{"id":313,"date":"2011-05-31T07:34:34","date_gmt":"2011-05-31T14:34:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/amusingamma\/?p=313"},"modified":"2011-05-31T07:34:34","modified_gmt":"2011-05-31T14:34:34","slug":"north-american-idols","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/amusingamma\/2011\/05\/north-american-idols\/","title":{"rendered":"North American Idols"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>I had an early exposure to idols, really enormous ones in a land far, far away where my parents were missionaries. These images were formidable, and people thronged to see them, to light candles and incense in front of them, repeat words of petition and panic. The instruction to me as a child by my Christian family was that I did not need to be afraid because these idols had no power, despite their appearance, prominence and following. Yet crowds amassed around them.<\/p>\n

This Spring from my location at the margins, I have been watching a cultural season of Big Ticket awards, events and departures. Whether its had been a wedding, a farewell or an award, there have been crowds awash in an atmosphere of adoration, of praise, of awe and yearning, dynamics we often attribute to \u00a0a service of worship, \u201clost in wonder love and praise.\u201d It has caused me to ponder idolatry in North America in the 21st Century. I never preached about it when I was in the parish; it never comes up in my conversations around spiritual direction. But, how odd, maybe how telling it is, that the author of the letter of First John, that eloquent and urgent plea for people of faith to give themselves to Love, ends with these words: \u201cLittle children, keep yourselves from idols.\u201d (I John 5:21)<\/em><\/p>\n

What does idolatry look like for me, for us, as a culture on the 21st Century? It is not identifiable in big carved and painted statues, but I believe we know it by where we spend our resources\u2013our money, our attention, our time, our energy. Often the object of our adulation is not bad\u2013a good person or a worthy cause; but its power as an idol is in the way it diverts us from the Mystery we call God. \u00a0Jung has told us the \u201cthe Good is the Enemy of the Best.\u201d After the royal wedding, money poured into the coffers of enterprising entrepreneurs for goods that were made in the image of the Prince and Princess. This month audiences swelled to catch a glimpse of departing TV icons. Personal plans and preferences for style have been swapped in favor of current trends being shown in the media. Hours of days and night are being spent, schedules are arranged, in service of the pursuit of being transformed into a likeness of what looked powerful and transformative.<\/p>\n

To my surprise, the Acts 17 portion of the lectionary took us to this very issue this week. Paul was in Athens on Mars Hill, replete with idols; one could have one\u2019s choice, and if undecided, could worship at the shrine of \u201cThe Unknown God.\u201d He uses this opportunity to teach and to affirm \u00a0to them that the Mystery we call God is not going to be found in a concrete shrine, no matter how glittering, or aesthetically pleasing, or comforting. \u201cThe God who made the world and everything in it, the One who is the Lord of heaven and earth\u201d does not live in humanly designed containers\u2026\u201dsince we are God\u2019s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, and images formed by the art and imagination of mortals.\u201d (Acts 17: 29).<\/p>\n

I need to ask myself, what are the glittering, shiny idols take my attention, my time, my money, and my affection? Some come to mind:<\/p>\n