Holy hip hop!

New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia is hosting a youth conference later this month. One of the questions addressed will be, “Where is God in the hip hop culture?” So much violence and evil has been identified with hip hop. Thankfully, there are musicians who are out to redeem hip hop and bless God through it. Personally, I can dig hip hop. As teens use to say on Dick Clark’s bandstand show, “I like the beat.”

But the problem is that all music, including hip hop, can sneak bad stuff into your brain. That’s the problem. Even though I am liking the beat, corrupt thoughts and words get into the mind without notice.

The hip hop question begs for a larger and more significant issue and that is who will be in charge of your life and behavior: God or culture? This issue should be directed to all regardless of your music tastes.

In 1951 H. Richard Niebuhr, an American Christian ethicist (1894-1962), wrote a highly significant book entitled Christ and Culture. With systematic thought he outlined the choices relative to Jesus Christ and the culture in which we live.

Many people, according to Niebuhr, view Christ as against culture. People say, “If it’s fun, it’s not Christian.” Not true. And Jesus Christ never presented himself as against culture of his day. In fact, Christ was a part of his culture, “fully human.” He was not against the music of the day. He was not against the fashions of his day. As part of the human race, Jesus embraced his culture.

Others, said Niebuhr, view Jesus Christ as one who accommodates culture. In my interpretation, these are folks who have an unhealthy disjoint between their faith and their involvement with culture. They can confess Jesus as Lord but then become very accommodating to almost any behavior and lifestyle.

On the other end are those who believe that Christ is above culture and comes as one who judges aspects of culture. Some see Christ and culture as an enduring paradox never to be resolved.

As he visits the different positions relative to Christ and culture, Niebuhr presents Christ as the transformer of culture, his preference. “The kingdom of God is transformed culture, because it is first of all the conversion of the human spirit from faithlessness and self-service to the knowledge and service of God” (p. 228).

And that’s where we get back to hip hop and other expressions of our culture. God wants to take what we have and transform it to that which glorifies him and is consistent with him. The belief is that Martin Luther took the songs of the beer halls of Germany and transformed them into what we know as some of the great hymns of our faith.

Take a look around you. How can God take what you see, hear, and experience as culture and then transform it into something that’s redemptive and accommodating to his message and values? The Apostle Paul encouraged us not to be conforming to our culture but let God transform us. When God transforms us and therefore culture, then hip hop can become Holy Hip Hop.