Jonah and Bieber Fever

I was at Bible Study this week, looking at Jonah 3, It’s quite a dramatic chapter, though easy to overlook coming right after all the excitement with the whale. The basic story is one of extreme religious revival – the whole city plunged into repentence at Jonah’s shocking words. The Bible study group really grappled with this. How could that happen? What kind of preaching brings about that kind of change? This was the miracle – the unbelievable part.  Even more so than the whale. It was only when conversation shifted back to the bit about the whale that we found a credible explanation. Maybe the people believed Jonah’s message because of what he’d been through. Maybe it was the celebrity effect.

Not sure I have ever considered Jonah like that before.

A lot could be explained if we looked at prophets as celebrities. Either celebrities on the rise, or, more often than not, sinking celebrities. Still present on the public stage, but heard as awkward and embarrassing. Read like that, the words of the prophets would make us squirm, rather than feel self-righteous.

I must say the celebrities in my own life are a bit colourful. I hear a lot about Charlie and Lola. Even more about Thomas.  But then, I live with a four year old, not an eight year old. My niece is crazy about Justin Bieber. I don’t quite know what to do with that.  We were at her birthday party this past summer and got to watch the swarm of small girls on the sofa pass around a freshly-unwrapped CD and swoon together. Like watching a nature film, I thought. Choreographed at the instinctual level.

I was baffled. At eight, I was too busy reading Trixie Belden to swoon over anybody. Even at 14, my nose was firmly planted in a book. (Though equally baffling, my own mother hung out a window once to catch a glimpse of the Beatles. Maybe my own teen years were just too geekily engaged. I think I missed out on that feminine fun.)

A friend whose kids are engulfed in the daunting teenaged years told me the other day that she thinks it’s fine. Safe was her word. Celebrity romance is a safe stage of growing up because Justin Bieber isn’t going to break her daughter’s heart. She can go through all of those first love feelings without the risks of a real relationship. She gets to pace this relationship and move on when she is ready. And by the time she is ready for a first boyfriend, she’ll be a bit more prepared for it. Then, there are the memories… When she’s an adult, she’ll have all those songs, even sweeter then than now, to remind her of being young. (And at this stage, her mum starts smiling softly and humming David Cassidy songs…)

Now, I have no idea how celebrity culture worked in the 8^th century BC. Maybe Jonah walking through Ninevah was a rock star. But, today of course, celebrity culture is huge. (Yes, Justin. We still see you sitting there, simmering at us.)   There are times for revelling in it. It’s part of how our culture plays and that can be a good thing. (Thanks, Nigella. The chocolate orange cake was seductively perfect, just as you said it would be.) And there are times to resist and to reject it, too. (My Sesame Street does not include Katie Perry.) But we can’t ignore it. Turning a blind eye isn’t a very clear-sighted way of living.

Because whether or not we’re trying to pay attention, celebrity culture infuses our ways of seeing. How we look at any leaders is bound to effect how we parent.  How do we influence? How do we praise? How do we get someone else’s attention?

Part of being a parent is becoming aware of the world and helping our kids to do the same. A certain degree of cultural exegesis is required. I suppose this is a bit like the image of the preacher with a bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other. But let’s add a laptop bag over one shoulder, a diaper bag on the other, and a fist full of the right movie references and a full ipod and all that. I’m particularly bad at this. A youth worker friend of mine suggested I need to read more Rolling Stone.

So far, I’m trying to keep up with Thomas.