On Theatre

‘Gus: How’d that feel, doing a sermon as a skit, acting it out?

Chris: Fine. I did okay, and the actress did great.

‘Gus: I didn’t ask about the performance, but about how it felt?

Chris: Good… what are you getting at?

‘Gus: Having those two things together—theatre and liturgy... I’d never dreamed of doing such a thing. It seems innately sinful.

Chris: Really?

‘Gus: Yeah, after all, theatre is a form a liturgy, there are set lines, they shape the audience in certain ways, move them emotionally. Really it forms a certain type of faith.

Chris: There might be something to that. After saying my set lines in the skit/sermon I led everyone in confessing the Apostle’s creed, then my Deacon said particular prayers paired with particular responses…

‘Gus: Indeed. That’s why theatre scares me.

Chris: Well, ‘Gus, theatre has fallen on hard times, the few who show up now are kinda old, there are a bunch of empty seats. The theatre I go to can’t even give away its tickets to students. It’s not a popular thing, well, other than Hamilton.

‘Gus: Huh, much like the average mainline church.

Chris: Ouch.

‘Gus: Yet, I think there is a hearth religion that has sprung up in this age. Those TV’s, they make you invest in characters, their stories. Don’t you wonder about this Walking Dead thing you watch, on a Sunday night… religiously you could say. Isn’t there an almost sacramental quality to it? In fact, after you experience the terror, or triumph, or whatever, of the characters for an hour, then there is Pastoral Care in the form of Talking Dead. Just as you talk through the faith expressed in worship in pastoral conversations after service, so too, Chris Hardwick ministers to those who participate in this TV-Hearth religion.

Chris: So, you think I’m a syncretist?

‘Gus: We’re all syncretists, but yes, I think there is an aspect of liturgy in TV, just as there was an aspect of liturgy in theatre in my age. I wonder, in what ways do the theologians of your day wrestle with this competing faith? At least acknowledging it for what it is, even if you decide that it is value neutral and not a threat to the gospel.

Chris: …

Psalm 51

Augustine: Why’d you pull punches on Ash Wednesday?

Chris: I didn’t, I preached about our sinfulness and fallibility.

Augustine: But, you didn’t make the connection between President Trump and the sin of David that caused that psalm.

Chris: You mean all the adultery and sexual assault President Trump has committed?

Augustine: Psalm 51 isn’t just about adultery or sexual assault. It is also about Uriah the Hittite, who David callously sacrificed in order to get what he wanted. He sacrificed this foreign-born man and used his wife Bathsheba.

Chris: Okay, so Trump is definitely sacrificing foreign-born people for the sake of the election.

Augustine: Yes, and he’s also sacrificed one of his warriors—Ryan Owens—and then used Owens’ widow for political ends.

Chris: That’s a stretch.

Augustine: The raid was inadvisable and the earliest reports suggested it didn’t get any useful information. It killed Ryan, injured six other Seals, killed 9 civilian children—including the daughter of an American—and 16 adult civilians.

Chris: Well, the 8-year-old daughter was the daughter of an American member of al Qaeda.

Augustine: So, the US has now killed two of this guy's kids, and him… that seems horrible. Are you okay with killing children, especially children of your countrymen?

Chris: Of course not… so, you think Trump acted like David. He hastily ordered a bad raid before his State of the Union to look like he is “bombing the hell” out of ISIS, got a bunch of people killed, lied about the intelligence gathered to justify the raid, and then paraded Ryan’s widow around in order to look presidential?

Augustine: All I’m saying is if disaster strikes, you know who to blame.
Chris: I think you are going too far—I couldn't preach that to myself, let alone to my congregation—but I do understand how I can be seen as being pretty quietist in my preaching, considering all that is happening in my country.