Church & Movie: An Experience Retold

It’s Sunday and it only means one thing; church day. Well, my friends and I went to church as usual and listened to a powerful service, as always. I’m not going to elaborate a lot on the sermon itself but rather what happened after the service. We went to watch a movie.

Somehow, I was also joining them for a movie despite my reluctance. I got a free ticket, so I figured I'll just follow. Plus, it might be the last movie that I would watch with these people for the time being. We had to go all the way a shopping complex some 10 minutes ride away from our church to watch that movie. Since it was a newly released movie, everyone filled up the whole cinema. Throughout the entire movie, I enjoyed myself as I watched through the battle scenes as they were similar to one of my all time favorite movie: LOTR: Return of the King. I also took delight in watching how the heroes cracked some funny jokes that kept me alive for around three hours in that cold room.

After the movie, I couldn’t help but noticing how swarms of people began to leave the theatre hall and they walked out of the cinema with all kinds of expression on their faces. I could see how some looked tired, some looked dull, some looked normal, but surprisingly no one actually smiled or laughed. “If the movie was such a good one, then why didn’t people actually smile when they walk out? Why are some rushing to leave the theatre hall once the movie is finished?”

All these thoughts that run through my mind just made me conclude one thing: watching a good blockbuster movie in a cinema is the same as going to church every Sunday.

In a cinema, you get to watch a good movie. There are also a lot of people around you who are watching the same movie as you are. There are laughter all over the theater when the hero made some funny comments, there are also people crying if the message of the movie touches their heart. Some people enjoy the movie, some don’t. It is exactly the same as going to church. We get to meet other people who are also attending church on that day, though the number might be smaller than the people going to cinema. We also get to sit on our chairs listening to a speaker speaking on a topic. Sometimes we laugh at the speaker’s jokes, other times we sniffed silently when the topic touches our heart and make us cry. Sometimes, we enjoy the message. Sometimes, we don’t.

So what is the difference between watching a good, meaningful movie and going to church? It’s the joy of the Lord that makes a difference. People get out of movie theater and go back to their life as usual as quick as a lightning. However, people getting out of a church after a powerful service will feel refreshed and joyful. Even though some might still feel the same, it is only normal to see people get touched in a service, and going out of a church smiling, walking proudly, and laughing to one another. I did not get that sense of joy after I watched the movie, even though it was a good movie.

Conclusion:

If I have to choose between one of them, I will pick church hands down. Though movie offers the exact same laughter, tears, excitement, or even dullness as a church offers, at the end of the day, it is the presence of God that makes a difference. Going to a cinema makes you laugh for two hours, going to church makes you laugh for a long long long time…………because in God, we find everlasting joy that a movie cannot provides.

God bless.
Leen