Last night, my friend Chet invited me to the Green Day concert.  He got two free tickets from work, and invited me along.  It was an odd experience.

I’m not a big fan of Green Day, but "back in the day" they were the music of teenage rebellion.  When I was in high school, bands like Green Day and Nirvana weren’t listened to very much by little kids or adults.  But times have changed.

By all appearances, Green Day puts on a family show now.  There were moms and dads, teenagers, and hundreds of little kids–from the age of 7 to 11.  They all had on their American Idiot t-shirts and hats.  Thousands of clean-cut families piled into the Xcel Energy center to see Green Day put on their show.

And the show was what you’d expect from Green Day: lots of f-bombs, sexual inuendos, political rhetoric, etc.  Their opening comments for "Holiday" was…"This next song is a big F@#% YOU to George W. Bush!"

All of this didn’t offend me much.  But the whole time I was hearing this "subversive" message–this type of music that used to cause division in wholesome American families–I couldn’t help but notice the myriad of pre-teens "rocking out" to the music.

The days of American counter-culture are dead.  When raw language, political subversiveness, pseudo masturbation, and other rock-band tomfoolery can be packaged, shipped out, and whole-heartedly embraced by upwardly mobile, whitebread, upper-middle class families, it gives me pause.  It makes me wonder if anything can shock us any more. 

Yet there is still a niche for Christian subversiveness.  While Billie spouts hate-filled words about red-necks and republicans…and while red-necks and republicans spout hate-filled words about liberals, Christians are called to love their neighbors and enemies.  Christianity is subversive in completely different ways than other movements.  Usually subversiveness is fueled by hate and anger.  These aren’t supposed to motivate Christians…at least not in the way they fuel other subversive movements.  We should be motivated by compassion and love and hope, and faith, etc.

I know many Christians that link their identity as Jesus-follower-subverives with some cultural brand of being subversive…like people who are punks and Christian that think that suburbanites are their spiritual enemy.  Or convservative Christians who think that liberals are their spiritual enemies…etc.  Let’s let Jesus decide what ought to make us distinct, rather than aligning ourselves to other movements that appeal to us. 

About Mark Van Steenwyk

Mark Van Steenwyk is a member of Missio Dei. He is a speaker, writer, educator, and grassroots organizer. With the support of the Central Plains Mennonite Conference, he travels to radical and intentional communities around the country to help network and offer support.