Commentary

Bourne: Ultimate Lessons for the Church

by the Rev. Kelvin Sauls

(September 7, 2007, GBOD) -- All he wanted was to be a disappearing act. Instead, Jason Bourne is now targeted by the very people who gave him his purpose and mission. Jason struggles to come to terms with his double loss of memory and his only love. Despite bullets, car crashes, and highly trained operatives, Jason is on a mission to rediscover his identity and redirect his destiny. Bourne has only one objective: pursuing the revelation of his genesis and embracing a new beginning. His quest takes him on a global search as he continues the fast-paced adventure to find the real Jason Bourne. On this global sojourn, he encounters many obstacles — scores of cops, federal officers and Interpol agents who try to prevent him from rediscovering the authenticity of his identity.

In this fresh and frank "threequel," the director invites us on a multidimensional experience that is participatory and intimate. Rarely content to show a thing from a single angle, the director involves us in Jason's dilemmas through mind, body, and soul. Without any warning, we are placed right in the middle of Jason's life-threatening chaos. We can't help but admire his resourcefulness in dealing with the challenges at hand. We can't help but admire his faithfulness to his purpose.

The Bourne Identity starts the adventure of self-discovery. The Bourne Supremacy continues with the discovery of who made him and why people are out to make him disappear. Although he begins the search for those who killed his girlfriend in Supremacy, Jason probes deeper into the matters at hand in The Bourne Ultimatum. Ultimately, Jason has to break through the fallow ground of his identity and the agency, his purpose, and the program that has enveloped his life.

Three ultimate lessons are embedded in this "threequel" for the church: memory, identity, and activity. The loss of who he was and who he loved were not excuses for stagnation for Jason Bourne. His grief birthed motivation to engage in the mission at hand.

The church cannot freeze as a result of grief and loss. Although it's difficult to uncover the source of Bourne's comfort, we know the source of our comfort (Psalm 23:4 and Matthew 5:4). God's comforting presence is about resurrection, not stagnation. Loss will affect memory. Bereavement will influence identity. Grief will have an impact on activity. Through his response to loss, Bourne invites the church to employ memory, enlighten identity and exhale activity for the purpose of reconnecting with God's preferred future.

As Bourne slowly regained his memory of what was done to him, and of what he had done to others, he sought to change the present and the future. Moreover, he gave others — Pamela Landy and Nicky Parsons — permission to examine and question what they had been working for.

Ultimately, his flashbacks did not get him stuck in what was. His memory fueled his quest to restore integrity. The restoration of his memory guided his future activity. Instead of being paralyzed by the pain of the past, Bourne was mobilized by the possibilities of the future.

Similarly, the church must learn again to use memory for enlightenment and empowerment.

Memory brings enlightenment to identity. Knowledge and understanding of the church's identity is imperative. Knowledge and understanding of the church's current identity is crucial. Bourne reached back to reclaim his identity so that he could reach for his destiny.

Unfortunately the church survives on who it was and not who it can be. Rooted in social class and racial classification, the church's identity must be reclaimed through its Pentecostal and spiritual roots (Luke "upon this rock" and Acts 2).

The Bourne Ultimatum is a movie about identity and discovery. Its momentum is really about the search for authentic internal meaning. To be able to serve the present age, the latter must be at the heart of who the church is.

Identity guides activity with neighbor. Knowing that he cannot change the past, Jason's desire is to be "Bourne" again for a different kind of activity. With the tables turned, he works diligently to review his past activities and reprogram his current and future activities. Rediscovering his identity gives him permission to rediscover his purpose. Rediscovering his purpose enables him to redefine his activities and redirect his abilities.

Knowing neighbor is crucial for the church to redefine ministry activities. The multidimensional and participatory nature of these ministry activities is critical to responding to diversity and to restoring integrity. Knowing the needs of neighbor is essential for the church to redirect ministry abilities. Such knowledge and understanding will force the church to ask the hard and relevant questions. These questions will inform the "good news" the church must activate and incarnate, proclaim, and participate in. The Bourne Ultimatum invites the church to understand memory, update identity, and upgrade activity for the purpose of reconnecting with vision and destination.

Did you get the text message? "Activate your assets to bring about life and life to the fullest. Rise up Church of God, "have done with lesser things" (UMH 576). All of creation waits with eager anticipation for the revelation of the church of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:19).

The Rev. Kelvin Sauls (ksauls@gbod.org), a native of South Africa, serves as director of congregational development at the General Board of Discipleship of The United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee.
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