I have already said in a previous post about how, in my Philosophy AS course, I studied the notion of how various ideas can be shared throughout the world - such as the idea of God. One philosophical theory claimed that because the idea of God seems to be universal, such an idea must be innate: that it must be an idea that humans are instilled with prior to birth. This philosophical reasoning points to the fame of God - as Chris Tomlin's Famous God puts it - "throughout the earth".

The fundamental characteristics of God that I studied in my GCSE RE lessons all point to the idea that God is famous; world-known, a household name. That God is omnipresent calls for God to be everywhere, and therefore recognised by people all over the earth. That God is omnipotent, and has influence over all events everywhere, suggest that God can be known through acts throughout the earth. Indeed, this last point is also eluded to in the song Famous One, which describes one of the ways that God is revealed on the earth is through "nature and miracles"; these are also two reasons why many claim they came to faith in the first place. That God is omniscient and can know all things shows that He can use His knowledge to further His fame.

Yet it is fundamentally because the idea of God - maybe not of Yahweh specifically, but of an omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient Being who has influence over the events and individuals of this world - seems to be shared by everyone on the planet is the reason for God's fame. Even atheists cannot deny that they have an idea of God, i.e. an idea of an omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient Being who has influence over the events and individuals of this world. Therefore God has fame throughout the world in the minds and hearts of humans.

Yet what about through nature? Chris Tomlin says that God is revealed through nature, and the Design Theory - that the world fits together so well and is so beautiful that it can only have come about through the power of a Creator who predates the world - would certainly make the case that God is famous through nature. But is He famous to nature?

I have recently come home from holiday, and while I was there I visited Lincoln Cathedral. While talking to a woman who works there, she told me a story of how a group of flowers swaying in the wind looked as though they were dancing and praising God. While one could argue that this was a matter of perception, it certainly cannot be denied that God uses nature as part of His plan; and that nature is aware of God.

Take the case of Balaam's donkey in Numbers. Balaam has been called by Balak to curse the Israelites, and Balaam - despite being a man of God and telling Balak that he will only say what God tells him to - goes to see Balak anyway. While on the road, an angel of the Lord appears before Balaam and his donkey, but Balaam cannot see the angel - however, his donkey can. In this story, the donkey - though not a human, and purely part of nature - is profoundly aware of the divine unseen, and is directly influenced by God and His angel.

Jesus also speaks of nature being aware of God. In Luke 19:39-40, Jesus is making His triumphal entrance into Jerusalem. While the people are placing their coats and palm leaves down on the road before the colt that Jesus is riding into the city on and praising the entrance of their King, some of Jesus' enemies attempt to rebuke the worshippers and tell them to stop praising Jesus. Jesus, however, tells them that if the people were to stay silent, the stones on the road would worship Him instead. This statement shows that not only are the animate parts of nature - such as Balaam's donkey - aware of God in a profound way, but also the inanimate parts of nature as well. Therefore God is famous throughout the entire world: through humans and nature, both animate and inanimate.

A few years ago, I was into rock and heavy metal (I still am to some degree, but not as much as I was). I read a magazine called Kerrang!, and every year, Kerrang! had an awards ceremony that was held in a "secret location" (everyone knew where it was). As a result of the location being so "secret" (everyone - I mean everyone - knew where it was), loads of people turned up to stand outside and see their favourite rock stars go in to the awards. It was at this awards ceremony that I did one of the most embarrassing things I have ever done: I told a rock star that I loved him. Which wasn't even true.

The point is, I was so overwhelmed by the fact that I was meeting one of my favourite rock stars (no, I'm not going to tell you who it is, and you probably wouldn't have heard of him even if I did) that it prompted me to act in such an embarrassing way, just because he was famous.

If God is famous - and, as we have seen, much more famous than the rock star - then why don't we get so giddy when we are in His presence (which is all the time, due to His omnipresence)? An Eddie Izzard set broached the subject of the dullness of Anglican worship. He said that Anglicans, during hymns, all sing with the same inflection in their voice, i.e. none at all. I first saw this clip of Eddie Izzard talking about this in church, and everyone laughed because it was true: we did - and probably to some degree, still do - worship in such a boring and uninspired fashion.

So why, when faced with earthly celebrities, we make a fool out of ourselves, but when praising God - the ultimate, heavenly celebrity - we are afraid to let ourselves go? I guess what I'm saying is that God is truly famous, and that because of this we should worship Him like He is, which may involve making a fool of ourselves sometimes, but we serve a wacky God who has a sense of humour, and is glad that if we are to make a fool of ourselves, we are making a fool of ourselves for Him.