I never saw an episode of The West Wing, but I caught Studio 60 and the Sunset Strip last week and was immediately impressed with the writing of the show. The premise is that it follows the behind the scenes happenings of a show that is obviously a reflection of Saturday Night Live.
In the first episode the Lorne Michaels type character interrupts a live broadcast and has this to say to his national audience:
Wes: This isn't gonna be a very good show tonight and I think you show change the channel.
Wes: (on air) You should change the channel right now, or better yet turn off the TV.
Lilly: (in control room) Does anybody know what the hell is going on? (audience laughs)
Wes: (on air) No, I know it seems like this is supposed to be funny, but tomorrow you're gonna find out it wasn't and I'll have been fired by then. This isn't supposed--this isn't a sketch.
Cal: (in control room) This is for real.
Wes: (on air) This show used to be cutting edge political and social satire, but it's gotten lobotomized by a candy-ass broadcast network hell-bent on doing nothing that might challenge their audience. We were about to do a sketch you've already seen 500 times. Yes, no one's gonna confuse George Bush with George Plimpton, we get it. We're all being lobotomized by the country's most influential industry which has thrown in the towel on any endeavor that does not include the courting of 12-year-old boys. And not event the smart 12-year-olds, the stupid ones, the idiots, of which there are plenty thanks in no small part to this network. So change the channel, turn off the TV. Do it right now.
As soon as the character started into this rant, I immediatly began thinking of the church in America. I think the church in America has been pandering for far too long. God forbid we ever challenge or offend someone. We have ended up with church members that want to leave church feeling good, but have no idea what it means to say "Jesus is Lord". The Church in America has too often bought into a placebo religion that offers no transformational power. We have traded the gospel for the American Dream (see last week's issue of Time magazine). Consequently, Christians in America look no different than non-Christians in America. I believe this is a result of churches preaching an I'm ok if you're ok "gospel", instead of preaching the transformational good news of Jesus Christ. These are the times that I would love to tell our congregations to change the channel, turn off the TV.
2 comments:
So that brings us to the "so what" question. What are we going to do about it?
That's the right question isn't it! Too often we read blogs that point out the shortcomings of how church is done, without being held accountable for how we might live our lives differently. I hope to respond to your question in a post soon!!
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