Sunday School Musical

Yes, you read that right! The other day I was in Tesco, and noticed this on DVD. Buying into the huge High School Musical trend, Faith Films have produced a direct-to-DVD film called Sunday School Musical. Currently at the bargain price of £4 in Knocknagoney, perhaps because it hasn't been selling, since being released last October.

It's probably a good thing that Christians are getting in on the act, but surely many useful conversations could be had with kids who are into the HSM stuff rather than having a poor imitation coming from Christian media? Plus, I noticed that Sunday School Musical has a 15 certificate in the UK - which would surely limit or remove the very target audience they are seeking to reach - especially if Christian parents are more wary of certificate ratings and not exposing kids to unsuitable material?

I've found the trailer on Youtube if you want to have a look:

Theology at the Theatre 3

In Les Miserables, Jean Valjean had been 'redeemed' by the Bishop's gift of the silver candlesticks, and departs. The next time we meet him is as the Mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer, where he also owns a factory. Acts One properly opens with the big song 'At The End of the Day', portraying the terrible living conditions of the poor who work in Valjean's factory:

At the end of the day you're another day older
And that's all you can say for the life of the poor
It's a struggle, it's a war
And there's nothing that anyone's giving
One more day standing about, what is it for?
One day less to be living.

As if that wasn't bad enough, verse two has a guilty verdict for 'the righteous.'

At the end of the day you're another day colder
And the shirt on your back doesn't keep out the chill
And the righteous hurry past
They don't hear the little ones crying
And the winter is coming on fast, ready to kill
One day nearer to dying!

Is this true? Do the righteous (or the self-righteous) disregard the call of the poor? It's so easy to say "I've no change" or "sorry I'm in a rush" and ignore the poor and needy. What a shame.

I remember a teacher telling us one time that we shouldn't give money to help the poor because Jesus said you will always have the poor with you (John 12:8) - therefore there'll always be poor people no matter what you do to help. I think he said it in jest, but it might just reveal an unspoken reticence to hear the cry of the poor.

Think of the parable of the Good Samaritan. The religious people don't come off too good in the story. Both the Priest and the Levite hurried past, no doubt with good reason or justification. But the poor man who had been attacked was left in his wounds.

How does our attitude fit with the Gospel, which is 'good news to the poor' (Isaiah 61:1)? Similarly, the prophet Amos was highly critical of those who oppress the poor (Amos 2:7; 4:1; 5:11; 8:4).

Especially in these days of the credit crunch and talk of recession, there are likely to be more poor people in our communities. How will the righteous respond to this challenge?

Theology at the Theatre 2

In our last posting in this mini-series, we looked at the opening of Les Miserables. Still within the prologue, we're given a glimpse of the twin concepts of grace and mercy. In the Cathedral we used to sing an old chorus which simply explains these foundational elements of Christianity:

Mercy is when God does not give us what we deserve
Mercy is when God does not give us what we deserve
He does it because he love us, He does it because he loves us
Mercy is when God does not give us what we deserve.

Grace is when God gives us the things we don't deserve
Grace is when God gives us the things we don't deserve
He does it because he loves us, He does it because he loves us
Grace is when God gives us the things we don't deserve.

Back to our old friend, Jean Valjean. Having fled with his freedom, he is mistreated by employers who only give him half the wages of the other workers, because of his criminal status. Destitute, desperate and down and out, he is on the streets when the local bishop takes him in. Given a decent meal and a bed for the night, Jean betrays the generosity of the bishop by stealing a silver dish and fleeing in the middle of the night. [Maybe Javert was right after all?]

Captured by the local army officers, he is returned to the house, where he maintains that the honest bishop gave him a gift of the silver. Surely not. He's a thief after all, that's what he does. But what does the bishop do? Not condemn him - which he surely could do. Instead, he shows him mercy, by not punishing him, and at the same time, shows him grace by giving him the silver candlesticks as well.

What amazing grace!

Theology at the Theatre 1

Les Miserables
Originally uploaded by Gary McMurray.

While we were in London, we managed to get to a couple of shows in the West End. The first one we saw was Les Miserables, which, I have now discovered isn't the name of a very sad man. Of course, it is a French title, we all knew that!

While this was more emotional / depressing / touching than the other show we saw (The Lion King - more on it at a future date), it seems to have affected me more, and the songs have been in my head ever since. It will only be a matter of time before I get the soundtrack cd, but in the meantime YouTube has been providing me with reminders of the songs.

There are so many theological insights and discussions that could be had, and I'm hoping to write a bit on some of these over the coming days. For now, here's the first.

Throughout the musical, we find a running battle between Jean Valjean and Javert. Jean Valjean is a prisoner in the opening scene, having been sentenced to a work squad as punishment for theft, and then trying to escape. Javert is the prison guard / army officer who takes a hard line on punishing criminals.

Indeed, such a hard line that he only ever refers to Jean as Prisoner 24601. He seeks to dehumanise Jean, referring to him only as a number. Jean, we learn, had stolen a loaf of bread to feed his sister's child.

Jean Valjean has been granted parole, a yellow ticket to leave the work squad. In Jean's eyes, he has his freedom, having served his time, yet for Javert, he will never have served his time - a criminal is a criminal and he cannot be trusted.

The question for us is - do we believe in the second chance? Are there those in our society whom we immediately write off because of their past? Thankfully God doesn't work this way - otherwise none of us would ever be saved. Imagine if God said, 'well, he's sinned before, he'll sin again, so he's just a sinner. We can't help him.'

What great words we find in Romans 5: 'God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.' (Romans 5:8).

Here's a clip of the opening scene and first confrontation between Jean and Javert, not from the theatre, but from the 10th anniversary concert.

Related themes:

See also Peter's Denials and the Gospel Hope and Dying Thief Finds Life.