Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Memes

The online 11/17 issue of Church Crunch discussed "memes." Memes are catchphrases or thoughts that spread fast around the internet through many uses by internet users. Things like "Brittany Spears," "2012," "Dancing with the Stars," "Going Rogue," etc. Some memes, catch on with no one really knowing why they have become so popular.

 

After a brief period of being wildly popular and continually used, the internet super stars of words, memes, go through a metamorphosis as follows,

 

  • Introduction
  • Overexposure
  • Parody and Remix
  • Equilibrium

 

"It's everywhere" to "Oh, not again!" to "This is a joke!" to becoming part of the internet "wallpaper." Once in a rare while, a meme lingers on and becomes part of our culture. "Unfriend," taking someone off of our internet social network, became the 2009 Word of the Year according to the New Oxford Dictionary.

 

What kind of meme is Jesus to you? Part of your daily culture? Foundational to your being and actions? Overexposed to you and ignored? Something you are ashamed of when company is over and you stay home from church?

 

We hear "Jesus" a lot in the American dialogue. What does "Jesus" mean to you?

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