the tindog coffeehouse

I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn’t resolve. But I was outside the Bagdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a man playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes.

After that I liked jazz music.

Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way.

I used to not like God because God didn’t resolve. But that was before any of this happened.

– Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz

Author Donald Miller has announced on his blog that the movie adaptation of Blue Like Jazz has been put on hold indefinitely. Believe it or not, I’m really sad to hear it.

About a year and a half ago, I wrote a post reacting to a review of the screenplay. I felt that the review (by unChristian author Gabe Lyons) made the movie sound like an attack on conservative Christians, and I wasn’t at all happy about that. The post even caught the attention of Steve Taylor, who co-wrote the screenplay and was the movie’s producer.

Judging by my earlier statements, you’d think I would be thrilled to hear that the movie has been shelved, but that’s the furthest from the truth. In reality, I would love to see the movie be produced, albeit without the kind of liberal agenda Lyons portends. Could that be done? Could you write a screenplay about a young Christian coming of age at an extremely liberal school like Reed College without causing conservatives “necessary affliction” (as Lyons puts it)? I’m sure you can, although Miller and Taylor may disagree.

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I finally got around to watching Man on Fire. In the movie, Denzel Washington plays a bodyguard named Creasy who pursues the kidnappers of a little girl named Pita (played by Dakota Fanning). In the end, Pita is rescued unharmed and returned to her mother but only after Creasy willingly surrenders his life in exchange for hers.

Christian blogger Jon Acuff has written about how the movie is a perfect metaphor for how Jesus willingly gave His life as a ransom for us:

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As a footnote to a few of my recent blog posts, I would strongly recommend the 2008 documentary from Dan Merchant, Lord, Save Us From Your Followers. It’s a humbling reminder of the damage we Christians often do to the world around us but also a reminder of the healing power of Christ’s love and grace.

Previously:
Quitting Christianity
The goal must be love
You obviously haven’t met my neighbors

This weekend we watched the Liam Neeson movie Taken. In the movie, Neeson’s estranged daughter (played by Maggie Grace) is kidnapped while vacationing in Paris. Neeson then spends the remainder of the movie tracking her down before she’s lost forever.

Although the movie isn’t necessarily meant to have a Christian message, I couldn’t help but to think about how it is a perfect analogy for our relationship with God. We often talk about the need to seek forgiveness for our sins and come back to God, and that’s true. But we forget that God isn’t just sitting idly by while we wander off. He’s actively pursuing us, just as Neeson’s character pursued his daughter.

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Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Donald Miller is a wonderful book. Beautifully poetic, humorous, and deeply insightful, it is composed of a series of seemingly random essays about various topics such as love, grace, and community. Miller’s book challenged me, as it should. I don’t agree with him on everything, but I followed along his journey anyway, willing to listen to what God had to say to me through it.

So when I heard that they were making a movie version of the book, my curiosity was piqued. First off, it’s not like this is a novel, but it’s not purely an autobiography either. Secondly, it’s not structured in such a way that it would easily translate to a screenplay. So I was excited to see the end result.

But after reading a review of the screenplay on Miller’s blog, my excitement has turned to concern:

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