the wave

I watched a movie yesterday called The Wave, it's a German film with subtitles. It's a remake of a film with the same title that I watched over 25 years ago in school.  It was about a high school class who's teacher was demonstrating how quickly fascism can develop and a dictatorship can be born, even in post modern Germany. It's a really good film and I recommend it to anyone who doesn't mind reading a movie.

As I was watching, I noticed how some of the characteristics of fascism seemed to be so natural and easy to adopt by the class. Things like self discipline, respect and a club shirt all added to the feeling of belonging to something. It wasn't long that those who did not join in with the "values" of the class were pushed to the outside. The club grew rapidly and those pushed to the outside could re-join, all they had to do was conform.The problem was that those who did not join the club were progressively treated with harsher hostilities until the end of the movie ended in tragedy.

I hate to make the correlation, but, couldn't help but think how easily small groups, youth groups, churches and denominations can quickly isolate others due to a lack of common belief. It's like we all go to the same school, but, because some don't wear the club shirt, they don't belong. Of course as they are treated with increasing amounts of rejection, why would they ever want to join?

The way I see it, is we all wear the same club shirt, it's a shirt called sin. We can pretend it doesn't exist or that because we've repented that we're now in a different club and now that we're in, we must stay away from those who we think are out. However, Jesus came to those rejected by the established club, the broken, the sick and those who don't believe. He came to set the sinners free.

In the parable Jesus told about the wheat and the tares, he said in the night, the enemy came and sowed tares in a wheat field. When they grew up, the workers asked if they should pull the tares out and the Farmer said, "no, lets wait until harvest and then separate them, otherwise the wheat would be damaged as well."

One of the things we want to do as we start a church for people who don't like church is that we want to allow people to belong before they believe. Now, of course this goes against so much we have learned about building a church, but, if we toss 'em out before they make up their minds, then not only will we be making the decision easy for them, but, we'll hurt those who invited them in the first place.

As we continue our work in 2012, please pray that we will always be open to the miracle of redemption, not rejecting those who don't see things the way we do. Please pray that through us God will do great acts of love for people that have been hurt by religion in the past and that he will turn their hearts towards him.