Category Archives: pop-culture

Coldplay concert/tour postponed?

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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.

pop goes the church

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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.

creative video

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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.

reality (m)tv

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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.

mtv-logosvg.pngThe 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.

Kid Rock’s gospel song

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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.”

Continue reading →

Common quote

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

“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.”

consumer evangelism

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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.

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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.

innoutgospel1.jpgDuring 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.

youtube = homework

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If you read what I wrote last week about my classes this semester, you may remember that one of my classes is on ministry within a pop/media-culture. I don’t have class on Wednesdays, so I’ve been (trying to) studying all day, and when I checked the syllabus for the ministry in media class to see what I was supposed to read before class next week, I was happily surprised to learn that there was no reading assigned, but instead I needed to watch several videos on youtube. Seriously? That’s awesome.

Watching the four videos assigned for class was one of the most enjoyable 30 minutes of homework I can remember. I’m going to share two of them here because I think they offer a fascinating and informative look at the history and evolution of digital technology (and text) as tools for sharing information, with style. Both videos were created by Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University.

The Machine is Us/ing Us

Information R/evolution

Jesus walks

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I want to share a few thoughts and video links on Kanye West’s antics and achievements at the Grammys on Sunday. Kanye won four Grammys, including Best Solo Rap Song (“Stronger”) and Best Rap Album (“Graduation”). I thought his mega-production performance of “Stronger” was really cool and his stripped-down performance of “Hey Mama” was pretty emotional, but nothing was as memorable as Kanye’s acceptance speech for Best Rap Album during which the producers of the Grammys started playing the “wrap it up” music, but in a forcefully persuasive tone that only Kanye could pull off, he silenced the music (and got an ovation for doing so) by saying, “it would be in good taste to stop the music” and then went on to dedicate the award to his mother who recently passed away. It was a fascinating moment bring together Kanye’s full-range of personality…respect, arrogance, passion and emotion.

To celebrate Kanye’s big night at the Grammys (only Amy Winehouse won more awards, with five), here’s a video from one of Mr. West’s first hit songs, “Jesus Walks’ (which is my favorite song to do karaoke, no joke). This is actually the third version of the song’s music video, which is incredible since most songs are lucky to get one video, but Kanye is unique like that; I guess two videos just weren’t enough for him. I’m glad he made this version because it offers an interesting perspective of someone’s idea of what it looks like to have Jesus walking with us during our everyday lives.

“I ain’t here to argue about his facial features / or here to convert atheists into believers / I’m just trying to say the way schools need teachers / the way Kathy Lee needed Regis / that’s the way I need Jesus.”

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I apologize if any of the links lead to deleted videos. I’ll try to update them if any of the videos disappear, otherwise you can probably find the videos on youtube.

Update (February 18, 2008): I just checked the links to the videos of Kanye at the Grammy’s and realized all three have already  been removed due to copyright issues (in less than a week). I’ll do some searching and see what I can find…

Re: Yes, we can.

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I want to share and respond to some of the comments I’ve received about the “Yes We Can” video of Obama’s speech that I posted earlier this week. First, I’d like to restate – perhaps more clearly this time – that by sharing the video I was in no way endorsing a specific candidate or political party. Notice that the first things I wrote in Monday’s entry were that I am not into politics, never have been and am not even sure who I am going to vote for in the upcoming presidential election. I’d also like to tell anyone reading this that I don’t want anewdoxology to become a political blog. I can see why it may have appeared that I was trying to venture into the topic of politics by posting that video, but really, the only reason I shared the video for “Yes We Can” is because of the many connections it has with the world of popular culture (since it featured several musicians, actors and other recognizable “famous people”). The fact that Barack’s speech is incredibly inspiring and gave me goosebumps probably played a role in why I decided to share it, but it was really more about what the creator of the song/video (will.i.am) wrote in his explanation,

it inspired me…
it inspired me to look inside myself and outwards towards the world…
it inspired me to want to change myself to better the world…
and take a “leap” towards change…
and hope that others become inspired to do the same…
change themselves..
change their greed…
change their fears…
(…)
I produced [shared] this song to share my new found inspiration and how I’ve been moved…
I hope this song will make you feel…
love…
and think…
and be inspired just like the speech inspired me…
that’s all…

With that being said, I want to pass along a few comments and links that some of you have shared with me in response to Obama, the “Yes We Can” video and how it all connects with the ideas of hope, love and change (that I personally happen to associate with God and my faith).

From an article by Michael Chabon in the Washington Post, but borrowed here by one of my seminary professors (Mary Hess) from her blog, this quote is about the fear involved in supporting and voting for Obama.

“But the most pitiable fear of all is the fear of disappointment, of having our hearts broken and our hopes dashed by this radiant, humane politician who seems not just with his words but with every step he takes, simply by the fact of his running at all, to promise so much for our country, for our future and for the eventual state of our national soul. I say “pitiable” because this fear of disappointment, which I hear underlying so many of the doubts that people express to me, is ultimately a fear of finding out the truth about ourselves and the extent of the mess that we have gotten ourselves into. If we do fight for Obama, work for him, believe in him, vote for him, and the man goes down to defeat by the big-money machines and the merchants of fear, then what hope will we have left to hold on to?

Thus in the name of preserving hope do we disdain it. That is how a phobocracy maintains its grip on power.

To support Obama, we must permit ourselves to feel hope, to acknowledge the possibility that we can aspire as a nation to be more than merely secure or predominant. We must allow ourselves to believe in Obama, not blindly or unquestioningly as we might believe in some demagogue or figurehead but as we believe in the comfort we take in our families, in the pleasure of good company, in the blessings of peace and liberty, in any thing that requires us to put our trust in the best part of ourselves and others. That kind of belief is a revolutionary act. It holds the power, in time, to overturn and repair all the damage that our fear has driven us to inflict on ourselves and the world.”

A theologian might suggest that this is what we mean, in part, by “eschatological hope.”

I don’t want the connection Hess makes between Chabon’s quote and Christian theology to be lost because people don’t understand a confusing theological term, so here’s a quick teaching moment on eschatological hope…in my best understanding this term refers to the hope Christians have that Jesus Christ will return to make things right on earth (including our personal salvation). This is a very basic definition, and is in no way complete, but eschatology is the name for the area of study within theology that is concerned with the final events of the world (including, but not limited to, the return of Jesus, the resurrection of the dead, the renewal of creation, the final judgment, the establishment of the kingdom of God and the fulfillment of all God’s promises). I asked Mary to explain how she was using the term in her post and she said that she was “noting the resonance to a form of hope that can not be proven, that indeed is often not demonstrable in human terms, but exists nonetheless and draws us out to live LOVE.” Meaning, the hope Chabon (and many others in America, including will.i.am and the other celebrities in his video) have that Obama will deliver the change that he has been promising in his campaign is not something that can be proven any more than Christians can prove that Jesus Christ will return to earth at the end of history and deliver the promises we believe God has made for all of creation, but just because it can’t be proven does not mean we can not or should not hope for and support the idea of those things happening.

Fox News ran an interesting article to read alongside Chabon’s article, this one was written by Father Jonathan Morris (a Catholic priest typically known as simply “Father Jonathan”) on the Virtue of Contemplation on Super Tuesday. Father Jonathan is a regular contributor to FOX News and is perhaps best known for being Mel Gibson’s theological advisor during the making of The Passion of the Christ. You might not agree with everything he writes, but I think he offers an interesting perspective on how we should view politics within our culture, especially for people of faith in God.

Thanks to my friend Paul for passing on the article from Father Jonathan, and also for writing several comments in response to the Obama speech/song. I decided not to share his comments on anewdoxology only because they are very political in nature, and like I wrote above, I don’t want this to become a political blog.

As always, thanks for reading. I hope you’ll continue sharing your thoughts in response to anything on this site.