Dear Prof, my young people are really struggling at school. They aren’t sure if they should be hanging around with the ‘cool’ people, and trying to be ‘cool’ themselves. Is it alright to try to be cool, and want to be, as a Christian?
The Prof. responds: The first thing we need to do is define ‘cool’. Traditionally, cool was a word used to describe those people who were rebels against the mainstream. They were self-assured and in control; they danced to the beat of their own drum. These were people who saw and did things differently, people who had their own style and went against the grain of the dominant culture with confidence. Other people often wanted to be like them but they were wannabes who preferred to play it safe, than play it cool.
Today, in contemporary culture, ‘cool’ sometimes has this aspect of rebellion to it but more often than not, cool is applied to people who conform to shifting consumerist understandings of style, product purchase, and brand placement. Cool people wear the right trainers, listen to the right music and hang out with the right people; the right people usually being those who are just like them. Anyone who doesn’t fit into this overall image is uncool, and woe betide the uncool one who wears the right brand of t-shirt two months too late!
According to the first definition of cool, Jesus lived a life that was coolness personified. He was his own man who did things God’s way. He lived a life that contrasted with people’s expectations. He turned everything on its head when he announced the kingdom of God was here. And people followed him in droves. He spoke as one who had authority; he hung out with the people at the margins; he denounced the powerful; he forgave sins. He knew what was going on, but he had his own take on it. According to the first definition detailed above, Christians who follow this Jesus are very cool. They’re confident, and know who they are; they know what’s going on and they have a take on things shaped by the Bible and a spirit-filled life of prayer and discipleship. They’re online, in life, and under orders. They live in this world, but they’re tuned into another.
The demand for the Christian to be ‘cool’ is often one of compromise. To ‘fit in’ and ‘belong’ often means compromising our faith to meet the demands of culture. Sometimes, wearing the right clothes, hanging with the right crowd, playing the right games, and buying the right stuff in order to be cool leads us to be cultural conformists, not disciples. In the eyes of the world, we may seem very un-cool when we point people to justice, or to peace, or to love, or to Jesus. But what did he have to say about it?
In Mark 10 there are two interesting encounters that help us to understand how Jesus understood what it means to be cool. The first involves a young man who is very wealthy. He comes to Jesus in part because he thinks he’s cool, and that Jesus will like him. He seeks Jesus’ advice on how to gain eternal life. Jesus tells him that he should obey the commandments. This guy thinks, ‘I’m in! I’ve kept all these since I was a boy!’ Jesus surprises him: ‘Go and sell everything you have and you’ll be rich towards God. Then, come and follow me.’ This young man was used to being the epitome of cool. Jesus was asking him to give all of that up and become his disciple. The young man wouldn’t be the cool guy in charge anymore. He went away sad.
Later in the narrative, two of Jesus’ friends have a question for him. They are James and John, part of Jesus’ radical in-crowd. But even they don’t get it. They ask if they can be the most cool guys of all. ‘We want to sit on your right and left when you are the boss, the king.’ After a chat with them, Jesus called all of his friends together and said that if you want to be cool, really cool, then you do it by being uncool; if you want to be great, then you have to serve everybody. That’s what it means to follow Jesus.
Anna Robbins is senior lecturer of Theology and Contemporary Culture at the London School of Theology.
What to say to the young person: To follow Jesus on his mission in this world means knowing something of how people think, and what influences their thinking. We can be familiar with the music, the films, and the trends. In some people’s eyes that alone might make us cool. But standing apart from the crowd and being confident about who you are is what it really means to be cool. Cool helps others, out of genuine concern for their well-being; it trades the superficial for the deep; it sets a standard that will never go out of style, no matter how the fashion changes.
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