Movie Musings

A few days ago, I saw the movie, "A Great Awakening."  It is a great movie.  It is one I would encourage everyone to see.  It is a piece of historical fiction which is centered on a great spiritual awakening which took place in this country shortly before the Revolutionary War.  The characters through whom the story is told are George Whitefield, an evangelist, and Benjamin Franklin, a founding father of our nation.  It is a movie which is about more than just history.  Any serious historian will find some moments when the eyebrows of disbelief will be raised.   

The movie, however, is not a historical document, but is more a witness to the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The letter to the Roman Christians has a word from Paul in which he proclaims, "...it (the gospel) is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith..."  In visual form "A Great Awakening," captures the power of those words.  Anyone wondering what happens when the raw power of the gospel of Jesus Christ is unleashed through witness and proclamation will be able to see clearly the answer to such a question.  

One of the things noted by many who love the church is that the signs and wonders of the book of Acts are seldom seen in the church of our day. There is little to amaze; instead what the Holy Spirit is allowed to do in the church is hindered by our need for control and predictability.  A result of this is that we no longer see the power of the gospel unleashed to change and transform lives.  My wonder when the credits had finished rolling was what would the church look like if it once again made a decision to risk presenting the gospel in such a way that people were consistently confronted with the life changing power of the gospel of Christ.