TV Land goes to church

"I didn't make it to church this week, because I was sick, but I did watch a lot of tv..."

Recently a few of my favorite shows have gone where TV usually doesn’t dare to go… to church. That’s right, both the musical comedy Glee and my personal favorite witty and sarcastic show Community have dealt with religion in the past few weeks. It has been interesting and frankly a little startling to hear what mainstream media thinks about religion, God and church.

To start with we have Glee’s episode, “Grilled Cheesus” that centers on Kurt, the shows openly gay character, as his father is in the hospital—and on Finn the quarterback, who sees an image of Jesus in his grilled cheese sandwich. If this is already sounding a little sacrilegious to you, hang on.

During the episode Finn believes God hears his prayers because of his grilled cheesus and Kurt is encouraged by friends to turn to God in his time of need.

Kurt’s protest against prayer and going to church made me cringe, “Churches don't think very much of gay people. Or women. Or science.”

At first I was offended, but as I thought about it I couldn’t really fight with that statement. Sure it is a blanket statement that stereotypes Christians, but troughout the years the church has given non-believers reason to think exactly what Kurt thought.

However, what impacted me most about Kurt’s statement was how sad it was! I know Glee is fiction, but how often in real life do you think people turn away from God, the only One who can help them, because the church has shown a united front of hate and judgment rather than love and forgiveness?

John 3:17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”


Then there is Finn, who views Christianity more as a superstition than a religion... little less as an actual relationship! Again, have we as Christans perpetrated this idea? If I'm good God hears my prayers, if I disobey He punishes me. No wonder Finn thought an image of Jesus in his grilled cheese could be a sign from a God who behaves so much like a human.

Another thing that bothered me about this episode of Glee was the Christian character’s seemingly weak faith. Basically, she thought you should believe in God, believe in something, but she admitted she could be wrong in what she believed.

Glee’s episode on religion overall was moving and a little disconcerting, but had at least one beautiful thing to say about faith. Bitter and sardonic cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester explained why she didn’t believe in God (He let her down by not healing her mentally “handicapable” sister, Jean, or protecting Jean from the mocking of others) but Sue concedes to let her sister pray for her when Jean states “I don’t believe God makes mistakes”. After that conversation with Jean, Sue also stops trying to make the Glee club abandon songs about faith.



Okay, if by some strange chance you are still reading this long post, we move on to Community’s episode, “Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples”. In this episode Shirley, the show’s Christian character, decides to make a YouTube video with a Christian theme when she realizes that only 9 people went to her church the day before and over a 17 million people have watched a YouTube video on farting. That alone is a sobering thought.

However, things go awry when Abed (my favorite character) decides to make the video and places himself in the position of being an actual savior. Yeah that’s right, he begins to act like he is Jesus. *uncomfortable pause* And I thought Jesus on a sandwich was bad.

This show has an unfortunate history of poking fun at any religion as being something weak-minded people believe in. And Shirley’s character is often so fixed on her own beliefs she is completely insensitive to others. For example; after Abed quotes the Bible during a quarrel with Shirley, she asks him, “Did you just Scripture me, Muslim?” (funny though). So the show was going down its usual path with Shirley behaving somewhat “un-Christian” in trying to stop the making of the film and Abed being flat out ridiculous in gathering his followers.

However, again I could hardly blame them. Don’t we as Christians often seem ignorant of others beliefs and self-righteousness in our own? I mean, I do believe that there is only one way to God and that is through Jesus Christ, however there is away to communicate this message with love and wisdom... and the modern church doesn’t always do that.

Matthew 10:16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.”

The episode did end on good note to me though. As Abed realizes his movie is awful, he prays that God will take it away from him (in a kind of “garden of Gethsemane” scene) and Shirley overhears him. In the end Shirley chooses to look like a villain by destroying Abed’s film. Shirley looks like the bad guy and Abed looks like the victim. She takes the fall to help her friend, but Abed realizes what she’s done for him and they make up. To me this was Shirley finally practicing what she preaches and it ended very sweetly.



Overall TV doesn’t have a lot of good to say about Christians and faith. However, is it Christians that have caused this? If you read the book of Romans about Jews (the religious people of the day) and gentiles (the people without God’s law) and see it as the modern day relation of believers to unbelievers, you see that maybe the world’s opinion of us lays on our shoulders.

Romans 2:24 “As it is written: ‘God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."

So while I can’t say watching my beloved TV shows mock the things that are my core and basic beliefs, I think it is good for Christian’s to realize what we look like to the outside world. This way we can ask ourselves, “Okay, if the world has a wrong and mostly negative view of believers how much of that is my fault and what can I do about it?”

Yes, as Christians we are going to be persecuted by the world, but let's make sure it is for living as Christ did, not because we deserve it. Maybe it is time that we start presenting the message of Christ as it was intended, as the gospel, as God's "good news".

Is this it?

In one of my earliest church hunting blogs I said something to the effect of, "I don't know what I'm looking for, but I hope to know when I find it". Well, I have come to believe this is a very poor search technique. How can you find anything of value when you don't even know what you are looking for? Chance? I think not.

Then I had to ask myself what am I looking for? Of course this must be keep in the light of not just looking for a church to satisfy me, but where God can best use me. However, I know from experience that if you are serving at a church that isn't compatible it is very hard to serve the Lord very long before getting seriously burnt out and maybe even disillusioned.

So where does this leave me? I need to know what I'm looking for and also be sensitive to where God may be calling me. I want a church that says what it means and means what it says. A church that throws tradition out the freakin' window, but still has good sound doctrine. And I want a church where I can serve, where I can use the gifts God has given me to bring glory to Him!

Yes, I do indeed want to be called by God to where I can serve Him best, but what if I don't feel called anywhere? What if I have visited several good churches filled with people who love the Lord and are serving Him, but I still fill like I could take 'em or leave 'em? In the words of my sister Ryan, "Meh" (accompanied with a shoulder shrug).

I mentioned earlier that serving somewhere you aren't called may leave you disillusioned. Well, that was me a few months ago, burnt out, disillusioned and a little bitter. I feel I'm getting better now, healing up nicely. But that dissolution has morphed into something else, it has become a deep desire to not do church the normal way anymore. To not "do church" at all. I'm not saying I don't want to find a local church body to attend, but I just can't imagine where that would be when most churches I visit (even the great ones) do so much just because... this is what you do at church.

I love tradition. I love that ever year my family cuts down our own Christmas tree. I love that on Birthdays we take pictures holding up enough fingers to show how old that person is. Tradition can be good, comfortable, it can bring people together. However tradition can also become stale, exclusive, and meaningless. Is it me or are churches today filled with meaningless and exclusive traditions? I'm a little afraid that I want something that isn't there.

I was talking to someone the other day and found myself telling them how bored I was with church. Bored with the teaching, the singing, and the staleness. I don't actually think the church I've been going to is stale; it is just feeling that way to me. I feel sacrilegious saying I'm bored with church, but I can't help question, why do all these churches look so much the same? Why can't I hear things in sermons that I haven't heard before? Why can't church be different? There are so many different kinds of people why do all churches just look like variations of each other?

This blog is mostly me just questioning, I really don't have the answers. I know that if what I want in a a church isn't actually available to me that doesn't give me license to forsake Christian fellowship all together.

I think I need to have an extended time of prayer over this. And I know that I am not the only person of my generation that deals with this problem. I know too many Christians not going to church at all, too many people my age giving up on God altogether, to think I'm the only one struggling here. I guess I'd just ask that you pray for us. It is a very confusing out there. Here are all these people like me who feel disconnected by the very institution that is meant to bring us together.

I guess my final question is this: Have people who given up on church “forsaken” the assembly of believers, or has the church “forsaken” these people?

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” Hebrews 10: 23-25