So there I was, sitting in a church service a few days after Christmas.
The worship was well led, and the preacher came and started giving a very good talk contrasting King Herod and King Jesus in the nativity story.
So far, in a way, there were no surprises. But then he paused and started to talk about how, today too, the Kingship of Jesus is being rejected in all sorts of subtle and surprising ways which exalt us as human beings in the place of God.
And on the screen behind him he showed a photo he had taken of a flier in Burger King which he had seen on a recent visit to the fast food store.
This is what it says: "Have it your way. You have the right to have what you want, exactly when you want it. Because on the menu of life, you are 'Today's Special'. And tomorrow's. And the day after that. And... well, you get the drift. Yes, that's right. We may be the King, but you my friend, are the almighty ruler."
Just pause and reflect on that for a moment. I know we live in a narcissistic, self-centred society where advertisers are constantly massaging our egos, and I realise there is a certain tongue-in-cheek element in this blurb. But really. "You, my friend, are the almighty ruler"? I think not!
We live in a society where this sort of nonsense is pumped into our brains by the vast money-making enterprises that run much of our lives, while at the same time a cinema advert here in the UK based on the Lord's Prayer is banned. It's like letting sewage come through our taps while disabling the water purification system.
Fear not, this isn't a call to boycott Burger King.
But perhaps as Christians we need to exercise greater shrewdness about the sort of nonsense that is potentially brainwashing us over the airwaves, across the internet and in our newspapers. Otherwise, we are in danger of breathing in the toxic fumes of a self-centred culture that is gradually edging out the true "almighty ruler" and the idea of a life of self-sacrificial love and grace which he calls us to live through Christ.
It's not just advertising where these values seep in. It happens elsewhere too. For example, the Invictus Games of 2014 were a wonderful international sporting event for wounded, injured and sick service personnel; another is due to be held in Orlando in 2016. I wouldn't want, for a moment, to criticise its participants in any way or be anything less than wholeheartedly enthusiastic about it as a concept.
But was I the only one to feel slightly uneasy about the way the name of God ("I AM" – Exodus 3v14) was used as the two word slogan for the games? It's taken from the last two lines of the poem by William Ernest Henley which read: "I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul." Again, I think not! Life – and death – will in the end prove these sentiments to be a lie. There is a far better master and captain of our souls than we ourselves can ever be, and we delude ourselves if we think otherwise – however brave or noble our aspirations.
So as we enter 2016 let's be discerning about the slogans, catchphrases and values that circulate around us, almost without our noticing. Let's be clear-headed and gracious but firm, so we can point people to the real King who is the true Almighty Ruler – and the real Captain of Our Souls.
David Baker is a former daily newspaper journalist working as a church minister in Sussex, England.
