VUG Media

I've always had a problem with the dichotomy of a church being a body of believers as well as an institution. To myself, the heart of any church is the congregation, not the programs offered or the image portrayed.

Lately, I have been reading more and more about the transition from church being about community to becoming a self-serve service or commodity. Think about the regularity of church "shopping", something that I am guilty of myself. Or maybe think of how we expect churches to provide us with services such as Vacation Bible Schools, Youth Groups, Child Care, Multimedia departments, Kids Clubs, Seniors Luncheons... the list goes on.

The Latest Issue of Christian Counter Culture takes a close look at how Christians should, or maybe shouldn't, engage with the arts. It is one of the best reads that I have come across in a while, making me exclaim (in my head) "Yes! That is exactly right!" time and time again. Here are a few selected quotes to give you a feel for what was said:

Most Christians today have one of two responses to the subject of art. They either know nothing about it — hence, they care not a wit about it — or what they do know about today's art world is repugnant to them. As a result, they are openly hostile to the cultural domain of the arts. This circumstance is both understandable and tragic."

I found this quote to be a strength the other day. I just thought that I would quickly share it:

The experience of losing your faith, or of having lost it, is an experience that in the long run belongs to faith; or at least it can belong to faith if faith is still valuable to you, and it must be or you would not have written me about this. I don't know how the kind of faith required of a Christian living in the 20th century can be at all if it is not grounded on this experience that you are having right now of unbelief. "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief" is the most natural and most human and most agonizing prayer in the gospels, and I think it is the foundation prayer of faith.

Sometimes a movie review comes along that sells me on a film before I have even had the chance to see it. Primer is one of those movies. Made for a mere 7 thousand, not including prints and promotion of course, it holds it's own production value wise with the big-budget block-busters. I have a soft spot for Indies, especially because I am excited about the ways in which new technology can free people creatively and in business to do what they want if they just go and do it. Call it my own "American Dream", a belief that I find fleeting at best.

Also intriguing is that the filmmaker is a Christian, pronouncing that his faith had a direct impact on the themes of the film. I like the way that he uses his faith to inform his art rather than using art as a platform for his faith. I'm probably sounding like a broken record by now stating my distaste for Christian music and movies because of their sub-par production values and their way of glossing over any part of life with easy answers. This is the type of movie that makes you think.