Friday, October 19, 2012

What we Christians can learn from "Gangnam style?"


My father preached his last few years at the Partlow State Home for the mentally retarded.  I mention this, because my father was not your typical preacher--he actually understood grace.  "Ellis, if you are not happy, who wants to be around you.  If you are not happy, what does that say about your God?"  That's what Christians can learn from "Gangnam style"--joy, and more particularly, an experience of communal joy.

I have recently discovered Jonathan Haidt, who is one of my favorite thinkers.  Haidt is an agnostic social pscyhologist who postulates that religion is the product of evolution.  He sees religion as a good thing--it draws mankind together communally which leads to social progress.  Certainly, living in communities and sharing work loads has led to the development of civilization.

Haidt says that mankind has always sought self-transcendence through religious activities.  He notes that different societies have employed different methods--corporate worship, meditation, dancing, drugs, and notes that self-transcendence occurs peculiarly in war.  All of these different efforts to achieve self-transcendence are designed to get us beyond ourselves to experiencing a commonality, a feeling of comraderie, with our fellow men and women.  This leads to selfless acts which benefit society as a whole.


Haidt recognizes that, in modern America, we are living far more individually than previously.  He talks about us retreating to our "home entertainment theaters."  Haidt says that the product of our working together communally has been un-paralleled industrial and economic development which has led to easy lives, which has led to us living as individuals, rather than communally.  He recognizes the emptiness of these individual lives.  He says that we need to transcend ourselves.  He says that, for time immemorial, man has sought to transcend his self--whether through meditation, drugs, dancing, or religion.  Transcending the self leads to lives that are lived more for others than ourselves.

That's right--Haidt mentions dancing, raves in fact, as one means of self-transcendence.  That is why Gangnam style has been so hugely popular--it showcases and engenders a communal experience of joy.    Paul Zahl talks about being present at a church hall in England when he and Mary first heard "Waterloo" by Abba.  Paul said that the youth were engaged in a sort of frenetic line dancing, and Paul similarly fell in love with the song.  This caused me to reflect on communal events that I fondly remember.

I have wonderful memories from a gay dance club in downtown Birmingham called Club 21 which I attended with co-workers.  Thursday nites were so-called "straight nites."  There was a mixed crowd of gay and straight, a wonderful dance floor, terrific music, and floor to ceiling windows which were left open during cooler weather--these were some wonderful nites of communal joy.  Of course, hedonism worked its way in some times, but, for the most part, it was a safe place to dance without folks trying to "hook up."  My co-workers and I also have great memories of beach trips with our former law firm.

Concerts also produced lasting memories of shared joy.  I saw Avett, Mumford, and the Decemberists with my daughter at Jazzfest.  My first Mumford concert is one of my favorite religious experiences.  (I wept with joy.)  I saw Mumford again with three of my best friends in Bristol, Virginia.  I saw numerous concerts with my sister growing up--Kiss, Van Halen, Alice Cooper, etc.  Those bands obviously weren't Christian (well Alice is a Christian), but the concerts were communal experiences of shared joy.

More recent memories involve having drinks with good friends--whether believers or not.  We discuss football, family, Jesus, politics, and every other topic imaginable.  Last weekend, a couple from our "life group" at church held their annual Alabama/Auburn tailgate at their home.  We talked and laughed for hours.  Amy and Chad, and their friends, are at the top of my list for genuine, unmasked living.  What joyous times!

Thankfully, I have some wonderful memories of communal worship experiences.  The Christmas programs at our old church in Homewood had none of the performance-driven sermonizing that Sunday worship services involved.  Our music minister, and many of the choir members, understood grace.  When Paul Zahl was invested as head of Trinity Seminary, and Paul Walker preached, the service was amazing.  Christmas and Easter services at the Advent are amazing.  Communion at Cahaba Park Church was amazing--it ended with joy, not sorrow.  Services where the preacher proclaims the radicality of God's grace also produce a shared joy.  So, worship can be joyous as well when it is not tainted with performance-driven sermons--a rare, rare occasion in most churches.

Growing up in a performance-based church, I was taught that Christian living was pious living.  Pious living invariably becomes self-focused living.  If you are to be pious, then you must constantly look at "how am I doing?"  This leads us to isolate ourselves--to retreat to our "home entertainment theaters," where no one can evaluate "how we are doing."  Now, I understand, like my father did and PZ and Haidt do, that Christian living is to be joyous living.  God is not a dour killjoy, but One who has created a world for the communal pleasure of His created beings.