a new doxology

(Note: this is the rough draft of an article I’ve been working on all week. Feel free to pass it on or post links to it if you want to share it with others, but expect some small changes to be made in the next few days.)

I have been listening to Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends (aka, “the new Coldplay album”) on repeat since it came out last month (June 17, 2008 to be exact). The disc has been in my car stereo since the day I bought it with the exception of the night I brought it into my apartment to import the songs onto my computer - so I could have put it on my iPod - but even then it went back in my stereo the next morning.

I became a Coldplay fan while on a trip to New Zealand during the month of January, 2001. It was my junior year of college, and one of the guys I was traveling with wanted to listen to an album called Parachutes (their first album) on our group’s tour bus. We listened to that album over and over while exploring NZ’s south island and I loved the sound because it seemed both depressing and hopeful at the same time, much like life (needless to say, it provided an incredible soundtrack to an amazing trip). I downloaded Parachutes as soon as I got back to campus - probably using Limewire or Bearshare, since Napster was already shut down and it was at least a few years before people started using iTunes) - and in the 7+ years since that trip, I have continued listening to Coldplay’s music and have become a big fan, and I now own (or at least “possess”) their entire catalog of music, including most of the EPs and b-sides.

Along with most other Coldplay fans, I spent this past winter, spring and early summer anxiously awaiting the release of what coldplay.com promised would be “the album people will remember them by.” That is certainly a bold claim to make about an album that was already highly-anticipated by millions of fans around the world; especially since their last album, 2005’s X&Y, received rather mixed, if not harsh reviews.

As a Coldplay fan who has never seen them in concert, I was disappointed when they postponed their show in St. Paul due to production delays (the show was originally scheduled to be on July 8, which was last Tuesday), but with the recent release of new album (which I will simply refer to as Viva La Vida, although I realize the official album title includes the names of two tracks), at least now I have an album’s worth of new Coldplay music - including two exclusive iTunes acoustic tracks - to tide me over until they come to Minneapolis/St. Paul for their rescheduled show at the Xcel Energy Center on November 14.

Long live life!

“Viva La Vida” is a Spanish expression and depending on who you talk to it either means “long live life” or “live the life.” (”Viva La Vida” is also the name of a painting by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, which is where Coldplay got the name of the song/album, although that’s not the art that serves as the album’s cover, that is actually “Liberty Leading the People” by the French painter Eugene Delacroix.)

I have listened to Viva La Vida nearly every day since it came out last month, and although it took me a few weeks to move beyond simply listening to the surface level of the songs (i.e., the melodies and feelings of the music), I have now begun hearing the songs on a much deeper level (i.e., the lyrics and meaning of the music). As I have come to understand the album in a more complete or full way, I have been surprised to discover how much it focuses on issues of faith and theology. Most notably (song names in parentheses), Viva La Vida addresses the topics of personal faith or even decision theology (‘Yes’), death (‘Cemeteries of London,’ ‘Death and All His Friends’ and ‘Violet Hill’), the search for meaning (‘Lost!’), and heaven/hell or life after death (‘Viva La Vida,’ ‘42′ and ‘The Escapist’ - the “hidden” song at the end of the album).

Viva La Vida is a deeply theological album.

All four members of Coldplay write the lyrics and music together (at least that’s who they list as the writers of their music), and listening to this album as a whole you actually get the sense that they are somewhat obsessed with thoughts of death and dying, as well as heaven and hell. Viva La Vida is a deeply theological album, and there are moments when Chris Martin, the voice of the band’s music, sounds more like a prophet or priest than a rock star or pop-culture icon.

Some of theological topics and themes in Viva La Vida are hinted at rather indirectly - for instance, I think ‘Strawberry Swing’ is a happy song that creates the mood and images of what a “perfect day” in heaven might be like (either that or it’s about a marching band of Oompa Loompas) - but I would like to focus specifically on a few songs that seem to dive directly into theological waters.

For example, in the album’s co-title track ‘Viva La Vida’ (the song featured in the colorful Apple/iTunes commercial), there is a line in the chorus where Martin sings “For some reason I can’t explain, I know Saint Peter will call my name” (for whatever reason, this line is a bit different the first time through, which is the portion of the song used in the iTunes ad).

For at least the first couple of dozen times I listened to this song [‘Viva La Vida'], I thought Chris Martin was singing “I know Saint Peter WON’T call my name,” as if he thought he wasn’t going to be let past the pearly gates (I would imagine there are still several listeners who think this is what he is singing). I listened really close several times trying to determine which it was - “will” or “won’t” - and I still couldn’t figure it out. (Martin’s British accent made it indecipherable to my American ears.) It wasn’t until I looked up the lyrics online (and I checked at least four lyric websites to make sure this was correct) that I realized he was really singing - with perhaps a sense of confused confidence - that he does in fact think he will be allowed into heaven. This was quite a relief, since it didn’t feel right as a professing and confessing Christian to drive around while singing along with a song about not making it into heaven (although often times I simply didn’t sing that line, or I would sing it the way I hoped/wished it was…the way that it turns out, is actually correct).

It’s a cool song musically; I just have no idea what it’s about.

The fourth track on the album is a song titled ‘42.’ (I have no idea where the name comes from or what it means, but I’m sure you could find a few theories on the world wide web.) The structure of ‘42′ will be familiar to Coldplay fans, as it starts out slow and peaceful, even somewhat boring (reminiscent of ‘Fix You’), only to build and transform into an almost different, driving rock song by the 1 minute, 30 second mark. In the second half of the song, after an extended instrumental interlude, the somewhat bizarre lyrics “You thought you might be a ghost” and “You didn’t get to heaven but you made it close” are repeated several times until the song ends with Martin singing the same disturbing words the song started with, “Those who are dead, are not dead, they’re just living in my head.”

I wish I knew who Chris Martin was singing to in ‘42,’ or how he knows that the recipient of the song’s message didn’t get into heaven. As for what it means to “almost” make it to heaven? I’m not sure. Perhaps it’s a variation of the Catholic understanding of some sort of in-between - not heaven, not hell (”purgatory”) - where people are on a waiting list to get into heaven, similar to when an NFL coach challenges a call and everyone anxiously waits as the ref reviews the play in question.

Although there are only 10 tracks on Viva La Vida, three of them are two-for-ones (tracks that include two separate songs). Only one track is appropriately labeled as a twofer (‘Lovers in Japan / Reign of Love’), but you can find titles listed for the bonus songs on the others (‘Yes’ and ‘Death and All His Friends’) if you look hard enough online, like the wikipedia page that names the hidden song after ‘Yes’ as ‘Chinese Sleep Chant’ and, as I’ve already mentioned, the hidden song after ‘Death and All His Friends’ is called ‘The Escapist’).

Although ‘Lovers in Japan’ is a nice tune that seems to be a fairly typical romantic love song, it’s the second song of the track (‘Reign of Love’) that is of more interest to me, because I can’t tell if the “reign of love” that song speaks about is of human or divine origins. There are a few spots in particular that lead me to my confusion. First, the word “locusts” is used in both the second and third stanzas. The word “locust” is not used very commonly these days - people usually just go with “grasshopper” - so when it shows up twice in a fairly short song, it will probably get noticed. People familiar with the Old Testament/Hebrew Scriptures may recognize locusts as one of the Ten Plagues of Egypt that God inflicted on the Egyptians to convince Pharaoh to let the Israelite people out of slavery (see Exodus 7-12, locusts were plague #8). Although talk of insects in a love song is somewhat interesting, it’s the last two stanzas of the song (the post-locust verses) that I believe deserve a theological analysis. I’ll let you read the lyrics for yourself, but then I have some questions for you to think about in response.

Reign of love
By the church, we’re standing (1)
Reign of love
My knees go praying (2)

How I wish
We’d spoken up (3)
Or we’d be carried
In the reign of love (4)

(1) Do you think “reign of love” is another way of talking about God (or God’s sovereign love)? Does it sound like they are physically “standing” by a church, or are they making more of a statement, as in, they are taking a stand in support of the church (or faith, or love, or the love that the church supposedly stands for)?

(2) Who is praying? (Since Chris Martin is the one singing, is he saying that he is praying?) What are they praying about? Who are they praying to? Are they actually on their knees, or are they making a connection to what was sung in the previous line (first they were standing by the church, now they’re kneeling in prayer - from standing to kneeling?)

(3) What do they wish they’d spoken up about? Was it perhaps an injustice that displayed a lack of love? (Chris Martin has been very supportive and vocal of several social justice issues; most noticeably, he has written the letters “MTF” on his left hand while performing for several years as a statement to “Make Trade Fair.”)

(4) Are they being carried in the reign of love, or not? Is that even what they want? (I would think so, but I guess it depends on what the reign of love is.) Is the “reign of love” they are singing about a call for universal love (in the non-religious sense, a worldwide “reign” of love ruling over all)? or is it something more specific to faith and/or religion?

An unexamined album is not worth listening to.

While songs like ‘Reign of Love’ - and the entire album for that matter - seem to lead listeners toward more theological questions than answers or even responses, I happen to believe that it is in the questions and in the search for understanding that faith finds its home. The Greek philosopher Socrates once said “an unexamined life is not worth living,” and many theologians have borrowed from his quote to say “an unexamined faith is not worth believing.” I agree with both statements, and as a theologically-minded music fan, I would add one more Socratic saying into the mix, “an unexamined album is worth listening to.” Coldplay’s new album might not be a contemporary expression of Socratic philosophy (or theology), but it’s definitely more than just another rock album.

Aside from the few songs that were analyzed theologically above, there is a lot more on Viva La Vida that could be included in theological conversation(s). I will leave most of that for others to do (or perhaps I will do it myself when I get some more time). Here are a few obvious “God spots” that deserve some attention, in case anyone would like to get you started.

From ‘Cemeteries of London’

• “Through the dark streets they go searching to see God in their own way.”
• “God is in the houses and God is in my head…I see God come in my garden but I don’t know what he said, for my heart it wasn’t open.”

From ‘Yes’

• “Then we were dying of frustration, saying, ‘lord ‘lead me not into temptation.’”
• “God only, god knows I’m trying my best. But I’m just so tired of this loneliness.”

From ‘Violet Hill’

• “Priests clutched onto bibles, hollowed out to fit their rifles. And the cross was held aloft.”

From ‘The Escapist’ (the “hidden” song at the end of the album)

• “And in the end, we lie awake. And we dream we’ll make an escape.”

Coldplay’s tour in support of the new album has now officially begun (as of July 14 in LA). They are offering a free song for download for people who bought tickets to a show (although the way they have it set up on their website there is no way to verify if you have purchased tickets or not). The free song is titled ‘Death Will Never Conquer,’ and it includes the hopeful line “I hope sweet heaven is a place for me.” Hmm…sounds like a song about life after death. At least it does to me.

Is Viva La Vida the album people will remember Coldplay by?

Is this the album that will define Coldplay’s “legacy” in music (like Radiohead’s OK Computer)? Will Coldplay even have a legacy? Only time will tell how/if Coldplay will be remembered 30 years from now - and Viva La Vida certainly hasn’t been out long enough to say whether or not it will live up to such high expectations - but for now one thing is for sure; it is a really good, if not a great album.

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In case this wasn’t enough Coldplay for you, here are a few extras:

Rolling Stone recently featured an interview with Chris Martin titled “The Jesus of Uncool” in which Martin opens up about a whole slew of issues related to life, music and even his experiences growing up in the church (a portion of the article can be read on RollingStone.com).

Dan Kimball (pastor of Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, CA and author/speaker in the emerging church) wrote an interesting response to the RS article on his blog a few weeks ago (it includes a few quotes from the interview that aren’t included online).

Chris Martin was interviewed by coldplay.com just before beginning their current tour and he talked a lot about what’s involved in taking their show on the road, how much control they have in making decisions about the production of their concerts and what you can expect to see if you see Coldplay live.

After being in Haiti for a week (seven days without tv and little-to-no internet access), followed by a week at my cabin in the north woods of Wisconsin (where a few tv stations come in fuzzy and there is only internet access when the wind blows strong enough to pick up the wireless signal from one of our neighbors), I am finally catching up on what has been going on in the world while I was away from my “normal” reality. For instance,

In the pop-culture world, Coldplay’s new album has already set tons of download/sales records in only a month and the latest season of MTV’s Real World (Hollywood) came to an end. (Note: I have been listening to the new Coldplay album (a lot!) and am currently writing a theological review of it that will hopefully be online later this week.)

In celebrity gossip, Angelina Jolie had twins and Jimmy Kimmel & Sarah Silverman broke up, among other things that most people don’t care about.

In the wacky world of church and theological politics, a college student in Florida says he received death threats for “smuggling” communion wafers out of church…seriously?

And of course, in the wonderful world of sports, I’m excited about the recent moves being made by the Timberwolves (a team for which I am a season ticket holder for the upcoming season) and I am frustrated and saddened by all the Brett Favre retirement/return drama…why are you doing this Brett? Just make up your mind, please.

Looking through this quick list of news and events, all of which I have actually spent time caring about since returning to my “real world,” it makes me think about how much different my life is compared to so many other people around the world. I’m thinking specifically of my friends in Haiti who I was hanging out with just a few weeks ago. The more I learn about and see others parts of the world, the more I come to understand that the realities of life that most Americans - like me, you, and anyone else who has access to read this blog - are lucky enough to live, is a lot better/nicer/easier than how a majority of people in the world will ever experience life, even for a day.

I realize I’m not the only person in the world who has come to this realization; nor am I the only person who has had the opportunity to see the faces of poverty in other parts of the world, but I’m not writing this to convince you of anything specifically that I think…I’m just asking you to think.

Think about all the blessings in your life, have you done
anything to deserve them?
We should recognize what we have and give thanks for the ways
we are blessed.
I realize some people don’t like this country, but if you
live in America, you are lucky.
Maybe you’re critical of America, and it’s understandable
if you are, but have you thought about how lucky you are
to live in a truly free country?
Have you ever stopped to think that someone in your family tree,
(probably several generations ago),
sacrificed everything they had,
left the only life they knew,
packed up all their stuff and did whatever they had to do to get here
(most of them probably sat on a boat to travel across the ocean),
and when they got here,
they had to completely start over,
new place to live, new job, new language, everything,
(it was probably really hard for at least the first couple of generations),
and they did all this so that you could have a better life?

We don’t deserve to live the way we do in America any more than my friend Tijean deserves to live in a one-room shack with four of his family members in Haiti. But we can learn a lot from Tijean. He is happy and joyful. He works hard. He is respectful to everyone and thankful for everything, often sharing the little he has with others. He makes the most of life, and that’s what we should be doing as well.

My advisor from seminary (Dr. Andrew Root) recently wrote an article for Next-Wave Church & Culture Ezine titled “The TV Show Lost and Eschatology.” I have personally only watched a few episodes of Lost - and I think it’s pretty good - but I know there are a lot of people who get really into the show and read nearly everything written about it online (fans of the show have even started a user-generated wikisite called Lostpedia to share thoughts and theories about the island, characters and direction of the show). As I said, I like the show, but I’m not into it like many others, so I’m just passing on the link to Dr. Root’s article for people like my roommate who can’t get enough of this stuff. By the way, the word “eschatology” is a theological term used for the study of the last things, or what is sometimes referred to as “the end times.”

I’m not sure if this is BREAKING NEWS or just an inaccurate rumor, but I just spoke to a reliable source and learned that the Coldplay show on July 8th in St. Paul, Minnesota will be canceled/postponed (possibly rescheduled for sometime in the fall). This is all the information I have right now and I have not found any other sources confirming or denying this rumor. I don’t want to speculate about what this would mean for the band or the rest of their upcoming tour, but it should be noted that Coldplay performed on the MTV Movie Awards last night and everything seemed cool (they sounded good, Chris Martin was running around the stage and everyone in the band looked to be having a good time), so hopefully this is just a bad rumor or a scheduling issue that will get worked out soon. As someone with great tickets to the show in St. Paul, I’m hoping that my anonymous source is mistaken, but I have a bad feeling that their information might be correct. Coldplay’s tour is scheduled to begin in London on June 16th, which is the day before their new album Viva La Vida is released in the states.

I just started reading a new book titled Pop Goes the Church. It was written by Tim Stevens who is a pastor at Granger Community Church in Indiana, one of the few churches I’ve heard about lately that I actually get excited about because they seem to be connecting people living in our (constantly-changing) media culture with God’s story of hope, love and forgiveness (things that never change) in meaningful ways by engaging pop culture. I don’t mean this to be a critique of most other churches I hear or know about - well maybe I do, but only a little - but I’d like to focus on what is going on here that I think is good. I find hope in the realization that there is a pastor and a church that are passionate about some of the same things as me. Stevens and Granger Community Church seem to share my vision of a church where the “texts” of pop culture (music, movies, tv shows, etc.) are discussed alongside the biblical text — even on Sunday morning during the sermon — without compromising or watering down the message as a result.

Here’s a sample of how Stevens thinks from the introduction of his book…

If Jesus physically entered twenty-first century America, I believe he would do much as he did in the first century. He would hang out with normal people in the real world, and he would reserve his strongest words for the entrenched religious leaders who love their traditions more than they love their people. He would leverage the culture. He would read our books, go to our movies, watch our TV shows, look at our magazines, and surf the internet so that he could better understand our culture. I believe he would look for themes in our popular culture that would help him make a connection between the topics that had our attention and the kingdom life he was offering. He would be encouraged by the lyrics in some of today’s mainstream music. He would see honest searching in the words, and he would use those lyrics to reach and penetrate hearts.

I think, that just as he did in the first century, Jesus would disciple a small team of leaders while at the same time looking for opportunities to attract and influence large crowds. And when those crowds gathered, he would draw upon what he had learned about our popular culture and would use illustrations, props, and analogies that would connect his love to our hearts.

I believe that is what Jesus did and that is what he would do, and I believe he expects no less from us.

I could not agree more with this or have written it any better. I believe that what Stevens is saying is important and true for not only the church and people of faith, but also for the world (inside the church, outside the church, everywhere), and I want to thank him for expressing this so well. Perhaps others do not agree with Tim Stevens, or with me. Maybe you think that letting the values and behavior expressed in contemporary pop culture will corrupt the church (and Christians) to the point where we will erode into some form of moral relativism (not knowing what is right anymore, because everything seems to be alright). I know for a fact that many people feel this way because I have had conversations and received emails from people who thinks this way. The last thing I want to do is keep anyone out of this conversation or make it sound like I don’t agree with them (I actually think there’s some validity in what they’re saying and their opinions should be heard by people like me and Stevens as a legitimate warning/caution), but before anyone jumps all over this with harsh criticism let me first clarify some things.

This is more than just a conversation about whether or not media should be used in churches. It’s less about churches having video screens and projectors in their sanctuaries and more about how they use them. Yet it’s not even about video screens and movie clips during sermons, it’s about pastors and ministry leaders reimagining their ideas of what it means to be the church in a media world. That’s why I think pastors and churches should use wisdom to discern how to most effectively incorporate pop culture into their ministry. It is not good enough to simply force connections between faith and culture, as if it’s a fool-proof equation (pop culture + church = good). I would have a difficult time convincing anyone that there was a meaningful connection between Jesus saying “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39) with the movie Dude Where’s My Car, or that the Apostle Paul’s suggestion to “consider others better than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3) was somehow illustrated in The Big Lebowski, but I can see a powerful example of someone loving others as himself in Patch Adams or selflessly considering others better than themself in Good Will Hunting (coincidentally, the characters I’m thinking of from each of those movies are played by Robin Williams).

What I’m trying to make clear is that not any/every thing from pop culture will be appropriate or effective in communicating the Gospel. In fact, there are some topics or themes where using illustrations from pop culture might even insult or take away from the message. For instance, when I preached at Journey a few months ago about Jesus washing his disciples feet - and then calling them (and us) to serve each other in the same way - I did not use any clips from a movie, lyrics from a song or even a touching story from the newspaper (although I considered examples of each). I chose to give an old fashioned “no frills” sermon because none of the pop culture references or examples would have added anything to the message. Any examples I could have used from pop culture would have been merely an imitation of the original; but Jesus washing his disciples feet along with a few verses of laying down his life for us? That’s a powerful witness and example of what it means to be a servant.

Sorry I started asking for your thoughts and then went on for a few more paragraphs. I really would like to hear what people think about all this. Leave a comment if you have something to say.

In a culture where lots of bands are looking for new ways to make it big, this is one of the more creative music videos I’ve seen in a while. I’m assuming these guys aren’t already big because a) I’ve never heard of them, b) the video doesn’t look like it cost much and c) the band’s email address listed on their myspace is @hotmail.com. Anyway, here’s “Everything” by A Cursive Memory.

In a few weeks, the story of “seven [new] strangers picked to live in a house and have their lives taped” will begin being told in weekly installments on MTV’s The Real World: Hollywood. Hollywood is the 20th season of The Real World and it will premiere on Wednesday, April 16th at 9:00pm CT. But before season twenty begins, MTV will celebrate the history of the show with the first ever Real Word Awards Bash, airing this Wednesday, April 2nd at 9:00pm CT.

The awards show will bring together cast members from all 19 seasons to share what they’re up to today and find out what moments, individuals and seasons the voting viewers thought were most memorable. Just like the show being celebrated, many of the award categories will highlight behavior and perspectives that are far from what I would consider wholesome (like “steamiest scene,” “biggest playa” and “best fight”) but for viewers like me who have been watching The Real World since (or at least near) the beginning, the show has always been about more than sex and shenanigans…it’s been a window into the lives and relationships of regular people and an opportunity to watch them “do life” together.

Since the first group of strangers lived together in 1992 (New York), each season of The Real World has been like a time capsule of what is cool at that time in history (fashion, music, technology, cars, home decor and more) and the diverse cast members have represented the pulse of young people living in the realities of the day, as they dealt with and discussed issues that viewers of all ages could relate to (racism, sexuality/homophobia, addiction and even faith).

“The Real World was ahead of it’s time, forging the path for reality TV as we know it.” - MTV.com

Created and produced by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray, The Real World is MTV’s longest running show and is most likely the first American reality show. Today, nearly sixteen years after the first episode of The Real World aired, MTV (as well as most other networks) has several reality shows in its lineup. Among MTV’s menu of shows depicting the “real” world, one of the most popular is The Hills, which is the spin-off/continuation of Laguna Beach (which was MTV’s response to The OC, since it followed the lives of teens living in California’s Orange County). As if an awards show and a new season of The Real World isn’t exciting enough for MTV reality fans, the third season of The Hills started last week and new episodes will be airing on Mondays at 8:00pm CT. This is especially good news since season three of Rob & Big is almost over.

While wasting some time this morning watching TV (VH1 Top 20 Countdown) instead of studying (Systematic Theology), I didn’t expect to see this guy (Kid Rock) singing this song (”Amen”) — but there he was right in front of me on the screen, the former husband of Pamela Anderson singing about having “faith in human nature, our creator and our savior; I’m no saint, but I believe in what is right…c’mon now, amen.”

Click on “Read the rest of this entry” for the full lyrics to Kid Rock’s song “Amen.”

Read the rest of this entry »

This quote from hip hop artist Common was in the latest issue of RELEVANTmagazine…

“The message of God needs to be in hip-hop. So that people who are caught up into the world — selling dope, lack of self-esteem, sex or the worship of money — can hear that and start on that path. Jesus was sitting with the prostitutes and tax collectors, but He was with them to convert them. Part of the hip-hop fans are people than need to be converted.”

My roommate’s girlfriend walked into our apartment tonight carrying a bright yellow shopping bag from the store Forever 21. She stood in the living room while we were watching a basketball game and held it proudly until we asked her what was up with the bag? “It’s for Andy,” she said. I was confused. I’ve never been in the store Forever 21 before and every time I’ve walked past it at the mall I’ve assumed it’s just another place where teenage girls shop for clothes that their parents wouldn’t approve of them wearing. Why would she bring the bag for me? Well, it turns out that all Forever 21 bags have “John 3:16″ printed in small letters on the bottom, so she thought I might be interested. She was right.

Seeing that shopping bag got me thinking about how other “Christian companies” (or companies run by Christians) use their influence on consumers to share and spread their faith. Since earlier tonight I’ve spent quite a bit of time “researching” Forever 21’s bags and other stores/businesses that practice similar acts of subtle consumer evangelism. I’ve also been hungry since seeing that bag. You see, Forever 21 isn’t the first business I’ve known about that prints Bible verses on the packaging of their products. The mecca of fast food burgers and fries, In-N-Out Burger (California and surround states), has been printing Bible verses on the bottom of their drink cups and food wrappers since the 1980s. In-N-Out Burger is my absolute favorite fast food restaurant — I once walked from LAX to the closest In-N-Out (probably about a mile away) so I could taste it one more time before returning to Minnesota — and it turns out the former president of In-N-Out was a Christian who wanted to share his faith with customers in a discrete way, and the company has decided to continue the practice today. It seems the president of Forever 21 has decided to do something similar by sneaking a little Gospel message into each customer’s purchase by, as one blog called it, “Bible bagging” their goods.

During my research on all this I found several sites that were neither helpful nor informative (mostly online forums where teenage girls discussed what they bought at Forever 21 during their last trip to the mall and how “like cool” or “totally dumb” they think it is that the store has a Bible verse on the bag), but I did manage to find a few articles that offered credible insight into what appears to be a growing phenomenon in the industries of retail clothing and fast food. For instance, in August of 2006 The New York Sun ran an article titled “Evangelism in Fashion“ discussing the Forever 21 bags. Included in the article were responses from Forever 21 customers who were asked if they were aware of the religious message on the bottom of the bags. The two responses shared in the article are priceless for their own unique reasons. The first was from a 22-year old guy who, when told there was a Bible verse on the bottom of the bag he was carrying didn’t seem bothered at all, but he did offer the insightful comment that “Jesus wore clothes.” I’m going to give the dude two benefits of the doubt by assuming that 1) he was shopping at Forever 21 for his girlfriend and 2) he’s not a seminary student. The other customer response was from a young woman who was shopping for a “black sparkly halter-top to go with a pair of red high-heeled shoes.” She was not as understanding as the young man we met a few sentences earlier; when she found out there was a religious message on the bottom of her shopping bag, she responded by saying “That’s so freaky. It kind of annoys me that I’m carrying this around without even knowing it.”

I learned about a few other businesses that make similar faith statements on their products and/or through the practices of their stores in a USA Today article from 2005. The most notable, in my opinion, being that Chick-fil-A (a fast food restaurant mostly in the southern US) is closed on Sundays so that employees can “focus on faith and family.” I thought that was a pretty cool move for a company to make, but I can’t help but wonder how much money they give up making by only being open 6 days a week.

If you know about other examples like these, please share them.