the tindog coffeehouse

I had my doubts about the movie adaptation of Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz after reading unChristian author Gabe Lyons’ review of the screenplay. After seeing this teaser trailer, though, I’m doubting no more.

It looks amazing.

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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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How’s that for a broad title?

First, a little background. In March, I wrote a blog post in response to a review of the upcoming movie adaptation of Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz. In the post I voiced concern over how homosexuality may be portrayed in the movie, worried that (according to the review) the movie was consciously pursuing a pro-homosexual agenda, which I believed was the wrong message to send to both the Christian community and to non-Christians. I made it clear that since I had not seen the movie, I was only responding to the review.

The post generated a few comments, including a response from the movie’s producer, Steve Taylor. And although it wasn’t originally intended to be a political discussion, it more or less evolved into that.

Now the Weekly Standard has published an article attacking Miller for his support of Barack Obama and his apparent disdain for conservatives:

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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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From Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller:

When we worship God we worship a Being our life experience does not give us the tools with which to understand. If we could, God would not inspire awe. Eternity, for example, is not something the human mind can understand. We may be able to wrap our heads around living forever (and we can do this only because none of us has experienced death), but can we understand what it means to have never been born? I only say this to illustrate that we, as Christians, believe things we cannot explain. And so does everybody else. …

I was talking to a homeless man at a laundry mat recently, and he said that when we reduce Christian spirituality to math we defile the Holy. I thought that was very beautiful and comforting because I have never been good at math. Many of our attempts to understand Christian faith have only cheapened it. I can no more understand the totality of God than the pancake I made for breakfast understands the complexity of me. The little we do understand, that grain of sand our minds are capable of grasping, those ideas such as God is good, God feels, God loves, God knows all, are enough to keep our hearts dwelling on His majesty and otherness forever. …

Too much of our time is spent trying to chart God on a grid, and too little time is spent allowing our hearts to feel awe. By reducing Christian spirituality to formula, we deprive our hearts of wonder.

I began seeing friends on Facebook join a group called I Am Second, and it didn’t really mean anything. Then I saw it mentioned in an article in the Dallas Morning News. Hmm. OK, so what is this about?

That’s the question Plano-based e3 Partners Ministry hopes North Texans will ask as part of “I Am Second,” a multimillion-dollar media campaign intended to promote God as the source of a shared, purposeful life. The initiative – which began this month and is planned to last three years – has attracted professional athletes and Hollywood celebrities and drawn more than 160,000 Web site hits from people in at least 150 countries. …

The mysterious ads list a Web site – iamsecond.com – with provocative testimonial videos by celebrities like movie star Stephen Baldwin, Dallas Cowboys linebacker Greg Ellis and former NASCAR champion Darrell Waltrip.

Dallas-area residents also share stories of eating disorders, loneliness, drug abuse and pornography addiction. The intimate clips appear more like the makings of a professional documentary than a homegrown church movement.

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