Cultural Death

Tonight was Higher Grounds (that's #4, I believe) at Crosspoint Church. It's nights like this that put my faith back in people of faith that we haven't completely lost all culture. Another night of live music - local talent, Crosspoint talent, even Famous People. Brad Crisler started by singing a song with his wife, Dawn, and followed it up with Hillbilly Deluxe - the new song he wrote on the Brooks & Dunn album of the same name, and everyone's favorite, Sweet Southern Comfort.

But headlining tonight was Amy Stroup. She's simply amazing. Unfortunately, I haven't listened to any of the CDs that Krista has - I guess I'll have to put them on my mp3 player and listen to them in the car. Amy is coming out with a new album in a couple of weeks - Chasing Greenlights; she sang the title song from it and I was blown away. She's very talented. This is also the only decent picture I was able to get tonight.

You can check out her current albums on iTunes (as this cool mint advertises); her new album will be released there, too. Check her out.

But back to what I started on about losing culture. It seems that lately, we don't seem to have our own culture. Everything I see has been commandeered from the "world outside". It's almost like we don't have any creativity. Of course, if we were created in the Creator's image that makes no sense.

I look around everywhere and I see people wresting bits and pieces of the surrounding world in an attempt to be cool or relevant. Here are a couple pictures I took on the way home the last few weeks. The one on the right should be legible: Body Piercing Saved My Life. The other one attests to my photography skills. It's a bumper sticker that says CSI: Christ Saves Individuals.

At least Christian music is finally coming into its own, slowly but surely. But, have we spent so long "trying to be different" that we've included in it our ability to create? I know some amazingly creative people, but much of their creativity is all but forced out of their spiritual lives. Is it the concern that if we combine creativity and spirituality that, all of a sudden, we're trying to entertain instead of follow God? I guess only the 3-point sermon is God's way to get a message across on Sunday morning.

We took Julianna to Mars Hill Bible School's Pumpkin Day the Saturday before Halloween. (People aren't allowed to call it Halloween anymore - I think because it's a Catholic holiday.) I found a card game that was so silly I had to buy it. It's called Betrayal, and it's based on Old Maid. Except in this version the cards are the apostles of Jesus, and it's not the Old Maid you don't want to get stuck with, it's Judas, who betrayed Jesus. The funny thing was, it cost me $5 (on special from the regular $5.99), and 45 minutes later, I found the same cards in the school's bookstore, buried in the back clearance room, going for $4.12.

Another fascinating item I found in the bookstore was the Evangecube. You don't have to actually say anything when you can use this nifty puzzle to Bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Life.

But my favorite were the Holy Folks dolls. They're "Always Faithful! Always Smiling!". Because, as you know, if you're not always happy, you're not really following God.

Just looking at my bookshelves, I even have a copy of C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters. But this is the comic book version put out by Marvel Comics and Nelson Publishers. I was just thinking the other day - what's happened to all the amazing writers? Who has made a worldwide impact since C.S. Lewis? Not to say there aren't creative people of faith today, but it just seems to me that people who follow Jesus just aren't the creative force they that have been in the past.

But I think, and I hope, and I pray, that's changing.