Finding God in a Night Club

Ekklesia is an influencial UK-based think tank that presumes upon itself the role of being 'Christian' voice in the UK. Frankly, they fail to represent classic or orthodox Chrisitan opinion in any shape or form. None-the-less, engagement is better than anger, so I wrote a response to a piece they posted yesterday, and they were gracious enough to post it to their site. Then this morning I came in, and found that all sight of my article had vanished, (although my name still comes up on a site-based seach). So -- for better of for worse, here is what I wrote:

“Ekklesia researcher Jordan Tchilingirian, who is also a club DJ said: "Young people, including many Christians, don't make the same sacred-secular divisions that many bishops do. Young people can find God in a night-club or at a gig as easily as they can in St Paul's Cathedral" he said.”

My response:

I agree that the sacred-secular divide is a residue from the Enlightenment, but is it really that easy to "...find God in a night-club..." unless the Christian faithful are intentionally planting seeds of hope and dialogue, along with an element of challenging young people to think through life's issues?

No one disputes that it is possible for a person to find God in a night club. The question is, will they? The primarily intention of the average clubber in west London where I live, is almost certainly to simply "have a good time". I question how many out there on a Saturday night are on an immediate and desperate quest for God. An apostle of the ‘pre-modern’ Church of the 1st century indicates why this might be: “…the god of this present age has blinded their unbelieving minds so as to shut out the sunshine of the Good News of the glory of the Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Cor 4:4, Weymouth). I therefore suggest that a contextualised, intentional dialogue is therefore needed. For instance, a local community pastor and I run a film night periodically in our community. We do not push Christian "message" movies - but we do endeavour to provide a safe non-church space whereby life issues may be thought about in the context of society rather than the church, and where questions can be raised.

So while I agree with Jordan Tchilingirian that there is an over-arching sense of the spiritual that goes beyond church walls, there also needs to be an intentional engagement for Christian spirituality to have meaning and engagement in everyday life. As Robert E. Webber says in 'Ancient-Future Faith', "In the post-modern world evangelisation will take place within the various cultures of the world" (p 146). I endorse the Bishop of Manchester, the Rt Revd Nigel McCulloch, in that as a part of our own media culture herein Britain, (paid for by public licence fees), Radio 1 has no right to be excluded from intentional dialogue when it comes to Christian spirituality.

The Nativity Story: My Daughter's Take

The Nativity Story: Here’s my 17 year-old daughter’s review hot from a 23rd November 2006 London preview, so this is a typical teenage take on this new motion picture release. “The film has a realistic spin”, she told me shortly after exiting the theatre, “but toward the end it got so overdone; like the Christmas films with a star shining through a hole in the roof of the stable scenario. Then, the wise men appear right there in the stable, on the same night Jesus was born, and lo and behold, there were three of them!” (Contrary to popular myth, the Bible never does mention the number of wise men.)

“The film was well paced at the beginning,” she agreed, “but toward the end, it seemed rushed, like they had to finish off the 100 minutes of screen time.” This may reflect the tight production schedule – how many movies make it from a blank piece of paper to world-wide theatrical release in 12 months? An amazing accomplishment by any standard.

Asked about the humour angle, my daughter thinks that it “..could have done with a little humour; yes, the wise men did add some comedy flavour, but it wasn’t that funny. Oh, and by the way, let’s change the name, the title reminds me of every single nativity film you’re ever likely to see.” She rated it in the 7/10 range, (the rating on imdb linked to this piece reflects my rating, not hers – parental privilege, let’s call it!)

Interesting that I had to remind Rebekah who Keisha Castle-Hughes is, considering both young women are the same age, but she made the connection in the end, and thinks Keisha turned in a quite tidy performance. For me, I take my hat off to Mike Rich, for turning out that screenplay in one month, start to finish, and to Catherine Hardwicke for getting this to the screen for Christmas.

Regardless of how she rated the finished screen-time, at least my daughter got to see “The Nativity Play” several days earlier than Pope Benedict XVI (who is enjoying Turkish hospitality right now) for its Vatican world premier. My take on the film is that it takes us back to the time when one could openly be thankful for that quite amazing birth so long ago, and not have to make apologies to be politically correct (don't get me started on that one!)

I would like to think that this big-screen rendition will do at least as well as Mel Gibson's "Passion" at the box-office. But regardless of its commercial outcome, the "Nativity Story" is sure to touch and change countless lives around the world. Frankly, that is all that matters.

My original review can be read on International Movie Database - click the link below:
http://imdb.com/title/tt0762121/usercomments-8