i had a moment like this a couple years ago. i was in my honda minivan taking my wife and kids to the beach with our towels in back, lunch packed, chairs, beach balls and inner tubes for my two.point.five kids. everyone was singing, even the dog and we didn't even have a dog. i had a starbucks sitting in one of the 18 drink holders that littered various corners of the minivan interior and as i was sitting at a traffic light i could see the guy across the intersection from me. at first glance i thought, "man, poor guy...probably has no freedom." i could see the activities inside his honda minivan, the two.point.five kids, wife, dog, singing songs, going to the beach (as was evident by the family pack of matching sunvisors) and as he lifted his starbucks cup up to his lips it hit me..."i'm just like them."
in high-school i fought against everything "trendy". as captain of the soccer team, i raged against the machine. as an honors student i shook my tiny fist at "the man" and cursed the government whenever the opportunity arose. this continued into college where the lifestyle took me on a very rapid downward spiral. it wasn't until years later when i came home from college (re: kicked out) and was listening to a neighborhood girl ramble on about the same things i had rambled on about. and then it hit me..."i'm just like her." now i'm different. i have a wife and family, i go to church, i sing songs, i read the Bible, i have a facebook, i have a blog, i love starbucks and i'm so different...finally...yeah right.
so where in the world do i go to be in the world, but not of the world? one of the great appeals of the "emergent church" is it's ability to disguise things of the world with a veil of spirituality...or vice-versa in some cases. jesus is my homeboy...? the emergent church movement is replacing "religion" for "spirituality", "truth" for "experience", "knowledge" for "feeling". what exactly is the church emerging from, and is this really a good idea? a youth pastor friend of mine named "bob" (name has been changed to protect the guilty) said Christians have become a subculture. bob went further to explain that a subcultures, while "different" in immediate philosophies are no different that the rest of the culture as a whole. meaning, they still travel in the same direction as everyone else, just on a sub-level. (in sub i mean different, not inferior.)
the revolution of Jesus Christ, however, was that of a counterculture. yeah, He lived on the same planet, but His goal was the cross. i fully understand that Jesus "met people where they were at" and paul was "all things to all men...so that [he] might win a few". this doesn't mean they lowered their standards and watered the Word. Jesus never compromised His morals to heal or preach or minister. Jesus went against the culture ... raged against the machine ... not to be different, but because He truly was different.
so here i am...
here WE are... with this paradox before us.
be in it, not of it.
God, forgive me for bringing so much of the world into my life while not taking YOUR life...light...into the world. help me to truly be a light for You, to shine for You and to follow You...
UNCOMPROMISINGLY, UNABASHEDLY, UNASHAMEDLY and UNCONCERNED FOR MY LIFE
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This some good stuff Chris. I personally enjoy blending in with the crowd from an aesthetic vantage point. Reason being is that I feel people are more willing and able to open up and be themselves.
ReplyDeleteChrist Himself looked very average. And going along with what your saying, was in it but not of it. Instead of being changed, He became CHANGE and turned people on their ear's. It's the inward transformation that peole see.