My friend Candice sent me the link to Lady Gaga’s A Million Reasons about 2 months ago. “I love this song,” she said. “I hope it doesn’t become popular.” Of course it did go and get popular, she’s a little trend creator. The song is about the situation where you are in a relationship with someone, who you love but you also know they are not treating you right. In the chorus Lady Gaga has these words: “I bow down to pray; Oh Lord show me the way.”
“I didn’t know Lady Gaga was Christian,” I sent back to my friend when she sent me the link. That was the last thing I expected, to be honest. Then again, I don’t know that much about most celebrities and my frame of reference for anything about Lady Gaga is “Edge of Glory” (my favourite Spinning song – gets you SO revved).
Apparently Lady Gaga follows Catholicism. I stumbled around the Internet going from one article to the next down the rabbit hole of unending information spewed at me to try investigate her faith. I came across an instagram post in which Lady Gaga had thanked Father John Duffell of Blessed Sacrament Church for delivering a “beautiful homily” at her family’s restaurant.
In the image’s caption, she wrote, “I was so moved today when you said “The Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect but the food that God gives us.’ — Father Duffell, Blessed Sacrament Church. Nourishment.”
The next day someone commented on the post saying: “Many celebrities are sharing Bible verses, quoting priests, and singing Christian music while at the same time still leading a typical Hollywood lifestyle void of Christian values such as modesty and purity.”
Something about the post infuriated Lady Gaga and she responded with these words:
“Mary Magdalene washed the feet of Christ and was protected and loved by him. A prostitute. Someone society shames as if she and her body are a man’s trash can. He loved her and did not judge. He let her cry over him and dry his feet with the hair of a harlot. We are not just “celebrities” we are humans and sinners, children, and our lives are not void of values because we struggle. We are as equally forgiven as our neighbor. God is never a trend no matter who the believer.”
Her words struck a chord because I too had been guilty of that thinking – Lady Gaga, a Christian? – no ways. At the core of the Christian faith is the principle of grace. Grace is the love of God shown to the unlovely; the peace of God, given to the restless; the unmerited favor of God. Grace is the opposite of karma, which is all about getting what you deserve. Grace is getting what you don’t deserve, and mercy is not getting what you do deserve.
At the same time though, grace is not not a ‘free for all’. It’s not something which means “do what you want, sin to your heart’s desire,” and then claim grace from God as though it cost him nothing. Nope, which is why I think many people look at the lives of celebrities and think “you can’t be Christian.”
True change comes from coming to God and turning from your ways. It means realising you messed up and you can’t do it without him. It means that going forward you won’t do what YOU want to do, you’ll chose to do things in life with his guidance and leading.
The writer of the article responded to Lady Gaga: “@ladygaga, your screen shot was a one part of the article which was not aimed at judging you, rather it was an effort to help Catholics to have a balanced and positive view of when celebrities publicly share their faith. It was an invitation to value the hunger of God that exists in the world of the famous. It was a reminder to not forget that they, like us, are fragile and that we should not judge, rather pray for them. This said, what you wrote is absolutely beautiful. It is one of the most touching comments we have ever read. Know that we will be praying that experience of God’s mercy continue to grow and bear fruits for you, for the people that you love, and all of your followers.”