If you are reading this on the old version of this blog, I
invite you to visit the new site: TheElectricGospel.com.
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“We Aim to Proclaim” was one of the original Electric Gospel devotions
distributed by email in the late 1990s. It was
picked up and published in the June 1999 edition of The Northwestern Lutheran. Since the page on the new website about
The Electric Gospel’s origins and purpose mentions a devotion about Tinky
Winky, I thought I might share a version of that message with you here, twenty
years down the road.
We Aim to Proclaim
by David Sellnow
In early 1999, the ministry of Rev. Jerry Falwell made news by protesting the program,Teletubbies. A Falwell ministry publication, National Liberty Journal, contained an article claiming that Tinky Winky (one of the Teletubbies) may be a subliminal gay role model because
- he’s purple;
- his antenna is shaped like a triangle;
- he carries a purse.
Falwell’s crusade against the Tinky Winky (who actually
carried a “magic bag”) generated much controversy. I had to agree with a Lubbock radio listener.
When the controversy was being discussed on local radio, one mom commented: “Anybody
who would get that from watching Teletubbies
is too old to be watching the show!”
Elsewhere, Michael Linnemann, coordinator of Baltimore's Gay and Lesbian
Community Center, said, “It's news to the gay community. We didn't realize we
had a doll. Is Barney gay too, because he's purple?" (The Baltimore Sun, February 11, 1999).
I’m not writing about this because I feel it is my calling
to be a defender of purple (or other-colored) children’s TV characters. To me,
it’s simply another example of how too many religious leaders focus their
efforts in the wrong direction. They speak against
things more than they speak for the
truth. They seek to enforce law more than they understand or offer gospel.
Christianity is not essentially about protesting against
certain people or things. It is about proclaiming peace. What did Jesus say? “Go
into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation” (Mark
16:15). Jesus did not command us to go out and protest whatever we might think
is wrong with our neighbors. Instead, he calls us to “conduct yourselves
honorably among the Gentiles, so that, though they malign you as evildoers,
they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God when he comes to judge” (1
Peter 2:12). Our calling is to show forth the goodness and truth of God by our
lives and by our witness. That’s a positive message of hope, not an exercise in
negative finger-pointing. Our main mission is to proclaim Christ, who brings
grace and healing to this world.
By the way, I am writing this during the season of Lent. The
altar in our church is covered in purple. It’s a color that associated with
royalty, as well as with the bruises and suffering of our Lord Jesus on our
behalf. Thus, for us, it’s a penitential color; we recognize our need for
redemption. Christ’s ordeal of suffering, known as The Passion, was endured for
every one of us.
So when one of the kids brings a Teletubby doll to church,
we don’t cast the doll—or the child—out.
