Comments (0)

By Richard Hamilton, April 27, 2007 10:45 pm

After a winter of enduring the painful and humorous auditions of thousands of Americans and after the trimming process of Hollywood, the hype of American Idol has reached a fever as pitch. The field has been cut down to the ten contestants who will tour the nation this summer. Tonight, contestants will stride out onto the stage and be judged on their appearance, song selection, stage presence, and most importantly, the quality of the vocal. The chosen ten seek the votes of the masses and know they will sweat out the elimination the following night. It is all a very slick package.

There are times when a church gathering is treated like an American Idol show. The judges roll in, give their initial responses in their facial expressions and then give their comments on the way out the door. Did the service start on time? How was the song selection? Too many hymns or praise songs? Were the right instruments used with their volumes at the correct level? How long was the sermon? Was there enough humor? Did the speaker make eye contact with all parts of the audience equally? Was that video clip or drama necessary and appropriate? All that we want to avoid are the words, “First of all preacher, I really like your outfit”

Churches should seek to be prepared and orderly in their cooperate worship. The issue is when someone who should be coming as a participating worshipper instead comes to a worship gathering expecting to be entertained, patted on the back, and fed. The Bible does give us a metaphor in which leaders “feed the flock,” but it is not the only metaphor. The Bible also mentions disciples growing from spiritual infancy, moving from liquids to solid food. My niece is 16 months old and has been feeding herself for months, yet there are some “long-time Christians” who still complain about not being fed. This sort of attitude accentuates the age-old gap between clergy and laity, between those on the stage and those who aren’t. This is simply a tentacle of a beast (some of you need to calm down and think scary squid, not prophecy in Revelation and Daniel) that thinks of church as a place and an activity when it is a group of people committed to transforming the world. The church is not a place or activity; it is a group of people.

The church is called to be the united body of Christ; this cannot be a reality if we come to be judge or to be a minority coming to perform and then be judged. So enjoy American Idol and let’s all hope Sanjaya gets voted off, but realize that the judge hat is put away when we are seeking to be the church.

Quick Hints:

It still shocks me how people are “famous for being famous” in our society. All it takes to be a celebrity is to be on a reality show or have bank. It is no wonder with the excessive amount of entertainment news. The question is why America has such a hunger for stars?

Isn’t it sad how physical appearance dictates so much in our society? There have been several times I have been watching Idol and wonder how a person is still in the competition. They are getting the hormonally charged adolescent vote despite being the worst contestant in terms of talent.

Comments (0)

By Richard Hamilton, March 27, 2007 10:44 pm

The practice of fasting in protest, holding a “hunger strike,” is not new. It is thought by some that the practice has roots in ancient hospitality customs. The accuser would take up residence at the door of the offender’s home and refuse to eat and drink until the wrong was set right. The high value of hospitality in these cultures would force the offender to either besmirch their good name by admitting wrongdoing or, through the ultimate act un-hospitality, letting someone die of starvation at their home. This precarious position would often force the offender’s hand.

Political prisoners have successfully used starvation to create awareness of their cause and turn the tide of popular opinion. During his frequent incarcerations, Mohandas Gandhi used hunger strikes to tarnish the image of Britain. The British could not let Gandhi die in their custody; this afforded him much political leverage. Gandhi’s cause: the end of British occupation in India. Akbar Ganji, an Iranian journalist, was imprisoned in Evin prison for his participation in a conference in Berlin held by Heinrich Boell Foundation under the title “Iran after the elections” which was labled “Anti-Islamic.” Ganji was on a hunger strike for mid-May until mid-August 2005 (with the exception of the 15 days he was granted leave). Ganji’s cause: freedom of speech, justice, human rights, and democracy. Ganji wrote of himself, during his hunger strike, “I am now the symbol of justice.”

What cause will motivate Americans? What will be their fight? Civil liberties? Economic freedom? Ecology? Ending AIDS or poverty?

One American activist, who goes by the moniker “J,” has found a cause worthy of her energy. She is currently 11 days into her hunger strike. J’s cause: the integrity of American Idol. She writes, “This to us is a form of passive resistance to support a cause! It’s more about preserving the goals of American Idol.” According to the “freedom fighter,” “the talent-less American Idol contestant Sanjaya needs to be voted off the show so other talented contestants who deserve a chance to win are being eliminated because there are other people that think it would be funny to try to sabotage American Idol by voting for a lesser contestant.” She has launched myspace.com/starvationforsanjaya to track the progress of her hunger strike.

Is there a vast tone-deaf conspiracy keeping talent-less hacks like Sanjaya in the running to be the next American Idol? Yes. Votefortheworst.com was established for exactly that purpose. “American Idol is not about singing at all, it’s about making good reality TV and enjoying the cheesy, guilty pleasure of watching bad singing.”

Is this a fight worth fighting? In response to her detractors, J writes, “Many people have also brought to our attention that there are many causes more important in the world to be concerned about other than American Idol. Yes, we know this. It’s not that we don’t care about or don’t support these other causes (I in fact, am a big supporter of Bono’s RED campaign), however this cause is something we are also passionate about and can see that many people also feel the same way.”

Starvation for Sanjaya has 1927 friends.

I guess Americans don’t have anything better to do with their time.