Starred Book Recommendation: Seculosity by David Zahl

Everybody is religious. Everybody. Our country has never been more religious than we are today. Record numbers of people may be catching up on sleep Sunday mornings, but religion is going through the roof. Today’s secular sanctuaries can be found in the workplace, gym, political rallies, kid’s sports schedules, in the glow of our screen, and even in Christian churches. The problem is that we’re religious about the wrong things in the wrong way. We look to law, rather than the Lord for our saving grace.

This is what David Zahl argues in his excellent and timely new book Seculosity: How Career, Parenting, Technology, Food, Politics, and Romance Became Our New Religion And What To Do About It (Fortress, 2019). Zahl defines religion as “what we lean on to tell us we’re okay, that our lives matter…the justifying story of our life.” When we look for salvation and ultimate meaning and satisfaction in “lower case” religion, the forbidden and rotten fruit we reap is a bumper crop of anxiety, exhaustion, despair, narcissism, nihilism, and alienation. In our “performancism,” we equate busyness with worthiness. We want to be noticed and celebrated for the stands we take. And so our lives become a desperate plea for attention, acceptance, accolades, affirmation, and admiration from our social media circles, peers, our inner critic, and even God. We think if we just work hard enough, eat the right foods, find that perfect workout regimen, provide enough opportunities for our children, show enough political outrage, or get enough likes on our vacation pictures, we’ll be worthy and enviable, that our lives matter.

But all of these things, even if you get them, will never be enough to fill that God-shaped hole in our soul. Recognizing that we need God and we need grace, puts everything, including ourselves, in a much healthier and humble perspective. We can listen to others better and as a result care for them better. We’re at peace and don’t have to prove our flawlesness or how on top of things we are or how smart we are and how stupid others are. We can be, not just do. We can hold to our convictions and beliefs without hating or mocking those who think or believe differently. This is a gift to be received, rather than a reputation to be earned. This is grace. Or as Zahl writes, “…grace moves beyond deserving. It is the hope of the hopeless and the final word on God’s disposition toward troubled people like you and me.” Amen to that.

Pastor John
Jots and Tittles Blog
Immanuel Presbyterian Church
john@immanuelpc.org

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