What I learned from "Rent"ing
My apologies for my lack of posts these past few weeks...
This past weekend, Kristi and I went with some friends to see the film version of the musical Rent which just came out. For those of you who aren't familiar with the storyline, Rent is the retelling of Puccini's Opera La Boheme, but set in New York in 1989. It tells the story of a group of bohemian friends who are filmakers, dancers, musicians, drug addicts, drag queens, and other societal castaways trying to survive in a world that tells them that they are worthless unless they conform. Another main "actor" in this musical is HIV, which affects 4 of the 7 main characters, eventually developing into AIDS and killing one of them. HIV is the ominous "big brother" that you never see in the musical, but is always there -- a telling truth in the times that we live in.
Rent is a rough and tumble story, and not for the faint of heart. In many ways though, it has become the lens through which the Gen X, postmodern culture has been identified (it's longevity and Broadway, Tony Awards, Pulitzer Prizes, and cult following attest to that). If you want to know what Gen X looks like and thinks like, Rent is the poster child (in my opinion).
My guess is that 95% of Christians who have seen Rent absolutely hated it and think it is the worst of what culture and humanity has to offer in the 20th (and now 21st) Century.
But let me make a confession... I love Rent, and not just because I am a Gen X'er myself, or because I'm trying to be ultra hip or something. Instead, I must admit I am very thankful for this musical in my own life of faith, and listen to it (and now see it) in order to be a better pastor, and (hopefully) to be a better follower of Christ as well. Let me tell you why.
First, I must issue a disclaimer. There is much in Rent that I dislike and disagree with. The drugs, the sexual promiscuity and confusion, the extreme self-centeredness, the language...these elements are all in this movie (as they are in our society at large), and I don't condone any of them. WHEW! I'm glad I got that off my chest.
But if I can get past these elements on the surface, I believe there is a river running below the surface in Rent that feeds me and teaches me something about myself and God, and about what I think the church is called to be.
Rent is the tale of a community of broken people -- Broken by heartbreak, by poverty, by confusion, by an illness (HIV) that both isolates individuals as well as mortally wounds them.
Yet, it is in the brokenness of their dreams and in the ever present knowledge of their own mortality, that the Rent'ers come to see life in clear and sharp focus.
One example of this is in their experience of community and belonging. A number of the characters attend a "Life Support" meeting a few times throughout the musical (a support group for people with HIV/AIDS). Life Support is a place where people who have been broken and are alone come together to support and love each other. This group is their "church". At Life Support, they are able to voice their fears and be accepted by others. They are able to belong and know that others will not judge them for their pasts or their present. They know how they got into the situation they are in -- no one needs to remind them of that. They just need to be someplace where they experience love and community in a world that isolates them and tells them to live in regret and shame. These moments in the music and in the movie are holy moments of deep connection. These characters on screen are experiencing unconditional love (agape love as Scripture calls it) -- all in a community center.
As I sat and watched again this weekend, I was reminded once again at how much I wish and long for the church took that posture. In fact, that is what the church is supposed to be -- "life support" for broken people, not the country club for the religious elite. We believe that the source of real life, our life support, is in the embrace of Jesus himself -- Jesus who will love us in the midst of our brokeness, heal our brokeness, and then never walk away. Mark, Roger, Mimi, Angel, Tom, Maureen, Joann -- these characters give us a hint of what God's love for us looks like. Their love and embrace each other as the best of of what Christian community can and should be.
But I also know that even this community of love and acceptance that Rent has found will pass away (as happens in the story). It is full, but it is also empty. As a follower of Christ, I watch this and I envy their deep level of commitment and community, but yearn for them to know a relationship much deeper than human love and belonging -- being loved and knowing I belong in the embrace of Jesus himself, who will never leave.
Unfortunately, much like the critics of this musical who say it is unChristian in nature, we turn our heads to those who are Rent in our world, subtley telling them in the process that they must clean up their act before we will love them. Becasue of that, I am confident these Rent'ers would reject the church, as most of the postmodern, Gen X world has. They don't feel like they belong because our love has been conditional. This is a tragedy.
In that respect, Rent has it right and modern day religion has it wrong. Jesus himself was known as "a man of no reputation" (Philippians 2), by the wise considered a fool (as the old Rich Mullins song goes). "He welcomes sinners and eats with them", the religious elite scoffed at Jesus. (Luke 15:2). I can't help but think these sinners looked alot like these characters in Rent, and I bet Jesus would have loved them very much, and hung out with them often.
What about us?
If you are up to it, I'd like to issue you a challenge. If you choose to see Rent, as you watch it, try picturing Jesus walking with every character in the story. Picture him laughing with them when they laugh, crying with them when they cry, mourning with them when they mourn. Don't make any moral judgments (certainly, there is morality in Jesus' teachings, but for the moment focus on his love for them). Just picture him loving these "sinners."
My conviction is that we as Christians too often start with judgment instead of love. Yet, Jesus led with love, and in that love, sinners were changed (and even desired to stop living in their sin. One example being Zaccheus (Luke 19)). While Jesus never relaxed his standards of right and wrong, he always led with love and acceptance.
I believe if we can get down below the surface of this story, below the drug use, below the cross dressing, below the loose lifestyles, we might learn something, and maybe even see the face of Jesus in the process.
Tell me what you think.
jeff
posted by Jeff Lincicome at
1:24 PM
1 Comments:
Hi bro,
I actually saw this on Broadway with a big fan of the show. The music and talent were outstanding certainly, but I could not find much redeeming value in the show.
I know where you're coming from--everything about your interests and ministry tells me your goal in life is to seek and save the lost. But it seemed to me that the characters were only allowed to be people, to be part of the group, because they made bad choices. True Bohemianism--like true "tolerance" today--would or should embrace all lifestyle choices, both in the mainstream and without. However, in this version, only immoral behavior is acceptable.
Examples: when Mark gets a "real" job as a freelance reporter, he feels he is "selling out"--even though his boss is trying to make him part of a new community, one of responsibility and morality. He only feels like a real person because he consistently chooses selfishness. Angel is arguably the hero of the story, probably because (1) he is the most sexually outrageous and uninhibited or (2) he commits a felony by killing Benny's girlfriend's dog. He is only a hero because he makes bad choices.
The "Life Support" meetings cannot be church in any meaningful way, since there is no accountability and no acknowledgement of sin. Everyone that is there has HIV (in this story, probably because they were promiscuous or because they shared a needle). But I don't remember any acknowledgement of having made a mistake--I think all the people at Life Support just think they got unlucky and ought to be pitied. Indeed, once two pairs of characters (Mimi/Roger and Tom/Angel) find out they are both HIV-positive, it gives them license for more illicit sex, since they can't give it to each other. Church should be a place for love and trust, put a church that places its entire reputation on how "Open and Accepting" it can be is irrelevant.
Your challenge to imagine the 'Rent'ers encountering Jesus is an interesting one. My first thought is that, if I remember correctly, Jesus never condoned sin in anyone. He forgave it (Luke 23:34), he certainly ignored it when he chose his dinner companions, he refused to punish it (John 8:10-11), he even pointed it out without judgement (John 4:17-18), but he never condoned it. And I don't remember anyone walking away from an encounter with Jesus thinking that their sin was a good thing (although, in many cases, we don't know). But every character in this movie not only condones the sinful acts of the others, they glorify them. Indeed, they ostracize anyone who does not commit the same acts. In several vignettes, the parents of the characters leave messages for them--come home, would love to hear from you, we miss you. The characters actively spurn these advances from what appear to be loving people. The 'Rent'ers are the perfect embodiment, it seems, of Romans 1:22-32; aside from the "images made to look like...reptiles" every word is a perfect fit.
As I think back about these characters and a possible encounter with a living Jesus, I think within 20 minutes of meeting Jesus, any of these characters would have a watershed event--either crying at his feet or throwing a drink in his face. I hope some would sense both his true love AND his true calling:
"Sell all you have and give it to the poor. Forget everything that has held you back, that has kept you in the darkness where you find yourself. Then come, follow me--the one who really loves you, not your image or this caricature of yourself or your flamboyant actions, but you."
But from what we can see of these characters, I think they would be like the rich young ruler--walking away too proud or too scared to follow.
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