saved!

Tonight I watched the movie "Saved." It is not the spiritual heartwarmer that one might expect from the title. I enjoyed it like I might enjoy being slapped in the face--twice--for be uncaring and condescending. The movie was fictional, but carried a non-fiction tone. I do not advise watching the movie with kids, and be prepared to think, blush, and grieve. If you would like to talk more about the move you can email me @ dafrederick@gmail.com

You might ask why I watched the movie. I understand why someone would ask me that question. It is because I don't want to be fake. Life is to short to live unchallenged and safely kept within my own feelings. That is what faith is for many people--feelings and rules. It is not the foundation of the faith I have. It is also not the faith of the God of the Bible. What the movie pointed at and laughed at is what many rightly laugh at about Christians (i.e. the violent hand-raising, militant evangelism, and boring purity). If you read the New Testament Jesus is very different than the hollywood-styled churches of today. First of all people liked Jesus. People liked him at their parties. He did not follow the pattern of the religious folk, nor did he follow the pattern of the secular folk. He had a different set of rules. He "delighted to do the will of the Father." It was a relationship with God that he enjoyed as he walked on this earth. O this little earth, so loved by God. After watching this movie I realized how silly and trivial and offensive it can sound to people when I tell them that I will pray for them (this does not mean I will stop, though I might explain better in the future what it means). It is a tragedy when people hear they are being prayed for and they think "great...now I'm this guys project!" It is not like that at all. Neither is it a form of judgement. C.S. Lewis once said, "I do not pray because it changes God, only because it changes me." Admittedly there is more to it than that, however he is onto something special here. We need to be changed and when we go to God in prayer it is beseeching the help of one who is already filled with mercy. His heart does not need to be changed. Jesus did not die expecting that after you were saved you would never hurt him again. It is the beauty of the plan and price of salvation--He did it in full understanding of our present and future unworthiness. That is the Gospel: He makes us worthy to be called...children of God.

Do I think the movie was completely correct? No. Still, Christians must admit it hit a bulls-eye too many time for us to finish unashamed of how we have misrepresented the name of Jesus.

I spent the morning talking to a coalition of business women and the afternoon playing volleyball with kids at Discovery Alternative High School.