What NOT to Learn from Disney

In my last post, I was talking about some things the church could learn from Walt Disney World (WDW), but lest I come off sounding like WDW is somehow perfect and an ideal model for the church (which is not my intent), I also want to share some thoughts about what we should not learn from that magical place.

Life is a fairy tale and everything ends "happily ever after."

Disney, beginning with "Snow White" and continuing right through the most recent film, "Frozen," celebrates the fairy tale. Some of the stories they tell are classics, some are modern inventions, but they all have one thing in common: they all end "happily ever after." The princess marries the prince, the bad guy is destroyed (or turned to good), and there is no disease, war or suffering in the end. But life does not work like that. We all know that. As Christians, we do believe there is a place where all mourning, crying, pain and suffering will be dealt with, but that is not in this life. Life is not a fairy tale. Sometimes the prince really is a frog. Sometimes the heart stays frozen. And sometimes love does not conquer all. Life hurts...which is why we need each other to make it through. Because life is hard, God calls us to community in order to encourage one another and lift each other up.

Entertainment is the highest value in life.

Everything at WDW is geared toward one purpose: entertainment. For a few hours (or days) you can literally shut out the outside world and be entertained by ride after ride after show after 3D (or 4D) multimedia presentation. Every time we've been there, there's always this transition period that happens to me as I realize how much I missed at home and in the news and in the world. We become so focused on being entertained that we almost forget there's a whole other world out there. (And let's not even mention the parents who are so determined to "have a good time" that they push their kids beyond exhaustion into screaming fits of tiredness. Yeah, that makes for a fun bus ride at night.)

It was said that one of the things that led to the downfall of the Roman Empire is when the people become overly or exclusively concerned with "bread and circuses"—making sure they had enough food to eat and enough entertainment to keep them occupied. But entertainment is not the highest goal in life, according to Jesus. Serving God and serving others is.

It's about one man...or mouse.

Right at the end of Main Street USA (WDW's "main drag") is a statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse. The park was specifically named "Walt Disney World" in honor of the one man who developed its initial plans (though he died before it ever opened). Undoubtedly, Walt was a genius when it came to entertainment and animation (and a sharp businessman), and WDW is probably right to pay him homage.

But the danger in the church is to do the same to people we admire. To get hooked on a person or persons or a "celebrity." To think one person or on set of people are more valuable than another set. When I was in seminary, there was a huge church nearby that I visited once, and upon entering the doors I was greeted with a larger than life portrait of...the founding pastor. And it was all about him. In another church, led by a famous pastor, I visited many years ago, I found the same thing. More about him than about Jesus. The church is not about one person or one group of persons. The church is a community serving Jesus Christ. The "one person" we should be focused on is Jesus.

Don't let them see "behind the curtain."

On two occasions at WDW, we've been trying to leave the park just about the time fireworks were beginning to start, when masses of people gather on Main Street near the entrance/exit. Both times, including this time, the cast members did a masterful job of directing us through the "back lot" in order to get us out more easily. Upon realizing where we were, my wife, Cathy, began to take some pictures "behind the scenes." She was stopped and told by a cast member, "You aren't allowed to take pictures back here." In other words, we don't want anyone to see the back side of the perfection that is Main Street USA.

The church is different—or should be. We're told that the path to healing comes as we "confess our sins to one another" and learn to "pray for one another" (James 5:16). The church is not a museum for stained glass saints; it is a hospital for war-weary sinners. Every time we "put on a happy face" so we can be at church, we're failing to be the church Jesus envisioned and hoped for. We shouldn't be afraid to let others see the "back lot" of our lives. Only then can we find real healing and hope.

Again, these are just some thoughts. There are probably others I could add (and might as I think about it more). What would you add?