The Mission Field

As described on the website, Act One: Writing for Hollywood “…is a Christian community of entertainment industry professionals who train and equip storytellers to create works of truth, goodness and beauty.” My involvement in the month-long program continues to bless me with friends and colleagues. Currently, I’m developing a feature-length script with a fellow Act One alum I met when invited to pitch to producers nine years ago. All in God’s timing.

Reflecting on the Act One program, I’m reminded of the repeated reference to our mission field: the entertainment industry. We adopted the goal that still resounds: creating stories infused with Christian values without being explicitly religious. We were mentored and coached to elevate our work to excellence and bearing God’s truth. While participating in the program, my accommodations were directly across the street from Saint Sebastian Catholic Church in Los Angeles. I attended 8am mass Monday through Friday prior to a full day of classes. What a blessing as I engaged in the sacramental life and Eucharist. As Christians of varying denominations within Act One, the Holy Spirit brought us together. Our love for Jesus Christ became our common bond even when our mission field—the entertainment industry--proved challenging which continues to this day. Actually, I believe it’s even more of an uphill battle than we experienced as the program pioneers!

Mission fields are essential to the Christian life. We are called to bring the teachings and message of Jesus Christ into our families, our workplaces, our social gatherings. And, many times, it’s not a Scripture verse interjected into a conversation, unless appropriate.  It could be a kind or encouraging word, a smile, or helping hand. And we all have a mission field—our homes for starters!

But, when called to a specific mission field, we must arm ourselves with Gospel truth, prayer, and the Holy Spirit’s guidance and inspiration. For ten years, my mission field included teaching religious education, as a volunteer, to fourth graders in my parish, St. John’s – Holy Angels in Newark, Delaware. I augmented my prescribed materials and lesson plans with insights into Catholic traditions. We prayed the rosary, watched films about Our Lady of Fatima, and learned about saints and feast days.  I utilized the classroom mission field to enrich the Catholic Christian experience for the children who gathered weekly.

Recently, I heard a memorable homily about how, in Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 8, “Jesus departed to the mountain to pray and he spent the night in prayer to God.” In later verses, St. Luke says, “And he came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground. A great crowd of his disciples and a larger number of people…came to hear him and to be healed…”. In his homily, Father Jim Jackson pointed out that Jesus and his apostles “stood on a stretch of level ground” meaning they came in the midst of the people. The level ground is where we meet others where they are, not from some lofty place. And we meet in the spirit of truth, mutual respect, and peace.

Clearly, anyone with a prophetic voice, whether shouted from the rooftops or murmured in small circles, is unpopular with the masses or those feeling threatened by the inherent message. The Old Testament prophets suffered the consequences of speaking and witnessing to the truth. In the Book of Jeremiah, Chapter 38, Jeremiah is thrown into a cistern for his prognostication: “‘This city will certainly be given into the hands of the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it. Then the officials said to the king, ‘This man should be put to death. He is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, as well as all the people, by the things he is saying to them. This man is not seeking the good of these people but their ruin.’

In the New Testament, John the Baptist was imprisoned and beheaded for speaking out against King Herod’s unlawful marriage to his brother’s wife. And Jesus Christ was crucified for challenging both political and religious power structures:  Treason by the Romans for calling himself the King of the Jews and threatening their authority and blasphemy by the Jewish religious leaders for claiming to be the Son of God.

In today’s society, we have a dearth of prophets. Years ago, I wrote about Martin Luther King, Jr., as a modern-day prophet. He met people on the level ground and led more than 2,000 over the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 9, 1965, on his march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. He showed strength and resilience with non-violent means to obtain social justice. And his influence through peaceful marches and a powerfully prophetic voice, were a threat to detractors or he would not have been assassinated. Only those who are effective threaten the populace that live in fear of reform via prophetic voices and use violence to silence them.

And then, when Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed, I questioned the rise of any truly prophetic voices who would dare to adopt a mission field to boldly proclaim the Gospel message. Until I started watching Charlie Kirk and his persuasive, respectful debates on college campuses. Social media, with its pros and cons, will continue to either support or distort his message by quoting him out of context. What did I witness in the videos?  College students lined up to question and challenge Charlie’s beliefs and debate him. And what did I witness on a deeper level? College students were eager to hear what he had to say even when they vehemently argued against him. Why did they stay to hear his message? Because I believe deep within their very hearts and minds, they were exploring or questioning narratives proclaimed by the media and current societal norms, possibly even the rhetoric ringing through academia. I believe they are searching for bold answers proclaimed in a respectful manner. They want to be challenged, and Charlie Kirk delivered. And now he too is assassinated for his witness to God’s word.

If anyone listened to his debates intact, they'd have discovered a man who loved Jesus Christ above anything or anyone else. He called himself a sinner and did not elevate himself above those he engaged with in debates. Was he harsh? Sometimes, but I never witnessed debaters showing signs of feeling less from their experience. On the level ground, he didn’t back down either which is why he became an influencer.

Once again, the mission field is a dangerous place to be as it was for Martin Luther King, Jr. and now Charlie Kirk. And it makes me wonder if anyone would be bold enough to meet on the level ground that can turn into a war zone at any instant. A mission field and a war zone. Another life sacrificed because of fear, hatred, and a violent reaction to a non-violent witnessing to God’s word.