Is it just me, or is anyone else bothered when the sacred tries too hard to be cool when embracing the secular? I think I started feeling that way about 13 years ago when I watched a neighbor’s video of her church youth choir, or I should say, megachurch youth choir. There were hundreds of teens onstage, swaying back and forth to a funky beat and singing (or would it be rapping?), “You down wit G.O.D.? Yeah, you know me!”, sort of a Christian Weird Al version of the song, “O.P.P.” For those of you unfamiliar with “O.P.P.”, it was a 1991 hit by the rap group “Naughty By Nature”, a disgusting ode to infidelity, i.e. “getting down” with “other people’s p_ _ _ _” (you’ll have to Wiki that if you’re having trouble filling in the blanks). The video that accompanied O.P.P. was equally disgusting (naturally, an MTV success), full of moaning women in lingerie and men giving the thumbs-up in front of cheap motels. While I get the religious idea of “Yay! We’re taking a dirty song and cleaning it up!”, to me it still pays homage to the original song by using its lyric structure and other elements. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Why even give a nod to that gross song? Why let us know that the song arranger, or the church choir director, was “hip” to it? Wonder if they had to pay royalties to Tommy Boy Records (and the swaggering rappers) for using the song? Creepy.
Just like the red T-shirts with the re-worked Coca-Cola logo that say, “Jesus Christ—He’s the Real Thing” or the glammed-out local church youth center housed inside a former dollar theater, with re-done movie posters on the walls that are “RATED R for REALITY!”
Or a local youth pastor who is tattooed all over and pierced and sometimes gels his hair up like a Kewpie doll. I’ve seen him around town saying stuff to teens like, “Dude, let’s meet for coffee sometime!” While I don’t doubt his sincerity of faith and good intentions and know that type of pastor could reach out to a group that’s turned off by other religious “dudes” who wear robes and collars, there’s still something weird about it all…isn’t it a fact that a person’s chances for a decent-paying job go down considerably with each visible tattoo and nose piercing? Isn’t it unhealthy to do all that to yourself? I could definitely see someone like that in adult ministry (like at a prison), but as the head of a suburban church department that nurtures and inspires youth?
Maybe Hank Hill summed it up best in an episode of the TV series “King of the Hill” called “Reborn to be Wild”. In it, he wants his son Bobby to hang out with a good crowd and be an upstanding citizen, so he sends him to a church youth group. To Hank’s surprise, the group and its leader, Pastor K, are into leather and chains, Christian metal music and skateboarding, shouting “Praise Him!” after every successful turn on the half-pipe. Soon Bobby is onstage at “Messiahfest” pumping his fist like everyone else and diving into the mosh pit. When Bobby protests after his dad makes him leave the group, Hank gets a box down from the garage attic and shows Bobby the contents. In it are things like a Rubik’s Cube, pet rock, etc.– things that were all once fads, Hank explains, things that are hugely popular and then fade away. “I don’t want God to ever be a fad for you, Bobby,” he says.
Ditto for my own feelings as I raise my children.
Finally, someone with guts to state the obvious!!
Pat:
Boy, did you tackle a tough one this time! Let me just say simply that we might all do well to let our kids know that the Bible was written by men who claim to have been inspired by God; that it is filled with nice stories, some of which clearly might have been embellished both by the writers and the interpreters. But that the bottom line and the main theme are good: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
This understanding and perspective will help them to take all the different approaches to Christianity with some sanity.