Rent, relevance and the life of a bohemian

So I went to go see the movie Rent last night with some of my friends from High School. I would highly recommend anybody (especially Christians, for reasons I am about to go into in a minute) to go see it. I would go see it again, if anybody is interested. Drop me a line through this thing or email (allegrid@msu.edu) and let me know.

Anyway, I loved this movie. The music was amazing. Not only that, but it was perfectly cast with people who could act as well as sing. All the music seamlessly integrated in the greater thread of the movie, so you never felt like asking, "why are these people breaking into song in the first place?" The way these people acted the music, you really felt like the only way they could really express what it was they were trying to get across was song, ie this was no musical for the sake of being a musical; like all good art, it had a message.

And a powerful message it was at that. The whole movie followed this group of broken people in their respective quests to find some sort of life in the world in which they found themselves. Four of the characters had AIDS, another four were homosexuals, one was a stripper, another a transvestite, two were out-of-work artists, another an expelled college professor. There were lawyers and yuppies, performance artists and bohemians, lesbians and live-in-lovers. The whole thing smacked of a reality where not everyone lived in the cookie-cutter lifestyle of the Beev's suburbia. AND I LOVED IT!

Because these characters transcended their identities as strippers or drag-queens and lesbians, they gave that sector of society a name and a face and personalities. These are people. More often than not the church of Jesus forgets that. People have lives beyond their classifications or boundaries. Personhood extends far beyond labels like the 'homosexual agenda' or the 'enemies of family values'. Despite the fact that he was a transvestite, I didn't want Angel to die because he was a person.

I would dare say that the church needs to stop ministering to sins and start ministering to people. We objectify and we classify and we put people into these little boxes so that they either conform or react (often virulently) to our systems of labels and hierarchy. Christ would have none of that because he knew that sin was not the last word in anybodies life. Love was.

Does this mean I agree with homosexuality? No, it doesn't. But since when did disagreement translate to a flat-out rejection of personhood? It's possible to respectfully disagree on an issue and still love with the passion of Christ. So why don't we? Are Christians afraid they might actually enjoy a homosexual's company? People need God and instead of ramming our convictions down one another's throats, why can't we say "This is what I believe, here is why, now why don't we talk about it?"

Ultimately, the church has to be relevant to people like lesbians and AIDS patients and strippers. It has to be relevant to those who need God, because ultimately all those people seen in Rent, the artists and the poor and the hurting, they are all us. And we all need God.

Viva la vie Boheme!

Daniel