Pete Gall's Pulp Theology

So there’s the guy named Don Miller who wrote a book called Blue Like Jazz, and pretty much every stinking review or comment anybody’s made about my books has found some way to make a comparison between us, usually painting me as Rick to his Magnum, or whoever comes through the wall after the Kool-Aid guy‘s grand “Oh Yeah” entrance.

Don Miller on a cake

Don Miller arriving home from a long day taking confessions at Reed College

But I like the guy. I like what he’s done. I like what his presence has meant to millions of readers – and in fact I think he’s an even better speaker than writer, so I like what his presence has meant to millions of audience members as well. I want to see Don succeed at whatever he sets out to do – a million holes in a thousand walls, I say.

So I’m going to contribute to the Save Blue Like Jazz (the movie) effort, and I hope you will, too.

It’s going to be shot on a shoestring budget, and while I have heard good things about the script and maybe it’ll turn out to be an amazing work of art, I’m not expecting it to be a DVD you buy and store away to sell like some Beatles album, and I doubt it’ll show up in many film history classes down the road. But there are other reasons for supporting the effort, and for supporting Don.

The first of which is the fun of being part of such a crowd-sourced effort. It’s just cool to jump in on the ride.

The second reason is to demonstrate that there is a market for intentional, conversational, relational expressions of faith and life – especially told from outside an institutional environment. Christians can do better than some of the films we’ve put out. (Lord, hear our prayers…)

The third reason to contribute is that there is value simply in being part of creating cultural artifacts that reflect who you are, what you’ve been touched by, and what you hope for in this life (it’s way cooler than another tramp stamp on the small of your back or another Celtic Cross tattooed on your forearm…we need to have a talk about those things another time).

The next – and I’ll stop here – is Don himself. The guy has put himself out there, in books and in many life choices. Don lives like a champion that way – meaning somebody who is willing to step onto battlefields so other don’t have to (think David and Goliath each representing an entire army). We live in an era of self-consciousness, ego, fear and a weird sort of “hater” tendency to cheer against people (as though our cheering or our support are expressions of our own egos). What if, instead, we make an effort to watch where people do good things, champion sorts of things, and we get behind those people and help make them look right, make their dreams easier to reach, and share in the victories they invite us to share?

Anyway, something to consider – and I hope you’ll Help Save Blue Like Jazz (the movie).