We also concluded our April sermon series, "Everything I Need to Know About Community I Learned from TV." In a rather cheekily titled sermon, "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (or The Vicar of Dibley)," we considered how the church is portrayed in popular culture. After admitting that church is rarely, if ever, an important location on television programs, I suggested that when religious people are shown, they tend to be depicted as well-meaning fools, which is an assessment about Christians that dates back to the days of the apostle Paul.
After making such a big deal about the lack of church on television, it should come as no surprise that there was a program Sunday night that featured a church-related storyline. "The Simpsons" (which I noted on Sunday is sometimes called 'the most religious show on television' because the family regularly attends church) considered several church issues in a new episode where Homer is recruited to serve as a deacon by a new minister. While there was much poking fun at the church, there was a serious issue raised in comparing the hip new minister, who is constantly talking about movies and TV shows (that doesn't sound like any minister we know, right?) in his sermons, to the long-standing Rev. Lovejoy, who is thought to be a bit boring and out of touch. When a plague of frogs descends on the town (because Bart is mad that his father is taking his deacon responsibilities so seriously that he won't skip church), the people look to both ministers, hungry for words of wisdom -- and, not surprisingly, the more experienced Rev. Lovejoy is better equipped to provide such wisdom.
Despite the irony of a program that contradicted my sermon that very night, I think it is an exception that proves the rule. The church that most of us value -- and the idea that religion has valuable wisdom to offer -- rarely shows up in popular culture. If we are to invite others to be a part of Christ's church -- which has been important in our lives -- we need to figure out how to overcome this absence. We need to find ways to describe and share our faith that overcome people's instincts that Christians are, at best, well-meaning fools. And we need to stop waiting for popular culture to teach everyone about God and Jesus -- we need to do it ourselves.
If you missed Sunday's sermon, if you'd like to listen to it again, or if you'd like to share it with others, you can find an audio recording here.
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