People love celebrities.
Let me rephrase- individualistic cultures love celebrities. In community-based cultures, there are no celebrities and stars because they have an understanding that "stars" only truly exist because of the people around him or her. The phrase "I am because we are" (ubuntu) eliminates celebrities.
We, however, do not live in an ubuntu world. And so we love celebrities. I have my dream celebrities- people I would love to meet. And why would I love to meet them? So that I could say "(some celebrity) had a part in my life, and I had a part in theirs." And so, if I found out that Denzel Washington or someone was in Traverse City, I would be in my car.
The same principle existed in ancient Israel to some extent. The powerful people were the celebrities, and people followed the powerful people.
The problem is that a kind of fantasy sprung up around celebrities (then and now). So people became the saviors, rather than God. This psalm is meant to correct that. The celebrity in this psalm is not the powerful prince, but anyone who puts their trust in the LORD and who places their hope in God's salvation. They, and you, are the true celebrities. While the pathway of money, fame and power will bring ruin (to the celebrity and others), God rescues, liberates and heals.
In other words, God is incredibly concerned with empowering other people. Celebrity tends to motivate people to hoard power and compete on internet polls and iTunes downloads. God's kind of celebrity is all about passing off our power to others. And that's what I hope we are all about today.
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