There was a time when the only real films that Christians got excited about were the ones that offended us. You don’t see that so much these days. Perhaps we’ve mellowed. Perhaps the studios have stopped trying to antagonise us. Perhaps we just expect Hollywood to present a flawed view of life.
But Christianity and the movies are not strangers. In fact, you might know that there's a movie coming out soon that retells the story of Noah. Starring Russell Crowe, Anthony Hopkins and Emma Watson, it's appears to be following the tradition of mainstream films that try to leverage Christian support - rather than incite our anger. Fittingly, the studio has paid attention to the soundtrack, as the leaked trailer (which will probably get pulled pretty soon) makes clear. Two minutes in and Kim Walker-Smith starts belting out her version of Spirit Break Out. It's a good, good moment.
Shouldn’t we be excited by this? Isn’t it pretty awesome that moviegoers will get to hear such a powerful song of worship despite being nowhere near a church? Does the song’s inclusion in the middle of the film’s soundtrack (and we’re hoping not just at the end while everyone check’s their phone’s not fallen from their pocket before filing out) offer perfect proof of the fact that, yes, the Spirit really is breaking out? Isn’t this exactly the kind of thing that proves our worship is relevant, powerful and reaching out beyond the walls of the church?
Maybe.
Or perhaps you see it differently. Christians like going to the movies too, so including the song is a smart move on the part of the studio. Maybe they’re hoping that we’ll still remember the spine tingles we feel when Kim lets loose and forget about the artistic license they take with the plot? Besides, aren’t blogs like this exactly the kind of viral buzz they hope to create in the run up to release? Aren’t we just another bullet point on a marketing plan?
Perhaps you take the wideer view and see that over the next two months we will hear a lot of worship songs leaking out of mainstream speakers. Will we get excited when our shopping is soundtracked by words that sing glory to the new born King? Maybe we should be getting behind that just as much as we do Noah.