{"id":1927,"date":"2015-02-21T22:06:48","date_gmt":"2015-02-22T03:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/?p=1927"},"modified":"2015-02-21T22:27:46","modified_gmt":"2015-02-22T03:27:46","slug":"one-observation-on-lent-what-do-we-worship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/02\/one-observation-on-lent-what-do-we-worship\/","title":{"rendered":"One Observation On Lent: What Do We Worship?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Guido<\/p>\n

Well, the first of my 40 days of Lent didn\u2019t start off on the right foot.<\/p>\n

I mean, look, I didn\u2019t even fast on Ash Wednesday (I forgot). I almost<\/em> ate meat\u00a0this Friday before I realized it at the last possible moment (wait, chicken is <\/em>considered meat<\/em>, right?). And I\u2019ve yet to figure out how I\u2019m going to dedicate this time to something<\/em> \u2013 anything \u2013 that will help me better reflect upon what this period before Easter\u00a0is supposed to be all about (but I\u2019m thinking . . . I\u2019m thinking).<\/p>\n

Yes, I\u2019m not quite\u00a0there<\/em> yet.<\/p>\n

But I did\u00a0run across something today that made me start to put a few things into perspective.<\/p>\n

Things about the meaning of Lent. The meaning of Easter. The purpose<\/em> of it all.<\/p>\n

I was re-watching the first part of Father Robert Barron\u2019s <\/a>DVD series, Priest, Prophet, King<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Something that Father Barron\u00a0spoke about that\u00a0I must have missed the\u00a0first time that I\u2019d watched.<\/p>\n

He\u00a0talked first\u00a0about worship <\/em>\u2013 which is\u00a0a word derived from the Old English worthship<\/em>, meaning, in this context, the giving of ourselves over to the one thing that we most highly value, the one pursuit that we consider most important in or about our lives.<\/p>\n

Father Barron then quoted famed Protestant theologian Paul Tillich<\/a>:<\/p>\n

All you really need to know about someone you can learn from asking one question: \u201cWhat do you worship?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The question really is: what are they giving themselves over to? What are they striving\u00a0for? What are they spending their time praising?<\/p>\n

I think that Tillich\u2019s question is an important one to ask of ourselves.<\/p>\n

For if\u00a0we answer it honestly \u2013 which for some of us cannot\u00a0be done without a good deal of quiet reflection \u2013 we may well\u00a0discover things about ourselves that we\u2019d prefer to leave hidden.<\/p>\n

Someone once said that if you want to know what you most value, look at your checkbook and take note of where your money goes.<\/p>\n

Well, that comes up just a bit short for two reasons.<\/p>\n

First, because a lot of us no longer use checkbooks. Most, if not all, of our financial transactions are now electronic \u2013 but obviously the\u00a0concept remains the same.<\/p>\n

More to the point, however,\u00a0such an examination\u00a0tells us next to nothing about how we spend our time, or on what we spend our entire lives pursuing.<\/p>\n

Obviously, except for a very small number of us, we all need\u00a0to spend a great deal of time earning a living. Sleep, meals, and obligations caring for others \u2013 children, parents, even spouses \u2013 cut deeply into any remaining time we have.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s an amount of time, whether it\u2019s a couple of\u00a0hours a week, or even just\u00a0a handful of minutes\u00a0during the day, that we have some control over. (If not, we may need to immediately re-prioritize because it probably means that we are thisclosetoburningout<\/span><\/strong>.<\/em>)<\/p>\n

So how do we spend our free time?<\/p>\n

Watching mindless\u00a0television? Getting lost in music? Reading, physical exercise, or some other activity that focuses our attention inward?<\/p>\n

Now, none of these are inherently problematic in and of themselves, of course. Some even add a necessary balance that help us to both de-stress and renew.<\/p>\n

But have we come to\u00a0worship<\/em> these things?\u00a0Have we given ourselves fully over to them? Have they become so\u00a0essential\u00a0that they now compel our attention away from the things that truly matter? Have they become our false idols as Elizabeth Scalia has written about<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Pride. Massive ego. The unbridled pursuit of money. Extraordinary vanity. The casual, sometimes\u00a0hateful, dismissal of the poor, the homeless, the infirm, the elderly.<\/p>\n

Such things might well remind us\u00a0of Hollywood, or Wall Street, or our throwaway culture.<\/p>\n

But those aren\u2019t\u00a0the only places where such massively misdirected values have taken hold.<\/p>\n

No. For these same values have now infiltrated our very hearts,\u00a0our minds,\u00a0our souls. And we must find them praiseworthy on some level \u2013 or else why would they flourish so?<\/p>\n

Father Barron\u00a0again:<\/p>\n

Bad worship leads to a disintegration of the self. Right worship leads to a beautiful soul.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Everything within scripture, Father Barron teaches,\u00a0is about leading us back to a world that existed prior to the fall. To a time when right praise <\/em>alone dominated the landscape.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what Cross is ultimately all about.<\/p>\n

Keep this in mind though:\u00a0God doesn\u2019t need our right praise<\/em>.<\/p>\n

We<\/em>\u00a0do.<\/p>\n

For, as Father Barron has observed, engaging in right praise<\/em> aligns us\u00a0to Him, it reconciles us to Him,\u00a0and it works to restore the ideal state that existed prior to the fall (he refers to this as\u00a0an \u201cEdenizing\u201d).<\/p>\n

And, he suggests,\u00a0it leads to a\u00a0properly integrated self, a well-ordered soul, and, ultimately, a well-ordered cosmos.<\/p>\n

Now, in the days of the temple,\u00a0man\u2019s attempt at reconciliation also required one other thing \u2013 some sort of sacrifice.<\/p>\n

But then entered Calvary. And that upended history.<\/p>\n

After Calvary, no sacrifice\u00a0could ever be deemed more worthy. And none are ever again necessary.<\/p>\n

So after the Cross, only one task remains. And this period of Lent is the perfect time during which to undertake it:<\/p>\n

A setting aside of sufficient time each and every day to\u00a0engage in\u00a0right praise<\/em>.<\/p>\n

That is, sufficient time for prayer. For contemplation. For gratitude. For love.<\/p>\n

In that way, we can finally begin to reorient our gaze, our\u00a0thoughts, our\u00a0words, our pursuits \u2013 yes, our worship\u00a0\u2013 back to the Cross.<\/p>\n

In so doing, we just may be privileged to, once again,\u00a0wander back into the land of Eden.<\/p>\n

And be met there with open arms.<\/p>\n

Peace<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Image Credit (Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain):\u00a0Guido Cagnacci\u2019s \u201c<\/span>Martha Rebuking Mary For Her Vanity<\/a>\u201c<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, the first of my 40 days of Lent didn\u2019t start off on the right foot. I mean, look, I didn\u2019t even fast on Ash Wednesday (I forgot). I almost ate meat\u00a0this Friday before I realized it at the last possible moment (wait, chicken is considered meat, right?). And I\u2019ve yet to figure out how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1976,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nOne Observation On Lent: What Do We Worship?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Well, the first of my 40 days of Lent didn't start off on the right foot. I mean, look, I didn't even fast on Ash Wednesday (I forgot). 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