What’s Your

Script?

1. Kingdom2. Crucifixion3. Resurrection--------------------

Holy Spirit

The Good News

NineteenTheses

Walter BruegemannWalter Bruegemann

1. Everybody lives by a script. The script may be implicit or explicit. It may be recognized or unrecognized, but everybody has a script.

2. We get scripted. All of us get scripted through the process of nurture and formation and socialization, and it happens to us without our knowing it.

Walter BruegemannWalter Bruegemann

3. The dominant scripting in our society is a script of technological, therapeutic, consumer militarism that socializes us all, liberal and conservative.

4. That script enacted through advertising and propaganda and ideology, especially on the liturgies of television, promises to make us safe and to make us happy.

Walter BruegemannWalter Bruegemann

5.That script has failed. The script of military consumerism cannot make us safe and it cannot make us happy. We may be the unhappiest society in the world.

6.Health for our society depends on disengagement from and relinquishment of that script of military consumerism. This is a disengagement and a relinquishment that we mostly resist and about which we are profoundly ambiguous.Walter BruegemannWalter Bruegemann

7. It is the task of ministry to de-script that script among us. That is, to enable persons to relinquish a world that no longer exists and indeed never did exist.

8. The task of de-scripting, relinquishment and disengagement is accomplished by a steady, patient, intentional articulation of an alternative script that we say can make us happy and make us safe.Walter BruegemannWalter Bruegemann

9. The alternative script is rooted in the Bible and is enacted through the tradition of the Church. It is an offer of a counter meta-narrative, counter to the script of technological, therapeutic, military consumerism.

Walter BruegemannWalter Bruegemann

Movies•I Am Legend: zombies take over the earth•Deep Impact: comet is on target to hit the earth•The Core: the core has stopped spinning and the earth is

about to be torn apart•Armageddon: an asteroid is headed for earth•The Day After Tomorrow: climate change freezes over

large parts of earth•Independence Day: aliens invade and

conquer the earth•The Matrix: machines have taken over

the earth and use humans for batteries•War of the Worlds: aliens take over the

earth and kill everyone•Crimson Tide: nuclear war is about to

happen starting with a submarine

Movies•War Games: a kid hacks into a computer game and nearly

starts a nuclear war•The Sum of All Fears: gotta stop nuclear war between the

US and Russia before it starts•Terminator 2: robots taking over the world •Transformers 2: robots taking over the world (again)

News stories•Avian flu•Swine flu•Economy is crashing•Planes crashing•Global Warming•Tsunami•Earthquakes

News stories•Hurricanes•Terrorist attacks

Advertising•You deserve some chocolate•You need to be on a diet•You need extra strength medicine

(watch the side effects)•Buy our doohickey it will make you cool•Buy this car and you will be safe•Buy this car and you have sex appeal•Chew this gum & you’ll have white teeth•Eat this cereal and you’ll live forever•Take this depression medication and

you’ll be happy

Government•Need to make the world safe for democracy•Need to stop the communists•Need to stop the terrorists•If we just conquer this nation then we’ll be safe•Blind patriotic allegiance•Myth of divine origin along with God’s

blessing on all decisions•Demonization of the enemy•Spend money (tax returns)•“peace and safety”

TV Shows•It’s normal to live and sleep with people

that you are not married too

TV Shows•Men are buffoons incapable of leading their homes•Women should use their sex appeal to get ahead in life•Technology will save us by helping us to solve unsolvable

crimes and cure incurable medical problems Gospel•hopeful not pessimistic•motivated by love not fear•characterized by abundance not scarcity•an anchor in tough times •gives us lasting purpose rather than

creating our own little fleeting purposes•makes sense of morals rather than

merely social rules to be followed orrebelled against

what do you think about a lot?

how do you feel about your past?

do you feel a sense of purpose for your life?

what do you spend your time doing?

what do you bring into your mind?

what do you do for fun?

what do you spend your money on?

how do you feel about the future?

how much does faith impact your overall life?

What Are Your Driving Forces

The Gospel Is Not OnlyThe Gospel Is Not Only

• something that causes forgiveness of sin• something to be believed• something to be shared with others• something that brings hope into your life

It Is Also a New Way of LifeIt Is Also a New Way of Life• it calls us to change how we see God,

ourselves, others, and the world• it calls us to embody the kingdom now by

following the way of Jesus