If something is too hard, give it up. The moral, my boy, is too never try anything!"- Homer Simpson

High Tension

Popular culture and the Christian are strange bedfellows. In “Separate? A Critique of the Christian Subculture,” I discussed one of the common Christian responses to popular or "secular" culture: the response of separatism. God does not desire us to create and hide inside a separate world or culture. At the same time, God does not want us to become simply another consumer of popular culture, allowing it to shape our lives.

The Christian who desires to live “Godly in Christ Jesus” is left in a place of extreme tension, between running away from and running to popular culture. This tension is hard to resolve and most of us take the advice of that wise sage Homer Simpson, "If something is too hard give it up." And so we do and fall into separatism or syncretism, we run from or run headlong into the embrace of popular culture.

I do not believe removing this tension is God's intent. Instead, He is calling us to a new of orientation in the midst of the tension. Pop culture is not to be simply enjoyed by the believer, consumed unfiltered; rather the believer can and should use culture to hear God's voice and understand the lost.

Very few Christians would argue that God speaks powerfully through nature. I have had profound spiritual experiences in the presence of natural beauty. If God can speak through nature, why not through a beautiful poem, a haunting film or a well-crafted lyric?

Western Christianity has emphasized God's transcendent nature, His "wholly otherness" at the expense of his imminence, his intimate presence in everyday activities. The recent interest in Celtic Christianity within the emerging church indicates this is changing. Celtic Christians “saw” God in every area of their daily lives. From lighting the morning fire to working the fields, each became an opportunity to commune with their Maker.

Between demonizing and embracing popular culture, there lies an opportunity for God to sanctify culture. The term sanctification comes from the Old Testament temple. Common items, like bowls and cups were sanctified, set apart, for holy use in the temple. These common things, created for very mundane purposes, were taken and used by God for His plans and purposes.

While the temple and its vessels have disappeared into history, I have little doubt that God still desires to speak to you and I though common everyday things. Instead of limiting God's activities in our life to a single day of the week or short morning devotion, why not find him on the radio, or in the newspaper or at the art gallery.

I have recently read all of the Harry Potter books, which provides a good example of sanctification of culture. Some might say that, "Surely God cannot speak, will not speak, though a pagan author and a book about wizards." I found that God spoke to me about redemption, the love of God and the importance of faith. I am not proposing that J.K. Rowling is aware or purposefully including these themes. Nor am I saying everything in the books correspond to a biblical worldview. What I am proposing, is that the very big God that I love wants to speak to me and to others so much that he will use even a children’s book that some other Christians have felt deserves only to be thrown into a public fire.

I love my wife and try to tell her often. I would never limit myself to a few ways to communicate that love. I want to use anything and any way I can to show her I love her. Why is God any different? Why do we limit Him to those things we approve of?

Imagine visiting an isolated tribe in the Amazon jungle and sharing the gospel with them in English, a language they cannot understand while using examples of the Internet, something they have never heard of. Would you be surprised if they didn’t respond to the message? What utter foolishness!

The gospel must be communicated in the context of the people we are trying to reach. Only when we intimately understand the people to which we minister can this context be created.

Missionaries must know the people they hope to reach. Popular culture is an expression of the value systems, beliefs, hopes, fears and worldview of the people who create it. While it does not replace real loving relationships with people, culture serves as a guidebook by which missionaries can begin to understand the issues that are important to the people they seek to reach and how the gospel applies. They must learn the language, the customs and through this process, gain insight in how reach a particular people group.

Missionaries are students of culture, so why aren't North American Christians? Instead of being students, we are secret society members. We have our own language, our own festivals and our own arts. We only have friends that are Christians leaving us to guess at what the average unbeliever believes, thinks, desires and hopes for.

Paul knew how to use popular culture for Christ. In Acts 17, we find Paul in Athens, walking among the pagan temples. He is “looking carefully” at the pagan gods. Of course, Paul was not worshiping at the pagan temples but instead studying the local culture. He used his understanding of the culture as a handhold by which he could share the gospel to the people of Athens in a way that was relevant to their experience.

A large art installment in a San Francisco museum recently served as a good modern-day example. The art piece was floor to ceiling small mirrors hanging within inches of each other. The four "walls" of mirrors formed a square that you physically could step inside. As I did, I was looking at myself in a new way. Small, broken pieces, a fragmentation of myself appeared before me. I believe the artist was presenting the viewer with a picture of himself and his generation. A generation broken and disjointed, incomplete and still gazing intently with hopes to make sense of the pieces.

This is just one small example. Hearing the heart of the lost in popular music, literature and movies requires even less interpretation.

A right understanding of popular culture leaves the believer in an uncharted new place, a place of great danger and potential. Danger is conforming or separating, potential is hearing and knowing. A place that requires total reliance on Him to bring us through safely and to use us effectively. It won’t be easy, but since when is the way of the cross easy?