Chris Pratt and His Wicked Cool Christianity
Everyone wants to be cool. We all go about it in differing ways, to be sure, but deep down we want to be accepted and admired. It is just human nature.
Christians are no different.
By now I'm sure you have seen one of the many blog posts floating around about Chris Pratt and his Christian faith. The title probably read something like, "You Have To Read What This Hollywood Star Said About Christianity, Liberals Are Furious!"
Whether or not the beloved actor really is a Christian (and whether the liberals are, in fact, furious), I just don't know. And I'm not here to rant about the media's clickbait manipulation of our information intake, either. No, what struck me most about these viral blog posts is that they played right in to the timeless Christian desire to be cool.
If you'll notice, whenever a famous person we all like even accidentally says the name "Jesus", we pounce on it like a fresh kill. This has happened with several Hollywood stars recently such as Pratt, Matthew McConaughey, Gwen Stefani and even Shia LaBeouf.
It is like Christians have been stuffed in our lockers for so long that when a jock walks by and says hello instead of terrorizing us, we immediately bow down, worship him and then gloat about how cool we are now. We all but raise a giant megaphone to the world and scream, "You know that guy who saved the galaxy and tames dinosaurs? Yeah, he's with us now! So.. that means we're cool! Oh and uh.. stop picking on us!"
Tagging along behind the cool kids is just scratching the surface of how we try to be popular, though. We have slicked back the hair of Jesus, stuffed him into skinny jeans and follow him around with flashing lights and ambient guitar. Our famous worship leaders could pass for Abercrombie models. Our flat screen TVs play edgy videos that introduce our fashion-sensitive pastors. The list goes on and on and it is all so very cool.
And there is nothing inherently right or wrong with it, I suppose. It is only a tactic to get lost people in to our churches. We present a thick layer of swanky excitement over the real heart of Christianity in hopes that the world is attracted.
The only problem, though, is that the real heart of Christianity is not very cool. In fact, it is pretty freakishly weird.
I think most of us have become desensitized to how odd this Christianity thing that we have grown up in actually is.
The other day I was in Sunday School with the high school boys and we were talking about Pentecost. As I was describing the Holy Spirit, I was taken aback a little by how crazy it all was sounding.
We, as Christians, claim that the very spirit of a crucified god who was raised back to life almost two thousand years ago now dwells in our hearts. And not only that, but He communicates with us personally. He is literally our very own invisible friend.
Now read that out loud and tell me at least part of you doesn't feel like you belong in a mental institution.
You can put a leather jacket on religion. Morality can be dressed up to look presentable to the masses because everyone, to a degree, respects ethics. But raw, relational spirituality is not something that will save you a seat at the cool kids' table.
Christianity is like a good sci-fi thriller; the deeper you go, the weirder it gets. About the time you mention the Holy Spirit, most people get very uncomfortable. Make no doubt about it, this stuff will label you as a freak.
But if it gives you any consolation, Jesus didn't shy away from being a weirdo, either.
He spent His days flipping tables and smearing mud on people's faces. When someone asked Him a question, He would usually freak everybody out by responding with a different question or by just saying something completely random. He would even ask his friends to do crazy stuff, like the time He told them to eat his body and drink his blood. Many of his disciples, somewhat understandably, turned away from Him at that point.
He didn't seem to spend much time worrying about his reputation or his following, He just was who He was.
The point is that following Jesus won't be cool in the eyes of pop culture any time soon. But that might be OK. Because people don't fall on their knees in brokenness and pray for something trendy. They fall on their knees and pray for something true. They pray for something beautiful. Strobe lights can't give anyone life, but Jesus can.
So I think it's time to accept our roles as the weird kids. All the exciting stuff is fun and a celebrity praising God is cause for celebration, but let's not make this a bandwagon to jump on. We don't want people checking a box because it is just another cool thing to do. Because, after all, Jesus is more Christ than He is superstar. And when people see the true Gospel in all it's freakish glory, they will slowly start to follow because they know Jesus alone is enough.
