Alright, I have a game to play here. I had some thoughts about this coolness thing. And then I thought, "Those thoughts are kind of in the David Wells category." No, not as insightful or profound as Wells, but  sociological type thoughts. You know what I'm saying?

So, in keeping with our culture of celebrity here, let me address the topic of cool as if I were David Wells. To put it more piously, let me try to think about this topic in a way that Wells has trained us to think, i.e. sociologically and theologically. Then, I propose that Gilbert address the topic of cool as if he were...how about Piper. McKinley should address it as if here were...Driscoll, of course. And then Thabiti, I think you need to address the topic as if you were...I don't know...maybe counseling guru David Powlison? If you guys have better ideas, go for it.

So here's me trying to be David Wells furthering our conversation about cool:

What occurs to me in all this is how much our ability to "encounter God" or "engage Christianity" or "gather to worship" is affected by the  media and marketplace. Making cool a component of ministry, or requiring cool from one's church, means that we're letting everyone from James Dean to Eminem shape how we relate to God and his people. That is, we're letting all the vocabulary, postures, and attitudes of "cool," however that's culturally defined in 2008, shape the way we love God and one another. Aren't we?

Now, to some extent this is inevitable, since we're all culturally bound. But what if we factor in Dever's point at the Whiteboard--culture isn't morally neutral?

Analogously, if all the music I hear on the radio, television, or ipod has highly professional and studio perfected, won't that affect how I approach the time of singing and praise on Sunday mornings? Think about it:  someone in a worship service in 1900 expected, at best, a single piano plunking away the different parts of a hymn. Seldom in their life would they have heard anything better. Consider where then their focus during singing and praise would be--requiring less from the music and more from the words, perhaps? Now, compare that to the awkwardness we can feel when the only musical accompaniment is one hammer-out-the-chords piano player. How many Christians might be tempted to say they can't "worship" with such poor accompaniment?

Now, every person in every culture is enculturated like this, in one way or another. I just think it's worth observing that we often act as if the mental and emotional categories we've been given through professional, studio musicians on the radio and television affect our "worship" ("I can't worship to that!"). So then what does it mean to worship "by faith" and "in the Spirit"?

If you want, you guys can even rate my Wells performance.