When waiting tables quite some time ago, my understanding of Christianity was radically transformed. Perhaps very few other professions feel the weight of the consumer's power quite like the restaurant server. Let the tea in the glass fall without the server's immediate attention, the his tip will likely evaporate. If the food is a bit slow in coming to the table, it is obviously because the server is out back smoking; instead of pulling the smoking ribs off the grill herself. Her tip will likely go up in smoke.Hey, I thoroughly enjoyed waiting tables, despite my depreciating comments. And I very much appreciate the economic system wherein we live, which provides a measure of accountability for providers of goods and services. 
However, I am afraid the power of the consumer has bought the would-be serious worshipper a spoiled brat, sense of entitlement. Jesus supposedly sits on His throne with nothing else in the world to do but make sure your tea glass is properly maintained and the choir director choosing my favorite songs. While, yes, those in Church leadership must be kept accountable to their "constituency," Jesus desires to be so much more than a Hooters girl. He demands our worship of Himself in His all-consuming Glory. Jesus may have been born to "serve" us at the cross. However, He conquered death and hell and now deserves our absolute worship on His terms.
Listen to how James L. Mays describes the demands the Psalms make on the serious believer. Indeed these are the same demands the whole of Scripture, as well as the living Word (Jesus Christ) make on us:
It is traditional, not contemporary. It works with poetry and metaphor instead of science and technique. It unites rather than compartmentalizes. It sees the world as a project in creation rather than a problem of physics. It centers on a sovereign (G)od instead of sovereign self. Its ideas are those of monarchy rather than liberal democracy. It emphasizes the finitude and fallibility of the human rather than its autonomy, sees the human essential in trust and morality rather than psychology, thinks of the individual in terms of community rather than community as an aggregate of individuals, persists in speaking of good and evil, righteousness and wickedness, instead of values, and so on and on (The Lord Reigns--A Theological Handbook to the Psalms, p. 9).
However, I am afraid the power of the consumer has bought the would-be serious worshipper a spoiled brat, sense of entitlement. Jesus supposedly sits on His throne with nothing else in the world to do but make sure your tea glass is properly maintained and the choir director choosing my favorite songs. While, yes, those in Church leadership must be kept accountable to their "constituency," Jesus desires to be so much more than a Hooters girl. He demands our worship of Himself in His all-consuming Glory. Jesus may have been born to "serve" us at the cross. However, He conquered death and hell and now deserves our absolute worship on His terms.Listen to how James L. Mays describes the demands the Psalms make on the serious believer. Indeed these are the same demands the whole of Scripture, as well as the living Word (Jesus Christ) make on us:
It is traditional, not contemporary. It works with poetry and metaphor instead of science and technique. It unites rather than compartmentalizes. It sees the world as a project in creation rather than a problem of physics. It centers on a sovereign (G)od instead of sovereign self. Its ideas are those of monarchy rather than liberal democracy. It emphasizes the finitude and fallibility of the human rather than its autonomy, sees the human essential in trust and morality rather than psychology, thinks of the individual in terms of community rather than community as an aggregate of individuals, persists in speaking of good and evil, righteousness and wickedness, instead of values, and so on and on (The Lord Reigns--A Theological Handbook to the Psalms, p. 9).
Perhaps I am finding my spiritual credit card maxed out. In short am I coming to the altar to die and be remade into His image? Or is my overweight sense of entitlement demanding Him to be remade into my piggish image?
2 comments:
"Jesus desires to be so much more than a Hooters girl."
WOW, great analogy, it is so . . . William-esk.
I am going to create a book of the witty saying of Rev. Daniel.
Hey thanks. Just remember send me the royalties! Seriously, though, how often are the extents of our relationships with Him simply the idea of what can he do for me? He's the great vending machine in the sky. In short do not many of us dress Christianity in a halter top, mini-skirt, and fishnet stockings and demand Jesus perform for us?
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