I have always had an affinity for British culture. Maybe it’s their many breaks for tea, their fascination with the Queen, or their insistence upon toasting before every drink. Whatever the reason, I’ve always felt myself drawn to the ways of our distant cousins on the other side of the pond and take every opportunity to learn from them.
Alex Gallimore
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Despite the love of my own southern American homeland, the draw towards the land of my ancient ancestors has remained a constant call and I try to take in its culture as frequently as possible. Recently, my wife and I have found a new method for doing just that in the form of the BBC’s revival of the classic Doctor Who science-fiction series. A program saturated with religious, and at times Christian, symbolism, Doctor Who tells the story of a mysterious figure known only as The Doctor, who travels across time and space working with humanity to guide the course of history towards peace, harmony, and goodwill.
True to the science-fiction genre, Doctor Who presents viewers with countless new ideas, galaxies, and species each episode, none of them with a more beautiful or tragic story than that of the Ood. In the series, the Ood are a species from the distant future who originated on a planet far away from Earth. The Ood are a peaceful species who are born with fragile brains outside their bodies. Each Ood is unique, yet they refer to one another as one-in-the-same. When they gather together and communally raise their minds as one, the result is a beautiful telepathic hymn known throughout the universe as the Song of the Ood.
As the Doctor Who series progresses, it is revealed that a corrupt society has replaced the naturally peaceful external minds of the Ood with a device forcing them to serve as slaves. No longer can the Ood communicate with one another or join together in their joyous hymn. Instead, the Ood do what they are told, responding with readymade phrases disguising their bondage with a false sense of civility. “The Ood is born to serve” they say, so they serve however they have been commanded.
As a Christian, I see a parallel between the current American culture in which we live and the plight of the Ood. We used to be a people with a brilliant streak for unity and collaboration. We, like the Ood, were once those known as possessing a powerful hymn of hope and love which rang across the universe whenever we joined together in public discourse and worship. There was a time when our species wore its God-given hearts and minds on the outside and sang for a common cause much bigger than ourselves.
However, like the Ood, we Christians have been too easily compromised. We’ve been corrupted and held captive by various parties, doctrines, and ideas which have replaced our unified thoughts and faith with those we were never intended to uphold and those who have been externally programmed differently can no longer sit down and engage one another in peaceful conversation.
Though we can see this change in every aspect of American life, it has become far more evident this month with the federal sequester which has brought widespread cuts to government spending alongside increased taxation. Those on the right blame those on the left and vice versa. Ironically, the vast majority of the individuals involved in the stalemate leading to the sequester claim to be members of Christian churches. Those who should be naturally wired to sing the gospel in unison have become programmed to serve their own ideals and ends.
Now I am in no way suggesting that to be Christian is to be American. In a nation where the majority of religious citizens profess some kind of faith in Jesus Christ, however, I cannot help but want to hold a mirror up to the current state of our society, forcing us to take a long hard look at what we have become. Christian argues with Christian, more times than not over issues that have little to do with the gospel.
We need to step back and remember who we are, followers of Jesus, and not slaves to the many “isms” of our day. We need to step outside the divisive arguments and ideologies and set an example for the rest of our culture, singing the common song of the Kingdom Jesus proclaimed. We may sing that song in different keys based on our own life experiences, but it is still the same song of Christian unity. In light of growing American political and even religious division, may the followers of Jesus join together in external and internal heart and mind, singing together the good news across the universe.
Alex Gallimore ([email protected]) is pastor of Hester Baptist Church in Oxford, N.C.