But one thing that has struck me deeply is watching the way her fans worship her. The passionate excitement of millions of people screaming in utter amazement and longing just to see, meet, touch another person is crazy when you think about it. I fall into it too, I'm like I want to be Taylor Swift's best friend forever! haha
The essence of fandom is worship. Although I am intrigued by Taylor Swift and her following, I am more intrigued and convinced that God has really and truly created humans to be worshipers. God has put a deep longing and need in every soul to worship.
I started thinking why do Taylor Swift's fans worship her with such intensity? And I have come up with 2 reasons (there are probably more.)
1. She gets them. (us...). In her her lyrics she depicts her personal journey with love, loss, heartbreak, longing, mistakes, break-ups, getting over someone, excitement of romance, and the let downs of romance. And that just resonates with SO MANY PEOPLE. Especially girls. Some of her lyrics have just depicted perfectly how I am feeling at times and I'm like wow, someone just put my thoughts and feelings into such acurate words. It feels so nice to be understood like that.
2. She cares about her fans and interacts with them. (like on an extreme level). On one of her tours she had these meet and greets called "T-parties" and she had people walk through her concerts and select crazy fans to come to this T-party to meet her and hang out with her after the show. She did a 13 hour signing one day and people lined up for 13 hours... crazy! She retweets their tweets and comments on their Instagram. She went to one of her fans wedding showers. Just showed up with a bunch of gifts. She invited 89 fans to 5 of her houses to let them hear her album a month before she released it AND BAKED THEM COOKIES! She is always appreciating her fans.
She goes above and beyond for her fans and they worship her.
And that got me thinking about how God created us in his own image. He gets us. And then he sent Jesus to walk the earth and face our temptations, struggles and physical limitations. God gets us. He writes words in the Bible that resonate with what we go through. Yet his words extends beyond just romance. He writes about suffering, loss, pain, relationships, death, life, rejection, rebellion, need, peace, joy, restoration and redemption. He writes songs, stories, and letters that essentially say, "I get you." Not only does he get us, he meets our needs, leads us, discipline us, and knows us personally.
God also cares about us and interacts with us. Not on social media but more intimately. He gives us his actual presence and undivided attention. He speaks directly to us when we listen through his Spirit and his Word. Not only does he perform for us but he leads us. Not only does he work on projects that all of us will like, he does it personally and specifically for each one of us. He doesn't come to us on tour every 2 years but comes to us every moment, in our joys, in our heartbreaks, in our mundane moments.
He goes above and beyond for us. He sent his own son to die in our place and give us eternal life with him. And we worship him.
We are created to worship and praise and adore, not other people, but the God and Lord and Ruler of the entire universe and of our entire lives.
