Sonic is an energetic blue hedgehog born with extraordinary powers. He’s fast — 300 mph fast. 

He can play table tennis by himself. He can race through a highway speed tramp without being seen.

He’s so fast that few people in his hometown of Green Hills, Mont., know he even exists.  

But one day, Sonic’s speed gets him in trouble. 

While playing baseball on an empty field, Sonic becomes discouraged that he has no friends. Sure — he can pitch to himself and hit a deep shot to the outfield and race around the bases — but he has no friends to give him a high five at home plate.

“I really am alone. All alone. Forever,” he says.

Angry and sad, Sonic races around the bases so many times he causes an energy surge that knocks out the power — not only in his town but elsewhere, too. Fearing terrorism, the U.S. government sends a brilliant (but evil) scientist, the eccentric Dr. Ivo Robotnik, to the scene for an investigation.   

Soon, Dr. Robotnik uncovers a footprint of a creature he’s never seen. It’s from Sonic.

Will our speedy friend live to see another day?

The live-action/CGI movie Sonic the Hedgehog (PG) opens this weekend, starring Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation, DuckTales) as the voice of Sonic, Jim Carrey (Mr. Popper’s Penguins) as Robotnik, and James Marsden (X-Men, Enchanted) as Sheriff Tom Wachowski. It’s based on the Sega video game franchise. 

The movie follows Sonic as he befriends Sheriff Wachowski, who himself joins the most-wanted list because of his partnership with an alleged terrorist. Sonic’s goal is to escape Earth (and Robotnik) and travel to another planet through the use of his magical golden rings, which he and the sheriff accidentally misplaced. Once he finds them — they’re in San Francisco — he’ll supposedly be safe. 

Sonic the Hedgehog is an entertaining film targeting families, although it contains a few elements that will trouble some parents. That’s the bad news. The good news: Its messages about friendship and contentment are ones any family can embrace.  

Warning: minor/moderate spoilers!

(Scale key: none, minimal, moderate, extreme) 

Violence/Disturbing

Moderate. Sonic the Hedgehog has more punches to the face than typically seen in a children’s movie. Wachowski punches Robotnik. Sonic enters a bar where a fight breaks out and we see at least a dozen punches land. (Sonic creatively ends the fight with his super-quick speed.) Robotnik pursues Sonic and Wachowski, obviously trying to kill them. His drones shoot lasers, causing multiple explosions. 

Sexuality/Sensuality/Nudity

Minimal. Wachowski jokes about being on a “yacht with Rihanna.” We see Wachowski and his wife share a brief kiss once or twice. His wife jokes about him having a dating app on his phone. (He doesn’t have one, and she was relaying a concern from her sister.) We hear a joke that someone has “taken a lover.” 

Coarse Language

Minimal. OMG (5), h-lla (1), h-ll (1). Also: butt (2), fart (2), sucks (1), gosh (1), jerk (1), stupid (1), heck (1). One literal “OMG.” Most of the bad/inappropriate language is spoken by Dr. Ivo Robotnik, but Sonic himself does say one “OMG.” 

Other Stuff You Might Want To Know

Wachowski’s sister-in-law doesn’t like him and suggests they get a “D-I-V-O-R-C-E.” We hear the phrase “drug dealer.” We see plenty of beer at the bar. A woman tosses her beer into Wachowski’s face.  

Life Lessons

Learn to be content: Sheriff Wachowski’s goal in life is to escape the small town and work in San Francisco, where he can prove himself. But through his friendship with Sonic, he realizes how blessed he is to work in Green Hills, where everyone respects him.

Everyone needs a friend: At its core, Sonic is a movie about friendship. Sonic needs one. Wachowski — who is married but has no children — has the time to be one. (See Worldview/Application, below.)  

Worldview/Application

The animated world has its share of movies that are entertaining-but-pointless. Thankfully, Sonic the Hedgehog isn’t in that group. 

Yes, Sonic is a fun film about an aster-than-lightning hedgehog, but it’s also a film about a lonely hedgehog who needs a friend. 

He even places “make a real friend” on his bucket list. 

The Bible, of course, addresses the subject of friendship. In the Old Testament, God gave Adam a companion because it was not “good that the man should be alone.” In the New Testament, Christ established the church, which is to meet regularly and “encourage one another and build one another up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11). 

God made us social creatures. 

But Sonic does more than encourage us to get friends. Its primary message is to be a friend to others — something Sheriff Tom Wachowski does for Sonic. He places his desires second. He sacrifices his time for someone in need. In the end, they become good friends. That’s a good messages for children and adults.  

Sponsors

Jack in the Box, Puma, Foot Locker, Books-A-Million, Valpak, Bimbo, 2nd and Charles. 

Final Verdict

Sonic is a fun movie that leaves you scratching your head and asking: Why did they put that in there? Whether it’s the bar scene fight or the language or the jokes about a divorce, it’s stuff that should have been left on the cutting room floor. 

Discussion Questions

1. Have you ever felt lonely and needed a friend?

2. What does it require to be someone’s friend? Is God calling you to befriend someone in need?

3. What does the Bible say about friendship? What is the difference between a “good” friend and a “bad” friend? How do we distinguish the difference? 

Entertainment rating: 4 out of 5 stars. Family-friendly rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

Rated PG for action, some violence, rude humor and brief mild language. 

I am often asked by white congregants if the church is moving toward unity and oneness in Christ Jesus, and if our convention (SBTC) has moved positively toward the “Look Like Heaven” emphasis. What is the reason for the emphasis on the black church and black worship in the month of February?

First, black worship is connected with black life and it is characterized by a religious sense inseparable from the suffering that determined it. When black people gather together for worship and praise to God, it is not because they have made a decision about the theological merits of Luther’s 95 Theses or of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion.

Second, black worship has been wrought out of the experience of slavery, lynching, ghettos and police brutality. As my deceased father would preach speaking in terms of our pain, “… we have been ‘buked and scorned” and “talked about–sho’s you borned.” In worship, we try to say something about ourselves other than what has been said about us in society. Through sermons, prayers and songs,  we have transcended societal humiliation and degradation to explore heavenly mysteries about starry crowns, long white robes and gospel shoes on golden streets.

For us, the church has been the citadel of hope–a sanctuary of peace. Whereas the church has been the only place where we could go with tears in our eyes without anyone asking, “What are you crying about?” We preach, shout and sing the songs of Zion according to the rhythm of the pain and the joy of life WITHOUT being subjected to the dehumanizing observations of intellectuals such as sociologists, psychologists and theologians.

In worship we can be who we are as defined by our struggle rather than be defined by modern society. Furthermore, our gathering for worship has been dictated by a historical and theological necessity that is related to the dialectic of oppression, and our attempt to liberate ourselves from it—for which we would have no reason to sing, “How I go over, my soul looks back and wonders how I got over …”

Third, black worship was born in slavery on slave ships and nurtured in the cotton fields of Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Georgia and Mississippi. It was birthed out of the struggle of black slaves seeking to define their humanity according to their anticipated freedom, and not according to slavery. For slaves, there was present the divine dower of “D Lawd,” who was greater than the white structures that enslaved them. When black slaves were tempted to give up in despair, this power (D Lawd) gave them hope that slavery would soon come to an end.

The source which black people used for explaining this power was the Holy Scripture as interpreted by our African heritage and our desire for freedom. Black worship is biblical! One of the most amazing facts of history is that many black slaves could not read, but their hermeneutics was not derived from an intellectual encounter with the text, but from a gift of the Holy Spirit.

Because slaves were able to make a radical epistemological distinction between the gospel of Jesus and the religion of the whites, the slaves came to a different theological conclusion about God. When African slaves heard of the Old Testament story of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt, they identified themselves with the Hebrews and their white slaves masters as the Egyptians—and for them no  exegesis could change that. It is this theological certainty that enabled them to sing, “… Oh Mary, don’t you weep, oh Martha don’t you moan, Pharaoh’s army got drownded in the Red Sea; Oh Mary, don’t you weep, oh Martha don’t you moan.”

Therefore, the theme of God as the liberator is found throughout the history of black religion. The theological conviction that the God of the Bible is the liberator of the poor and the downtrodden was and is the mindset of black people even today. For us as black people, God is a mighty God, our heartfixer, our mind regulator. In our worship he is known by the presence of his divine Spirit with us, giving us not only a vision that society must be transformed, but also giving us the power and courage to participate in that transformation.

Finally, black worship is a series of recitals of what God has done to bring his people out of hurt, harm and danger. In black worship, God is that divine miracle who enables his people to survive amid wretched conditions. In black worship, God is holy, personal and all-powerful. Our understanding of that fact is what drives us to sing, shout and preach, “He walks with me and talks with me and tells me that I am his own.” In black worship, God is everything we need in order to triumph over terrible circumstances.

But wait! You cannot leave out Jesus of black worship! In the black church, Jesus is known for his identification with the poor—and there is NO distinction in essence between God and Jesus. Jesus is our constant companion, the one who walks with his people. He is the oppressed one who experiences the brokenness of humanity.

Now that you have a better insight and meaning of the black church worship experience, my dear beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, I invite you for one Sunday in the month of February to go worship with your local SBTC black church and experience our unique heritage of praising our Lord!  

Editor’s Note: Pastor Donald G. Burgs, Jr. is the president of the SBTC African-American Fellowship and has submitted this column as the nation commemorates Black History Month.

So you’re upset with the “liberal direction of the SBC?” You’ve heard talk of leaders endorsing homosexuality. You’ve seen social media posts about Resolution #9 on Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality. You’ve interacted with blog postings about the #MeToo and #ChurchToo movements. Just reading the words “social justice” or “gospel issue” evokes emotions from deep within you—maybe positive, maybe negative. 

Are we headed toward theological liberalism or are we finally waking up from a season of ethnocentric and misogynistic comatose? Are we denying our roots and veering off track or are we finally opening our eyes to real issues? What’s the story in the SBC today, really?

We live in the age of information, where opinions and facts are craftily entwined then readily circulated on social media platforms. The truth is in there somewhere, but is not always easily distinguishable. Some disheartened pastors and churches feel their only recourse is to pull out of the convention altogether. But there’s something I think we seem to be forgetting… 

You are the convention.

The Southern Baptist Convention is not a parachurch organization with a top-down org chart. The SBC is a fellowship of autonomous churches whose decision-making power is vested in the collective body. The churches make the decisions, bringing their voices to the table at every annual meeting. They collectively decide on their leadership, resolutions, doctrinal parameters, governing structure, etc.

Much debate has arisen over some decisions made at the 2019 SBC Annual Meeting in Birmingham. But in fact, only 7 percent of SBC churches sent messengers to the 2019 annual meeting. The SBC 2019 annual meeting shows us a voting majority’s opinion from 7 percent of SBC churches.

Run Resolution #9 through this filter, just for example. I was there and estimate it passed by a margin of maybe 10 percent but we’ll say 15 percent to be sure. So 65 percent of 7 percent of our churches passed Resolution #9—that’s 4.55 percent of the SBC. Do the majority of SBC churches support Resolution #9? We can’t know based on the voting at the 2019 annual meeting. No one can really say if the SBC is going liberal or not. The good news is you are the SBC. Regardless of today’s buzz, you can influence the narrative moving forward.

Here are three ways your church can become part of the positive future narrative of the SBC:

1. Give sacrificially and regularly through the Cooperative Program. The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s constitution allows for 10 messengers from every affiliated church, regardless of CP participation. The SBC’s allows two messengers from every affiliated church, plus one more for every $6,000 (or 1 percent of the church’s budget) given, up to 12 maximum. SBC giving is measured from the end of September of the previous year. If you want to have a voice in the direction of the SBC, make a continual, sacrificial financial investment in the ministry of the SBC.

2. Set aside money for your leaders to attend national and state annual meetings. The vast majority of SBC churches run 150 or fewer in worship. In my experience, these churches may feel like convention decisions are not representative of their convictions. But they often don’t participate in the decision-making processes of the convention. I know their pastors are getting by on a slim salary, and their budgets are strained in every way, every year (this is the kind of church I pastored). But if the direction of the SBC is important to your church you need to send messengers to the annual meeting every year. Add a convention expense allocation to your leaders’ salary packages. Or add a convention expense line item to the church budget to cover travel costs for elected messengers from the church body. Don’t be frustrated with the direction of the convention while not making provision for having a voice in that direction. Churches of this size are not “small” in the SBC. They are normative.

3. Send a full slate of messengers to every annual meeting. Call a business meeting and elect as many messengers as your church is allowed, plus 2-5 alternates. Preregister them on the annual meeting website. Pray over them before they leave and hear a report from them when they return. If you are going to have ownership in the narrative of the SBC, you must have representatives in the decision-making processes of the SBC. Send messengers who will vote your church’s convictions. Send them all. 

The SBC is still the most theologically conservative, effective mission-giving and mission-sending mechanism on earth. We are a family of churches, and every family member has a voice. I encourage you to stop just speaking about the SBC and start speaking into the SBC. I wonder how the Southern Baptist Convention might be different if half of our churches sent messengers. Or 75 percent. Or 100 percent. Until we have more voices speaking into the decision-making processes, we will not have accurate conversations about the decisions being made in our processes.

Is the SBC headed back toward theological liberalism? Impossible to say right now. But your church’s voice can impact the present direction. Come to the SBC annual meeting this year. I’ll see you there.