Last week I was listening to one of Tim Keller’s sermons on Worship, and was amazed and astounded at how  I live by an incomplete, non-encompassing, unchallenging definition of worship. Dr. Keller defines worship as  ”The act of ascribing ultimate value to something in a way that energizes and engages your whole being.” I mean, it’s the whole idea of who or what we worship that literally separates the sheep from the goats for James (Chapter 2 verse 19) writes “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that– and shudder.” 

So what or who do I really worship? Of course when asked, I’d easily and quickly say “why, God of course……So what are you trying to say? ….What makes you ask the question?….. Of course it’s God!….. I’m not like those freshly freed Israelite slaves who while Charlton Heston– er –I mean– Moses received the Ten Commandments were busy creating a golden calf to parade around and worship!……For the last time: I don’t worship false gods! It’s inconceivable! NEVER!!” Do you remember that scene from the movie? I first saw it when I was a boy and that (and so many other) scenes are forever burned into my memory. As a child I was so appalled…shocked….how could they?…..hadn’t God just miraculously freed them?…. I would NEVER DO THAT! (And as my wife would say: “Uhhh Huhhh”)

Dr. Keller uses the scene from Harry Potter when he discovers the Mirror of Erised (Desire) to challenge our assumptions about worship. We worship what we ultimately (and all too often secretly) desire.

So, Harry sees his parents loving him. Reaching out and touching him. He’s amazed and grateful. Later, so thrilled to see his parents Harry can’t wait to tell his best friend so he grabs Ron Weasley and shows him the mirror. Ron, of course, doesn’t see Harry’s parents. He sees himself as a sports star, the head student prefect, and handsome. The deepest desire(s) of his heart.

Dumbledore tells Harry that “The mirror shows us nothing more or less than the deepest and most desperate desires of our heart…men have wasted away in front of it…even gone mad.”

Have my normal, harmless, usually good or at least benign desires become Ultimate desires?

Everyone has put their hope in something and firmly believes that ”if I have THAT then I’ll be ok, I’ll have meaning, I’ll be happy, fulfilled, just that one thing.”  The thing that’s most likely a good thing, maybe even a wonderful thing, becomes an Ultimate thing. 

The world is not made up of those who worship and those who don’t. We have all ascribed ultimate value to something or someone. What do I really ultimately, desperately desire? If I could look into the Mirror of Erised… what would I see? Achievement? Acclaim? Money? Family? Power? Relationships? Fried Chicken? Have I turned a good or great thing into an ultimate thing? Whatever or whomever it is… That’s what  I worship.

Next: The Gospel according to the Antiques Road Show.