Day 3: Called to Be Counter-Cultural
Intention
To live lives faithful to the gospel, choosing to be counter-cultural, because we love what God loves.
Scripture
“Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.”
– Romans 12:2
Reflection
From its first days, the Christian Church has lived in tension with the world around it. The early believers were accused of “turning the world upside down” (Acts 17:6), and they did so without armies, wealth, or political power. They did it simply by living differently.
In our own times the need to be a witness to the kingdom of God is of vital importance. The Church is not meant to be a mirror of the culture, but to be a luminous sign of another kingdom.
St Paul instructs Christians of his time: “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2). This is particularly necessary in our time when we see our society, though having Christian roots, abandoning its Christian foundations.
Society now tells us that the self is the final authority, that worth is measured by productivity and possessions, that comfort is the highest good, and that anything inconvenient, whether a commitment, a person, or a truth, may be discarded. Against this, the Church proclaims a vision of life based on the teachings and example of Jesus Christ.
To be counter-cultural in this sense is not to be merely contrarian. The Church does not oppose the world out of fear or resentment. It opposes that which diminishes the human person because it loves the world which was made by God. It also loves the people for whom Christ died. Its “no” is always in service of a deeper “yes.”
The Christian Church is being called upon to affirm some fundamental truths which have been lost by our society.
In a culture that promotes individualism, the Church insists that we belong to one another. The Church gathers the young and the old, the rich and the poor, the gifted and the struggling, around one altar. In an age of loneliness, a genuine parish community is itself a radical statement.
In a culture of consumption, the Church preaches that life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. Practices like fasting, generosity, and Sabbath rest quietly declare that we are not defined by what we buy or produce.
In a culture that prizes the strong and the useful, the Church defends the dignity of every human life, from the unborn child to the elderly person in care, from the refugee to the prisoner.
In a culture of distraction and noise, the Church offers silence, prayer, and worship. To kneel before God is to admit that we are not the centre of the universe.
In a culture of outrage and division, the Church preaches the importance of being able to forgive, to reconcile, and to love one’s enemies. The Church upholds the virtue of mercy.
The greatest danger the Church faces is not just hostility from outside, but compromise from within. The Church loses its saltiness not when it is persecuted, but when it becomes indistinguishable from everything around it. Our witness is only credible when our communities actually live what we proclaim: when Christians are known by their love, their honesty, their care for the poor, and their joy.
This is not a call to withdraw from the world but to be fully present within it, as leaven in the dough. The Church does not exist for itself. It exists to point beyond itself to Christ.
In every age, and perhaps especially in ours, the most counter-cultural thing a Christian can do is simply to be faithful.
Video
Prayer
Lord, you remind us that we are to be salt to the earth and light to the world. Give us the grace to become who we are meant to be, so that we will witness to the world the truth about human life and the eternal destiny that is offered to all who embrace faith in Jesus Christ.
Let us not lose hope in the face of persecution, enable us always to preserve joy in the Lord, and give us the courage to witness what we believe.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Author Bio
Julian Porteous was ordained as a Catholic priest for the Archdiocese of Sydney in 1974 and served in parishes across the greater Sydney area. In 2003, he was ordained Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney and in 2013, Archbishop of Hobart. Recently retired, he is now Archbishop Emeritus of Hobart.
Julian was an initial signatory to the Australian Creed for Sexual Integrity and the Reaching Australia 2033 statement, both of which he helped shape.
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A very good word. Thank you Archbishop Julian.
“In a culture that prizes the strong and the useful, the Church defends the dignity of every human life, from the unborn child to the elderly person in care, from the refugee to the prisoner.”
What an amazing, powerful statement that contrasts the nature of man’s fruitless effort for identity and the identity that Christ wants to express through His church and believers, to every human being and the world.
Every waring force against the Way of Christ, whether that’s Islam, communism, humanism, etc, is founded and motivated by the lie of preeminence of man, which outworks in the oppression of others, who are just seen as a means to an end for the oppressors. When one becomes useless or inconvenient in their sight, there’s no value, thus one can be discarded.
But, this is not how the story ends, great witness will come from the church as she is awakened by the Spirit of God through prayer and preachers preaching the word of God, to empower and emboldened the church to action.
Thank you for the article, Archbishop Porteous, and you are such a preacher to the body of Christ.