The youth ministry here at CSMSG recently finished a Bible study series built around the Zack Galifianakis movie It’s Kind of a Funny Story. Our discussion one particular week focused on the way the movie parallels the experience a typical Christian is meant to have with a local church.
It’s Kind of a Funny Story is rated PG-13, and contains some strong language and brief, not-explicit, sexual content.
Craig Gilner, a teenager living with his nuclear family in New York City, becomes overwhelmed and depressed by the many (and ordinary, he insists) pressures he experiences each day. Concerned that he feels suicidal, Craig checks himself into a local hospital’s psychiatric ward for a week’s treatment.
Because the wing where teenagers are normally treated is undergoing renovation, Craig is placed in the adult psychiatric wing. Although his first reaction is “I’m not like any of these other people- I don’t belong here!” over the course of the movie Craig both experiences help from his unexpected companions and offers help to his fellow patients as well.
Craig’s experience in the psychiatric center parallels an ordinary Christian’s experience with the church in three ways:
First, the people Craig is housed and treated with are not necessarily the ones he would choose. The one thing they all have in common is that they are seeking healing. The church isn’t an invitation-only business. We may not always like the people in our local congregations, but we share with them a need for treatment and training in Jesus.
Second, along the way Craig discovers that he can affect the lives of the other patients in positive ways. He can use his talents to meet their needs, as he does by providing both artwork and music for the ward’s residents. 1st Timothy addresses this in chapter 4, verses 11-16. As Timothy has received training from Paul, he is instructed to pass along the lessons he has learned to the community in which he serves.
Finally, (and this part of the movie impressed me most of all), at the end of the film Craig does not walk away from his treatment convinced he is perfectly cured. Instead, he is made aware of the struggles he will face every day, but given strength to deal with them. Sharing his experiences with other people lets him know he is not unique in his suffering, and working purposefully to change the way he lives gives him a renewed sense of purpose. Romans chapter 5 verses 3-5a announces, “We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope; and hope does not disappoint us.”
We found quite a bit to talk about in the whole movie, and I recommend it for starting up deep conversations with high school students, who can identify with Craig’s situation and also see the redemptive nature of his relationship with the other patients, and through that lens understand the church as “a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.” (Abigail Van Buren)
