So, here is my complaint: Shane is really cool.
He has dreadlocks, cool glasses, piercings, and a bandanna. He has stories of hanging with punk rockers, Mother Teresa, Tony Campolo, Duffy Robinson, and Rich Mullins (and working at Willow Creek). And that's just the first half of the book. There is nothing wrong with this. It's cool. I'm not even trying to suggest that his "tries" to be cool. I'm just saying he's cool.
Cool scares me these days. It is very alluring, but in the end it has to be the least valuable of just about anything we are drawn too. Funny can change a mood. Smart can lead to fresh perspective and sometimes wisdom. But cool seems to accomplish little more than being good looking.
It is the same thing that concerns me about Rob Bell's videos, Dan Kimball's hair, Erwin McManus' clothes, this pastor's glam shot (he he), and David Crowder's voice. They're all very cool.
There is really one thing that scares me about cool. Cool comes and goes as the fickle tide of desire brings in the new cool to replace the old cool every few minutes.
Really, I cannot get into the level of sacrifice that Claiborne describes if this is going to be one more fad. I want to buy in, but can I trust the content of his message to remain after we've all lost interest in how cool the cover art is?
I hope so. The great thing about the Bible is that I have no idea how Jesus wore his hair, what kind of shawl he wore, how often he went barefoot, or what kind of music he liked to rock out to. I have no way of knowing how hip he was, so it cannot be a distraction. All his words remain. The tide of fad cannot touch him.
Ultimately, I pray that it is the parts of Shane's message that most mirror Jesus' that stick with me and drive me to change and grow.
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The great thing about the Bible is that I have no idea how Jesus wore his hair, what kind of shawl he wore, how often he went barefoot, or what kind of music he liked to rock out to. I have no way of knowing how hip he was, so it cannot be a distraction. All his words remain. The tide of fad cannot touch him.
That is quoteworthy, Shannon. Good thoughts.
(I know it would be much better if I put that in italics, but that would require me knowing a little HTML.)
First introduced to Claiborn through the Legacy and then had the opportunity of sitting through a seminar at Mars Hill when we worshiped there. Very interesting stuff.
His "coolness factor" is based on our own perception not on his intent. I think it is important to keep that in mind. Recall the report on Rob Bell that focused more on his shoes than on his message. He didn't wear the shoes to be hip. He probably just liked them. In the same way, I don't think Shane wears dreds and gets piercings because he has this overwhelming desire to be cool. He just does it to do it.
On the other end, we had a Youth Conference Speaker (Jeff Walling) whose picture on the promo poster made him look like a stuffy old man - collared shirt, old man sweater, dorky glasses. And he turned out to be great.
I guess the point is, how we perceive someone should not impact whether his/her message has validity.
Eric, you've been introduced to Shane Claiborne and attended Mars Hill. You now are also too cool.
Sam, my perception? Are you denying the dreds?
The thing is that some people will be attracted to the coolness, and I just don't want that to be part of it for me. So, I wrote this to try to put the thoughts behind me.
Obviously the dreds are real. But their status as "cool" may not be. But I hear you. We Christians seem to be big bandwagoners and the danger of embracing something for sensationalistic reasons always looms large especially as Christians are intentionally marketed to.
Shannon: No, you're still correct: regardless of what I have stacked in my pros column, I will always have the shattered lens of my glasses in the cons column (anti-cool). Well, hopefully not always. Things are looking up.
Sam: I would argue that most Christians are wagon jumpers. The "we" you describe are the ones Soren, Willard, Bonhoeffer, Foster, etc. may be arguing are the tares growing up in the wheat, the broadway travelers, able only to fit through the wide gate.
When Jesus commands us to pray to the LORD of the Harvest, he recommends we pray that those workers are thrown out, cast out, cast off workers, wagon jumpers... not sent out.
People are searching for the genuine article. Sometimes those become cool regardless of how they may fight against it. In Life of Brian, it mattered little whether he had one shoe on or one shoe off, the crowd wanted to worship Him.
"but the world don't want what it cannot own and it can't own You so you did not have a home."
Funny, I write this post intending it be something less than serious, and it generates some good conversation.
Eric, you misunderstand. Your shattered glasses put you in the cool category. Replace them and you're out.
Did anybody click the link for the glam shot? Tell me that's not a little funny.
I thought it was funny Shannon.
What's funny is he sort of works with my Great uncle now.
I know I'm gonna sound condescending and arrogant but I just don't see what the big deal is about these guys. They have some good thoughts but it's nothing new under the sun. Have people really not considerd these things as Christians before now? If they were wearing sweater vests would anyone even listen to them?
I just want to say that by refering to me as a "pastor" you have ruined my cool factor and therefore my ministry. May you find a millstone sir!
Oh, and I was also the arrogant and condenscending previous post. I wasn't cool enought to pay attention to the whole "sign in" thing.
I thought this comment I found sums up things pretty well:
"In fact, Jesus (while he certainly accepts our worship) seemed WAY more interested in having people follow him than he was in people worshiping him. I don’t think Jesus is pleased with our worship, given the atrocious state of our discipleship. And he certainly doesn’t like it when we elevate people like Shane Claiborne as exemplars, but fail to follow their example. Shane has gotten a lot of attention, and for some good reasons. He is living out a radically Christ-centered life that is worthy of imitation. But he’s gotten WAY more fans than imitators. And the way the “machine” has gotten a hold of him has saddened me, because it is turning him into a saint instead of into an “ordinary radical.” I know so many people who love what he has to say but feel like he’s in a special class of holy person."
Why aren't some of thes guys able to create many imiatators only fans?
I don't know if that is any fault of their own. the same could be said for Jesus. But that goes along with my fear of cool. I don't want to be some guy's fanboy. I want to be more like Jesus.
Good comments, even the condescending ones:)
I'm not sure if this book is occupying so much of my attention because I have been spending so much time in the sermon on the mount the last few months of because his fire-eating stories make him tres chic.
It is making me consider many new ways of applying Jesus to my life that I have not before (or at least in a long time).
Barry makes good points, even if he doesn't take a good picture. You mention the "fan" aspect as opposed to a follower, and it reminds me of the various times in Jesus' ministry when the "fans" are challenged to do more than just follow him around turn their backs and walk away.
In Shane's case, the lifestyle he challenges us to undertake is radical especially in light of the our ingrained lifestyle and system. Is Shane saying anything new? Well, yes and no. Loving others is not new but Shane's specific applications are. So, I like others are figuring out how to live out the words of Jesus in our own context.
To jump into the conversation late, I think God uses many fads for his glory and to bring people into his kingdom. So even if what Shane is doing is just a fad, I would say that it is a good fad if one more person takes seriously the call to be a radical disciple. We are surrounded by fads that stuck (and in some cases have outlived their faddiness): pianos, guitars, twenty to thirty minute homilies, hymns, choruses, youth ministries, an altar call, purpose driven churches and lives, WWJD bracelets, cross necklases, the phrase "personal relationship", and whatever else has been a fad that stuck or did not stick. All of those fads have been used for God's glory to bring about change in people's lives. Fad might just be a term we use for something is only culturally relevant for a very brief time. It is good for that time. And like all good things many people just imitate without the heart behind it. However, I do not think radical discipleship is something that a person would imitate on a faddy whim.
Whether Shane is a leader of a fad or a prophet trying to bring us back in line with God's will (for Barry - none of the Old Testament prophets challenged Israel to do anything new; they just told them what they already should have known what they should be doing), I do not see how what he is doing could be a bad thing. Enjoy the challenge! I look forward to reading the book myself. If it causes us to be faddy for a while, that is fine as long as it does not hurt the kingdom.
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