Giver

This week, I watched a film that I had missed hearing about when it was in the theaters. It's called The Giver, and apparently it was a labor of love for one of its stars, Jeff Bridges. The story begins in a dystopian future (as a lot of movies seem to these days), and the beginning is a lot like Divergent, where each person is given a role to fulfill for the greater, peaceful society. The hero of the film, Jonas, is selected as the "receiver of memory," and that's where the story really begins to make you think.

The film is shot in varying shades of color, depending on each character's viewpoint. Most of the characters only "see" in black and white, and you realize as the movie goes along that they are that way because they have forgotten who they are. In this story, they have been forcibly made to forget who they are, but nevertheless the key piece in the story is memory. Who are they? What should their life be like? Those are the questions that dog Jonas throughout the story.

I won't spoil what happens in the film, but it did make me think about the church, especially the church in America today. In so many ways, we have forgotten who we are, and because of that we've stopped being effective in changing the world. We have gotten wrapped up in politics and social issues and doing good things so much that we've forgotten our calling. We've tried to change the details without seeing the bigger picture. We can't see it because we haven't remembered our real calling, our first focus. Jesus didn't tell us to "make good policy." Jesus didn't tell us to "win the elections." Jesus told us to "make disciples."

I'm not saying those other things are unimportant. They are. We need Christians who are serving in the political realm, who are making a difference in our society, who are being kind and caring to their neighbors. But if that's all we're about, if we're just being "good citizens," or if those things become the main reason for our existence, we've forgotten who we are. Everything we do centers on being disciples who make disciples, who invite people into a life-changing relationship with Jesus. Real change begins in the heart, when we remember who we are.

We are called to be disciple-makers, first and foremost. When we recover that memory, the church will once again make a real difference in the world. Changed hearts change the world. That's what John Wesley and the early Methodists discovered. Once lives began to change, society began to change (not the other way around). If only we could remember who we are...