One of my current favourite TV programmes is Room 101, hosted by Frank Skinner. Three different guests each week
are invited to make nominations for what they would like to consign to Room 101
(i.e. something which they would like to get rid of). Each programme has 3 rounds, which a
different topic suggested for each round. In a recent edition, the topic for one of the rounds was fashion. Bill Turnbull argued the case for putting into Room 101 the
fashion (if it can be given that term) preferred some young men to wear their
jeans very ‘low slung’, revealing their pants.
Turnbull presented his case forcefully, and I was surprised that he
failed to win that round. Amazingly,
Frank Skinner chose Ben Miller’s nomination, shoe laces! (Given a choice, I
would probably have also nominated low slung jeans, or possibly tattoos!)
I mention this because I have been thinking recently about
trends, fashions and cultural norms. I
guess that when young men first took on board the fashion of wearing their
jeans half way down their bottoms (probably without knowing that this came
originally from prisoners whose belts had been confiscated), they thought that by
doing so they were setting themselves apart from the majority of society. Of course, what happened with this trend,
as happens with many new trends, is that what began as something
counter-cultural soon became the trendy thing to do; lemming-like, many others
followed. I wonder how many young men wear
their jeans in that fashion, not because they really like it (it certainly
can’t be very comfortable, and they seem to spend half the time pulling their
jeans up!), but because they feel it’s the thing to do.
During Lent this year I will, along with others in my
churches, be reading through the Gospel of Luke in daily bite-sized
chunks. One of the amazing features of
the Bible is that no matter how many times one reads a particular passage,
there is always more treasure to be mined and new lessons to be learnt. It has been a real joy to take time each day
to focus on Luke’s account of the life of Christ. Although I am so far only about a quarter of
the way through Luke’s gospel, one thing of which I have been reminded is the
fact that Jesus was amazingly counter-cultural.
Listen, for example, to these words of his: ‘Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless
those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.’ Wow! So different from the values of society, both
then and now.
There are a number of other examples of Jesus’ counter
cultural lifestyle, which shocked many of those who witnessed him. In that society, for example, a person who suffered from
leprosy was treated as unclean, and an outcast.
No self-respecting person would go anywhere near a leprosy
sufferer. Yet when a leper approached
Jesus one day, in compassion Jesus reached out and touched him; the man was healed! Jesus’ attitude to those whom society regarded
as outcasts or ‘sinners’, especially the way he
welcomed them and spent time in their company, brought him much criticism. His life and character was so different, not
only from the society around him, but also from the religious people of the
day, many of whom were full of self-righteousness.
But it wasn’t only Jesus actions and attitudes which were so
counter-cultural. It was also his
teaching. Fancy calling his followers to
‘love your enemies’ and do good to those who hate you!’ Fancy saying to people that unless they were
willing to lay aside all their personal ambitions and desires, and put him
first, they could not be his disciples! It’s
such a shame that at times the church has presented a watered-down, namby-pamby
version of the Gospels, when in fact to be a disciple of Jesus is the most challenging,
awe-inspiring, faith-inducing lifestyle anyone could know! Want to be truly counter-cultural? Follow Jesus!
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