conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form

roger williams is blue like jazz: part, the fourth

Because in the end, the undercurrent running through culture is not giving people value based upon what they believe and what they are doing to aid society, the undercurrent is deciding their value based upon whether or not they are cool...Eminem believes he is a better rapper than other rappers. Profound. Let's all follow Eminem.
- Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz (p. 105-6)

Miller struggles with his own self-defined shallowness. He recognizes his own tendency to follow trends, fads and generally anything "cool." Christianity, he says, is not cool. Thus it is hard to share. And the ways that it is shared most often, or most overtly, are part of the reason that Christianity is not cool. Televangelists, mega-churches, and "tracts" handed out to unsuspecting tourists on the beach all contribute to a necessary and perhaps even healthy cultural backlash against Christianity. Miller struggles with what makes the uncool relevant.

Henri Nouwen speaks about the struggle with relevance as well. He switches the terms around a bit and I had to do a little translation to sort through some of my own confusion. Nouwen says that Christianity is not relevant. It's not meant to be. Nouwen means "cool." He also means pragmatic, utilitarian, and useful. It's not something one can package and sell. It's not marketable. In the end, Christianity is about loving and following Jesus. And Jesus leads us to the places of utmost darkness and vulnerability where our egos are useless and cool/relevance matters for nothing at all. Jesus takes us to the places in our lives and our neighbors' lives that are most broken and offers healing.

Most of what Miller writes in the two or three chapters rambling through my head right now are about that vulnerability. It's about getting away from trying to be hip, chic, cool, or relevant. I am a mandolinist. So what. That's not the Gospel. My mandolin is not Jesus. People are not coming to church looking for a mandolinist. The mandolin may be cool...but that is not going to save them.

Now, where I think Miller and Nouwen both struggle (and I do as well) is the reality that sometimes being cool opens the door. Being relevant opens a door. But they are right. The fruition is uncool. Vulnerability is uncool. It does not get you elected. It does not win you the adoration of countless fans. You will not get your picture on the cover of some magazine...

...unless you are Robert Downey, Jr. But then, he's very cool. Heh.

Posted by tripp at May 7, 2008 09:44 AM