The task was to dissect the story of the Israelites and the golden calf with high school youth. I went straight to jealousy, and we easily talked about coveting cool shoes, the newest iPhone, easily earned high test scores, raw hockey prowess or the attention of a particular person being given freely and enthusiastically to someone else.

What, though, does jealousy have to do with love? What does it mean that God wants our attention?

We talked about misplaced attention in our society, again with ease. We focus so much time on a particular kind of standardized test points-driven classroom educational success. We let our social media image and images carry too much influence. We take part in the build up and take down of celebrities. Golden calves everywhere.

The idols we have created, however, are metaphorical. I would argue this makes it easy to discuss what we have idolized and paid too much attention to without actually taking steps to dismantle the idol or build a new shrine. The world of actual golden calves and ritual sacrifices seems far away. We can say what we shouldn’t be about, but what, then, are we willing to stand up for?

I have a small, raised platform on my desk that looks like a candle stand. On it, I originally placed two votive candles. My spiritual director encouraged me to light the candles, each representing a baby I lost to miscarriage, whenever I felt sad. Lighting those candles validated my experience and honored the existence of the life that was indeed present in my body. I’ve added things over the years since, little trinkets that symbolize other things and moments on my journey. It is not a shrine or an idol. It’s a tangible place for me to go to honor who God made me, the path God put me on and thus the God who has walked with me on the journey with compassion and love.

In our worship communities today, distanced from ritual sacrifice where we are in no danger of constructing an actual golden calf, how do we take tangible steps toward giving our attention back to God? What can we build to show God our commitment to what God is all about in the world? What is worthy of reverence, time, attention and worship?

What would you put on your shine?