Wednesday 4 August 2010

Televangelism

No, not that sort.

"Watch 'Rev.'" said my vicar. "Watch 'Rev.'" said a handful of other clergy I know (where, exactly, did you all come from?). I don't have a television. I haven't watched television regularly for over a decade. But iPlayer came to the rescue, and I watched it...

...and yes, it was good. It was funny and serious. I think it portrayed quite well some of the challenges faced by urban clergy these days.

I wonder how many people watched it who weren't already interested, though. I wonder if anyone who doesn't go to church watched. I wonder if anyone who doesn't really know any clergy watched. I wonder if anyone who has been seriously wounded by the church watched.

I am not thinking about this in terms of converting people to Christianity or bringing lapsed Christians back to church, but more of the perception of religion and faith in this society. If one person watched this television program and thought, "Okay, maybe not all churches are prejudiced... maybe not all clergy are insufferable holier-than-thou hypocrites... maybe not all communities value conformity over justice or love or freedom..." then I would be very happy indeed.

2 comments:

it's margaret said...

So would I be!

Jill said...

I would be too. I hope it wasn't just C of E people (and a specific, though sizeable, portion thereof) who watched it.

I didn't like the last episode so much. Sure, it all turned out well(ish) in the end, but I wasn't so keen on their portrayal of his breakdown.

Funnily enough, it was the shoplifting that I found most unbelievable. Though a lot of it seemed very genuine (asking God why, drinking too much, whatever) there were so many moments of cringingly embarrassing stuff played for laughs that I just went 'Umph' and hid my head behind a pillow.

My favourite was the one with the evancharismaniacals. It's funny because sometimes its true. And because it had the bit, 'Colin is a blessing'.

Got me right there, that did.

And Archdeacon Robert. I LOVE Archdeacon Robert.