Tuesday, June 19, 2007
No idols "in the form of anything"
Belated report of Sunday's Prayer of Confession at this church:
Lord of Life, we often think that we are called to a life of law-abiding decency and nothing more. If we please our parents, avoid embarrassment, achieve the American Dream, and keep any family failures hidden we will be successful. In short, we idolize decency. But God is calling us to something deeper, richer and more risky than mere decency. God is calling us to live and love extravagantly, and to remember that when we need forgiveness, it is available. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.
Exodus 20: 3-4: "You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything ..."
I often accuse biblical literalists of making an idol out of the Bible itself. I think many of them do.
Sometimes I idolize my righteous anger, my reputation, my sense of accomplishment, my income, my job, the stability of my life -- because for all the upheaval in it, I do have a job, a dry bed and a place to poop. :-)
What false idols do you have to guard against? Comment anonymously if you like.
--ER
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My own idol is . . . myself. Substituting my own desires and wishes and hopes and dreams for what God would want me to do. Believing in my own cleverness, intelligence, insight, wisdom as opposed to the notion that, as my father was wont to say to me, I "don't know every goddamn thing" (excuse my French). Being so self-centered that I forget the most important people in my life - my daughters and my wife. The idol is five-eleven, red hair, blue eyes, a beard and mustache, and wishes he could forget his own comfort, or lack thereof, for a while.
Well, self is everyone's idol. Partly because we are self-aware, which is benign. Partly because we are selfish, which is not.
And, RED HAIR? I am surrounded!
Dr. ER, Bird, her YankeeBeau, Riker the regal corgi and Bailey the "special" weinie dog -- y'all all got red hairs!
It's me and Ice-T against the world.
And, RED HAIR? I am surrounded!
Dr. ER, Bird, her YankeeBeau, Riker the regal corgi and Bailey the "special" weinie dog -- y'all all got red hairs!
It's me and Ice-T against the world.
My books are my idols. I admit it. It's more than biblophilia. It's obsession. I think about boxing them just to move and I worry: What if I NEEEEED "A History of the American Fur Trade of the Far West" by Chittenden, or "The Log of a Cowboy" by Andy Adams, or ...
Ya know, in the post-Beavis and Butthead era, that last one has to be the single most unfortunately named book in my library.
Heh-heh, heh, heh-heh, he said, "Log."
Hoot.
Heh-heh, heh, heh-heh, he said, "Log."
Hoot.
Books, CDs, movies - I have managed to get over the first and last. It's the middle one I still have a time letting go of. I can imagine myself living without my library and being happy. I could surrender all the DVDs I own and still be satisfied. Music, though? I honestly think hell is silent. I am not ready for hell.
As for the whole "Log" thing - LMAO.
As for the whole "Log" thing - LMAO.
God help me. I idolize my credit rating, the source of a bitter argument with She Who Is My Wife this evening.
I admit it: In those obscure numbers rides so much of my sense of self I can't even explain it.
God, please damn a system that so defines one's worth! And God, please forgive my desperate, pitiful need to cling to the results of its judgment.
I admit it: In those obscure numbers rides so much of my sense of self I can't even explain it.
God, please damn a system that so defines one's worth! And God, please forgive my desperate, pitiful need to cling to the results of its judgment.
Jeez, Geoff! I could merely cut and paste your first post! It's so close to what I was intending to post. And then it gets scarier! Wife? Check. Daughters? Check. And except that I'm 6'1" and my beard comes and goes (no--not by itself), I match the description. Yeah! RED HAIR! I know we're both in No. Illinois. Damn, I think you're ME!
(Cue Twilight Zone theme)
(Cue Twilight Zone theme)
Yes, it's true. MA is the manifestation of my conservative self.
BTW, that bit about your beard coming and going, then the whole aside, that was funny.
ER - redheads actually run things, you know. Do you remember the Sherlock Holmes story about the Red Head society or whatever it was? Based upon a group Cecil Rhodes founded - redheads were the true leaders of the Anglo-Saxon race. Still are, you know.
Seriously, though - it's like having multiple cats. Many redheads are a blessing!
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BTW, that bit about your beard coming and going, then the whole aside, that was funny.
ER - redheads actually run things, you know. Do you remember the Sherlock Holmes story about the Red Head society or whatever it was? Based upon a group Cecil Rhodes founded - redheads were the true leaders of the Anglo-Saxon race. Still are, you know.
Seriously, though - it's like having multiple cats. Many redheads are a blessing!
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