So what
is culture? Culture is a neutral thing in and of itself, although many
Christians (and others) misuse the term to mean “what is wrong with the world.”
It encompasses high culture—going to the symphony, art galleries, opera,
museums; ethnic culture—the foods, traditions, etc. that pertain to certain ethnic
groups; political culture—the view and values held in high esteem in the realm
of politics; and the most obvious branch: pop culture. Pop culture is all the
music we listen to, everything we watch on TV or in the movie theatre, every
book we read, and all the websites we browse. Everything comes from somewhere, everything has a purpose. Everything
points toward the future. People often fall into the trap of just
condemning culture as terrible or mindlessly consuming culture. When we stop
making our own culture, stop questioning the culture, stop trying to break the
status quo, we fall into having a certain view and interpretation shoved down our
throats. Our eyes and minds are numbed to the world.
And so,
culture touches more than meets the eye. It fully includes the environment, stereotypes,
the food we eat, the fuel we put in our cars, the advertisements we are
bombarded with and so much more. We live in a fallen world. Every one of these
areas mentioned have been twisted and distorted by sin. Culture contains both
very good and very bad, truth and untruth, wisdom and folly mixed together. I
learned I needed to… Wake up! To see the world around me as it
is; to reorient myself to engaging culture and choosing to embrace the pieces
(however unpopular) that bring about the Kingdom.
This is
where the idea of ordinary radicals comes in. Ordinary radicals are
people who see the upside-down world (upside-down in comparison to how things
should be) and make a choice to never stop inquiring and never settle for the
world’s idea of success. They take righteous risks in attempting to fulfill the
Lord’s call in their life. Whether this risk is job-sharing, befriending a
social outcast, or standing up against social/political injustice, the Kingdom
is being pursued. These people are humble, live simply, abound in generosity
and hospitality, and all in all look like “Martians” in comparison to the
general public. They have ridiculous joy because “We have hope beyond
ourselves.”
The
values I listed are wonderful things, and are all things I want to embody, but putting them into practice and connecting
them with food, the environment, community, ethnicity, advertising, etc. is
where things get tricky. Over Interim we compiled a list of many practical ways to challenge the normal way of the world. I do want to mention a couple things that I think are
great ideas, and a couple more things that I plan on putting in to practice as soon as I can:
Consuming consciously, buying food from local farmers/ organic
farmers, being engaged in a community, recycling, spending real quality time with
family, teaching kids (if you have them) Kingdom values, starting a garden,
using eco-friendly products/fuel, getting to know your neighbors, carpooling,
having block parties, having a clothing exchange, shopping at thrift stores,
connecting with intentional communities, buying fair-trade products, having potluck
meals.
Buying local and organic produce (when possible), learning to cook real food from scratch,
learning to sew and knit, eventually getting a more eco-friendly car, trying to
reform my mind into living a more simple life, attempting to glorify God and
bring about shalom on the earth with my every action.
Almost of all these
ideas were sparked by an Interim 2013 class, “Culture Making in the Empire,”
taught by Rob & Kirstin Vander Giessen-Riestma at Calvin College.
Additionally, these themes and discussions were based off of the books: Engaging
God’s World: A Reformed Vision of Faith, Learning, and Living by Cornelius
Plantinga Jr., Everyday Apocalypse by David Dark, and Colossians
Remixed: Subverting the Empire by Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmaat.
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