Kevin is 24 years old, a computer whiz and previously a leader in our conference youth and young-adult ministries. He has just moved out of state, away from home for the first time; and he is telling me about visiting some United Methodist churches in his new neighborhood.

"You know how a bag of cheese puffs can look really good? Maybe you should have some real food, but at the moment, it's all you have and they look really tasty. So, at one time these churches' worship services were probably at least a light and tasty snack. But now they're really old cheese puffs -- I mean st-a-a-a-le. It was bad even as a snack."

Then our conversation turned the corner to our habitual swap of movie reviews. "Have you seen The Matrix? he asked. "It was awesome! I saw all kinds of biblical and theological stuff in it. I thought it was spiritually deep; I mean, I came out of there and felt like I could do anything in the world, that I should do something!"

Based on who he is generationally, and as a friend and fellow film buff, I went to see this movie that not many mainstream Christians are going to see. In it, I saw blatantly biblical imagery of baptism, being born again, death, Resurrection, Ascension, the promise of Zion, and the characters of John the Baptist, Mary Magdelene, Judas, the Pharisees, and most prominently, Jesus. There were also outstanding visual effects, some very cool martial arts stuff, lots of guns, and zero sex.

Frankly, The Matrix is only about a C+ as a film. The script is lean, and the plot follows the standard hero's journey with significant Christian overtones, all shaped around the issue of artificial intelligence and computers in the future (Keanu Reeves plays "the One" who has come to save the world of humans from the world of computers.) Its artistic strength is a potently fluent use of visual imagery. What will hook some viewers is a blunt yet intricate conceptual gamesmanship: those with an interest in understanding postmodernism, especially entering into that worldview as an intuitive reality, will enjoy the film overall.

It is fairly straightforward to see that what hooked my young friend, standing in the vortex of life and career decisions, was the story of one man discovering and expressing his destiny, told with some Christian overtones. Certainly other young people on the cusp of life choices may also find this film acutely relevant. But the real story for me was the contrast of this young man, who went to a few United Methodist churches, looking for relevant responses to his questions and needs, and who came away with the taste of stale cheese puffs in his mouth -- and then visited a movie theater and came away spiritually nourished. For this reason alone, perhaps all of us should go see the film.

Gary M. Keene (gary@rmcumc.com) is the Area Director of Mission & Ministry for the Rocky Mountain Annual Conference.

(originally posted April 21, 1999)

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