A Cookie Cutter World

 
When I was little, I used to love the game “Follow the Leader.”  It was fairly simple, and I loved making sure I was spot on with the leader, including my facial expressions.  I remember making several of my kiddie contemporaries mad when I mimicked them too closely.

Teenage years brought angst when mimicry was both hated and embraced.  I especially hated when I wore the same outfit as another girl in my class. Or conversely, it was okay to wear the same color outfit as my friend or posse as if it were a secret code. And it was acceptable, and expected that all teens went to the same hang out, or had to like the same idols, or they were weird. Weird is unacceptable in teen worlds.  That was about when my grandma began asking me “if all of your friends jump off the pier will you blindly follow?” And while I did not want to be different, I saw her point.  To blindly follow the masses was not very compelling or smart.

As I have reached adulthood I find myself opting to be different then many of those around me a lot of the time. Not to be merely contrary, I like being a leader. And especially, a leader with a purpose.  Often, I find I have fewer followers than I would hope. Not many are trying to mimic me closely.

As a general rule, however, it seems people love copying and following rather than marching to their own tune. Post Thanksgiving Black Friday all the stores went to earlier sales, and all the automatons marched the advertiser’s Pied Piper tune and followed to their flute. I felt a pattern of brainwashing began in mid-September this year. According to MerchantsWire:

For the 24 hours of Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 28^th same-seller gross merchandise value (GMV) increased 40% relative to the same 24-hour period in 2012. For the 24 hours of Black Friday, November 29^th, same-seller GMV sales lagged slightly behind Thanksgiving Day results but still increased over Black Friday 2012 by 35%, achieving a new Merchant daily record gross merchandise value (GMV) on Black Friday.

We are LEMMINGS!           

Humans seem to follow rather than march to the beat of their own drum perhaps because we hate to be alone, wrong or lose social status. We go along to get along out of fear of being shunned. It is easier than doing something different and having to explain or face ridicule. There is also power in numbers.

We see this everywhere from local and Washingtonian politicians, to wanna-be pop stars and actors, to iPhone buyers (it’s the most expensive and not necessarily the best, but everyone has one!)

I hear my grandma asking, “If everyone jumped over a cliff, would you?”  I see a society that will be less creative, strong, differentiated in the future. I picture automated rubber-stamping rather than well-reasoned decisions. A society that once stood proudly as being independent and strong individuals seems to be cookie cutter copies of each other, directed largely by the media and rich corporations.

Some would say as a person of faith, I am merely a follower as well. My religion of choice is, yes, to follow a man who lived outside his cultural norms, went against the establishment for the betterment of all, not the replicating of all. Jesus showed love (contrary to some who come in his name) to all people, even when that is terribly hard for human beings who find it easier to fear and hate.   I do not mind being accused of following such a rebel.

My faith calls e and all people to be “in the world, NOT of the world.”  Historically, the power of the church has been in our ability to live in the tension of existing "in, but not of." The Church is to be counter cultural. Not lemmings. Counter cultural doesn’t mean that the church stands against society to stand against it. The church is called to lead and leaders must stand FOR something rather than merely stand against something.

Yes, there are certainly times when we need to protest and stand against what is wrong. There are times when we must cry out against injustice and call for an end to corruption. But I hope that’s not all we do. I hope we remember the best form of protest is to stand for something better.

Counter cultural is deliberately different than society in positive ways.  Christians are centered and anchored in Jesus who was a lover of all people. Attempting to descent and condemn culture does not accurately depict who Jesus is and was. Instead of calling out what is wrong, or highlight that "these are not the way things ought to be,”  Christians are to stand for what is RIGHT -   for the common good. The Church is against the world, for the world.

Christians are restorers. We go about fixing the things that are broken. Because that is what God does. We are sacrificial. We should be mindful about what practices would help us celebrate God and God’s creation. Mindful about how we use things – do they make us more connected or less so?  Do they help or hurt others?

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. (Romans 12:2 The Message)

I stand for the common good because God’s love is for all and calls us to be a part of the renewal of the world. It means I lead culture. I stay true to self and do what needs to be done to help others.   Jesus was on the side that was for life, for hope, for grace, for our salvation and for the big picture and the common good of all. The life of Jesus and His act of love on the cross was for us, and it powerfully stood against the forces of evil and darkness. Living like this is compelling in the midst of a culture that may view things differently – as in for fear, retribution and death, and the short term.