I like trends. Trends are cool. I usually jump aboard the trend train every month or so. I’ve road the grunge train, the punk train, the WWJD bracelet train, and the cheesy christian t-shirt that said “hell” and got me in trouble at school train. Most trends develop around certain ideas and ideology, and most last 10 minutes at the least and 10 years at the longest (I just made that last part up, but it sounds scientific, huh?). But trends are a good indicator of what’s popular in a certain culture. And you can usually tell somethings a trend if someone has that concept plastered on a t-shirt somewhere, or a really cool artsy person starts talking about it. Because all real trends are started (and ended) by artsy people with long, messy hair, in cool fedora caps (I made that up too).
I would say going green is a big trend these days. I mean, who doesn’t want to save the planet? Or at least get the really cool t-shirt that says, “Hey, I’m green, and I don’t care who knows about it!” Going green is cool, but like my “hell” t-shirt, I balk at the first sign of inconvenience (I wore it to school because I wanted everybody to know that I was “born to raze hell” and I was all set to stick to my convictions until I got threatened with a Saturday School. The shirt got turned inside out. But you could still see the “lleh” through the shirt. I showed them). Going green takes a lot of work. The first step is recycling…which you have to separate from the rest of your trash…and then if you live in a neighborhood like mine, you actually have to take the recycling stuff to a drop off. Then I decided that it would be better for the environment (and my budget) if I walked or rode my bike to work. But that takes planning and bumming a ride from friends when it’s raining. Going green is inconvenient.
There are some other things that I see making trends these days that have a lot more serious inconveniences. Trends that are exciting and important to be a part of. Like missional living and being part of authentic community. It’s easy to talk about…it’s even “cool” and you can become famous talking about it…but it’s crazy hard to live. Because if you are really focused on living with a mission, helping out your community, not just saying what you believe, but actually doing it, you are in for a complete life turn around (if you live like I and most Americans do). You will have to start making time to visit with your neighbors and friends. Once they know you, they will invariably have some needs that they look to you to fulfill and that takes time and energy. If your a Christian, your inevitably going to have to share the Gospel at some point. And that’s another thing I like to talk about doing but rarely like to do because it takes me out of my comfort zone.
OK…I said all that to say this…I like looking trendy without the inconvenience of actually having to live the things that I say I do. Mainly, because it can be a huge sacrifice and sacrifice is hard. I want to live it for real. I want to go green…I want to live missional, care for people in authentic community, but it’s hard! I want to get past my ideological trend train Christianity and get onto the fast track of actually living like Jesus.
Exercise!!! Mercy. Wearing scarves. Humility.