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Dear Friends,

 

You may or may not be aware that the Marina Theatre is hosting a highly offensive show called 'Christ on a Bike - the Second Coming' with Richard Herring on April 28th.

 

The Marina hosts events suiting a wide variety of tastes and we can all choose which we attend but this one crosses a significant line. Freedom of speech and the right of all to express their opinions should not extend to the deliberate and ignorant ridiculing of persons or truths held dear by either a majority or a minority. We can be sure that a similar show aimed at Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus or Buddhists would not be staged at this theatre and neither should it be.

 

Even the text on the reverse of the flier for this show amounts to a vile mockery of Christians, the Bible and of all three persons of the Trinity. I suspect that the offensiveness of the show’s title is acknowledged by the fact that the Marina’s Journal listings give only the performer’s name for April 28th! Herring is clearly trying to ‘outdo’ his former ‘comedy’ partner Stewart Lee who wrote the equally degrading show ‘Jerry Springer the Opera’ which visited Norwich's Theatre Royal in 2006. A few other Christians from Lowestoft and I took part in a peaceful witness outside that theatre, which afforded many opportunities to share the Gospel. 

 

As a paying friend of the Marina (who supports, for example, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra concerts), I have written to its manager, Martin Halliday, and received what I think was a reasonable response. He writes: ‘Personally I would not have taken the show Jerry Springer The Opera as I did not feel it appropriate for the Marina however I do understand why you decided to as you describe 'make peaceful witness' outside the venue  - we would have no objection to you doing this outside the Marina.’

Mr Halliday also passed some of my comments to Herring’s management and, as a result, the ‘comedian’ is aware of them. On his blog he has written ‘I have heard tell that some of the more backward people of East Anglia (and imagine how backward that must make them) are planning on protesting against the Lowestoft gig, which is probably great news, as that is the one that is selling about the worse so far…’ and ‘There is also some uproar in Lowestoft, which is another of the worst selling venues on the tour. I would suggest that those angry Christians might want to keep their mouths shut…I am not relishing the protests. It is tedious to me and embarrassing to other more reasonable Christians (and I suspect to Jesus Himself - I think He's up in Heaven shouting, "For Me's sake, you're supposed to turn the other cheek you dumb shits. Haven't you even read my book?"' 

 

Lowestoft has a great Christian heritage. Indeed, we have just marked the 90th anniversary of the evangelical revival that began here and spread across East Anglia and up to north-east Scotland via the fishing industry in 1921. The effect of the preaching of the simple Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ radically changed many lives that year as well as improving the mood of the town as a whole for years to come. One of the fruits of that revival was the subsequent stand that was made for godliness and against immorality. Even Sunday cinema was disallowed here and only recommenced during World War II. In 1946 a referendum was held as to whether this should continue. Baptist minister Frank Kinsbury joined forces with Stanley Pert (Oulton) and Harry Sutton (Christchurch) to defend the Lord’s Day. Kinsbury preached on the pavement outside the Marina cinema and, just before the vote, used a loud-speaker outside his church to broadcast ‘Use God’s day in God’s way; vote against Sunday cinemas!’

 

Because Proverbs chapter 14, verse 34 reminds us that ‘righteousness exalts a nation (or town) but sin is a reproach to any people’ I and a few others intend to be outside the theatre on the evening of April 28th, having prepared a simple tract entitled ‘The Real Jesus’, which simply uses Bible verses to challenge any attending the show to consider the claims of the real Jesus Christ. Let us peacefully and gracefully show the organizers, as well as fellow residents of our town, that we are ‘not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto Salvation to everyone that believes…’ (Romans 1:16).

 

Please reply in order to indicate whether or not you intend to join us and do forward this message to any other Christian friends in the Lowestoft area who you think may also wish to do so.

 

Many thanks and warmest Christian regards, 

 

Matthew Pickhaver

 

(Youth worker, OBFPC)