In yesterday's sermon,..
...I was speaking about the uniqueness of the early Christians' open and public proclamation of their faith and of how important that was in spreading the Gospel in Antioch. I also noted how it reflected Jesus' new formulation of mutual friendship replacing the outdated Master/Servant relationship.
[Sunday's lections may be found here.]
As examples of how often this traditional Christian quality is forgotten in contemporary culture, I used two recent items from the news, one relating to the "discovery" of a new "gospel" and the other to a phenomenon in popular culture. Both works portray Christianity as a type of secret society dependent upon a particular class of adherents who are privy to the "real story" behind it all. This is, of course, contrary to everything Jesus taught and the disciples preached.
Now, I appreciate a money-making scheme as much as the next person, and I am also old enough to recognize the transience of popular culture, so I am not overly alarmed by these events. Still, from the pulpit, I reserve the right to address errors in the common understanding of the Christian gift. It is good for us all to recognize just what was so unique about Christianity as a religious expression and as an event in history, so that we may reflect that uniqueness in our own proclamation.
However, for those who would tell me that The Da Vinci Code is just a novel or just a movie, I would direct you to the following from Saturday's New York Times:
If you, like more than 100 million readers around the world, enjoyed "The Da Vinci Code," marketers are betting that you might like the "Da Vinci" video game for PlayStation2 and Xbox, too. Or a "Da Vinci Code" paint-by-number. Or "The Da Vinci Fitness Code," a diet book based on the Fibonacci sequence.
With the movie opening this weekend, "The Da Vinci Code" has already spawned a mini-industry unto itself that encompasses video games, cookbooks, walking tours of the Louvre, even pornography.
Yes, "even pornography". Civilization, apparently, has reached full flower.
Says one fellow quoted in the article, "This month, you couldn't get McDonald's to have Robert Langdon action figures," he said. "But in the future, there's going to be reality shows; there's going to be treasure hunts; there's going to be cellphone downloads. Everything."
Just a movie, huh?
[Sunday's lections may be found here.]
As examples of how often this traditional Christian quality is forgotten in contemporary culture, I used two recent items from the news, one relating to the "discovery" of a new "gospel" and the other to a phenomenon in popular culture. Both works portray Christianity as a type of secret society dependent upon a particular class of adherents who are privy to the "real story" behind it all. This is, of course, contrary to everything Jesus taught and the disciples preached.
Now, I appreciate a money-making scheme as much as the next person, and I am also old enough to recognize the transience of popular culture, so I am not overly alarmed by these events. Still, from the pulpit, I reserve the right to address errors in the common understanding of the Christian gift. It is good for us all to recognize just what was so unique about Christianity as a religious expression and as an event in history, so that we may reflect that uniqueness in our own proclamation.
However, for those who would tell me that The Da Vinci Code is just a novel or just a movie, I would direct you to the following from Saturday's New York Times:
If you, like more than 100 million readers around the world, enjoyed "The Da Vinci Code," marketers are betting that you might like the "Da Vinci" video game for PlayStation2 and Xbox, too. Or a "Da Vinci Code" paint-by-number. Or "The Da Vinci Fitness Code," a diet book based on the Fibonacci sequence.
With the movie opening this weekend, "The Da Vinci Code" has already spawned a mini-industry unto itself that encompasses video games, cookbooks, walking tours of the Louvre, even pornography.
Yes, "even pornography". Civilization, apparently, has reached full flower.
Says one fellow quoted in the article, "This month, you couldn't get McDonald's to have Robert Langdon action figures," he said. "But in the future, there's going to be reality shows; there's going to be treasure hunts; there's going to be cellphone downloads. Everything."
Just a movie, huh?
posted by Vicar at 5:08 AM
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