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hip hop culture, church & the czech rep.?

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This week, in the midst of things, two items, which are very different but oddly similar, peaked my interest. The first was this,


I watched a few back episodes of TheResurgence.com’s vodcast (I guess, I was trying to catch up to a degree) and I watched an interview with Eric Mason, pastor of Epiphany Fellowship in Philadelphia. It was a great interview that challenged me to think about context of the place where I live, Prague, and how I do ministry, but more over way I do ministry. Eric talked about hip hop culture, doing church in the city and much more. I’m totally simplifying it, need less to say you should watch it!

What was interesting was that same morning I read an article about hip hop here in the Czech Republic, Hip Hop Hunger Rises in the East. I’ve posted about hip hop on my blog before, because I’ll be honest day in day out, I see American hip hop’s affects on the youth culture of the Czech Republic. This article really peaked my interest. Combine with Mason’s interview, it’s making me ask questions like:

  1. How does this change the way I do things, especially amongst my young guys?
  2. How do I engage this redemptively in the capacity that I’m in now?
  3. How can the Church engage youth in this area?
  4. And more….

So here are some portions of the article that peaked my interest. I would love to share my thoughts, but I will save that, mostly because I might fall asleep at my computer. Needless to say, this all is making me go “hmmmm” and makes me want to lay some beats down. Ok, not really, but maybe encourage others to lay some amazing beats!

When comparing Czech rap to European hip hop from other countries, Abraham said French or Polish rappers were more socially conscious and “a lot braver.” When Czechs rap, it is “more an occasion to express something funny, or something poetic than some sort of ideas or their own ideology,” he said. Marysko agreed that more politically aware rhymes are missing from the Czech scene, something he’d like to see more of. With an increase of wealth in the Czech Republic – from deep recession in the late 1990s to rapid economic growth now – the subject matter of rap is changing, he said.

As the Czech hip hop community grows beyond an initial tight knit group of devotees, it has also fragmented. “If you read what people say on the Internet, I have so many haters,” said Marysko. His eyes narrowed as he recounted malicious threats to him and his family for putting radio-ready rappers like Mike Jones on BBaRak’s cover and including gossip of feuds, called “beef” in its reports. “Czechs are always jealous. I am not Jesus but I am putting out my magazine and living what we dreamed together. What’s the problem?”

As much as hip hop has arrived in this unlikely hub, it may not attract fans and participants forever. “I don’t think hip hop is going to die,” said Marysko. “I’ve had goose bumps hearing kids cheer at shows. But I just know it’s not going to be the hottest thing forever.”

“i like the morals?”

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You might be wondering, “Where did Zach find that quote he used in the teaser video?” Or you may not, but either way I wanted to share it with you. My friends, whom I’ve met in passing, with Avant, used it in a piece they had created at one point and I just had to find the article (thanks for the help Kelly!). The article is entitled, Liberated Czechs find freedom, lose religion, and it’s over at The Age. The opening quote of the article – Saints peek out from alleys. Angels fleck the skyline. In stone and marble, God’s mysteries reside in this city’s architecture. But try finding him in the skeptical Czech soul. – is what I used and it is very fitting of Prague and the country as a whole.

It’s a very interesting article and I don’t want to take the time to blog about all of it, because you should just go read it now! However, I do want to add a little commentary to one portion. The author, of the piece, quotes a woman who previously worked in radio, as a religious programmer,

“What’s lacking here is the aura of Christian morals,” she said. “People have forgotten that right and wrong stem from Christianity.

“People cheat on their employers. They cheat on each other. The egoism is unbelievable. It’s me, me, me.”

First off, (without getting into a huge discussion) “right and wrong” do not stem, merely, from “Christianity” but from God. Who is the source and essence of truth, who has imparted a moral code to each and every human being, because we are each created in His image (see Romans 1:18-31 and Genesis 1:26-27). I think what she was referencing is that this culture, or European culture as a whole, was formed and rose to prominence on the foundations of Judeo-Christian ethics, and now that much of Europe is forsaking Christianity, there is a void there. I agree with that.

I actually hear things like this quote often. Off the top of my head, I can think of two conversations, immediately, that I’ve had, one with a teammate and another with a teammate’s mother. Both conversations (one of which was completely in Czech!!!), hinged on the loss of morals within the Czech culture. Both individuals told me that, my work is valuable because Christian morals are valuable and this place so needs them. It was interesting hearing this from two different generations! One generation, has teenage children and the other generation is that – a teenager. Both were talking about the biggest problem here is the lack of morals and no foundation. The, attempted, ‘removal of God’ from this place has left a moral vacuum, that many, most of which are atheists, acknowledge as terribly dangerous to the culture at large. I was reminded of this last night, as I received a ride home from a teammate, and the joke within the car was that the word ‘verný’ (faithful) doesn’t exist here, or, in their opinion, in many places. Sadly, there probably is truth to that!

It’s a bridge to spiritual conversation for sure, but it is a challenge to help them see past ‘Christian morals.’ This is what ‘Christianity,’ as a system, gets us. I’m talking about more than just a system! I’m talking about God, breaking into the world through human flesh and living a radical life of love and service, that was ultimately in service to me, as God, Himself, hung a criminal’s death on wooden posts! It’s a revolution of the heart. It’s a complete upheaval of the ‘world’s system’ and our lives, not some system of rules or 1+2=3 formula of sorts. It’s vibrant. It’s alive. It blows systems up! Cultural change cannot happen from systems, or laws passed, but from followers of this Radical, known as Jesus, going into the world and being used as part of the revolution, He has already started, through words and deeds! Not systems!

Wow! I got a little fired up there. I hope this all makes sense and it challenges you a bit. I hope it also helps you know how to pray for this place that YOU AND I, TOGETHER, are attempting to reach! Thanks for stopping by….

hip hop and christianity…

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I found this very, very interesting. I find it interesting, because the hip hop culture is so far reaching. I’ve seen how far reaching it is, as I’ve watched and observed it within the Czech youth culture. It has made me think a lot about ministry here among the youth. Warning, he might make you squirm at one point, but this is good stuff. What is interesting is that it’s much more far reaching than “a nation” (America), but the globe! So what is this language of hip hop doing here? I’m not sure, but I’m paying attention to it. After all, it’s a language that exists within and above normal ‘languages’. Okay, I’ve got to get back to some commentaries and notes…

redemption

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I got hooked when I was working at AIA headquarters! I hope I can pick this up on iTunes…

where’s their daddies?

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Over the last year or so, I’ve posted several times on the frighteningly low birth rates in Europe and here in Czech (click here for pasts). This week I read another interesting article, One third of Czech children now born out of wedlock, that threw another layer on top of this discussion – where’s the daddies? It was eye opening to read this, but then again it wasn’t because marriage numbers are on the decline and co-habitation numbers are climbing gradually. If you put these two things together, it would equal children being born out of wedlock. Here are the numbers, from the article:

In the Czech Republic, 39,674 children were born out of wedlock in 2007, which accounted for 34.5 percent of all the children born in that year. Our institute has been monitoring the numbers of extramarital-born children continuously since 1919; in the 1920s and 1930s, around 12 percent of children were born outside marriage, while in the period of 1938 – 1990, their numbers ranged between four and ten percent. At the end of the 1980s, the share of children born out of wedlock began to rise, and this tendency has been persistent ever since.

This should not surprise us though. As communism force fed godlessness down the people’s throats, but still imposed a pretty strict “some what” moralistic code (except for themselves, the leaders, of course). Once communism fell and that moralistic code (which consisted of more “traditional” things – i.e. marriage) was lifted to a degree as “freedom” rolled in accompanied with consumerism and fighting to get more and more money, there was a huge shift here. Things like marriage are not valued nearly as highly as in the past, but that isn’t unique to Czech. It’s happened all over the Western World. I truly believe with the rising tide of godlessness (that stills exists, even post-communism) and secularization of Europe this will continue to become worse and worse.

Due to this, it makes me want to pray, pray, pray that God would move here in Czech and throughout Europe. What can change this “problem?” I don’t think it will come from government programs, set up to give major incentives to couples who have children. There are countries all over Europe realizing there is a huge problem and not enough kids so they are rewarding people with pretty impressive incentives (read an article from the Washington Post about this in German and elsewhere, or here is another once entitled, Paying Women to Have Children). For instance, one of my dear friends over the last year, that I studied Czech with, was here for a year because his country gave him paternity leave, and paid up to 80% of his salary for a year! Now I’m thankful this exists there, because it enabled me to meet this friend, but I’ve wondered will programs like these really work? Or is there something else? Is there a better answer to the dangerously low birth rates throughout Europe? Here is another interesting quote from the article about the current Czech rate in relationship to Europe’s numbers.

For the future, Czech fertility is at risk of being even lower than today because in the past, it was women with basic education who had the highest average number of children. And because today, around 60 percent of those women have children out of wedlock, those women will not have more children. This phenomenon might in the future decrease the overall fertility level in the Czech Republic. Today, we have 1.4 – which is below the European average – and my guess is that this could be between 1.2 and 1.3.

As I’ve read many articles and followed this as of late, I couldn’t help but be concerned. See the “magic number” we need to see is 2.1 children born and as you can see Czech, and Europe as a whole, are well below that. What will this mean? How will the immigrants to these countries effect things? What needs to be done? There are so many questions, but one thing I know for sure, there needs to be an awakening in this city, in this country, and on this continent to really see lasting change. The governments try and try and try, but I’m nearly convinced that these programs will not, on a long term basis, produce the change they are actually going for. I think the change they are going for rest in Someone that can bring true lasting change, and I will labor here to that extent…

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