Worship and worth

(Sunday afternoon I spoke at a vigil - Uniting for Diversity: a response to recent and ongoing gun violence - that was held on the front lawn of Calvary Baptist Church in Newark, DE.  The following is my remarks.)

The word worship has its roots in the word worth. What we worship we give worth to it. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Idolatry is when we worship something, give it more worth than what we believe has ultimate worth. And we don't have to believe in God to engage in idolatry.

We have an idolatry of guns in our nation, because we have put protecting gun rights ahead of protecting lives.

We value rich lives more than poor lives. We should be worshipping the poor and giving dignity to the destitute.

We value white lives more than black and brown lives. All lives won't matter until black and brown lives matter.

We value our immigrant heritage but we dehumanize those who seek asylum and safety. We should be worshipping the refugee and blessing the immigrant.

We value strength and might and despise the weak. We should be lifting up the weak and embracing the vulnerable.

We value straight lives more than gay and lesbian and bisexual and queer lives and trans lives. We enforce gender and sexuality normativity but we fear what we don't know and we enshrine our shame about our bodies. We should be praising diversity and celebrating acceptance.

We value convenience and ease and speed and we trash our earth, create tons of plastic, and worship a car culture. We should be worshipping the earth and its creatures.

What do you worship? What do you give worth to with your time, your money, your love, your spirit, who you are? What is your treasure and is it connected to your heart?

What is holy, what is wholeness, begins with us and how we live and what we worship.

Thank you.