There will be Blood

Watching the Oscars last night, I was rooting for two movies, There will be Blood and No Country for Old Men. The Coen brothers had a huge night and I'm happy for them. They are one of my top three filmmakers of all time.

But, There will be Blood should have won.

This movie is simply one of the best I have ever seen. It has everything I want in a movie, good acting, writing, and gorgeous filming. And more than that, it had a meaty message that I still think about, the relationships of unrestrained capitalism and religion. When I buy the movie, I'm going to have some more thoughts on this. The reason is, I need to watch it again to really process it.

But, I believe Christians in America should watch this movie and process the tough questions it asks. Does American Christianity look to much like our culture of greed? Have they become the same in their approach? If so, won't that sort of idolatry eventually destroy the protestant church in America?

I don't really have answers to that. It's not that I'm against capatilism either. I'm not a socialist. What I am asking is has the church lost it's prophetic role, meaning, it's ability to critique the current social norms according to God's word? I know I'm rambling now, but I have been in turmoil about some of this stuff lately.

The Summer of the Geek

The Dark Knight
The Happening (The new M. Night Shamaylan film)
Prince Caspian
The Hulk
Ironman

And now, the legend returns:

The Broken Leader

We just installed elders at our church. This process had made me think about what should we be leading our people to be? What do we lead them in?

Of course, the most obvious answer is to lead them in Grace to Jesus. but what does that look like? The answer, for me, comes from Jesus in the Garden the night before He died. He keeps trying to lead the disciples in prayer, to pray for him. And, finally, in a sickening plea those lazy bumps should have listened to, Jesus says, "My soul is sorrowful, even to death."

That is a plea of vulnerablity. That is a plea of desperate neediness, of sorrow, of pain, of doubt, of need. Desperate need. Jesus knew what he faced in the next twenty four hours. And more, he was even teaching his disciples right there, how to lead the church. Leading their people by showing their desperate need for God and for each other.

The thing is, in our culture, we don't think of leadership in terms of that sort of vulnerability. I certainly don't. We are attracted to strong leaders, people who seem confident, strong, stable, in charge. Can you imagine if one of the presidential canidates stood up and said, "My soul is sorrowful, even to death?" He would be chum in the water.

Sadly, I think the church has walked down that same path. We follow the strong, the confident, the loudest voice, instead of looking for leaders like Jesus lead, the way of need, the way of brokeness and the way of the poor in spirit.

I am thankful that my church follows that route in selecting its leaders. As long as we keep that in mind, I know God will bless the leadership in our church. The warning, of course, for all of us in leadership, is not to become that guy. That guy that is consumed with his position, to politic, to try and control, manage, dictate and manipulate to keep his status as the Man of God, revealing nothing about himself that might call his leadership into question. Of course, the church has made those sort of leaders, because we expect something other than biblical leadership out of them.

Church, your leaders are supposed to display their weakness. It is what the Savior himself did.