What Three Women Can Tell Us

Three women have owned the pop culture media coverage over the past six months--Beyonce, Taylor Swift and Sandra Bullock.

Beyonce and Swift forged a connection at the MTV video awards after that now-famous incident in which Kanye West stormed the stage during Taylor Swift's acceptance speech and announced that Beyonce had "the best video of all time." Later, Beyonce turned over her acceptance speech time to Taylor. The Grammy awards were just a back-and-forth between the two women. The song of the year was the much-imitated and spoofed "Put a Ring on It". My daughter's spring dance recital routine is choreographed to the version of that song that the "Chipettes" recorded. Swift's songs are all about what you might think songs written by teenager would be about--heartbreak and young love. I think her song Fifteen should be required listening for every girl in America before she enters high school.

Bullock has rocked the world of every cinema snob in America, as her portrayal of an evangelical Christian mom in "The Blindside" has won her the Golden Globe, the SAG award and an Oscar nomination. The movie is even up for a Best Picture Oscar.

All three of these women have reputations for being nice people who are easy to work with and gracious to those around them. They don't throw tantrums. They all appear to be a little overwhelmed by the attention and grateful for the success they enjoy. The songs of Beyonce and Swift tell stories--about hearts broken, young love, strong women and getting even. We like these songs because we've lived them. They speak to us. And they are catchy and easy to sing. "The Blindside" sucks us all into the true story of a woman and family who changed the life of a young man. It encourages us to believe that we, too, can make a difference. That we, too, have to power to change lives.

What the soaring popularity of these three women and their stories tells me as a pastor is that now is not the time to preach sermons on the doctrine of predestination or the theology of atonement. Now is the time to tell stories. Those stories from the Bible that touch is because we realize that the people in them are like us. They are faithful, but flawed, people. We like these stories because we think that if God could use them, perhaps God could use us as well.

Now is not the time to plan a massive Bach Cantata for Easter, but to sing the songs that those who always been churched have known forever and to teach new songs that are easy to sing and to understand for those who have only recently joined the party. This is not a "dumbing down" of the Gospel. I really dislike that term. How can you dumb down the message that God loves us? It's not all that complicated to begin with, although many people work very hard to make it seem that way.

The last year has been a difficult one for many people in our country. Good people who tell stories that seem like our stories are our champions. We have chosen heroes who look like us and make us believe we might be able to take part in saving the world as well. If that can't clue us in on how to be the church at this particular place in time, then we just aren't paying attention.