Monday, March 6, 2023

Jesus Revolution

I went to watch a movie with Cindy and some friends last night.  It was about a story about a spiritual awakening in the 60s.  There was a lot for me to unpack in that movie.  

Originally, I didn't want to see it.  The actor that plays the Hippy pastor is the very same man who plays Jesus in The Chosen.  For me, he'd been typecast, and I didn't want to see him in this role.

Also, I went with some evangelical friends.  And, they were overly excited about this movie before it even arrived in the Stratford Cinaplex.  I had my reservations.

It was very good.  Cindy loved it.  She plans to go back and see it again.  The scene with the first baptism, the baptism at the cove in scene with the young skeptic main character, was moving for me.  And, there was a lot about human nature in this movie, good and bad.

We all have our Hippies

My evangelical friends would no doubt have seen the original state of Calvary Chapel as the rigidly judgemental Catholic or Anglican traditional Church. But, in truth, we all have our Hippies, each of us and every denomination. 

The current traditional Anglican Church's Hippies are the conservative, the traditionalist.  For the evangelical Churches, their Hippies are the LGBT+ crowds.  

We all have our Hippies.  I've said it many times:  One thing that humans have gotten excellent at over the last 10 thousand years is forcing others how to think.  And, we practice the heard mentality, going after those who are different.  Chasing off the slow, old, weak, sick buffalo lest it infect the rest of the heard, spread it's thoughts and change minds. They're not like us.

Like the Pharisees, we judge, exclude, and push people away from Him too.  We're good at it, even when we've convinced ourselves otherwise.

It's not 1969

My friends longingly yearn for a contemporary awakening.  Can it happen now?  I mean, with God all things are possible.  So, yes is the short answer.  But, it's not the 60s.  Most people are not Christian anymore.  Sure, the Hippies were mostly un-Churched; it's true.  But, America was Christian around them. We're an increasingly immigrant nation.  Islam is growing.  To the uninitiated, which is more true?  Which is more compelling, more evangelical?  Who even cares about Christianity?  And, who are we to tell God how to work?  The Hippies were looking for truth, and Christianity was there to fill the void with the Jesus People.  It's a much different world than it was in the 60s. 

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