Have Some Chocolate!

We went out last night to a friend's church to support him in a project he has for school. James is taking a course in "Theology of Film" and was required to have a public showing of a film of his choosing and then lead a discussion of the film. For nearly 3 years Joanie and I hosted a group in our home that met once a month to do this very thing, so we were excited to join in the process. The movie James chose was "Chocolate" and it is a very interesting film. Let me tell you a few things about it:

• It takes place in a small French town that is highly repressed due to its' overbearing mayor. He is the enforcer of the rules of the town and the church. He intimidates everyone.
• Moving into the town is a woman with her young child who opens (in the middle of Lent, mind you) a Chocolate Shop. It is scandalous!
• The rest of the picture is the battle between the Mayor (controlling the church, the town, and all morality) vs. the woman who owns the decadent confectionery store and who does not go to church and seems to defy all staid, ultra-conservative ideas.
• Caught in the middle is the town priest who must please the mayor (the head of the deacon board) and still find his way in ministry (he is young and inexperienced in the pastoral ministry)

By the end of the movie people's sins have been exposed and forgiven. Redemption has found its way into the church. The divided loyalties of church members have come together in a wonderful sense of community. And by saying all this I have told you little that will spoil the movie. The question we wrestled with afterwards was if the movie was too harsh on the church. And my answer is: I don't think so. The church in the movie is judgemental, overbearing, hiding all its own dirty laundry and putting up a good front, unloving, unhealthy, and not very fun. While that may or may not be your experience in the church I can guarantee you one thing - it is how those who don't go to church view those of us who do. Unfortunately, we've earned the rep by being isolationist, harsh on those we seek to have come to faith in Christ, and creating an atmosphere of judgement. So, my answer was, "No, its not too hard on the church."
However, I thought the theology of the movie was terrible. It gave the view that hedonism was positive, that the goal of life is to be happy, and that the gospel has no healing or regenerative power whatsoever. That's bad theology. So, how do we bridge the gap between the perception of the church's practice and the reality of God's Word in our midst? Well, it may not be profound, but here are some things I've come to learn:

• You can't separate the practice of the church from the teaching of our theology. If we teach one way and act another, we deny what we teach. If we teach it but don't live it we are hollow voices, noisy gongs, and extremely ineffective.
• Changing the perception of the church begins not by looking at our theology but looking at our practice. If you want things to change, begin a dialogue about the practice of the church first. What are the practices that we are doing? How effective are they? Why are we doing what we are doing? After you ask those questions and gain some footing, then move to theology to see what it says (look at church history, biblical theology, practical theological understandings, systematic theological insights, etc.).
  
• After you learn about all that, then apply what you have learned to the practices you are doing. This is the praxis-theory-praxis model (praxis is a term from ancient Greek philosophy and means, basically, practice) that I have been learning about over the last several months. Maybe applying it can help wherever you are and in whatever state the church may be in.