Chip and Joanna Gaines are Human not Divine

Last updated on: December 2, 2016 at 9:24 am by Anne Kennedy

Chip and Joanna Gaines are Human not Divine 2016-12-02T09:24:29-04:00 Anne Kennedy

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As usual, all week long I’ve been battling back the insistent murmuring of the cyber world to pay attention to the affronts and injuries of the day so that I can think things in my own rebellious mind. But as the week has progressed, the shouting has become so persistent and unavoidable that it’s begun to infect my dreams. No less than three times this week have I been startled awake at 2am with the remnants of the cloud of Chip and Joanna Gaines in my sub conscious.

Spoiler Alert, I’ve never seen their show because I hate all TV. Is it the Crown? Is it English People Talking? No? Then I have not seen it. However, I have read what feels like every single article in the entire world about them, not because I wanted to, heavens no, but because when the world says dance, I obediently get my feet moving. And anyway, they’re sort of fascinating aren’t they? And that’s why we are where we are.

The trouble with American Culture, like all human culture, is that we love a hero and a heroine and a saint and a warrior. We like a bit of news. We like something shiny and pretty first to admire and then to worship. In America we’ve exulted this human characteristic to glorious televised and cinematic proportions. It’s so shiny. It’s so sparkly. It’s at my finger tips all day long.

Spoiler Alert–oops, I already used that–news flash, this normal human proclivity has always been part of the church, in one way or another. But now, because there are even some Americans who are Christians, the saintifying and glorifying of human people who in fact are in the season of sanctification (that means letting go of sin in this life) and not yet in the way of being glorified (that means being dead and with the Lord) makes even that Christian susceptible to the usual gentle idolatry of Celebrity Culture. This, in turn, leads to christians looking foolish day after day, as saints turn out to be sinners.

The unbeliever, as an aside, is never going to look foolish when the gods of his imagination turn out to be human after all. He has only to redefine what is good. If Brangelina gets divorced, he has only to say that divorce is good, it is self expressive, it is wonderful for everyone. The Christian, tragically, does not have the refuge, no matter how much he, or more often she it seems like lately, tries to flee that way. “Oh, are you same sex attracted?” say some notable former Christians like RHE, Jen Hatmaker, and the Beautiful Glennon, “that’s ok because that’s a good thing.” They drift into the warm embrace of the unbeliever and the rest of the Christian world panics on the blogosphere.

Which brings me back to the Gainses who are manifestly cute. As we rise up to defend their right to be Christian, we ought to take a little spoonful of biblical reality and acknowledge that they are human, not divine, and that if Buzzfeed wants to destroy them in this life, xer can (what is Buzzfeeed’s gender identity today?). I have been uncomfortable for the last six months with the breathless way I have heard Christians tell me about Chip and Joanna. They are very good at house remodeling, I am told, but see, they are Christian, they have a Perfect Marriage. And so, I think, it is no surprise to me that they came up on the kill list, because the Christian world has been trying to deify them for some small time. It hasn’t been about the remodeling, the house flipping, the perfect aesthetic. It has always been about the quality of their human perfection. Their perfect marriage. Their perfect banter.

We Christians have to (I mean, I know we won’t but be we really have to) let go of the idea that there will be a perfect Christian celebrity out there who will make being Christian great again. It’s not that we can’t all rise up as one and shout Leave Chip and Joanna Alone–we can and should. But more important than that is ceasing to get our hopes up, is repenting of the desire to have any human person but Jesus be perfect, is letting go of needing the affection of this culture and this world. We shouldn’t elevate ourselves too high, nor others around us. We should cling to the one who will raise us to glory in his own sweet time.

Chip and Joanna Gains should be famous for their TV program but I am worried that they have become famous for being Christian. As usual though, I’m going to pray for them and for the poor Buzzfeed person–that she in all this mess will hear the glorious news that she doesn’t have to be perfect, that someone was perfect for her, that she can stumble and fall in this life if she will only grab on to the one who was good without having to redefine what that meant, and who was strong enough to bear all her darkness.

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