Tuesday in the Second Week of Lent

"Thus says the Lord: What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthless things, and became worthless themselves?" (Jeremiah 2:5)

"... they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator." (Romans 1:25)

These lines from Jeremiah and from Romans come from very different historical periods, speak of very different social situations, and address themselves to very different audiences. But they both point to one psychospiritual truth: We become like what we worship. Our English word "worship" is actually a contraction of the older word "worth-ship"; it points to what we experience as valuable, what is truly important to us, that toward which we would orient our actions and our emotions. The act of worship is an expression of what we value, and at the same time is a dynamic experience of that value. The act of worship takes what we value and raises it up to a level where we can be conscious and intentional about it, so that we can in turn replicate its core value in our own acts and works and lives. In that way we become like what we worship.

What Jeremiah and Paul warn about is what happens when we worship that which is not worthy of worship. When we "go after worthless things," when we "exchange truth for a lie," then we become like those things. We spend our time and energy chasing after possessions or power or prestige that, in the end, cannot satisfy our real longings. We build personas and social masks that dissemble our true selves, and end up living a lie. We lose touch with the core of creativity which our Creator shares with us, and become something less than the full selves our Lover wants us to be.

The Lenten discipline of repentance is about turning away from worthless things and lies, recognizing how our going after them diminishes us, and turning again to the true worship that helps us become like the One who creates us. Prayer expresses the core value of Love -- God's love for us, our love for God, our godly love for each other -- and in expressing it gives us also a living experience of Love. As we worship Love, we grow more loving ourselves. We become like what we worship.

How have you turned from what is worthless and worshiped Love today?