Green spikes. Crazy hair . Black jackets with band names and pins all over them. It’s about music that is loud and fast, being different and rejecting the norm. It’s about being a punk. And punk is about rebellion.
The punk subculture is not just about any kind of rebellion, it’s about radical rebellion from cultural norms, its about not conforming to what Corporate America would want you to be. Want to hear something crazy? Jesus is a punk.
Two-thousand years ago this guy came out of nowhere and he started teaching something radical. He taught about love, he taught about how to live, and people followed. The authority figures looked at him as a bad influence, and he challenged their ideas on much of what they believed and ate with sinners. He told people he hadn’t come to bring them peace, he came to turn brothers against brothers and tear families apart. He was a deviant, a threat, and ultimately he was crucified for it. Jesus was the ultimate punk. He came along and did something so different it started a whole new subculture: Christianity.
Jesus walked a radical path. He might not fit what we expect a punk to look like, and maybe we don’t either. Regardless of what music you listen to, what kind of clothes you wear or who you hang out with, this is my challenge to you:
Jesus calls us to be punks. You don’t need to dress up or spike your hair. Rebellion is in how we act, not what clothes we wear. Become radical for Christ. Too many Catholics and Christians exist in their faith where they are comfortable. They go to church and smile and go through the motions, they leave and live out their faith quietly without much thought. They don’t push any buttons, they don’t draw outside the lines. That is not what Jesus calls us to do. We are called to live out our faith in radical ways, not to fit into norms. Are you curious what norms our culture has for teenagers? Pick up an issue of Seventeen, turn on the OC or Laguna Beach, go to any party and see those norms;
“Sex is okay, as long as you are safe.”
“Get drunk and be somebody”
“Everyone should experience drugs at least once”
“There is no place for Christ in your life”
“You are only as good as the money you make, the friends you have, the car you drive.”
These are the stereotypes that they would like you to believe. As Catholics and punks we know these things aren’t true though. We know that we are so much more than the car we drive or the money in our wallet. We are not defined by our friends, we are defined by our faith. Become radical in your faith. If you want to truly rebel, save sex for marriage (or stop having sex and wait for marriage) and watch people react when you tell them you don’t have sex because you are waiting for true love. I promise anyone you tell will be shocked. Go to the parties and don’t drink, or better yet, have your own parties where alcohol isn’t even involved. Go out and live the gospel, be proud of the Church you go to…invite your friends. Rebellion is in the mind, not in the clothes we wear.
We are not called to a life of quiet worship . We are not called to close our doors and never let the world see who we are. We are called to be punks, to be radical, to rebel against the norms of what they say we are. We are His, and we don’t care what anyone else says.
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