The Passion from New Orleans tonight on Fox; it was incredible and I hope to explain why

In my hometown on this Palm Sunday the live production of the Passion, by Tyler Perry, played out on the streets of New Orleans.  It was much anticipated and I for one could not wait to see it.  For me, I was not disappointed.  You had to watch this in the context it was offered.  This was a modern telling of the story of Jesus as he experienced his Passion, Death and Resurrection.  The setting was post-Katrina and fully recovered New Orleans.  The setting was present-day, very modern.  The clothing and the music for this production is what we would call contemporary.  The use of Scripture was not always 100% in context.  And yet it worked.  It was spiritual, it was faith-filled, it was inspirational, it was life-changing. 

In the staging area there was literally thousands of locals and tourists, undoubtedly from all faiths, walks of life, all kinds of races and ethnicities, and they stood shoulder to shoulder, in awe, in prayer, in song, participating.  No one was angry, no shots fired, no accusations hurled; this was peace on the streets of a sometimes not all that peaceful a city.

The walking of the lighted cross from City Hall, through the French Quarter to the final scene in Woldenberg Park, coupled with stories of the participants was impactful, spiritual.  This whole production was incredibly well-done.

Now for the really important part of tonight and let me address the inevitable distractors.  On my Facebook wall I had dozens and dozens of positive comments and two very obvious dissenters.  Sadly, they were clergy.  Not wanting to pick a fight with anyone, especially brother clergy, may I respectfully disagree with such dissent.  Why?

Because tonight, because of this production, because someone watched, because someone may have witnessed this on the streets of New Orleans, someone in turn accepted Jesus tonight, someone desires to reconnect with their faith, someone wants to confront their sinfulness, someone seeks forgiveness, someone maybe now understands the unconditional love of Jesus, someone wants a total change of heart.  This is a form of the new Evangelization, this is meeting people where they are at, and then, hopefully, bringing them to where they need to be.  This is faith!

Thanks to Tyler Perry for making this happen and the hoped for response of faith and spiritually we all can't wait to witness!