In my last semester, this is officially now the twilight of my seminary career. And so, in the midst of too many classes already, not to mention time with friends and the occasional chess tournament or frisbee game, I decided to fit in my own version of a capstone: Preaching and Pop Culture. The idea is to take pop culture topics that seem un-preachable and make them a focus of the text; i.e. read the text through their respective lenses. The goal isn't to preach an anti-pop culture message but to actually engage the framework out of which these symbols arise and ask the Luther-esque question, "What does this mean?"
It's a fascinating time for me to think about this. I'm reading and hearing about ministry in a media culture in one class and, in a very different way, applying it to ministry in another. I have to admit I don't know what to do with Twilight--the pun on which this blog post is premised. It is my first subject and challenge. I'm reading this book and thinking, "What is preachable here?" How do I, as a 24-year-old male, find what it is that draws in so many girls--women--and then direct it to Christ?
I can't tell you how many people have come up to me recently, with a book on my lap or lying next to me, and said something along the lines of, "You're not reading that, are you?" Yes. Yes, I am.
And I'm learning. I'm not sure what exactly. There are themes in this book that worry me, that make me downright scared for young people to read it. And yet, there's something behind it. I don't think girls' self-worth should be wrapped up in attractive guys (or vampires), but I do think there is a longing for something tangible, something that lasts--an eternal love that reaches through our fears. Is that what Twilight is about? Not on the surface. Not in the author's mind. Not in the minds of its readers. And yet, is that what Twilight is about? Perhaps.
In a crazy way, my seminary twilight isn't so different. I haven't been bitten by any vampires (that I'm aware of), but as a pastor I am going to be a singularity, an outsider in many ways, but the subject of unwanted attention in others. I'm going to be mostly goodhearted but with the possibility of doing great damage. I'm going to be sparkly--ok, not exactly, but the pastoral bling is pretty sweet, no? And most of all, I am going to be powerful beyond measure; not by my own abilities but through Christ who lives in me.
After the most recent Twilight-series movie release, I encountered a pastor who proudly proclaimed that he had NOT read any of the Twilight books, or seen any of the movies, nor did he have any intention of ever doing either one. My question to him was: Do you truly have no interest in engaging with a book that is exploring with a teenage audience what it means to be truly human? Think about it. Most of the major characters are not actually fully human, and the main character (who is fully human) rejects her humanity in many ways, even while exploring with her vampire boyfriend what it means to have a soul. Yes, "love" is a major theme in this book, but theologically, existentially, it's exploring a lot more than that. Perhaps that's why it has almost a big a following among middle-aged women as it does among teenage girls.
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