Authentic Christian Cool
For the past couple of weeks I’ve been reading Brett McCracken’s book Hipster Christianity. It’s a pretty good book overall, although I personally think Brett could have done more research for the chapter on the emerging church. And he does suggest that social justice is just another fad. But Brett does bring up some good points.
For example, near the end he explains the differences between authentic Christian cool and being a self-righteous hipster jerk. Hipsters, as Brett explains, are all about individualism. Everything they do is a self-conscious attempt to be better and cooler than the average square (do people still say “square?”). Jesus, on the other hand, calls us to be other-centered instead of self-centered. He’s less concerned about how “cool” you are than how loving you are. Jesus says the world will know we are His disciples if we love one another, not our Macbooks or our TOMS shoes or our iPods full of Sufjan Stevens tunes (all of which I own, by the way).
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I can be a hipster snob. I’m not one of those kinds of people who want all eyes on them, like Paris Hilton and Michaela Salahi. But I don’t want to fade into the background, either, so sometimes I consciously pick out clothes that I hope will make people think, “Wow, that guy’s cool!” But why should be so concerned about looking cool, when I’m supposed to show God’s love before anything else?
Of course, there’s the other extreme, and that’s getting so wrapped up with church culture that we don’t know how to communicate the Gospel to our peers.
I think the thing to remember is balance. Paul often used culture to help preach the Gospel (1 Corinthians 9:19-23), so I don’t think it’s wise to completely divorce ourselves from culture. I love my Macbook, TOMS shoes, and Sufjan Stevens records just as much as the next guy. However, at the end of the day I don’t serve those things. My main job is to love Jesus and love others, period.







