It’s just a movie

I’m a self-confessed movie lover. The new offering from Mel Gibson called The Passion of the Christ is, as I write, due for release. Those whose job it is to review movies (can you imagine?!) have mixed reviews, and I’m looking forward to seeing it to form my personal and less professional review. In case you haven’t heard, The Passion depicts, in graphic detail, the story of Jesus’ suffering and death. And, since major studios wouldn’t fund the project, Mel Gibson (a devout Roman Catholic Christian) footed the bill for the whole thing.

Before we go on, I should tell you that I’m a pastor, serving a congregation of followers of Jesus, and doing my best to equip and facilitate our faith community’s authentic witness of Jesus in Lethbridge, Alberta. Recently, I’ve been deluged with propaganda around The Passion. The gist of it ranges from enlisting our prayer team to intercede for Mel and the moviemakers to enlisting our congregation in courses that will teach them to package their testimony in three minutes or less. Some of it comes in nicely-packaged CDs and letters and brochures, connected to websites and special phone centres.

I should also say, I’m definitely not opposed to being effective in our witness of Christ, making the most of our time on this earth to know Jesus and make Him known. That people would be interested in watching a movie and considering its spiritual applications and implications is of particular interest to me, as it’s one of my own favourite pastimes.

But . . . is it just me, or does it seem to anyone else that we Christians are the quickest in the world to jump on a bandwagon sometimes, and at other times and in other ways, we’re the slowest in the world to change? Am I the only one who is a little suspicious that the admittedly strange happenings on the set of the Gibson movie are the result of Satan’s personal involvement? Is anyone else a little reluctant to rush to grab yet another “tool” to somehow wrench my friends into the Kingdom?

If my cynicism is too “over the edge” for you, that’s fine. But, somewhere in the cacophony surrounding this movie (it’s just a movie, remember?), we must do better than jumping on a bandwagon, even if its intentions are good. There are no people called to be more passionate than followers of Jesus. But as I read and understand Scripture, particularly the life and teachings of Jesus, I’m convinced that there is no magic formula or quick fix or “great new tool” that will “win the world to Jesus,” much as I might like that to happen.

What I do see is the God of heaven and earth, so in love with His prized Creation that He would enter our frame to serve and give, willingly pouring out His life for others over time, so that they, over time, could see and believe, and give their lives to the same cause. I see the Person of Jesus in authentic life exchange with the people of His day, and I hear Him call His followers to the same lifestyle, loving profoundly and consistently, at great personal cost, so that others might taste of the life and love of Jesus that beats in their hearts.

I know that’s not fancy or flashy and will never make the “big screen” but it sure smells like Jesus to me! And, with or without movies, it’s how I plan to spend the rest of my life.

Tim Thiessen is pastor at College Drive Community Church, Lethbridge. This comes from his weekly bulletin insert called “Tim-Bits.”