The Most Impressive Thing in the Room

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm reading The Weight of Glory this week and was struck by Lewis' comment that much of what we do we do to "win worship." Much of what we tweet, blog about, write about, and say in conversation is an attempt at such. Lewis considered this an inheritance from Paganism.

What is most sad about winning worship for ourselves is that any attempt at such marks a disinterest in God who is worthy of worship. I don't say that to make us feel guilty, which doesn't do anything to serve us in this instance, but in that freedom from self is found in love, in having found something so incredibly big and beautiful and awe-inspiring that in the face of it we are hardly self aware. Winning worship, then, is what happens when we aren't aware of something greater than ourselves. When I attempt to "win worship" it's because I'm not standing before anything bigger or more impressive than myself, and in fact see what's standing in front of me as less than me, and am calling it to worship what I believe is the most impressive thing in the room, myself. It's gloomy.