Motives

Lately, I've been reading a blog called The Search (the link is on my blog list) by this guy who's written for Relevant magazine.

I was particularly struck by his commentary on Christian Hipster culture. It's ridiculous that churches and individuals within the church feel that they must live up to some visual standard of "cool" to disguise the perceived un-hipness of Christianity in modern culture. I know this, I feel this, I scowl and shake my head. But where do my motives lie?

Because I want people to think I'm cool. I listen to obscure bands, blog, splatter paint, and read murder mysteries. I rely on my quirkiness to attract others to me. It's not that I choose my hobbies to suit others' tastes, because I truly enjoy the things I do. But at the same time, I market myself and my interests out of selfish, compliment-seeking motives.

Maybe it's the pervasive social networking culture. We've been so brainwashed into typing and retyping lists of our hobbies, interests, activities, and quirks that we think that these things define us. And that mindset has gone so far as to mar our understanding of Christianity. Subconsciously we think that Christ can't draw people to him on His own and that the fruits of the Spirit aren't enough. We've got to market ourselves. We've got to provide a hip facade or people won't like Christians. In reality though, it seems far more likely that the facade is becoming more important than the matter underneath.

A few months ago, I was passionate about starting a house church, singing songs to acoustic strums, living like a hippie. Because I thought this was spiritual awakening. But what I question now is whether I was just immersed in the concept of making my brand of Christianity cool. I do feel like the church, at least as it stands in my neck of the woods, is weak, hidebound in a pattern of awkward and ineffective traditions and convictions. But real change can't happen if it's done in an effort to be marketable. Like the blog says in it's conclusion, maybe Christianity has stood the test of time because it's not cool. Because it's authentic.

And maybe Christians draw people to them simply by being authentic themselves.