{"id":4423,"date":"2025-02-19T07:49:58","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T12:49:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=4423"},"modified":"2025-02-19T07:49:58","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T12:49:58","slug":"beyond-fandom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/19\/beyond-fandom\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Fandom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>

I am a stark raving fan of Emerson, Lake and Palmer, the 1970s British progressive rock group.

Classic rock stars are a disappearing breed, of course, and in 2016 the world lost both Keith Emerson and Greg Lake.

Therefore my last chance to connect personally with ELP is Carl Palmer, widely regarded as one of the most creative drummers in rock history.

I could walk up to him today and say, \u201cMr. Palmer \u2013 may I call you Carl?<\/em> \u2013 I\u2019ve bought all of your albums. Your greatest hits, too. I have obediently upgraded my collection from LP\u2019s to cassettes to CD\u2019s to multiple digital storage systems.\u00a0

\u201cI stayed with you guys when you broke up.\u00a0And when you got back together again.\u00a0And then broke up a second time.\u00a0And then tried that horrible reunion 15 years ago, the one where Greg could no longer hit the high notes on his solos.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0

\u201cI\u2019ve listened to your songs when I\u2019ve walked my dogs, washed my dishes, and taken long drives in the country.

\u201cI have personally introduced dozens of other people to your best stuff.\u00a0On two occasions I\u2019ve even featured you in a Morning Reflection.\u00a0Carl, I just want you to know that I\u2019ve been your heartfelt fan for more than a half century now, and I\u2019m still your guy.\u201d

If such an opportunity ever presented itself, I\u2019m pretty sure I know what would happen.\u00a0I think Carl Palmer would look at me with a curiously blank face and say (with a really cool, detached British accent), \u201cAnd what was your name again?\u201d

There\u2019s a world of difference between knowing someone virtually<\/em> and knowing someone actually<\/em>.\u00a0

It\u2019s the difference between being a fan and forging an actual relationship.

Jesus is not looking for fans.\u00a0

Not even stark raving fans.\u00a0

Some Bible students suggest that the scariest verses in Scripture are Matthew 7:21-23, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount.\u00a0Jesus is forecasting a moment in the future when people will come to him positively gushing about their perceived relationship. \u201cWe were your biggest supporters!\u00a0Look at everything we did in your name. And it was all for you<\/em>, Lord.\u201d\u00a0

But Jesus is not impressed:

\u201cNot everyone who says to me, \u2018Lord, Lord,\u2019\u00a0will enter the kingdom of heaven,\u00a0but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.\u00a0Many will say to me on that day,\u00a0\u2018Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?\u2019\u00a0Then I will tell them plainly, \u2018I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!\u2019

Jesus, in so many words, will say to these individuals who have presumed an intimate friendship with him, \u201cExcuse me, but have we met?\u201d

It\u2019s possible to spend our lives collecting Christian experiences and even to fancy ourselves as experts along a whole spectrum of religious pursuits \u2013 yet not actually know Jesus. Our astonishing privilege is not just to know about<\/em> Christ, but to know Christ and make him known<\/em>.

It\u2019s fun being a fan. But real life lies beyond fandom.

Our true call is to live each day as disciples, or lifelong learners, of the Son of God.

And as that happens, as ELP might put it, oh, what a lucky man I\u2019ll be.
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here I am a stark raving fan of Emerson, Lake and Palmer, the 1970s British progressive rock group. Classic rock stars are a disappearing breed, of course, and in 2016 the world lost both Keith Emerson and Greg Lake. Therefore my last chance to connect personally with ELP is Carl Palmer, widely… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4424,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[129],"class_list":["post-4423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-discipleship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4423"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4425,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4423\/revisions\/4425"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}