Last night I went to a prayer/worship service at Trinity. It was good, but I was ready for it to be over. At the end they were doing prayers of healing, which always reminds me of the Maasai and mom. So I hightailed it out when it got awkward and headed to the Altima in hopes that Gaga was on the radio for the ride home. It got me thinking… what does it say about a person that listening to Prayer of St Francis brings the urge to listen to Teeth? That hopes for Telephone after too much Holy Holy Holy?
I was out to dinner with some friends when Elliot made a negative comment about her at the table. I passionately defended her, expressing my views that would later be mocked relentlessly (including but not limited to, “She sacrificed her life to become a social commentary!” and “She’s redefining modern eroticism within feminism”)
I went to a friend’s pool with a bunch of people and met a guy that believes that Lady Gaga is a secret satanist. He was serious. I didn’t touch that one.
Look, I don’t expect her to be at bible study or anything. I think it’s pretty clear that she is not Catholic (see: any one of her music videos, but specifically Alejandro & Bad Romance) (if you are in a different generation and completely out of the loop, please don’t look any of this up[, dad])
But the worrying thing, as someone trying to begin to follow Jesus… is that I’ve been following Lady Gaga on my google reader for over a year. I’m more passive when people say they don’t love God than when they say they don’t like Gaga. Why? Surely the entertainment industry of Stephani Germanotta hasn’t affected me as much as the creator of the universe.
This might be totally irreverent, but I like to imagine that Jesus made a Lady Gaga stir when he came to earth.
Everyone was talking about him, he was saying things that pissed everyone off. He didn’t use fashion, but he expressed a distaste for the way things were and a way to change all of that.
So what is it within me that defends Lady Gaga and not Jesus Christ on a regular basis? I can’t get over that realization. I guess in my mind the difference between someone who likes the icon and someone who doesn’t is just the amount of time you think about her. I don’t know how Jesus feels about this, but I’m going to try to start thinking of Jesus like I think about Gaga, but -you know- selfless and perfect and intimate and the one who created me, set me free, then saved me. I’m still working out all the implications of this comparison in my head, but I’m committed to this hiatus of creating Gaga converts and instead focusing on believing God is worth more than a ‘that’s alright’ when people tell me they’re just not that into Him.
