My older sister is staying with us for the next week, and we have some of the most interesting conversations. Our conversations usually stem from her interest in my faith and how I live it out. She recently asked me about my convictions verses my urban post-modern sensibilities. Her exact words were “Are you conflicted within”? It was both encouraging and a bit disappointing to hear her perspective.

I truly value my faith; I endeavor to represent Christ well, first as a Christian and also a minister. There is a mindset that in order to truly be spiritual you must adhere to the previous generation’s style and practices. I could not disagree more. We as Christians are often too quick to create rituals and rules based on them as to how God can, would, or will move. The problem is that we try to place God into man-made boxes.

I am the leader of a hip-hop spoken word movement called Destinations. I created this event to give the young adults at our church an opportunity to use their creative expression to win their friends to Christ. Some people were wrestling with idea if hip-hop could be used for God as if God ever used one musical style exclusively with which to express himself.

The key is to honor those who have come before us, but to allow God to speak in the current vernacular. As long as the doctrine within the expression is sound, that’s all that matters. Relevance is needed, rituals are good, but biblical alignment is crucial. So, I don’t think it’s a strange combination to embrace the current culture and hold tightly to ancient truth. I think it’s called Christianity.