WWJS?

I’ve been thinking about the celebrity-worshipping culture in which I find myself. Lindsay Lohan was just arrested-again, and the TV Guide Channel devoted a half-hour program to it. Paris Hilton’s entire saga provided fodder for the cable news and entertainment shows for days. The magazine racks that accost me every time I enter a check-out line at the grocery store are full of the tales and woes of Brad and Angelina, Jessica, Oprah, and, of course, Lindsay and Paris. And it seems the object of life for many is to follow in their footsteps—to be a celebrity. Recent surveys indicate a significant percentage of American youth have as a main goal of life to become famous.

And so I am looking at this and observing how this trend is bleeding into Christendom. As a campus minister, I receive a lot of announcements about upcoming youth conferences and pastors’ conferences. What is interesting to me is the main speakers are typically the same. Bell, Giglio, Warren, Piper, Moore. Same with the worship music. The bands or the leaders are typically the same. Sometimes I wonder if these folks have now become professional speakers and performers. They all hail from somewhere, but never seem to be there anymore. They are too busy meeting the needs of their audiences. They have become celebrities and everyone wants to hear them and see them. At a recent meeting, a colleague was lamenting the poor attendance in recent years at a student conference. His proposed solution: more popular and well-known speakers.

And what is the bleeding I see? It is not that there is anything wrong with the writing and teaching of the Bells, the Moores, and the like. They are probably doing what they are now doing because of their giftedness and effectiveness. No, the bleeding is in our responses and demands. We seem to want a NAME attached to consider it worth our time. And it needs to be the LATEST name. Fame, of course, is fleeting and fades over time. I don’t see Tony Campolo or Becky Pippert listed anymore in conference brochures. I guess their time has passed.

I remember a few years back when Bruce Wilkinson’s The Prayer of Jabez became a publishing sensation. I joked (but was really serious) that it wouldn’t be long before there would be devotionals, calendars, and coffee mugs relating to the book. In just a few months, my “prophecy” became reality. It is just the way it is in our culture. Everything considered of worth is marketed and hyped, or it is marketed and hyped so as to convince people it is of great value. “This conference will change your life!” “So and so has traveled the world, speaking to tens of thousands of people. He has written many books. Don’t miss the chance to see and hear him!” “This book (just released) is already destined to be a Christian classic!”

And who can forget the great irony of the WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) frenzy of the late 90’s. Bracelets, bumper stickers, coffee mugs, devotionals. Only in America could such a wonderfully posed question be turned into a multi-million dollar enterprise. And you may have noticed, no one is asking WWJD anymore.

So I am thinking, WWJS? I think He would say Truth needs no hype and never becomes passé. I think He would say there should be a lot more living out the Christian life than talking, writing, singing, or listening about it. And I think He would say if being famous is your goal, then be satisfied with it as your reward.

A Reasonable Expectation

I have a friend who is a Christian and is in the hotel management business. The other day, we were talking about how Jesus calls us to live, and how people proclaiming to be Christians fall so far short of that. He said that during the ski season, the church youth groups (including the adult sponsors) are the worst behaved of all his patrons. He also told me of a recent experience when a well-known Christian speaker came to town for a two-day conference. He said the advance people were rude and demanding and the local planners the same. We both recalled talking with waitresses who dread working the Sunday lunch shift because of the rude customers coming to eat after church.

I am not sure that Christian customers are the worst; it just seems that way to people who expect more of Christians and are routinely disappointed. It seems, often, many Christians become so focused on what they consider important issues, such as abortion, creation/evolution, prayer in schools, and authority of Scripture, those that they deem essential to proclaiming and protecting the Kingdom of God, that they forget how important the treatment of others is in showing the love of Christ. What we do, how we act toward others, is supposed to reflect what we believe. Being rude to a waitress will not persuade her of the kindness of our God. Nor will disrespecting people and property at a hotel lead others to desire to know more about the Jesus we claim to follow.

In his essay, “The Weight of Glory,” C.S. Lewis wrote,

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.

Weighty words that deserve reflection by those of us who claim to follow our Lord down the narrow path.

What Lewis writes is so crucial to understand if we are to be truly light in the midst of darkness. The reality is people often expect to be treated like crap, just not by Christians. That’s why such treatment always draws attention. They expect something different. I think they have a sense that Jesus would treat them differently and, logically, so would those who claim to follow Him. It’s a reasonable expectation. Now if we could only meet it.