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The Gospel in a Visual Age...

Been thinking.

If our argument for the use of The Passion of the Christ is that it will visually impress upon theatre-goers the reality of the sufferings of Christ, how is that different from hanging a full sized fibreglass crucifix outside our church buildings painted in lifelike flesh tones and with a face realistically contorted by agony?

Now that would be a visual image that will really impact our visual age!

Why not replace our drab windows with colourful stained glass to teach our children visually what they may struggle to grasp conceptually through Sunday School or preaching?

Why not conduct family devotions with an aesthetically placed cross in the middle of the table in order to focus our thinking upon that act which is the fulcrum of our eternal hope?

Perhaps our Sunday services would benefit from the introduction of such a cross, or better still, a crucifix? It would allow unbelievers to understand that the central issue for us as Christians is Calvary, and would serve as a reminder of our redemption – particularly if we were, in great solemnity, to process the length of the church, holding it aloft for all to see.

It is a great shame that nobody has thought of that before.

While I am being culturally relevant, another brainwave has occurred to me.

In the wake of the re-release of The Life of Brian, we should really try to organise something evangelistic. Monty Python is a comedic institution here in the UK, and we Christians believe that laughter is a gift of God – think of how many friends we could invite to a showing of a film that will raise religious themes and provoke discussion(after all, it is only a parody of primitive religious gullibility, not a blasphemous sideswipe at the historic Christ and his followers)!

Think of the valuable conversations we could have about the fuller meaning of faith in Christ and the real issues of justification and penal substitution!

The Passion or the Python? We really are spoilt for choice in these days of creative evangelism.

Perhaps we should organise a coach…