Christ and Culture

I sensed some confusion Sunday about Andy Crouch's call for the church to be a counterculture, and how Christians should relate to the church in general. In an attempt to make some sense of this call and stimulate discussion, I want to summarize H. Richard Niebuhr's book Christ and Culture.

Niebuhr notes five strategies the church has undertaken to balance the demands of Jesus and the demands of culture. The first he calls "Christ against culture." This strategy holds that engagement with the culture is dangerous for the church. Only through withdrawing from the world can the church maintain its holiness and remain obedient to God. Niebuhr dismissed this viewpoint as sectarian and irresponsible.

The next strategy is "Christ of culture." Christians who take this option believe that the teaching of Jesus reflects the highest aspiration of culture, so there is no conflict between Jesus' teaching and what the world teaches. Both Jesus and the culture teach love, so there is no need to mark a difference between the two. Niebuhr is also dismissive of this viewpoint, because it accomodates the gospel to the desires of the world.

The final three strategies Niebuhr takes more seriously. "Christ above culture" recognizes that there are differences in the aims of God and the world, but mostly sees similarities. God created the world, and by extension the worldly order, so one can serve both Christ and the culture much of the time. This view sees God as king over culture, so obedience to culture is obedience to God.

"Christ and culture in paradox" describes strategies that resolve competing claims of God and the world by assigning them to separate spheres. A person should act according to Jesus' teaching in private life, but in public life the same person might need to act according to the world's expectations.

The final strategy, and the one Niebuhr implicitly supports, is "Christ the transformer of culture." Here, the church is somewhat critical of culture, but generally looks at it in a positive light. Those who take this view seek to use the culture's good points as a base from which to reform the entire culture.

This is of course a brief description of Niebuhr's types, and incomplete, but I hope it allows us to ask some questions. Which of these strategies do you personally find most appealing? Which do you think Trinity represents?

Feb. 2 - "Name" (018)

In a darkened studio, there are several people of different ages, ethnicities and gender standing silently and wearing plain white t-shirts. Rob starts by talking about a recent conversation with his counselor. He had started his question with the phrase "Is it normal for people to -" but before Rob could finish the question, the counselor interrupted. "We're not here to talk about other people, are we? So the better question is: is it normal for you?"

• Why do you think we so often we so often worry about what everyone else is doing, saying or thinking?
• Should it matter to us what's "normal" for everyone else?

That night Jacob got up and took his two wive, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of Jabbock. After he had send them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled the man.
Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak.'
But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."
The man asked him, "What is your name?"
"Jacob," he replied. - Genesis 32:22-27 (NIV)

The people in the studio peel off their white t-shirts to reveal they're wearing navy t-shirts with different words printed on them. "Designer suits" is on one of the men's t-shirt. "Student" is emblazoned on someone else's. "In the ancient Near East your name was more than just words," Rob reports. "Your name was reflective of your character, your substance, I mean the very fiber that made you, you.

• What is your name?
• Have you ever though of your name as a reflection of who you are?

Rob goes on to talk about how we each have a unique path, "a calling, a life God has given us."

• Do you have the sense of a unique path in your life? If so, what is it?
• Are there ways in which you tend to get distracted from "your path" because of what others do, say, or think?

A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones. - Proverbs 14:30 (TNIV)

"Some people live their whole lives according to the expectations of others, "says Rob.

• Are there things in your life that you do because it's "expected" of you?
• If so, do these things get in the way of you doing what you really feel you should be doing?
• Do you think you could live in a way where you're not comparing yourself to people who have more than you, who look different than you, or who can do things you can't?
• Do you think you can ever fully bet you if you don't?

Resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple. - Job 5:2 (TNIV)

"We need to saved from all the times we haven't been our true selves, declares Rob. " All the times we tried to be someone else. All the times we asked the wrong questions. And we've missed the voice of Jesus saying, 'You, follow me.' "

• What would it look like for you to completely trust Jesus when he says, "You, follow me?"

Video note: The set for this Nooma was so newly constructed that paint was still drying on the walls as it was filmed.

Feb. 17 "Matthew" (012)

Rob is in a hotel room, getting ready for the day. He begins talking about his friend Matthew, a teenager who was killed in a car wreck. "This kids, "Rob says, "was so, so talented."

• Think of someone you've lost. How do you remember that person?
• How would you describe the way you're feeling about your loss?

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. - John 11:33 (NIV)

Rob advises not bottling up feelings, whatever they are. "If we stuff it, then it's in there somewhere, and it will come out. Maybe you lost somebody a long time ago and you never properly grieved. The it's in there somewhere."

• What do you think it means to "properly grieve?"
• Have you let the full force of your loss hit you?

Jesus wept. - John 11:35 (KJV)

• Why is it so easy to become bitter when we lose someone we love?
• Have you chosen not to be bitter?
• Is guilt stopping your heart from recovering?

Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up. - Psalm 71:20 (NIV)

"It's easy , when we suffer loss, for whatever it is that we've lost to become the center of our life...it becomes all we can think about, "Robs cautions. "Our whole life becomes what we don't have and we lose out on what we do have."

• Think about who you do have.
• Do you trust that God will someday restore everything?
• Do you believe that includes being reunited with the people you love?

He [Jesus] must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. - Acts 3:21 (NIV)

Class discussion:
Video note: In memory of Matthew Winfield Diederich 1977-2004.

Feb. 10 - "Flame" (002)

It's a cold, bleak day, somewhere in a rural flatland. Rob pulls his truck over on the side of a country road and starts walking across a field. As he walks, he begins talking about the Song of Songs and the image of love it evokes.

Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and by the does of the field: do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires. - Song of Songs, 2:7 (NIV)

• Why is love so complex?
• Do we generally, in today's world, treat the concept of love the same way as the people in Song of Songs? As a sacred, beautiful, and mysterious thing?

Rob continues about how the word "love" in English might have lost its meaning. "We'll tell somebody that we love them and in the same breath, we'll talk about how much we love a new car, or a certain pair of pants. I mean, I love my wife, and I also love tacos?"

• Do you think the word "love" loses its meaning when we use it for so many things?
• Does it affect our understanding of what real love is?

The Song of Songs, Rob explains, is written in the Hebrew language, which has at least three different words for love. These are Raya (friendship, companionship), Ahava (commitment), and Dod (the physical, sexual element).

You are beautiful from head to toe, my dear love, beautiful beyond compare, absolutely flawless. - Song of Songs 4:7 (MSG)

"We have our raya flame, our ahava flame and our dod flame," says Rob. "One flame burning all by itself will never be as hot as all the flames burning together."

• How many relationships have you seen where all the flames are burning as one?
• Do you think it's possible to be completely satisfied without having all three flames burning?

Rob proposes that "True sexuality is vast and mysterious. It involves all of you." This means not just giving your body but your soul and spirit.

• What does it mean to give all of yourself to another person?
• Are you giving everything you've got?

Love is patient, love is kind, love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly,; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. - 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NASB)

Feb. 3 - 'Rhythm" (segment 011)

Rob seats himself in a concert hall, as a musician on stage begins to play. Rob starts talking about how he hears people say sometimes that God helps them by finding sales or good parking spaces for them. It's as if God has created the world and is now sitting back, watching.

• What do you believe about God's involvement in our daily lives?
• What images do you have of God? What or who has helped shape the images that you have?
• Where is God?

And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. - Exodus 3:14 (KJV)

"When I think of God, I hear a song," shares Rob.

• Why do you think people, including some writes of the bible use human physical references like "hands," "feet," "eyes," and "he" to describe God, when other Scriptures state that God is a spirit and has no form?

You saw now form of any kind the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or woman, or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below. - Deuteronomy 4:15-18 (NIV)

• Is God compassionate, truthful, loving and forgiving or is God compassion, truth, love and forgiveness?
• What about Jesus?

Rob continues his analogy about God as a song. "The song is playing all around us all the time, the song is playing everywhere, it's written in our hearts, and everybody is playing the song. See the question isn't whether or not you're playing a song, the question is, 'Are you in tune?' "

God is sheer being itself - Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration. - John 4:24 (MSG)

The stage is now filled with an entire orchestra playing along with the rock band, everyone adding his or her own sound to the music. Rob says, "There are people who talk as if they know everything about being a Christian and yet they can seem way out of tune. And then there are others who would say they don't know much at all about the Christian faith, and yet they can seem very in tune with the song."

• Can you believe in God and be out of tune with the song? does it works the other way around?
• What is more important to Jesus: what we believe or what we do?
• Do you believe that if you live the way Jesus taught us to live, being in tune with the song, that you "will have life in its fullest"?

I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest. - John 10:10 (CEV)

Jan. 27 - "Store" (segment 016)

Discussion guide questions:



The scene opens with a man driving into a busy parking lot of a grocery store, and just as he's going to pull into a parking spot, someone else drives into it instead. When he gets inside the store, the cart he pulls is the one with the sticky, wobbly wheel. Rob, sitting in a cafe, relates a story about being flipped off in traffic even though he was driving 75 mph at the time.

• What are some situations where people easily get "under your skin"?
• Do you let these people know? If so, how?

The man in the grocery store continues shopping, facing more inconveniences everywhere he turns. Rob continues his story about the angry driver, saying, "There is this low-grade boiling rage that many people carry around with them everywhere they go."

• What are some places where you typically see the low-grade boiling rage in other people?

Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. - Mark 3:1-2 (TNIV)

More and more annoying things happen to the man shopping in the grocery store: his favorite brand of orange juice is sold out, he's unable to go down an aisle, etc. Rob continues to explain his idea that "The problem isn't anger; the problem is what we do with it. It's where we take it, where we go with it."

• What was the last thing that you got angry about?
• Have you asked yourself why this made you angry? Where did your anger lead?

Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with the shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone." Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent. - Mark 3:1-4 (TNIV)

Rob clarifies that our anger is about "our pride, our ego," while Jesus' anger directed toward "an injustice larger than himself."

• Do the things that typically make you angry regard your own situation or bigger, universal issues?
• Do you believe the things you usually get angry about are actually worth getting angry about?
• Have you ever gotten so angry you broke something? That you said or did things you never would've thought you'd say or do? So angry that you scared yourself?

Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone." Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. - Mark 3:1-5 (TNIV)

• What are some things you could do to ensure your anger leads to making things better?

Rob suggests that when looking to find a calling, a mission, or a purpose, along with asking yourself what you love, also ask yourself, "What makes you angry?" He says, "Some people are always looking for a fight because they aren't in one."

• What are some things in the world right now, some larger issues, that make you angry?
• When you think about what you want to do with your life, are those things part of your consideration?
• Have you given yourself to a cause bigger than yourself that's making the world a better place? How?

The video closes with the man starting to drive away from the grocery store, having endured every peeve, annoyance and inconvenience known to shopperkind. A rogue shopping cart rolls in his car's path. Against all expectations, the man gets out of his car and calmly pushes the cart back to the corral.

Class discussion: things that make us angry like poor customer service, long lines, traffic, teenagers; considering being more like God in response to anger; how to deal with angry feelings; things we feel right being angry about.

Action items for the week:

• Think about one issue that makes you angry.
• Think of one way to channel that anger into energy for something positive.
• Push an extra grocery cart back to the cart corral.

Video note: It's estimated that supermarkets in the U.S. spend up to $180 million annually to replace lost shopping carts.

"Story of Stuff" link

Here is the link to "The Story of Stuff" video that people have mentioned in class: http://www.storyofstuff.com/