Hiding from the Lord

Thoughts on Light for Love as a ministry at Taylor Swift concerts, and by extension whatever big event is coming to a parish near you.

In the margins of my Bible today, next to Genesis 3:8 I wrote myself this note:

STOP hiding from the Lord.

I’m a notorious Confession-procrastinator, which of course is absurd since if you’re ashamed of your sins (correct) then you should want to get rid of them as quickly as possible.

But, like Adam and Eve, I have that tendency to hide and avoid. Concupiscence is a bear.

Meanwhile, over on Twitter, Katie Prejean McGrady made the following suggestion:

There’s a parish down the street from Lucas Oil Stadium, where Taylor Swift will perform in Nov. St. John’s should offer Adoration before & after the show, with signs advertising & inviting people inside, with plays on her lyrics. “This is your true love” & “I wanna be your end game” or “it’s a love story, baby just say yes” Anyway. Someone make those signs.

She’s not wrong. Let’s talk about that.

---

Does the Average Taylor Swift Fan need Jesus?

Of course she does, we all do. But also, as much as I think Taylor’s got some tremendous talent, we can also agree that she isn’t Catholic and thus (no surprise) holds quite a few positions that are not compatible with the Catholic faith.

I think we can also say that one of the reasons she is such a successful artist is because her music is meaningful to her fans. We can reasonably infer that her fans typically agree with her points of view.

That doesn’t mean every single fan would ditto every single lyric of every single song, but we can assume that in general her music is fairly representative of the points of view of an overwhelming number of young women.

A song I think specifically speaks to the spiritual longing of women and girls is Innocent. Crux lyrics:

Did some things you can't speak of
But at night you live it all again
You wouldn't be shattered on the floor now
If only you had seen what you know now then

But with this core line in the refrain:

Oh, who you are is not where you've been
You're still an innocent

This from the bridge:

Today is never too late to be brand new

And how about these for final lines:

Lost your balance on a tightrope, oh
It's never too late to get it back

If ever there were a song about regret and the desire to escape the burden of guilt, here it is.

Is Taylor a Proto-Catholic?

What’s different, though, between this song and our understanding of redemption in Catholicism, is the place for contrition, repentance, and forgiveness.

The absence of forgiveness is the key here. American culture for the last two generations (or more) has run largely on a false dichotomy, in which every person is subject to either:

a) Total condemnation

or

b) Nah, it’s fine, you’re good, no worries, it wasn’t that bad, we understand, things happen.

There is a huge void where forgiveness belongs.

So Taylor fans are lining up for confession, then?

I think for evangelists the big hurdle we need to overcome is this: Many non-Christians are hiding from us, and even hating us, because they assume they can only be condemned:

• They know that Christians don’t approve of premarital sex, abortion, euthanasia . . . insert your well-known sin here.

• They have encountered truly horrible self-proclaimed Christians, often in person and almost certainly online.

• In addition to the real-life trolls, the “hateful Christian” is a common plot device in fiction.

• And finally, given an intellectual culture often woefully lacking in integrity, it’s extremely common for people (anywhere on the political spectrum) to create false narratives about their opponent’s beliefs. This includes the “hateful Christian” trope, but of course all the others.

So. Here you are. A young woman who has done the things that are normal in your culture. This has not necessarily gone well for you, but you often feel as if that’s just life, it’s what everyone goes through. You may, however, also be feeling some significant remorse.

But, alas, there is nothing on offer to cleanse you of these regrets other than the two counterfeits on offer, “no that’s normal, you’re good” or else total condemnation.

But what if you could be invited to discover the third way?

“I’m fine with my candles . . .”

The kind of event that Katie McGrady is proposing for the parish nearest her local Eras Tour stop is something like Light for Love, described here at The Pillar.

Here’s a description from the article:

On the fourth Wednesday of the summer months — when foot traffic around the parish is at its peak —

In the case of the concert, the ideal would be to set up open-house hours when fans are likely to be wandering around the area. That would include before and after the concert itself, but take into account that fans will be arriving from out-of-town the day before and then staying at least until check-out the next morning. So that gives you an idea of the extended hours when concert-goers have downtime.

Simms and a handful of volunteers spend the evening inviting passersby to come inside the church, and to light a candle for someone they love.

That’s it. Light a candle for someone you love. We can be 100% sure of two things about Taylor Swift fans:

• They have people they love.

• They are all about lighting candles.

That’s just a fact.

But, some notes from the organizers about the importance of invitation:

“Sometimes people just need that invitation and that figurative handholding to take that step over the threshold of the church,” said Simms.

For many, she explained, that really is a big step.

“Those of us inside the Church — that’s no big deal. We cross over that threshold all the time,” Simms said. “But for a lot of people who haven’t been inside of a church, maybe ever? Wow, that’s a big deal. And they need someone who actually is coming out to them and inviting them.”

And then they accept Jesus, Amen?

This is a first step.

Yes, you might witness a miraculous total conversion on the spot if you host such an event. There are no doubt many lapsed (and practicing!) Catholics among the fandom who would welcome a friendly invitation to anonymous confession.

But assume that for most people off the street who walk in and light a candle, it will be just one moment in a long series of moments in the path towards learning who Jesus is and that He truly loves them.

In a crowd like the Swifties, you will have to focus on being explicitly All Are Welcome. You will need to explicitly state that it doesn’t matter what you believe, or what you’ve done, or where you’ve been, you can still help make the place light up by bringing your candle.

Worth it.

Photo by Fernando Frazão/Agência Brasil, Daniele Hypólito on the balance beam in 2016, CC 2.0. Who’s apparently Catholic? I didn’t pick her for that, I just grabbed the Wikimedia photo of the day, but nice!

---

Related: I shared in my conversion story about the moment when I believe in the forgiveness of sins started to become real for me. Also I should mention for the recent arrivals that for a comprehensive look at how events like Light for Love fit into the overall scheme of parish evangelization, there’s a book out covering that.