Dear one,
Last Sunday I was reminded of Emerson’s insightful observation:
“The Gods we worship write their names on our faces … That which dominates will determine [a person’s] life and character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming.”
You might recall that the English word, “worship,” has at its center the word, “worth,” and therefore suggests that, whatever we deem of worth—either person, idea, or object—and whatever we deem worthy of sacrifice, can become our god or idol. Furthermore, the greater our willingness to sacrifice for this “god” and its desired benefits, the greater its power.
We Americans do not typically think in terms of “idols,” but I am convinced that the terrorists of 911 correctly identified some of them. By their choices: the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, they knew what Americans value, that is, for what we are willing to sacrifice: the gods of money and finance, and the gods of political and military might. Of course, given our world, money, politics, and military might are not necessarily bad; but given Emerson’s insight, when these become our gods or idols, we begin to assume their face, acquiring the characteristics of their presumed power.
As I mulled these thoughts, and aware of yet another acrimonious election, of further street riots, and of another broken and fallen religious leader, I returned to Romans 1. In that chapter, Paul argued that humanity has neither honored nor given thanks to the God of Creation, but has exchanged “the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles” (Romans 1:23). That is, in our humanity we regularly sacrifice for the persons, animals, and/or the ideals these represent.
In American life, we (myself included) have paid great tribute to our presidents, or to the eagle, in whose shadow they have stood; for surely the eagle represents our cherished ideals of freedom, vision, speed, stealth, and deadly power. However, few of our representatives, human or otherwise, have remained “healthy” beneath the weight of the glory we have proffered. Moreover, because of the clamor of our jealous gods—all pretenders to the Throne—we struggle to hear the One who is worthy of our praise, the One who said: “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). The prevailing pantheon seeks to drone His Voice.
Needing to hear,
Stan