I have this class on the Gospel of John. On Thursday my professor asked if we thought we should be persecuted as Christians. Of course immediately everyone's reaction would be no. I mean who wants to be persecuted? But there are the passages where Jesus says that the world first hated him and if we follow him it will hate us as well.
Well if we thought his first question was hard to swallow his second sounded absurd. "Should the church, in America, seek to be persecuted?" I'm not sure I've ever heard seek to be persecuted as a phrase before. I mean as people we seek whatever is comfortable, easy, pleasureable. The idea of seeking pain sounds so foreign.
One person in class said that if the church, all denominations, got together as a unified body and decided to pull out of politics that we would be persecuted. He thought that would be a great stand that the church could make.
During class I was quiet. I wasn't quite sure what I thought yet. As the day went on I realized that I don't think the church should take a stand against politics but against pop culture. I don't think that politics is necessarily oppossed to the christian faith but I am sure that pop culture is. If you listen to the lyrics in songs, see the images displayed in movies and the themes found on primetime its apalling. Not only is the content of this culture opposing my values but it infiltrates my life. If I choose to spend my time investing in pop culture it means i'm not choosing to invest in my faith, my family, my marriage...The time has to come from somewhere and sadly its generally from my marriage because my kids go to bed before primetime. It also has a tendency to take over my thoughts. What am I suppossed to be dwelling on? I'm pretty sure its not desperate housewives or survivor.
Listen to how we even choose to define pop culture. Its a culture. Its a way of life, a way of thinking. I believe however that we are called to be counter cultural. If the church is going to unite to take a stand against something I hope that we could stand against something that is pervasive in everyones life. After all how many people really think about politics each and every day?
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3 comments:
I will now stand and applaud!!! Thank you for cracking open your bomb shelter like shell and sharing your wonderful and challenging thoughts with the world.
I love you!
Thanks for your thoughts Sarah. I agree with you. At work everyone talks about reality shows and things I have never heard about. I pride myself on this, but I still can't give up Desperate Housewives or Grey's Anatomy.
Hey you got a picture!! Very cute. I don't think i've read your blog I think that i'll have to check it out.
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