Monday, May 5, 2025

It is the 5th of May 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

A very happy Monday to you- I’m making sure to get this show done before today’s big game seven against the Nuggets.

And I’m digging back into the mailbag- a number of things I have been reading lately tie into a question sent by Ted in Oregon City, Oregon.

It’s not the most creative name for a city, Ted. But it is the first incorporated town west of the Rockies, the end of the Oregon Trail, and home to Drew Sturzan, the man about whom they made the 2013 Documentary “Drew, the Man Behind the Poster,” and was behind most of the posters for your favorite movies from the 80s and beyond.  

He’s not that famous- but fame or a lack thereof was the topic of the question from Ted who asked “what has the church taught about fame and celebrity culture, it seems our church is especially hung up on followers and platforms”.

Well, Ted, you should change churches… wait, you mean the church as a whole.

Yup. I recently re-read C.S. Lewis’ sermon “The Weight of Glory” in which he says: “since to be famous means to be better known than other people, the desire for fame appears to me a competitive passion and therefore of hell rather than heaven”.

And that reminded me of a section from Eugene Peterson’s memoir “Pastor” in which he writes a letter to a friend who is discouraged, that in other words, his “platform should be larger”. In his response, Peterson writes to his friend that humans have always tried to find transcendence through substances, the flesh, and the crowds. He notes that American pastors are good about preaching against the substances and fleshly fulfillment, but when it comes to the feeling of transcendence that comes with fame, they preach “almost never against the crowds. Probably because they get so much ego benefit from the crowds.”

Many theologians, following the examples in Scripture, tend to approach fame from the perspective of glory, being known, and being well spoken of.

All three things make up a significant drive in our lives. We want all three- and not without good reason: we were made for such things. But too often we try and short the system, cut the line, etc… and Jesus warns of this when he says in Luke 6: “Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.” 

In Lewis’ sermon he speaks of the “enchantment of worldliness”- seeking to be known for the wrong reasons, for personal glory and fame when all we seek can be sated by the words of Our Lord when he tells us that in Him we will hear “well done, Good and faithful servant”. To know and be known by God through and in Christ is enough. 

But Lewis and other theologians and church fathers didn’t live in the age of social media. Or clickbait culture. Or the need to monetize because our institutions are crumbling under the weight of consumer culture. And if you don’t “like and subscribe” and tell all your friends about 1517 my kids won’t eat.

Everything in scripture and in the theologians I have been reading seems to point to the same answer: Be Humble. Don’t think of yourself as any better than anyone else. The reformers liked to speak of “vocation” and how these callings are equal- a podcaster or professor is no better than a cobbler or chimney sweep (yes, I picked 19th-century professions for some reason).

And ultimately, our use of fame or celebrity or online clicks will be tied to our understanding of culture broadly- do we stand against it? Transform it? Hold it in paradox to our faith? This butts up against Richard Niebuhr’s categories in “Christ and Culture”- a search of this at 1517.org will pull up some pods I’ve done on that.

Ted, a great question and one that we can’t help but engage- and a reminder for us to find our worth, our glory, our name in Jesus- and if we’ve grasped that, other things begin, even slowly, to fade away.

Send me your questions at danv@1517.org!

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and Acts 9, where a famous guy named Saul is working on his reputation:

26 When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. 28 So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews,[a] but they tried to kill him. 30 When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 5th of May 2025 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who thinks it funny that a guy has a name that is the past tense of what he does for a living… he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who knows can’t get that Kendrick Lamar song out of his head… Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.