Saw the new Star Trek last night. It was very entertaining. I was trying to put my finger on the feeling I was having watching it, and the best that I can come up with is that it felt like church planting. Here was a familiar story, but told in a fresh new way. And the fun part was how giddy the Trekkies around me were (and, okay, I was too) when they would hear the echoes of the "original"...
When Kirk yelled "Bones!"
When Chekhov pronounced Vulcan
When Spock said "live long and prosper"
Kirk Out
And most of all: "Space, the final frontier..."
Everything old is new again, and when church planters get up there and share the gospel of Jesus in new ways, with new technologies, and truly dare to do something new... they do it with the first great story. And when it works, it fills you with glee. And echoes of the original:
When the prodigal son comes home
When the stones drop from the accusers
When the last bit of oil is given to Elijah
It is finished
And most of all: "Go into all the world and make disciples..."
It made me proud to be a part of something like NewThing. And it makes me excited to see the next sets of "re-imaginings" of the best franchise out there. Coming soon! Los Angeles, San Francisco... the world wide web...
Matthew 9:16-17: "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."
