My Christmas w/ Reverend Billy & Doctor Matt: Part 1
May 22, 2008
John Murdock works as an attorney for the federal government, focusing on water and environmental issues. He lives in northern Virginia and is currently helping to facilitate a class on environmental stewardship at The Falls Church (Anglican). John blogs at republicantreehugger.blogspot.com. The personal views expressed here are of course solely his own.
The following originally appeared in Creation Care Magazine.
Reverend Billy from the Church of Stop Shopping is not a real reverend. He is not even a Christian, but in a culture where shopping has replaced worship as the activity most associated with Christmas, he asks a valid question: What would Jesus buy? This past December I encountered that question anew and found a voice ready to answer.
The independent documentary What Would Jesus Buy? follows Reverend Billy (anti-consumerism activist Bill Talen) and his Stop Shopping Choir on a cross-country journey fueled by bio-diesel and prophetic zeal. I had heard of the film and was curious whether the “Reverend,” with his over-the-top televangelist parody, was setting his sights on Christianity as well as America’s materialism. A free screening sponsored by a Washington, D.C. ministry presented the perfect opportunity to find out. As an added bonus, it so happened that Talen and his wife were in attendance.
WWJB is a funny, ironic (some might say snarky) piece of advocacy filmmaking produced by Morgan Spurlock of Supersize Me fame. Talen first began performing as Reverend Billy in the 1990s outside the Times Square Disney Store where he proclaimed Mickey Mouse to be the Anti-Christ. Fittingly, the movie ends with the shepherd and his singing flock being kicked out of Disneyland. (Apparently, one is not free to preach about the plight of real downtowns on the corporately-owned pavement of Main Street U.S.A.) Before that climax, the camera follows Reverend Billy across the country as he warns that we are consuming ourselves with the consumer economy and face a looming Shopocalypse. Along the way, Talen’s pastoral persona walks a fine line between rhetorical homage and sarcastic mockery.
During the post-screening question and answer time, I asked Talen about his personal attitude towards Jesus. Quite frankly, beyond offering that Jesus probably had a good sense of humor, he largely dodged the question. Yet, from his comments, and indeed his presence before this group of believers, it was clear that Talen’s target is reckless consumption, not Christianity. While Reverend Billy himself may pray only to “the great unknown,“ the character is meant as a creative attention getter, not a direct assault on the faithful.
Over the coming days, several friends who had also seen the film wondered aloud why the real Church was not more involved in spreading this message. It is, after all, the infant Jesus that has been pushed aside by a commercialized Santa. Certainly, many congregations have taken steps to keep the focus on Christ, but it seems undeniable that multitudes of Christians have implicitly embraced the materialistic hijacking of this holy day.
The following night after seeing WWJB, I was forced to face the power of American consumerism alone. A friend who is trying to break into the entertainment industry was gathering folks to see a blockbuster-to-be on which she had worked. As it turned out, I was the only member of the group who underestimated the mass appeal of Nicolas Cage ferreting out secrets in our nation’s capital. While standing next in line to purchase my ticket, the “sold out” announcement came booming over the loudspeakers. The others, including my ride, had purchased a ticket online, and thus I was left to face the mall alone for over two hours.
Normally, my shopping excursions are of the commando raid variety—get in, attack the predetermined target, and get out as soon as possible—but this night things would have to be different.
Blessedly, my family has toned down our gift exchange in recent years, and I already had what I needed for my coming journey home to Texas. So, with no clear list and facing a mega-mall packed at its holiday peak, I quickly retreated to a bookstore. There I was greeted by commercialism at its finest. In the 1965 classic A Charlie Brown Christmas, Charles Schulz bemoans the holiday’s exploitation and has Linus poignantly recount the biblical reason for the season. Now, however, you can purchase a plastic replica of the little natural tree Charlie Brown rescued and then wrap it in a genuine reproduction of Linus’s blanket, sold separately of course. Plus, the official Charlie Brown Christmas domino set and a variety of other branded do-dads can also be yours; allowing the buyer to nostalgically remember a cartoon that once stood for something more. After shaking my head, I left the bookstore and proceeded to walk every inch of this three level shopping mecca.
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[...] The following originally appeared in Creation Care Magazine. You can find part 1 here. [...]