Being the pastor of a very traditional Lutheran congregation for some time, I've noted a phenomenon that may be worth sharing. It works like this: We begin by worshiping God, holding Him/Her to be the ground of being (to use Tillich's phrase). Since we hold God to be holy, the things close to God, that is, proximate to God, also partake of this same holiness (things such as the bible, the Church, the sacraments, Law and Gospel, the liturgy, the Creed, perhaps even clergy in some minds).
And then something curious begins to occur. After a time, our worship focus begins to include those things which are proximate to God. So that we begin to place the bible or our liturgy or the Law on a level near to or even equal to God Himself. And suddenly the bible in our view becomes something without error, and our liturgical worship becomes something that must not change, and the Law becomes a focus of worship in its own right. And God Himself, who began as the proper focus of our worship, begins to be surrounded by idols of a more subtle sort than the usual idols of money, power, and coercion that we have learned through hard experience to be wary of.
Major Premise: We worship only God
Minor Premise: Things close to God are not God
Therefore: We do not worship things close to God
Although we may of course reverence them.
Just a thought.
Blessings,
Pastor Garry
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