A tinge of grief this morning as I dropped my old commuter backpack into the trash barrel. It was time. The few tears I could put up with, but the zipper had been failing for some months and now has given out completely.
It was a Wenger backpack that I’d picked up from the Watertown MA Staples about 18 years ago. I recall it being one of the more expensive backpacks there (around $75), but even Tonia would have to agree that the years of service justified the cost. That thing got used! I lugged it stuffed with commentaries and computer and notebooks into countless coffee shops. It accompanied me on the bike through the darkness down the Charles River path en route to 23 Chapel on countless eeeaaarrrlllyyy Sunday mornings when the sermon was yet only half-baked. Strapped on me walking to the church building in Newton, propped on the passenger seat driving to the church building in Somers. I’m sure my kids grew up associating that bag with Dad’s work. So, thank you, blue-grey Backpack.
Inexpensive backpacks, expensive backpacks, all kinds of stuff, abstracted wealth – sure, all these (incredibly, when you think about it) can block one’s view of God, as an ugly thumb brought up close can shut out the sun. And that’s a reliable description of an IDOL – that upon which the gaze terminates short of God.
But the answer to the IDOL threat is NOT to despise or even look down on stuff… and prefer the immaterial/ disembodied!
Because under the Spirit’s shaping, almost any STUFF that’s an IDOL could otherwise serve as an IKON – the thing through which one looks and worships God, by which one’s being wells up in thankfulness to God.
Look upon – bad. Look through – good.
IDOL – bad. IKON – good.
Perhaps years ago in that Staples on Soldiers Field Road when my eyes first landed on that backpack and my soul filled with a desire to possess it, to me that Wenger product had IDOL status. But through countless carries under countless suns the grace of God has put it squarely in the category of IKON. That backpack draws my mind up to the faithful kindness of God.
So, let the backpacks of the world rejoice in their Ultimate Maker, let Wenger and all their products clap their hands, praising the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted. And as the last, may my next backpack serve HIS purposes.
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