Attack Or Attract?
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
Series VI, Cycle A
Object:
It has been a few years since Dan Brown's novel, The Da Vinci Code (New York: Doubleday, 2003), was published. From the very beginning, it got lots of attention in Christian circles because of some of the things it said about Christ and the church. For people of faith, there were uncomfortable statements, and they generated any number of articles, books, study guides, and seminars designed to debunk da Vinci.
Early on, people began asking me what I thought about The Da Vinci Code and what it had to say. My response from the beginning was "Read the title page." What does it say there? It says, "The Da Vinci Code, a novel, Dan Brown." A novel. Fiction. It is a great read, a wonderful airport or beach chair page turner, but it is a novel. Fiction. It can say all the outrageous stuff it wants. Why should we worry about that? And so I never bothered about it from the pulpit.
Then the movie came out, one that had "Blockbuster" written all over it, so some devout Christians screamed bloody murder and called for boycotts and demonstrations. Around the world, governments were asked to prohibit the showing of the film. In India, the government delayed the opening of the movie for two days until Catholic groups could be allowed a preview screening. In the Philippines, the powers-that-be slapped a "No One Under 18" designation on it, which effectively prohibited showing it in most theaters. Our local theater at the mall was picketed by folks holding signs saying that the movie blasphemed Jesus Christ. Truth is, I wonder how upset they were because they made their protest in the parking lot outside the entrance while sitting in beach chairs with placards, not held high, but rather sitting on the ground and propped against their knees. Not exactly the stuff of outrage.
The story is a mystery, based on a conspiracy. There is a Harvard professor of religious symbology, an energetic French policeman, the Royal British Knight, an albino Monk-turned-assassin, and, of course, a beautiful heroine, "Sophie" whose name means "wisdom," in Greek. It is one more plot among many through the years that involve a quest for the Holy Grail, but if you have seen Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, you learn here that Harrison Ford and Sean Connery had it wrong -- the Holy Grail is not a cup. It is a woman, one with a huge secret that has been covered up for the last 1,700 years. The Holy Grail is Mary Magdalene, the wife of Jesus and the mother of his child.
Of course, that is not biblical. Remember, it is a novel. I, for one, am glad for anything that gets people talking about Jesus. Tom Hanks, who starred in the movie, got it right when he said, "I think the movie may end up helping churches do their job. If they put up a sign saying, 'This Wednesday we're discussing the gospel,' twelve people show up. But if the sign says, 'This Wednesday we're discussing The Da Vinci Code, 800 people show up.' " He is about right.
So saying, I am sorry that some well-meaning Christians have raised such a fuss. As a church, we look like petulant, selfish, angry children who throw hissy-fits anytime we don't get our own way. It smacks of the reaction that Islamic extremists had to the Danish newspaper cartoons that were not entirely reverential toward the prophet Mohammed.
The lesson in Acts recounts a visit of the apostle Paul to Athens. The city was the center of classical antiquity and home to such famous philosophers as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. By this point, Athens was resting on its laurels a bit (the Romans were in charge, not the Greeks), but it was still an intellectual capital, like a major university town today.
It was a religious city. In fact, Athens had more statues of gods and goddesses than all the other cities of the day combined. So here came Paul, not happy at what he saw -- as the lesson has it, "he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols." Perhaps he could have organized a protest in the parking lot. He had a better idea: "So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there." He could attack or attract ... but not both. I think he chose well.
Early on, people began asking me what I thought about The Da Vinci Code and what it had to say. My response from the beginning was "Read the title page." What does it say there? It says, "The Da Vinci Code, a novel, Dan Brown." A novel. Fiction. It is a great read, a wonderful airport or beach chair page turner, but it is a novel. Fiction. It can say all the outrageous stuff it wants. Why should we worry about that? And so I never bothered about it from the pulpit.
Then the movie came out, one that had "Blockbuster" written all over it, so some devout Christians screamed bloody murder and called for boycotts and demonstrations. Around the world, governments were asked to prohibit the showing of the film. In India, the government delayed the opening of the movie for two days until Catholic groups could be allowed a preview screening. In the Philippines, the powers-that-be slapped a "No One Under 18" designation on it, which effectively prohibited showing it in most theaters. Our local theater at the mall was picketed by folks holding signs saying that the movie blasphemed Jesus Christ. Truth is, I wonder how upset they were because they made their protest in the parking lot outside the entrance while sitting in beach chairs with placards, not held high, but rather sitting on the ground and propped against their knees. Not exactly the stuff of outrage.
The story is a mystery, based on a conspiracy. There is a Harvard professor of religious symbology, an energetic French policeman, the Royal British Knight, an albino Monk-turned-assassin, and, of course, a beautiful heroine, "Sophie" whose name means "wisdom," in Greek. It is one more plot among many through the years that involve a quest for the Holy Grail, but if you have seen Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, you learn here that Harrison Ford and Sean Connery had it wrong -- the Holy Grail is not a cup. It is a woman, one with a huge secret that has been covered up for the last 1,700 years. The Holy Grail is Mary Magdalene, the wife of Jesus and the mother of his child.
Of course, that is not biblical. Remember, it is a novel. I, for one, am glad for anything that gets people talking about Jesus. Tom Hanks, who starred in the movie, got it right when he said, "I think the movie may end up helping churches do their job. If they put up a sign saying, 'This Wednesday we're discussing the gospel,' twelve people show up. But if the sign says, 'This Wednesday we're discussing The Da Vinci Code, 800 people show up.' " He is about right.
So saying, I am sorry that some well-meaning Christians have raised such a fuss. As a church, we look like petulant, selfish, angry children who throw hissy-fits anytime we don't get our own way. It smacks of the reaction that Islamic extremists had to the Danish newspaper cartoons that were not entirely reverential toward the prophet Mohammed.
The lesson in Acts recounts a visit of the apostle Paul to Athens. The city was the center of classical antiquity and home to such famous philosophers as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. By this point, Athens was resting on its laurels a bit (the Romans were in charge, not the Greeks), but it was still an intellectual capital, like a major university town today.
It was a religious city. In fact, Athens had more statues of gods and goddesses than all the other cities of the day combined. So here came Paul, not happy at what he saw -- as the lesson has it, "he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols." Perhaps he could have organized a protest in the parking lot. He had a better idea: "So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there." He could attack or attract ... but not both. I think he chose well.
