music and Astronomy

I was going to use today's blog to start a discussion I got sucked into recently, on whether drama should be allowed into the church and if story has any real place in our spiritual lives.

That will have to wait as Jeff Berryman re-reminded me of the Karl Paulnack's welcoming speech to parents at the Boston Conservatory.

I will give you the same quote that Jeff does from the speech:

"One of the first cultures to articulate how music really works were the ancient Greeks. And this is going to fascinate you: the Greeks said that music and astronomy were two sides of the same coin. Astronomy was seen as the study of relationships between observable, permanent, external objects, and music was seen as the study of relationships between invisible, internal, hidden objects. Music has a way of finding the big, invisible moving pieces inside our hearts and souls and helping us figure out the position of things inside us."

In trying to write this, the closing paragraph, to wrap up my thoughts and summarize what I feel about Paulnack's insights, everything I wrote just ruined the moment. So instead, I will simply encourage you to find a quiet moment and read the full article.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

Tuesday Grab Bag

A couple things out there that caught my eye:

Phil has an interesting entry comparing two icons who recently passed.

Just found The Hollywood Roaster, an Onion for Hollywood. And this article is the one that made me giggle the most.

Richard Clark dives into why dumb movies are dangerous. His paragraph on "other, more sinister attributes" sounds like a section from my talk last Beacon. I would quibble with his notion that a movie being protested by the church is a good indicator of truthiness, but otherwise this is a thoughtfully provoking article. Final paragraph is my favorite.

Stephan Pastis, author of one of the funniest strips out there, contemplates bringing a lawyer into his feud with The Family Circus. (And for those not catching his tone, he is pals with the FC guys.)

Just my thoughts,

Sean

Brooklyn Flora

This months book club read was A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN. We have club members from afar -- read along, then discuss via e-mail.

Susan Kelly is one such member, and gave such a good overview of the book, I decided to give into my laziness and use her comments as my own.

Here are her thoughts:

I didn't realize the book was almost 500 pages till Jack sent that email. Yikes I thought. In the beginning I didn't get into this. I was impatient with all the description early on and so many details, and found Betty Smith's racist language offensive. I realize she wrote this in the 1940's but I wasn't able to let her off the hook easily. That kind of language has been greatly eliminated from polite conversation so when you hear derogatory names for Jewish people, etc. it is shocking. Luckily, there weren't many slurs, etc as the book progressed.

Smith's Francie Nolan and all her family did win me over as they struggle amidst poverty moving from one tenement to another. The characters were smart, witty, (often) diligent, kind and worthy of respect. They were drawn warts and all so even the severely alcoholic father's tremors are mentioned but no one gets away with overemphasizing his addiction. The family knew he wasn't a saint, but they insisted on the truth in their own understanding of their father.

Sissy was one of my favorites. She couldn't read, but she did outsmart Francie's teacher when felt her niece needed someone in her corner. She poses as Francie's mother and confronts and fools a snobbish teacher who Sissy sized up immediately. Calling out to that police officer was inspired.

It was interesting to read as a sociological portrait of a neighborhood, getting a respectful, honest look at how people cope with poverty and how they just lived back then. I was surprised by how they used to celebrate Thanksgiving as we do Halloween with kids dressing up and going to different stores begging for treats. Since kids did so much of the shopping ("Here's a nickel go to the store and get two loaves of bread) smart merchants catered to them (frugally) to win their loyalty. Smith provided so much insight into how people doctored up old bread and left overs to last days. She made that interesting. She almost made the poverty seem fun or adventurous. I had to remind myself that these really were hard times.

Francie has interesting relationships with all her family members. It was fascinating to see how honest and open Katie (the mother) was about sex and boys when Francie was a young teen, how she didn't sugar coat romance, how she was always practical even when Francie was broken hearted. It was amazing how fast these kids grew up, how prematurely they assumed responsibility.

The story got more vital and witty as I went through it. It's really got everything: courage, heart, injustice, jealousy, endurance, murder, weddings, births, deaths, success and failure. Now I'd definitely read more Betty Smith.

Mooning About

I was three going on four when Armstrong made his one small step, so I don’t have much recollection of the event.

But in honor of the anniversary, I thought I would reminisce about moon references.

In no particular order:

- “From the Earth to the Moon” This mini-series is among the best television has to offer.

- “Fool Moon” Bill Irwin and David Shiner clowning it up on Broadway. Laughed until it hurt – and still couldn’t stop laughing.

- Oz, the werewolf from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” Still the best metaphor for puberty ever.

- “Space: 1999” Realized recently that I remember very little from this show, other than the design of the space ships, that it starred the cool guy from “Mission: Impossible,” and that it was about the moon breaking out of orbit and careening out into space.

Mostly, though, I remember it because 1999 seemed so far away that it was safe to put in the title of a show and we’d never get there to learn if the stuff really happened or not.

Not as bad of a faux pas as calling your show “James at 16,” then trying to figure out what happens to the brand name in season two…

- Saturn Girl Okay, she wasn’t born on our moon, but on Titan, a moon of Saturn. “Legion of Superheroes” was my favorite comic, and I had a secret crush on Saturn Girl. Well, not so secret, as she can read minds…

- Moon Walking I was never much of a Michael Jackson fan, but do admit spending a significant amount of time one week trying to imitate the moonwalk. Finally decided that the problem with the floor surfaces that I was trying it on, not my inherent lack of any dancing ability whatsoever.

- “By the Light of the Silvery Moon” My introduction to those tight, four-part barbershop harmonies. I still stop and listen when I hear the style.

- “Blue Moon” After a date in Seattle, I danced with a girl in the back yard singing this song to her. Convinced her I was a romantic, so when I proposed later, she agreed.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

Potions Master

Some of you may not have heard, but the newest Harry Potter movie is out.

Janet said most of what I would say, only more articulately, and without using "like" and "you know" every few words (as I, like, totally would, you know). Scoot on over to her blog for an in-depth look.

And this is what I might add:

-Saw the movie twice, never got bored.

-The acting is the draw, especially Broadbent and Rickman. Hmmm, maybe I will have to develop a buddy movie for the two of them to star in...

-Don't look for the plot unless watching on an I-Max size screen; it is too small to see, and I'd hate for you to have to explain this one to the ophthalmologist.

-Not convinced Ginny is the right one for Harry? When she yells "shut it" without taking authority away from the team captain, well that was a defining moment.

-I am still stunned by the hard grace offered to the likes of Draco by Dumbledore. Hard, hard grace.

-If you are not a HP fan yet, think of the movie the way I do: if enough of you muggles go out and see the movie, I just might get an extra day of Christmas break. Enough to make me laugh and cry.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

Brain Rules on News

Here's a great interview of Dr. John Medina, the guy behind BRAIN RULES.

You will get a sense not only of how his brain works, but his very approachable personality.

I am the guest speaker at Beacon this Sunday (the 12^th) at my church, Bel Air Presbyterian. Beacon is a group with the goal to “equip, inspire and encourage believers in the entertainment industry.”

I’ll be talking about such trivial things as Truth and beauty, what makes films made by Christians different than other films (and yes, I will talk about low quality being one of those differentials), and why Americans so easily (and eagerly) get it wrong.

Sound controversial enough?

I wont’ be re-enacting the opening to RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, which is the only thing I do that I know works every time. So without a gimme, I’m a bit nervous.

Wanna see me crash and burn? This Sunday, starting at 12:30 (well, they have some lunch and socialize at 12:30, talks usually start closer to 1pm).

Just my thoughts,

Sean

Not Savalas, the Other Telly

Last year I wrote a training video with Charity Parenzini for Seattle Children's Hospital. It was in the style of a sit-com, riffing on a Scrub's like premise.

Well, that little video just won a Telly award! I know, a Telly! Isn't that great?

I never thought I would win one of those. Of course, before today, I never knew what a Telly was.

We won the silver award, which is the highest they have. Just Silver and Bronze (those guys have a lot of categories, so they can't really afford gold). My category was "employee communication."

Other Telly winners range from a CSI episode to a cd-rom on pelvic diseases. So I'm in strangely linked company.

Just my thoughts,

The Award Winning Sean

America

A Musical So Nice, I'm Seeing It Twice

Cath and I had a rollicking good time revisiting Fellowship! The Musical a couple of weeks ago; and we're going again tomorrow night.

Yep, I like it that much.

There is an interview (along with the behind-the-scenes video I mentioned earlier) by Backstage on the website, check it out. It includes a few clips from the show.

I am now longing for a revisit of the originals -- both the book (admittedly, in my top books of all time category), and the films. I wonder if work would notice me disappearing for a couple of weeks...

Just my thoughts,

Sean

Don't miss FELLOWSHIP! Now playing at the Falcon Theatre!The Critics are Raving!

"Laugh Loudly and enjoy yourself! With a romping score by Allen Simpson and funny lyrics by the strength and combined efforts of the comedically gifted cast..." - Backstage

"The cast is all-around splendid...McCrary's direction, Spear's choreography, and Simpson and Rouse's musical direction... couldn't be better." -StageSceneLA.com

"Manically madcap!...creatively kooky..." - Tolucan Times

"...sublimely silly spoof..." -LA Times

"Every player is a comedic gem!" -Backstage

www.FalconTheatre.com.

Just Look On the Bright Side of Life...

Peter Chattaway has an rather interesting comparison of SPARTACUS, THE LIFE OF BRIAN and the life of Jesus.

Pretty nifty introspection from someone who is a fan of all three of those stories.

As for me, I'm one of those guys that when push comes to shove, would probably say, "Oh, that Spartacus?! Well, of course I'm not that one. Are you looking for that fellow over there? Yoo hoo, Sparty, I think these guys are looking for you. He's so shy."

But that's just me.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

On the Wrong Tract

A humorous yet insightful site I look at on a regular basis is “Stuff Christians Like,” where Prodigal Jon takes by the numbers things that, well, Christians like.

Such as: Making up prayer requests, because everyone else has one.

Or throwing out disclaimers before recommending something secular.

Or taking the college years off.

Today’s post was about “making tracts that look like money.”

You know, the five dollar bill in the grocery store parking lot that you pick up thinking “I’m going back in for some Ben & Jerry’s!” only to discover that it isn’t a fiver, but rather a “do you know Jesus?” missive.

Lots of folks responded to his post, including one guy that took Prodigal Jon to task, claiming that tricking folks into the kingdom can only be positive, especially since Jesus was doing such tricks all the time.

Which led to this response from me:

Jon – good, though provoking post.

If I may add to your response to Colin's argument about "tricking,": First off, let's be honest and use the right word - "lying."

"Hey, guy who's out of work and wondering where the next meal is coming from, here's five bucks for you... NOT! Hee, hee, sucker! Okay, now let me tell you about the love of Jesus..."

Contrary to Colin’s belief that Jesus lied his butt off to people, hoping to dishonest them into heaven, He never did that. In fact, He made clear that the father of lies was not the Father of Heaven, but rather the guy working against heaven.

(And make no mistake, the guy who is out there lying for G-d is in actuality working for the devil, whether he knows it or not.)

Once we’ve convinced ourselves that it is okay to be a little deceitful as long as the goal is good – evangelism in this case – then it becomes easier to become more deceitful.

Have a couple of people been turned on to G-d by a disingenuous tract? Sure.

Have even more people, by the boatload even, been turned off to the whole idea of a two-faced Christianity by dishonest tracts? Yep.

In the history of restaurants, have one or two waitresses found the “tip” of a misrepresentative tract to contain the words they needed at the moment? Maybe.

Have hundreds, if not thousands, of wait-staff declared that they would never darken the door of a “worship house” that trains its congregants to be cheap and condescending? Oh yeah.

And from there, we start believing the lies we tell to trick people into Jesusification.

“Believe in Jesus and you will never have a problem again.”

“Believe in Jesus, and you can sin all you want and not worry about the afterlife, because G-d loves a grateful sinner!”

“Believe in Jesus and you will make lots and lots of money, because that is the root of all happiness!”

Slippery slope. Slippery slope.

That’s my response, and those are just my thoughts,

Sean

Must See Theater and Must See TV!

When Cath and I road trip, we have a required set of music that must be listened to.

The Monkees.

Little Shop of Horrors.

Big River.

And the cast album of Fellowship! The Musical Parody of “The Fellowship of the Ring!”

Fellowship is back, and opens tonight at the Falcon Theater in Burbank. (Go here for a behind the scenes vid of Fellowship.)

When it first ran, I saw the show multiple times, and never got tired of it.

Gotta laugh at Frodo, who keeps leaving the ring lying around; or the Balrog and his cabaret number (the band used to be larger, but he got hungry); or that other hobbit that no one remembers (“Which one are you again?).

Take this moment of insight (in song), when Gimli the dwarf and Legolas the elf realize that they just might have more in common then they thought:

Gimli: So your men look like women!
Legolas: And your women look like men!
Gimli: It’s true.

Hee hee.

I’ll be seeing it next week, and I’m sure multiple times after that.

Why not opening week? Well, I may have mentioned:

Releve Studios is showcasing: Must See TV!

See the blog below for more details.

Cath said the rehearsal last night rocked the house.

And when it is all done on Sunday, I get my wife back! Woo hoo!

Just my thoughts,

Sean

2009 Relevé Studios Recital

It's our 2nd recital ever and we're so excited.
Last year we had 59 students on stage ... This year, there are 175!! Wow!
If you are in the area, come by and support our amazing students.
Thanks!
--catherine

Click HERE for info. Or HERE for tickets.

Angry Funny - Angry Moving

I finally got to read Susan Isaacs’ ANGRY CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD: A SNARKY BUT AUTHENTIC SPIRITUAL MEMOIR, a compelling and intimate chronicle of her relationship with the Almighty.

This witty book takes the notion of a “personal relationship with G-d” to its logical conclusion, as Susan takes her Heavenly Partner to couple’s counseling. Makes sense – if you want your relationship to work, you have to work on it.

Her journey through family, career and search for love are all part of her spiritual journey – and in addition to being funny, her story has a way of digging in and becoming emotionally moving as well.

(When she stood on the subway platform telling her beau that she would not be riding with him to his job at the WTC on the morn of September 11, well, I couldn’t sleep until I saw how that chapter turned out. And the next one. And the next one.)

I have to warn you though, if you are a protestant Christian in America, chances are you will see either yourself, or the church you attend in this book. And it will make you cringe a little.

As it should.

Also, if you are the kind of Christian that likes your books neat and tidy, filled with bon mots that prove yet again how good we are (while the world is evil), this isn’t your book.

Susan’s journey is real, honest and oh so very frank. Warts and all are on display – Susan’s, the church’s, and even G-d’s (or at least the G-d we think we know).

If you are like me, you will start out laughing along with Susan; then you will get a wee bit uncomfortable with where this ride seems to be going; and you won’t breathe that sigh of relief again until the very last chapter. (And you will be praying that she doesn’t stop before then – or this book might well be a tragedy!)

And, if you are like me, you will be glad you took the journey, as Susan’s counseling sessions with G-d might just save you some therapy expenses of your own.

ON A TANGENT:

My friend, Cheryl McKay’s book is out: NEVER THE BRIDE.

I haven’t found the time to read it yet, but Catherine has and loved it. Her review will come as soon as she gets a spare moment from the Releve recital.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

Catherine on the Interweb

Cath is featured in this BADD video -- a spoof on A&E's Intervention.

Enjoy.

-Her proud hubby

Since The Sermon On The Mount Is Longer Than 140 Characters, How Can It Be Relevant?

My church recently added a service where they encourage the congregants to tweet during the proceedings -- how's the music moving you, what questions do you have or ideas you want to add to the preaching, are you bored with the prayer and think they should move on already -- that sort of thing.

To tweet or not to twitter is the big question that has hit churches. The arguments for tend to be about twitter being a form of sharing (and sharing can never be a bad thing) and besides, this is a way to get the whippersnappers interested.

Most of my thoughts on the topic are summed up pretty well by Josh Harris (although I would quibble with his point #4).

My personal summary deals with biology: the human brain can not focus on two things at the same time, even if the said human is young and fashionable. ( I know this from Brain Rules!)

Which is why we now ban talking on the cell phone while driving - no matter what age the driver happens to be.

So the guy twittering during a lecture can not be giving full attention to both things.

Thus my opinion: if you believe that what your pastor and worship leaders are doing up front is rather shallow and not really worthy of attention, please by all means, encourage twittering during the service. It might help.

If you are striving to make what is going on up front something with depth, something profound and maybe even personal, encouraging distraction is, perhaps, not the best choice.

Just my thoughts,

Sean