Worship 13 Lake Wobegone is Wherever You Are

[HKHaugan]

"Well, that's the news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average (Garrison Keillor-Prairie Home Companion)."
You probably recognize that closing from Keillor's shows on PBS. Those words and his programs caricatured the images of small town America with its historic ethnic roots in which people looked at the TV depicted life of glitz and glamor outside their towns as bizarre and fleeting. Even in caricature it was far more real than what was happening 'on the tube.' Keillor captured that thought of the anonymous unknown and average person who recoils at being assessed as such. Average perhaps by media definition but quite the opposite when it comes to how individuals see themselves.

Now follow me on this. We live in a media driven world where 'life' is delivered in 15-20 second sound bytes, where 'news' is neither new nor real. It is an editor's guess at what will keep a viewer stimulated to watch and eager to buy its products. It's murder, war, politics, keeping the emotional fires burning, inciting ethnic division, all part of a hidden agenda, profit. It's 'show biz.' If you step back for just a moment and allow yourself to really look at what is happening in the media you bring into the living room, how long is it before you find yourself angry and frustrated by the faces, the statements and the images flashing before you? 95% of what you see is completely beyond your control. What happens when you are not in control? It invites fear to preface everything we do. The cataracts of stereotypes, over cautionary behavior and personal withdrawal dim our view of reality. Picket lines form, ethnic groups and their power hungry leaders feed on the paranoia of the moment and the media feed on the paranoid moments. This is the way the devil works. Keep people distrustful, divided and separated. This is the atmosphere of momentary panic. Every man for himself. Get the most you can regardless of who gets in the way. This is negative reality that consumes the world.

Yes, a lot is happening in the larger world but what about your immediate experience of life, your personal relationships, job, neighborhood, church and social groupings? We don’t live in the White House or in Russia or in Hollywood or in whatever hotspot is being visualized. Your personal reality is where you live in every next moment. That's our personal reality. It's where we really live every day in our minds, hearts and spirits. It's not media founded, designed or driven. It's certainly not media answerable. It's definitely not media curable.

Let me say where we really live. We live in a universe created by God. We live in a body with a mind, heart and spirit. We live among other people with the same equipment. We live with dreams and visions and hopes and fears. We are self-conscious, self-aware and self-searching. We are relational, spiritual, emotional and physical. We are God's created beings, images of His making and objects of His love. He is the core of reality and we are with Him at that core. We live with His Word as the picture of what reality is, a relationship and life with Him.

It is Jesus who makes sense out of what the media tries to divert us from. You want to live in the real world? Jesus is the ultimate reality that describes the difference between the decline of this temporary world and the rise of the eternal Kingdom of God.

Where is this Kingdom?

Remember that expression when you were in a tenuous situation and 'your heart was in your mouth?' Well, reverse the thought in the Spirit. “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart...that if you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Rom.10:9).” OK, saved from what? Saved from fearing what is going on around you, from the false reality the media throws your way, from pride, from the sin that lures you into anger and frustration when you find you're not in control of what you can't control, from spiritual traps that await your emotional participation and from attitudes that have been built up for self-protection. Can we add from being defensive and always having the right answer and fitting in for acceptance? Salvation is being saved from one's personal self-centeredness aka sin and how we read others and judge their 'sins.'

Returning to the idea of being an 'average man.' That is not how the Lord God sees any of us. To Him each of us is special. The fact of our self-consciousness is proof. It is only sin that reduces us in size and appeal in this world. It is only our personal attitude when we accept worldly standards that keeps us from recognizing how special we are and how special other people are and how special we can become and how special God can change the world we live in everyday through the special gifts He gives us. Garrison Keillor said it right. But it is only in Christ that it becomes reality. This realization is part of what we have been discussing. It happens when we worship. It's not about being average or above, it's about being in a worship mode. We let the mind be inspired by the Spirit of God. It is the heart being touched by His affirmation of who and what we really are. It is our spirit growing from spiritual birth in every next moment. Again worship is lifting everything we are up to the Lord in every next moment. When you start to take control with what you think, feel and desire is best, back off. Let the Lord step in. You want to change the world? Say what Jesus said, “Away from me Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only (Mt.4:10).”