This sunset photo was taken from my balcony when the wildfires were burning California.
It’s amazing to me that something so destructive can make something so beautiful. While the wildfires raged, the sunrises and sunsets were astonishing. The sky mirrored the blazes below. Everything smelled like campfire and my throat was scratchy from the smoke. As I walked outside, I noticed snow falling on my clothes and in my hair; then I realized it was ash. My windowsills were coated with fine, black dust and my car would not stay clean.
Historically, the church has seen culture as the wildfires. Culture needed to be controlled, stamped down, or extinguished. Culture was destructive and the church wanted nothing to do with it. Christians pulled (and continue to pull) verses out of context to support this damnation of culture: do not love this world or anything in this world… do not be conformed to this world… set your mind on things above… store up for yourself treasures in heaven…
I was on staff with Young Life for 8 years and it was always interesting to me when someone would be friendly until they found out who I worked for. The, their attitude would change to wary condescension. Well-intentioned Christian parents would sometimes refuse to let their children come to events because we played non-Christian music and the “bad” kids were there. Oftentimes these were the same parents who were utterly unaware of the types of photos their kids were posting on myspace. Because we utilized cultural aspects in and for ministry, kids that would never set foot in the door of a church learned that God isn’t a giant policeman in the sky waiting for them to screw up so they could get sent to Hell.
Abraham Kuyper said something like, “There is not one inch of the world that Christ does not claim saying: That is mine. That belongs to me.” This doesn’t necessarily mean that our world looks like Jesus, but that it belongs to Jesus. If this statement is true (and I believe it is), then dualism between secular and sacred is heretical.
In thinking about this integration of culture and church, I can understand why the church would want culture cut out – it is a lot easier to use the same old stuff over and over again claiming it is sacred than to make an attempt at relevance. Integrating culture takes a lot of work, more (and different) thought than I am used to, and the willingness to engage in uncomfortable conversations. It also helps if there is a commitment to use culture well – I’ve been to some churches that believe they are cutting edge because they use movie clips from Chariots of Fire to illustrate a point to the youth.
I would love to claim that I fully embrace culture and believe myself to be culturally relevant… unfortunately, this is not true. I do not consider myself to be a really original thinker – it takes a lot of work for me to wrap my mind around how certain aspects in our culture could be useful in the church. Yet, at the same time, I firmly believe that if the church does not continue the work of embracing and integrating culture, then it is not doing the work of Christ. I have a friend that cringes each time someone says they want to make Christianity relevant to the world today because she feels that God is already relevant and exciting. I understand her point but it bothers me that she refuses to see that while God is relevant and exciting, Christianity often falls woefully short. I don’t want to live my life caught in this dualist view of secular and sacred; it is taking a lot of work but slowly I am arriving at a more holistic place.
It’s amazing to me that something so destructive can make something so beautiful. While the wildfires raged, the sunrises and sunsets were astonishing. The sky mirrored the blazes below. Everything smelled like campfire and my throat was scratchy from the smoke. As I walked outside, I noticed snow falling on my clothes and in my hair; then I realized it was ash. My windowsills were coated with fine, black dust and my car would not stay clean.
Historically, the church has seen culture as the wildfires. Culture needed to be controlled, stamped down, or extinguished. Culture was destructive and the church wanted nothing to do with it. Christians pulled (and continue to pull) verses out of context to support this damnation of culture: do not love this world or anything in this world… do not be conformed to this world… set your mind on things above… store up for yourself treasures in heaven…
I was on staff with Young Life for 8 years and it was always interesting to me when someone would be friendly until they found out who I worked for. The, their attitude would change to wary condescension. Well-intentioned Christian parents would sometimes refuse to let their children come to events because we played non-Christian music and the “bad” kids were there. Oftentimes these were the same parents who were utterly unaware of the types of photos their kids were posting on myspace. Because we utilized cultural aspects in and for ministry, kids that would never set foot in the door of a church learned that God isn’t a giant policeman in the sky waiting for them to screw up so they could get sent to Hell.
Abraham Kuyper said something like, “There is not one inch of the world that Christ does not claim saying: That is mine. That belongs to me.” This doesn’t necessarily mean that our world looks like Jesus, but that it belongs to Jesus. If this statement is true (and I believe it is), then dualism between secular and sacred is heretical.
In thinking about this integration of culture and church, I can understand why the church would want culture cut out – it is a lot easier to use the same old stuff over and over again claiming it is sacred than to make an attempt at relevance. Integrating culture takes a lot of work, more (and different) thought than I am used to, and the willingness to engage in uncomfortable conversations. It also helps if there is a commitment to use culture well – I’ve been to some churches that believe they are cutting edge because they use movie clips from Chariots of Fire to illustrate a point to the youth.
I would love to claim that I fully embrace culture and believe myself to be culturally relevant… unfortunately, this is not true. I do not consider myself to be a really original thinker – it takes a lot of work for me to wrap my mind around how certain aspects in our culture could be useful in the church. Yet, at the same time, I firmly believe that if the church does not continue the work of embracing and integrating culture, then it is not doing the work of Christ. I have a friend that cringes each time someone says they want to make Christianity relevant to the world today because she feels that God is already relevant and exciting. I understand her point but it bothers me that she refuses to see that while God is relevant and exciting, Christianity often falls woefully short. I don’t want to live my life caught in this dualist view of secular and sacred; it is taking a lot of work but slowly I am arriving at a more holistic place.
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