I love Ohio State football. Pretty much the only reason that I pay for cable TV all year long is so that I can satisfy a yearly appetite for that one sport. I know that a lot of people have a disdain for the Buckeyes, but when you grow up in Columbus, Ohio it pretty much comes with the DNA.
However, if there is something that I love more about Ohio State than Buckeye Football, it is the Ohio State University Marching Band. The only thing I regret about my choice of undergraduate school was missing out on playing in the OSUMB. They truly are the best student musical group in the United States, if not the world.
Recently, my son and I went to the skull session before a home game, and I was completely struck by themes of worship. Not overt worship of the band per se, but of any and all things Ohio State.
Someone has well said that man is a worshipping creature. That observation was on full display. Thousands of people wearing the sacred robes of scarlet and gray. Women dressed in outfits that they would never wear in front of their mother with makeup applied to attract and catch the lust, desire and worship of men. Songs written to an Alma Mater ("Oh! Come let's sing Ohio's praise..."). I saw fans of music, sport, achievement - you name it - clapping, screaming, and cheering this scarlet and gray hued theme. Most people would blow off my concern saying that I am a religious fanatic and that I am just reading things into this experience. But doesn't it evidence the truth that when we stop worshipping the true God, we must find something to take its place?
C.S. Lewis said that one of the pivotal moments in his understanding of specifically worshipping God was the realization that everyone in life worships. In his book, Reflections on the Psalms, he states:
"The world rings with praise—lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favourite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favourite game – praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians or scholars... I had not noticed either that just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: “Isn’t she lovely? Wasn’t it glorious? Don’t you think that magnificent?” 1
In some ways it is beautiful to see people enjoy something deeply with great abandon. In other ways, we all need to watch that the things we enjoy do not become idols. Idols that we keep giving priority to eventually let us down (best case scenario), or completely eat our souls.
So while I will continue to enjoy Buckeye football, I need to be continually reminded that all praise needs to be submitted to the greater praise for God and all of the gifts that He grants us in this world - not as an end in itself. I need not be so worked up no matter the outcome of the game as to feel that God is not on His throne (in the event of a loss), or that there is nothing better in the universe than a Buckeye win. God is the greatest object of our attention and praise – not because I say so, but because our souls testify to this need to worship things greater than ourselves – things that do not perish with the use.
1 C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms. (New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1958), pp. 93–97
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