The counter-culture of conformity to Christ

Romans 12 1-2

Flappers, Beatniks, Hippy, Goth, Hipster, and so on and so forth ad nauseum are a very tiny list of counter-culture movements through the ages.  Each group was revolutionary for the time, each giving the proverbial “up yours” to the established cultural paradigm.  They changed their moment then went out of fashion and became accepted by the culture on one level or another, and then the next movement came which seemed a little more radical than the last.  Each movement though, was temporary, and the people who embodied them generally only temporarily belonged to them.  Flappers “grew up”, got married, had children, and became the grandmothers of the Hippy.  The Hippy eventually stopped smoking pot, traded in their fringe jacket and peace signs for a three-piece suit and mortgage. What I found infinitely amusing as I read about counter culture through the ages is that the participants of the previous counter culture almost always find the next generation of them completely ridiculous and unacceptable.  They take on the mind set of “the sky is falling” and the next generation is doomed, forgetting that their parents and the people before them all said the same thing about them.  We humans are funny creatures that way.

At it’s start, Christianity was a counter culture and in fact if we really read our reading today, we are called to be the ultimate counter culture. 

Romans 12: 2

2Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

The difference between us and them is simple but at it’s foundation profound.  The counter cultures I mentioned all adjusted (or attempted to adjust) the patterns of the world they lived in.  Our call is not to do that at all, but to be transformed ourselves-not by adjusting the world pattern we live in but by renewing our minds (by seeking and attempting to think as God does). 

Jesus and scripture talks about this idea many times.  John 17:14-16, John 15:19, John 8:22-24, 1 John 4:5, 1 John 2:15-17, James 4:4,  and 1 Peter 2:11-12. 

We are to conform ourselves to Him, and that is the most radical thing we can do in this world which conforms only to earthly ideas.  We are to be citizens of a greater kingdom than we live in, and in so doing become lights to the world around us.  Which, if I need to explain, does ultimately change how we relate to the world and the world itself. 

The hippy held a sign in protest of many things.  We need not do that.  We need to be a sign, which is the protest of all things apart from God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit which lives within us and inspires us to be not of this world.  This is not the non-conformist thinking of the world, but a thinking that might allow us to perfectly conform to God’s will. 

Just some food for thought and prayer.

Heavenly Father, renew my mind that I might become a sign in this world of your Holy Love.  Allow me to cast off the things of this world that keep me bound to it, so that I might be free in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

Here I am, Lord, send me,

Lisa L. Brandel