Sacred Space: The Preacher and Popular Culture

Last updated on: September 30, 2011 at 10:09 am by Brad Williams

Sacred Space: The Preacher and Popular Culture 2011-09-30T10:09:26-06:00 Brad Williams

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Every Friday in Sacred Space, Brad Williams explores the place of popular culture in the local church.

We’re all crazy, every last one of us. The world is crazy, too. We have a bunch of crazy people running around in a crazy world trying to make sense of all the madness. That’s why Lady Gaga wore a meat dress: because we are a bunch of crazy people in a crazy world, and she is obviously crazy, just like the rest of us.

Because of technology, modern pop culture reveals our insanity more quickly than ever before. Twitter reveals our insatiable appetite for knowledge of others and to be known by others. Facebook reveals that we want to connect, but without really connecting. The iPhone reveals that Steve Jobs is a crazy genius, but also that we are easily bored. Why does a world-changing device need so many next-generation updates? Because we’re crazy, that’s why. I do not mean this as a lament or a condemnation. I mean it as a soberly serious fact.

Where does a person like me go to get away from the madness of life? Where can I find peace and stability in a world that changes and shifts so rapidly that, despite my best efforts, I feel like I am lagging behind? I go to church. There, in that place, I find the unchanging. I find the resistance to the careening madness of the world. I find out there why I am crazy, why I do the things I do, and I find the God who saves crazy people like me.

I’m a pastor. That makes me the door man for the asylum. Because of that, I often view pop culture with a purposeful suspicion. This isn’t because I don’t see value in art, music, movies, and video games. Our culture acts as our collective voice crying out about what it believes is important. There are some lovely things about popular culture, things that exist in culture because we are made in the image of God, but a lot of what is popular must go if we want to get sane. Pop culture is the clothes we wear, and when we import too much of it into the church we dress Jesus up like us. Instead, we ought to end up dressed like him.

How do we do that, though? How do we make certain that we aren’t giving Jesus a make-over to look like us? We have to look for timeless, historical, and biblical ways to worship together. By asking the questions, “Has anyone done this in worship historically?” and “Did they do something like this in the Bible?”, we can make the church a haven from the manic nature of pop culture. These two questions alone will keep us from setting up a wrestling ring in the church auditorium or from turning our baptistries into a fire engine.

If we strive to keep the corporate worship of the church simple, historical, and biblical, then we will find her to be a safe harbor in the tempestuous sea of pop culture. It’ll be a little paradise, a refuge where things stay grounded. That’s what we ought to strive for, because in that environment, we have a better opportunity to learn about who we are.

Asides

General Culture

sacred space

Previous Post

September 30, 2011

Elsewhere: Robertson "Clarifies", Bell Goes to Hollywood, Dogs Surf

Next Post

September 30, 2011 The Televangelist: A Case for the Idiot Box

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Asides Elsewhere Featured Film Games General Culture Headline Literature Music Of the Moment Podcast Politics RetroPost Sports Technology Television Uncategorized Viral

Select a Month February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz