Transcript Sean Finnegan -- What`s Your Script

The Good News
1. Kingdom
2. Crucifixion
3. Resurrection
-------------------Holy Spirit
Nineteen
Theses
Walter Bruegemann
Walter Bruegemann
1. Everybody lives by a
script. The script may be
implicit or explicit. It may
be recognized or
unrecognized, but
everybody has a script.
2. We get scripted. All of us
get scripted through the
process of nurture and
formation and
socialization, and it
happens to us without our
knowing it.
Walter Bruegemann
3. The dominant scripting in
our society is a script of
technological, therapeutic,
consumer militarism that
socializes us all, liberal
and conservative.
4. That script enacted
through advertising and
propaganda and ideology,
especially on the liturgies
of television, promises to
make us safe and to make
us happy.
Walter Bruegemann
5.That script has failed. The
script of military consumerism
cannot make us safe and it
cannot make us happy. We
may be the unhappiest society
in the world.
6.Health for our society depends
on disengagement from and
relinquishment of that script of
military consumerism. This is a
disengagement and a
relinquishment that we mostly
resist and about which we are
profoundly ambiguous.
Walter Bruegemann
7. It is the task of ministry to
de-script that script among
us. That is, to enable
persons to relinquish a world
that no longer exists and
indeed never did exist.
8. The task of de-scripting,
relinquishment and
disengagement is
accomplished by a steady,
patient, intentional
articulation of an alternative
script that we say can make
us happy and make us safe.
9. The alternative script is
rooted in the Bible and is
enacted through the tradition
of the Church. It is an offer
of a counter meta-narrative,
counter to the script of
technological, therapeutic,
military consumerism.
Walter Bruegemann
Movies
•I Am Legend: zombies take over the earth
•Deep Impact: comet is on target to hit the earth
•The Core: the core has stopped spinning and the earth is
about to be torn apart
•Armageddon: an asteroid is headed for earth
•The Day After Tomorrow: climate change freezes over large
parts of earth
•Independence Day: aliens invade and
conquer the earth
•The Matrix: machines have taken over
the earth and use humans for batteries
•War of the Worlds: aliens take over the
earth and kill everyone
•Crimson Tide: nuclear war is about to
happen starting with a submarine
Movies
•War Games: a kid hacks into a computer game and nearly
starts a nuclear war
•The Sum of All Fears: gotta stop nuclear war between the
US and Russia before it starts
•Terminator 2: robots taking over the world
•Transformers 2: robots taking over the world (again)
News stories
•Avian flu
•Swine flu
•Economy is crashing
•Planes crashing
•Global Warming
•Tsunami
•Earthquakes
News stories
•Hurricanes
•Terrorist attacks
Advertising
•You deserve some chocolate
•You need to be on a diet
•You need extra strength medicine
(watch the side effects)
•Buy our doohickey it will make you cool
•Buy this car and you will be safe
•Buy this car and you have sex appeal
•Chew this gum & you’ll have white teeth
•Eat this cereal and you’ll live forever
•Take this depression medication and
you’ll be happy
Government
•Need to make the world safe for democracy
•Need to stop the communists
•Need to stop the terrorists
•If we just conquer this nation then we’ll be safe
•Blind patriotic allegiance
•Myth of divine origin along with God’s
blessing on all decisions
•Demonization of the enemy
•Spend money (tax returns)
•“peace and safety”
TV Shows
•It’s normal to live and sleep with people
that you are not married too
TV Shows
•Men are buffoons incapable of leading their homes
•Women should use their sex appeal to get ahead in life
•Technology will save us by helping us to solve unsolvable
crimes and cure incurable medical problems
Gospel
•hopeful not pessimistic
•motivated by love not fear
•characterized by abundance not scarcity
•an anchor in tough times
•gives us lasting purpose rather than
creating our own little fleeting purposes
•makes sense of morals rather than
merely social rules to be followed or
rebelled against
What Are Your Driving Forces
what do you think about a lot?
how do you feel about your past?
do you feel a sense of purpose for your life?
what do you spend your time doing?
what do you bring into your mind?
what do you do for fun?
what do you spend your money on?
how do you feel about the future?
how much does faith impact your overall life?
The Gospel Is Not Only
•
•
•
•
something that causes forgiveness of sin
something to be believed
something to be shared with others
something that brings hope into your life
It Is Also a New Way of Life
• it calls us to change how we see God,
ourselves, others, and the world
• it calls us to embody the kingdom now by
following the way of Jesus