Beyoncé Mass: Re-presenting Christ

     

When I was about 12 or 13 years old, I caught the tail-end of Beyoncé performing “Flaws and All” on her “Bey Experience” video. I was totally amazed! Crazy enough, the first thing I noticed were the lyrics. She beautifully sang 

“I don’t know why you love me 

and that’s why I love you. 

You catch me when I fall, 

accept me, flaws and all. 

I don't know why you love me.”

I automatically thought about God. As a pre-teen who had only been consumed with The Cheetah Girls and Church, who else could she have been talking about? Someone loving you unconditionally...I was only 12 but the way God's love had been explained to me...that was it. I remember her performance ending with her crying and this majestic black, male angel hugging her from behind with these huge feather wings. It was so beautiful. All I could think about was God's love. 

Fast forward a whole decade....I have hence realized that it wasn't necessarily a song expounding on the love of God as much as unconditional love in general. Nonetheless, I ran across a video of a church having “Beyoncé Mass.” The basic premise (I guess) was to use her music as way to present the sermon. One of the referenced songs was "Flaws and All." From the snippet I heard, the minister literally took that line, the same line that touch my heart a decade prior, and made a reference about God's unconditional love for us. While I didn’t get into the theology of the minister’s message, the entire concept made me think of how we present The Gospel.

I have always believed that in order to reach young people, the church would have to “do something different” and reach out in the context of our “millennial” culture. That belief is often times rebutted with Romans 12:2. (And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.)

The emphasis is always “DON’T CONFORM TO THIS WORLD!” because we’re not suppose to look like the world.

True, but, the latter part tells us that we have to, additionally, continually renew our mind in order to show the perfect will of God. If the perfect will of God is for him to get the glory out of his creation, then we are charged with renewing how we present Christ to people.

How I came to Christ, as someone who grew up in church with a “saved, sanctified, holy ghost-filled” family, is much different than how someone who never stepped foot in a church will come to Christ. Certain traditional “church” stuff won’t have the same effect on someone who is not accustomed to “church” culture. We have to do it differently.

Pastor Mike Todd of Transformation Church uses the phrase "Re-presenting Christ." I love it. In fact, re-presenting Christ (adapting our presentation of the Gospel) is biblical!

EXAMPLE: Paul literally spoke using Greek metaphors, analogies, and references when he spoke to Greeks about the Gospel. Paul used the language of the Greeks when he taught Christ's principles. Paul, the GREATEST apostle of ALLL time, literally used the area’s culture to explain the Gospel….and He’s the one who wrote Romans 12:2!!!!!!!!!! He didn't "lose his religion" because he spoke their language. He didn't become "unsaved" because he referenced their culture.

That line in Bey’s song LITERALLY made me think of The Gospel. A simple song, albeit from an unforeseen source, LITERALLY made me think of the wonders of God’s love for me. Here’s my point. In order to reach the people we’ve failed to reach (or the people we’ve hurt in the process of trying to reach them), we have to do something different than what we're already doing. 

I’m not saying that the top of every service has to feature the praise and worship leader performing “Crazy in Love” with the corresponding dance moves. I’m not saying that "Flaws and All" should be the church's new anthem. I'm not saying Beyonce is the perfect example of how to live a Christ-led life. I’m not saying Beyoncé is God. 

I’m saying...if it takes a Beyoncé track to re-present the Gospel to an un-churched group, then so be it. We have to present the gospel in a manner that connects. This is not to say that we have to add to it, or take away from it. In fact, we should refrain from doing either! We just have to re-present it. 

If God can get the glory out of a rock, then SURELY he can get the glory out of any song, movie, lyric, or any other form of art. The manner in which he gets the glory is not to be boxed in nor perverted. God is wayyyyyy bigger than that.