“Paul then stood up in the
meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every
way you are very religious. For as I
walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an
altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the
very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.” (Acts
17:22-23, NIV)
Water is essential to the
life of a fish, but the fish is totally unaware of the presence of water until
it is no longer there. The same is true
of us and the culture in which we live.
When Christians do discuss culture, we tend to identify some negative
aspects of our cultural environment and give our attention to condemning those
things.
In reality, we could not function
without culture. Culture gives us language, customs, and values that unconsciously provide structure
to our lives. Like the fish in water, we
rarely think about culture until it starts to change. For Christians, culture can have both
positive and negative aspects.
According to missional theology, part
of our task as Christians is to be a contrast community within our culture,
embodying eternal values and concepts based on the teachings of Christ. On the other hand, if we do not adopt certain
cultural characteristics such as language, dress, or conceptualization, we
cannot pursue our mission effectively.
Paul gives a good example of this in
his proclamation on Mars Hill in Athens.
He understands where he is, the language of his hearers, and their
philosophical mindset. He uses these to
establish rapport with them, even citing the words of two Greek philosophers and
claiming the “unknown god” in their culture as a means of proclaiming the
message of the Creator God. He finds a
way to use culture to achieve his mission.
Down through the centuries, Christians
have found ways to either use or reject culture in their missional task. This creates an ongoing tension that keeps us
aware and sensitive to what is happening around us.
Let me suggest a few ways that we as
Christians can engage culture.
First, know what is essential to your
Christian faith and mission. Are my
convictions based on my own study and faith experience or have I just accepted
what has been passed on to me? What is
at the core of my faith?
Second, seek to understand before
condemning. We too often have a knee
jerk reaction and immediately reject the new or unusual without attempting to
understand the underlying values. Take
time to explore and dialogue.
Third, broaden your experiences. Diversify your reading, listen to new music,
and explore emerging media and performance venues. You may have some unpleasant experiences or
run into some dead ends, but you will have clearer information upon which to
make choices.
Fourth, find points of intersection
between the culture and your faith. As
we explore music, art, drama, and cinema, we will find themes that the
Christian faith addresses and illuminates.
Take a few minutes today and think about
the culture in which you live and what you can learn from it.
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