Culture Worth Making and Preserving

Much of my latest posts on culture have been under the influence of a book called Culture Making: Rediscovering Our Creative Calling by Andy Crouch. The book has been quite a challenge for me.

Crouch outlines the idea that our mandate to create culture begins in Genesis and is a fundamental part of our identity as image bearers of the Creator God. A point that I have paid little attention to, until now, is the continuity of the role of cultural goods. In Revelation, there will be a new heaven and a new earth. The people of God will congregate and live in a city where God is present with us. Here is how it is described in Rev 21:22-27 and I'm highlighting a few things that I want to focus on:

I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never be shut by day--and there will be no night there. People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.

Crouch indicates that people and "the glory of kings and the nations" are both eternal. In the evangelical community, we are very keen on pointing folks to the eternality of people, but little thought has gone toward thinking out what the glorious goods that the nations will bring in. Crouch makes an interesting distinction between people and cultural goods. First, people come into heaven through faith and being named in the Lamb's book of life. Secondly, cultural goods will be purified as well and will also be present in the new heaven and new earth.

Given the focus on Michael Jackson in the last few weeks, I'll use him as a hypothetical example of questions that are raised for me due to Crouch's points.

So if MJ has real faith, he'll show up in heaven and be present in the Kingdom of heaven in a purified and heavenly body. But if MJ does not show up in heaven due to not having faith, then according to the presence of cultural goods, will we as Americans be moonwalking in heaven, given that the moonwalk is a quite rad, creative wonder that mimics our Creator? An even cooler thought to me (which Crouch also points out) is that if the "kings" of the Kingdom of heaven are "the least of these" then these amazing breakdancing moves (which Jackson self-admitted came from cultures of poverty and dancing he'd seen from urban children) then this amount of creativity can definately reflect the values of Our Creator. But what aspects of culture are "unclean"? Will be breakdancing like MJ minus the crotch grabbing? Or is our American culture unduly sensitive about a nature feature of the body that God gave us for procreation? What qualifies as national glory?

So many questions!! It radically messes with my head of what I think about culture. I have a love-hate affair with culture. There are things that excite me, things I don't get, things that I take for granted, etc. My eyes feel newly opened to experiencing culture that may be a part of our daily living in the kingdom. What gifts and cultural goods will we bring to honor our King at the Wedding of the Lamb? At times it is easier for me to think about this in terms of other cultures or attributes, but not physical goods, especially not American physical and cultural goods.

As confused as I feel about this, I feel that the cultural outpouring, grief and celebration we have seen honoring one of our own cultural (ugh, I can't think of another word other than icons) in the person of Michael Jackson Crouch's way of thinking about the eternality of cultural goods such as music, dance, etc., gives real meaning to what folks are feeling. "It's not so bad because he's in heaven." "But his music will live on forever." Normally I roll my eyes at such things, but perhaps I'm the one who is missing out on a piece of eternity and connection with collective admiration and cultural impact.