This year’s Academy Awards ceremonies made me think about some of the best attributes of church. I cried several times unexpectedly, but that’s just one of the parallels with church.
What really got my attention was the personal tributes given to each of the nominees for Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor. Rather than showing yet another clip from each of the films, the brilliant producers and writers of this essential bit of Americana invited actors who know each nominee to talk about them as people and as actors. These brief speeches were at times heart-rending and at times hilarious.
Whoever came up with this idea must have been to church.
Mark Wingfield
This kind of thanksgiving is well-known to those of us who are saturated in the life of faith. In some churches, we see tributes like this when a person is baptized; a friend reads the candidate’s faith story as they enter the sacred waters. In some churches, we hear tributes like this as women and men are set aside for ordination as pastors or deacons. In many churches, we hear similar tributes at high school graduate recognition Sundays, at weddings, funerals and other key events.
At its best, the church knows how to praise people for their exemplary lives of service and faith and share our joy in their life-changing passages.
Hearing these 20 tributes tonight was like being at church.
But that’s not all. Perhaps it’s the post-pandemic spirit of the age — I don’t know — but many of the actors and producers and directors who won awards tonight spoke of collegiality and teamwork.
We know big-name actors can carry egos that rival a megachurch pastor. But what we saw and heard tonight, over and over, was a nod to the teamwork required to make a film. This was refreshing and beautiful. And it felt sincere. Actors and actresses who headline films and are household names did not hog the spotlight. Instead, they reflected it back on those who make their stars shine.
In that sense, making a film is like being church. There may be headliners who are seen and heard the most, but the whole enterprise is dependent on a perhaps unseen cast and crew who do the work of the mission.
Let us take a page from what the Academy of Motion Pictures did best tonight and give praise where it is due — both to those who are called out and to those who serve but are not seen.
Mark Wingfield serves as executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global.