Golden Calves
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 41, 52; PM Psalm 44; Exod. 32:1-20; Col 3:18-4:6(7-18); Matt. 5:1-10
Moses has gone up the mountain to receive instruction from God, and God’s people are down below eager for something to happen. Moses has been up there a little too long, and the people become anxious and fanatic, and so they gather around Aaron begging for a new god. “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us” and Aaron takes a bunch of gold and fashions a golden calf.
On Tuesdays, I have been discussing with others a book by David Zahl called Seculosity: How Career, Parenting, Technology, Food, Politics, and Romance became our New Religion and What to do About It. Zahl’s thesis is as people haven’t just left church, they have replaced religion with their own form of religion. Essentially, we have crafted our own golden calves and they are called a career, or romance, or parenting.
In the introduction, Zahl writes that “you’ll hear about people scrambling to be successful enough, happy enough, thin enough, wealthy enough, influential enough, desired enough, charitable enough, woke enough, good enough. We believe instinctively that, were we to reach some benchmark in our minds, then value, vindication, and love would be ours – that if we got enough, we would be enough.” If we can find the perfect partner or soul mate (he rightly suggests that there is not one), or the perfect promotion, or the child who gets into the perfect school and has a good enough career, then we will be justified in our existence.
Zahl’s writing is captivating, and I am thoroughly enjoying his book. Although his thesis does sound like what most of us already know that we are doing. We work too hard to prove something to ourselves, or we put our trust in finding the perfect partner, or we try to make everything work out for our children and the pressure only builds. We have fashioned a bunch of golden calves to justify our existence when all we really need to know is God’s unconditional love and grace that extends beyond our imperfections.
Maybe we even try to be perfect in our church lives by serving on the vestry, being the perfect usher or acolyte, and learning Scripture and theology the right way! Is it possible our own church identity could be a golden calf too?
I’ve got a news flash for you. I am pretty darn imperfect and so are you and we are never going to be enough to the golden calves we have created. But God said we were indeed very good when we were created and God loved us so much to come and be with us, and dwell with us, and take on the enormity of pain and suffering with us. That sounds like enough.
Faithfully,
John+
Questions for Self-Reflection: What are the idols that you worship? How does your career or identity affect your spiritual health?
Daily Challenge: Counselors can be a wonderful reflective tool to help create balance and not place too much faith in the wrong idols. Check to find out if your health insurance covers a wellness mental health visit.