Superb! As we used to say in seminary... this will preach!

This is great stuff!

I'd love to see what other folks come up with as an answer to the questions of "Who we are?" or "Who are we?"

I give it two thumbs up.

Peter Carey+

Love it!

Kirstin Paisley

You know, I understand people and churches are trying to come up with creative ideas of spreading the gospel, but this video really doesn't work for me.

The ninja metaphor is not really adequate for a church that is trying to banish all warfare language from its worship (Onward Christian Soldiers et al).

On top of that, statements such as "we are the ones who give food while the whole rest gorges ... on turkey and football" are just plain arrogant. The Episcopal Church surely does good things, but other churches, religions and groups do sometimes much more.

And to be fair, this is not an Episcopal problem only. It's present in Anglicanism as a whole. There's still much classism, racism, sexism and homophobia going on, even when it's very disguised. We refuse to admit, but in some cases that exists even more than in more conservative groups.

The fact that there is a growing group of people fighting for a change does not eliminate the fact that there's still a lot that needs to be changed in our own midst and that sometimes our brothers, sisters and friends of the "rest of the nation" are more effective and passionate in spreading the Gospel than us.

The whole thing just reminds me of the pharisee praying out loud about his good works. Sorry I can't agree with y'all on this. I think it's just bad and I'd be dishonest if I just nudged my head and agreed on how "cool" this is.

I agree with Luiz.

That said, I see promise here, especially if his criticism is taken to heart.

I agree with Luiz on this one. I am sure that the comments I am about to make were not their intention- and I am sure they are faithful Christians living out the Gospel.... but, this concept just rubs me wrong. First the idea of being a ninja just doesn't work- maybe I'm being a hyper-sensitive pacifist, but exactly how does a ninja become "Christ-like" the two terms are fairly contradictory.

Secondly, this gives off a sense of superiority that is unsettling, as if Episcopalians are the only Christians and people of faith working for peace and justice. I wonder how my Pentecostal, Methodist and Orthodox friends would feel about this?

Thirdly, there is some bad theology here. Where did Jesus call the Church to covertly live the Gospel? Exactly how does the light of Christ shine in a darkened world when it is hidden? And if he did call us to that and I missed it, how does a self-aggrandizing video which announces to the world what a cool Christian I am fit in with that "covert" scheme?

What I particularly find offensive is the part about Thanksgiving. Am I really to believe that Episcopalians are not gorging themselves on Thanksgiving and every other day of the year? Are we really a church that has seriously considered the great cost that the poor have paid for our comfortable lifestyles? What about the suffering of those who produce the goods we so greedily consume indiscriminantly? How can we say we don't gorge at the table? On a global scale we're gluttons. Frankly, this statement is the most offensive in the entire video.

This video is on the right track... but it's not quite there...

When we talk about who we are if we rule out telling the story of what we do, is there anything left to say?

To say that we feed the hungry or fight for justice, does not say that these jobs are done or that we alone do them.

The producers use a light-hearted approach to present our values and our style of worship and how both inform our actions. They show that we have a sense of humor and, to top it off, that do all this because we follow Jesus.

The "Around One Table" video, which the Ninja video gently tweaks, presented identical content. It also makes a point of telling what we do to illustrate who we are. The difference is that one video tells a story, the other makes a case.

The other video used almost three minutes of words and numbers to say what was pretty well summed up in the "turkey and football" comment.

Both videos work in their own way: one through the head and the other through the funny bone.

The revealing part is which one went viral.

When it comes to rebranding, I think I prefer the image of Episconinjas to that of the Hatfields and the McCoys.

Luiz - I think you touched on why I don't feel excited about this video. Also red and yellow are offensive terms for Native Americans and Asians. And "green" does not help.

Then there is my constant inner grammarian that is set off by the use of effect for affect. (a minor point but grrr)

Oh fer heaven's sake people! We have 14,000 Episcopalians currently in the U.S. armed services and countless thousands of veterans. Yer darn tootin' we want ninjas for Christ.

If you want to tell the story, you have to speak the local language. Instead we get these prissy objections on Henry Martyn Day!

I never did understand what "Around One Table" was trying to say ... the healthcare stuff leading into the church statistics stuff leading into outreach stuff ... it never computed.

I think some of you are being a little harsh on a tongue-in-cheek little video done on the fly for fun. This is not an OFFICIAL COMMUNICATION of the Episcopal Church. It's something a parishioner wrote and the vicar put the words into a video.

And I like the idea of stealthily doing good and fighting evil in a ninja-like fashion. Just don't ask me to join any pirates versus ninja games on Facebook, please!

I think it wouldn't be fair if I didn't come back here to acknowledge the many voices that posted on this video.

I agree with Kit that the video was probably made for fun, and I don't even think they intended it to be so widespread.

But, it went viral, and is being replicated by so many people, and receiving kudos and thumbs up by so many Episcopalians in positions of relevance that it has become a voice of the Church too.

And I don't think the sci-fi analogy is a bad idea per se. But I personally would prefer to be a Christ "Jedi," which is clearly perceived of "the good side," than a Christ "ninja" if I were to create such analogy. Ninjas historically were mercenaries who would fight for whatever side, using tactics that the samurai considered less than noble. Sorry I'm overanalyzing this, but I think it's already a bad start.

On top of that, some of the quotes that this video presents are just really obnoxious and self-aggrandizing. The rest of the nation gorges on turkey and football while only Episcopalians pack food? Really? Don't we know many individuals and churches in TEC that really do nothing, or much less than they should, to feed the hungry? Don't we know lots of initiatives (Christian and non-Christian) that sometimes do much more than we do? How many of our churches are really welcoming to, let us say, a dirty homeless person? Gosh, I've been asked more than once why I'm an Episcopalian, since I'm not "Anglo." And what about so many of our cardinal parishes with rectors earning big salaries while little country churches keep on hiring interim priests for part-time jobs that will not help them grow at all?

Are we really Christ's 911 force ready to go anywhere and help anybody in need? With recent mission and evangelism cuts, including that proposal to cut the MDG funds (which I hope didn't happen), can we really say we are that effective in doing that? And that we are the only ones?

Not to be unfair, the sayings get better at the end, when words like "strive to" start to be used more often.

I should probably stop here. Many probably think I'm just too picky. I am more used to criticism in the art scene, so I kind of expect any artwork to be torn apart by critics. It helps us grow and understand different perspectives. Maybe that's why I'm over-analyzing this video. I hope the next one will be more respecting of our ecumenical partners, who sometimes do much more than we do, of women ordained ministry (didn't see any women priests or bishops there), of ethnical groups (as Ann+ pointed out, terms such as yellow and red really are offensive to some), and so on...

And the fact that it went viral doesn't mean it's good. Paris Hilton's sex tapes went viral and are not. But we had iamepiscopalian.org which went viral and is darn good, is still around, and defines us much better.

I love the Episcopal Church, and know many people and churches who are really struggling to be faithful to Christ's Gospel, but there's still a lot to be done, and the moment we start seeing ourselves and the crème de la crème of Christianity and lose any critical sense, we'll surely become totally irrelevant.

In response to the comments above, Brandon and I have revised our quickly thrown together parody/bit of fun. The Grammarians Remix is online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ_lUoloW4M

Luiz,

It is very clear to me that you do love and care about the Episcopal Church, and I see what you mean about your critique. In fact, your point about criticism is proved by the fact that King of Peace Church re-did the video the deal with the objections raised in the conversation. Good for them and good for you for voicing your reservations.

At the same time, I think that how we communicate the Gospel and the Episcopal Church's contribution to it cannot be a binary thing.

If there is one thing to say about the CREDO/College of Bishops video it is this: it is safe. It does not offend. It is serious in message and content. And it fails as a communication tool.

I like the ninja video on a whole bunch of levels. You're on to the fact that the effort could easily have gone wrong but it didn't. It worked. Even for those who did not care for it.

My point upstream about which video went viral was not so much a compliment to the Ninja video but an observation about the one it tweaks.

The Ninja video did not work because it went viral, it works because of how it engaged people.

People have been talking about it. We have wondered if it was appropriate to compare Christians to shadow warriors. We asked if we really do the things it says and if we are really as terrific as the video says. We talked about how other churches also do the same kinds of things. We asked if "ninja" is the right image or perhaps some other image was a better descriptor.

How many topics on the Cafe gets this much response and this much passion? I would suggest that the dozen or so comments are a measure of the conversation going on off-line.

The conversation, the disagreement and the imaginings that this little four and a half minute video caused indicates that, like it or not, as both art and a communications tool the effort worked.

I want our communications to work on the head, the heart and the spirit. I welcome this kind of creative risk, even if it misses the mark every now and then or doesn't touch all the bases we would wish. Too often we settle for the safe.

Andrew