Worship And Las Vegas: More Alike Than We Think

Photo by Bradley Wentzel on Unsplash

It has been said what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. And this has come to be more true than just keeping the “wild” that happened from being expressed in the “civilized.” The truth is that despite all the parties, concerts and mystic around the desert town, Vegas is just not that wild.

Of course most people who go to Vegas do not have the experience that we see in movies or have in our imaginations. Few people wake up with a tiger in their hotel room or win it big at the high rollers table. Still with all the promiscuity and sense of “all is allowed,” Vegas is not that wild because Vegas is an escape.

Vegas is the iconic escape location. Like all forms of escape, Vegas does give you access to the source that can transform your life, it only gives you an escape from your current life for a bit before you have to return to it. Escapism is among the most common ways to live our lives. It is seen when we are living for the weekend. The weekend is the “everymans” Vegas. We party hard on Friday and Saturday, recover on Sunday and then catch a “case of the Mondays” to start the next week. We do things on the weekend that we would/could not do in the week and we are “recharged” by these customs. We sleep in. We party. We drink and rest.

Escapism is also seen in the way we worship on Sunday mornings. We use language to talk about going to worship so we “can recharge” or “fill up” for the week. We talk about “re-connecting” with God on Sunday or, as one person said to me once, we get our “God fix” for the week. Worship is for many of us a form of escape – it gives us respite but we do not allow it to transform our lives. In this respect, Vegas and worship accomplish the same effects with different means.

The call is not to avoid the escapes in our lives. It is good to escape every now and again. The problem is when we cling to escapes we cannot grab a hold of the transformative. This is why worship calls us to “let go” and “open our hands” to “receive” and “give thanks.” Worship can be treated as an escape. It can also be the means to transformation. If worship is not leading us toward change and transformation and only feeding and nurturing, then worship may be an escape.

Remember “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” is more than a slogan. It is the sirens song of escapism. If “what happens in worship stays in worship”, then worship is a less flashy manifestation of Vegas.

The Legitimate Leader and the She-Bears of 2 Kings 2:23-24

Elisha is the apprentice of the prophet Elijah and in 2 Kings Elijah is taken up in a chariot of fire, leaving Elisha alone to carry the mantle of prophetic leadership. The young Elisha picks up the mantle of Elijah and touches the river. The waters part and Elisha walks across the dry land.

Soon a group of people see Elisha and bow down to him out of respect. Even as they respected the office that Elisha now holds, they might have wondered what happened to Elijah? Did something wonderful or nefarious happen to him at the hands of Elisha? The group asks if they can search for the body of Elijah. Elisha says to not do this, because they will not find the body; which, if you are a conspiracy theorist, sounds suspicious. However, the group still sends 50 men to search for 3 days only to return and tell Elisha that they did not find the body of Elijah. Elisha says, "Did I not say to you, Do not go?" 

Elisha may have felt at this point a sense of frustration. He was shown signs of respect when the group bowed, but they questioned his decision to not search for Elijah. Elisha's legitimacy as a leader is called into question.  

Photo by Thomas Lefebvre on Unsplash

Just after, Elisha walks to a town and discovers the water is bad killing the land and causing miscarriages. Elisha heals the water with some salt. Like Moses making the bitter water sweet, Elisha goes one step farther and heals the water and the town rejoices. As he leaves the town a crowd gathers to mock Elisha. He is called "baldy" which is only obvious if Elisha was not wearing the mantle of Elijah over his head. If he wore the mantle then would the crowd have made fun of him? Once again, Elisha's legitimacy as the leader is called into question.

In response to this claim, Elisha curses the crowd and two she-bears maul 42 people.  

Two sets of stories with complementary suggestions about how Elisha struggled being seen as the legitimate leader. In one case Elisha suggested that no one trusts him and in the other Elisha lashes out to his enemies. 

When Elisha struggles with legitimacy, people get hurt. In this case, young people die.

There was another who ascended to heaven and when his followers came to share this good news, they were considered drunk. When the disciple preached that Pentecost Sunday they, like Elisha, had their legitimacy questioned. They did not call forth She-bears. 

When the legitimacy of the leader is called into question some leaders lash out, curse enemies and call forth destruction. They look sort of like they early days of Elisha. Christianity requires a different response. Notice that Christians are not called "Elishans." Christians do not curse our enemies and wish/cause their destruction - even in the face of a legitimacy crisis.

Christianity marked by not in how we agree

Reverend Ryan Kiblinger is a doctoral candidate for a PhD in the area of Christian catechism. He and I have known one another for a while now and we have come to engage in a handful of intellectual spats over the years. It is clear that am very much out of my intellectual league when I am in his presence. It is also clear that he and I do not agree on a number of what many might consider to be "critical aspects of what it means to be Christian". And, to be clear, every time I see him, I rejoice in our interactions and friendship. 

After a heated bit of conversation at a meeting of laity and clergy around the area I live (this meeting is called "Annual Conference"), Ryan gave me a hug.

He and I spoke with one another and I thanked him for his kind words of support. Then Ryan said what I am not smart enough to come up with on my own and was the best part of my whole three day experience. To paraphrase Ryan:

Christianity marked by not in how we agree but how we disagree.

The best part of my annual conference experience was being affirmed by someone who I disagree with and being reminded once again that they will know we are Christians by our love.

Thank you Ryan.