Weirdest Church Ever
October 7, 2010
Watch and be horrified. Absolutely horrified. As the person noted from the site I found this, “There’s probably some context that we’re missing, but honestly, context might make it worse.”
Well, I certainly can’t imagine context making it any better.
Come on Guys and Girls, I know you can rock this one out of the house: Possible sermon titles, and or sermon snippets that could have possibly followed this travesty.
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Weird-ass Performance Art (TM). Like the type done as some sort of Important Message (TM) — important only to the Performance Artiste (TM). Scotteriology, are you SURE this was from a church? Even the horror stories of Liturgical Dancing Clown Funeral Masses (TM) in The Spirit of Vatican II (TM) pale before this horror.
Not only is Lobster Boy wearing a really awful fursuit, he butchers that song completely. And what was with the background set right out of a Sixties Milton Bradley boardgame? And the snake handler in the neck-brace? And Little Miss Muffet as liturgical dancer?
This is Eye of Argon. This is Star Wars Holiday Special. This is Kirban’s 666 on a bad batch of Owsley Acid. Again, are you SURE this was in a church context?
Yes, it is from a church. I want to see what people’s sermon suggestions are then I’ll post what the actual sermon was. Trust me, this was the opener for a sermon.
Sermon by who?
The six-year-old who (literally) writes Axe Cop?
I’m guessing it was a beatles songs series and the start was about community…i’m head over heals interested in this story!
The sermon should have been, “one really good reason you should not go to church on acid.”
Or watch Meet the Feebles on acid…
Apparently the aim was to illustrate that life often seems to be bizarre, random and out of control. Unfortunately what was actually communicated was: the thinking of the drama team of Northridge Church is bizarre, random and out of control!
LOL… well played Josh!
I pride myself on having a very good imagination and I’m usually very creative so when HUG sent me an e-mail about this video, I thought, No sweat. I can deduce the meaning of this, no problem.
(sigh) I don’t have a freaking idea what they were trying to communicate.
I am amazed at the set. It must have cost them a bundle. However, I could think of a ton of better things to do with a life-sized version of the Life game than surrealism.
I would like to point out the above comment comes from someone who’s a big fan of both Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass — the originals) and H.P.Lovecraft (Cthulhu Mythos). C Alan Loewen is no stranger to the surreal.
I pride myself on having a very good imagination and I’m usually very creative so when HUG sent me an e-mail about this video, I thought, No sweat. I can deduce the meaning of this…
“I thought I had a most morbid imagination, as good as any man’s… but it appears I have not.”
– Aliester Crowley, commenting on the antics of Jack Parsons & L Ron Hubbard
Let’s hope this preceded a sermon series on Ecclesiates, “Vanity, vanity; all is vanity.” I agree with others, horrible rendering of a classic text and phenomenal waste of money.
The only possible usage of this “drama” would be to introduce a sermon series on “What if Ezekiel had taken the Blue pill instead of the Red one?”
Worse yet — what if he’d been like Kiki the Ferret from Sluggy Freelance and taken them both?
Better to give people no pretext at all and say, “Does this look like something you would see at YOUR church?”
See how many comments of “Oh yeah, I totally get it.” you receive and then make your list of heretics (or harmless morons) accordingly.
I traced the video back to
http://www.alittleleaven.com/2010/10/helter-skelter-sermon-opener.html
apparently the sermon was not any better
Apparently (from reviewing the sermon on Northridge’s website) the point of the sketch was to show that life – no matter how hard you try to control it – can be unexplainable and random. And, without a doubt, the sketch was unexplainable, random and weird.
The set was a one week shot. Wow… Their Creative Arts team often spends up to 8 weeks preparing sets and costumes and lights, etc. for the weekend service. That’s a lot of money and effort…
I totally support the idea of creatively communicating the gospel, but the question comes to, “What is the Gospel”. Is it moralism? Is it “How to Have Your Best Life Now?” Is it good principles of life taught with a Scriptural rider? Is it a Broadway play with religious overtones? Is it Christ-centric or consumer driven?
Who knows… I’m glad for whatever positive effect that they are having in people’s lives and in the life of the community, but it certainly creates larger questions as to the role of the Kingdom of God and the local church and the role and purpose of the public presentation of Christ.
Aimee Semple McPherson would be proud. But at the same time I bet she would be deeply disturbed by the content of their presentation. I’m all for investing in liturgy – heck we do an elaborate sensory service every Good Friday, but I echo the concern over what is being presented. Aimee would want to know where the gospel was in all this.
Lobster Boy would do better to yell/rant Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” than The Beatles’ “Come Together”. Much more appropriate.
HUG: Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit? That is BRILLIANT!
At least then Lobster-Man could have been seen as the eco-prophet of doom railing against mankind’s rape of the abundance of the sea and soil while suggesting that corporate America has lulled us all into a drug-induced coma!
Here’s the lyrics for you non-JAphiles:
One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don’t do anything at all
Go ask Alice
When she’s ten feet tall
And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you’re going to fall
Tell ‘em a hookah smoking caterpillar
Has given you the call
Call Alice
When she was just small
When men on the chessboard
Get up and tell you where to go
And you’ve just had some kind of mushroom
And your mind is moving slow
Go ask Alice
I think she’ll know
When logic and proportion
Have fallen sloppy dead
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen’s “off with her head!”
Remember what the dormouse said;
“Keep YOUR HEAD
Keep your head”
Uh, that’s “Feed Your Head”, not “Keep Your Head”.
(Have you seen the YouTube mashup video of that using footage from the Tim Burton Alice?)