Lipstick on a Pig
Introduction
The phrase “lipstick on a pig” has always fascinated me. The “thought” that someone would even attempt to perform such a feat is astounding and humorous. The “reflection” of the lack of stewardship with perfectly good makeup is disgusting. The “process” to even bring the two together, pig and lipstick, is a task that I do not want to ever be involved with.
Asa Briggs and Peter Burke in their book, “A Social History of the Media: From Guttenberg to the Internet” bring together the three: thought, reflection, and process. At times the progression and possible usages of media were similar to the lipstick and the pig. The thought of printed works available to other than nobility, the concept of wireless voice or pictures being transmitted to another location, or the idea that we could live in a world-wide community via a small cell phone would be astounding, humorous, lack of stewardship, and disgusting; as was the pig and the lipstick.
Summary
“A Social History of the Media: From Guttenberg to the Internet” by Asa Briggs and Peter Burke “concentrates on the modern West, from the late fifteenth century onwards.”[1] The book is a unique compilation that avoids stereotypical analogies of the progression of “media” within that time frame. Careful scrutiny is given to the progression of media and its impact upon culture and communication.
Briggs and Burke state their “book will concentrate on changes in the media; in presenting them, an attempt will be made to avoid two dangers – that of asserting that everything got worse and that of assuming that there has been continuous improvement.”[2] Media can be depicted as either the panacea or it is the anti-Christ. This feeling runs the gambit from educators to the church community. The mediums ranging from the printing press to the internet were just the “vehicle” to convey information.
Briggs and Burke describe in Chapter Six, “Information, Education, and Entertainment”, how that the media has served these three purposes. At times information, education, and entertainment can actually coalesce or overlap. Technological innovations “come in ‘waves’ (clusters) associated with economic trends, historical labels tend to be attached to societies according to what seems, for a variety of reasons, to be their dominant communications technology.”[3] This convergence, and at times uniqueness of relaying media, is the impetus to study it.
Analysis
I admit I love technology and gadgetry that seems impossible to invent. Realizing this, I wanted to delve into media convergences and the modern media of the internet that this book would cover. Little did I know that Briggs and Burke were going to spend time in church history and the influence of media on the church.
Technology seemingly creates revolutions in various forms. Chapter Four, “Technologies and Revolutions” outlines from the French Revolution to the electrical revolution. It would seem that evolutions are based on either technology or ideas, or the two can work in tandem.[4]
This takes me back to the lipstick on a pig. Today we find that technology and forward thinking are creating a revolution in the church. Some of the challenges may be related to age and acceptance of technology in church. On the other hand, technology in the form of screens and video projectors are revolutionizing, and possibly replacing, the stained glass of yesteryear.
Martin Luther said that the printing press was “’God’s highest gift of grace’, he still considered the church as a ‘mouth house and not a pen house’.”[5] More than one person has asked why we have intelligent lights and haze in our sanctuary. The notion that we are mimicking a night club is further from the truth. Our intention has been to create an atmosphere that Jesus Christ would be magnified by the use of technology, ideas, and media on the screens.
The Byzantine Church, of the 700’s, reflected the need and response to the culture. In an area and “part of Europe where literacy was at its lowest, Byzantine culture was one of painted icons of Christ, the Virgin and the saints. As an eighth-century abbot declared: ‘The Gospels were written in words, but icons are written in gold.’”[6]
The challenge of the Reformation was more than ninety-five theses. The Reformation was “a social movement, a conscious collective enterprise, even if its conscious aim was to reform the old Church rather than, as actually happened, to found new ones.”[7] The same is happening again today in our present church world with the evolution of technology being used in church.
Martin Luther “wrote in the vernacular so that his message could be understood by ordinary people, at the price of restricting it in the first instance to the German-speaking world.”[8] Just possibly intelligent lights, haze, t
ext to give, church mobile apps, and interactive messages are the means to have the greatest media, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, understood by ordinary people.
The power to portray the greatest media ever, the Bible, through new technology may be deemed lipstick on a pig. Embracing what may seem astounding, humorous, lack of stewardship, and disgusting may result in a great revolution in the modern church that reforms not just the old, but creates a new and powerful force to be reckoned with.
[1] Asa Briggs and Peter Burke, A Social History of the Media: From Guttenberg to the Internet (Malden, MA: Polity Press, 2014), 5.
[2] Ibid., 2.
[3] Ibid., 234.
[4] Ibid., 92.
[5] Ibid., 24.
[6] Ibid., 7.
[7] Ibid., 62.
[8] Ibid., 63.
3 responses to “Lipstick on a Pig”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Phil
Great post. As I was reading this I was reflecting on the files from Catalyst that I have just received to help my research over this semester. Andy Stanley is talking about his friend Craig who had an idea about the Bible and everyone being able to read it. The first idea didn’t work and even the second idea didn’t work but eventually they were able to get it right as the “app” platform was established. Now more people around the world can read and access the Bible than ever before.
The use of secular media in the application of the church is something that is correct and in line with the delivery of the message. The message stays sacred but the delivery system must always continually be advancing. Jesus used parables and the “media” is the parable of this generation. How to apply what we know to what we want to communicate.
Get that lipstick out and ready.
How have you seen this come to life at your church?
Kevin
Kevin:
We have a high-tech experience and having an online campus and live streaming another campus are examples of living in a “media” world that has infinite opportunities.
We have text to give, kiosks for giving and signing up, sign-ups are done through our website, etc. The end result is the “message”, the “method” is secondary.
Phil
Phil,
Have you ever considered preaching with a selfie stick? That would be interesting to your church. We recently launched a new campus and one one of our services is video based. What makes it work is the idea of consistency. We have a live Saturday night service but replay the message for Sunday morning although everything else is live. There’s a campus pastor and an associate pastor on Sunday morning but we advertise a video based Sunday morning message. I’ve seen churches use hologram for Multisite and although that’s creepy for me, that works for them. We can use technology to communicate everything effectively because it’s all about the message. I live in the moment and use any method of communication that will work. Everything has its flaws but I look for the effectiveness first and leave the critics behind.
Garfield