I remember a few months ago thinking a lot about the spirituality of advertising. Not so much how its evil and promotes greed and envy and what not, but rather, how advertisers use the spiritual to connect with us (and ultimately to connect us with their product).
Whether its the starbucks evangelist spreading the good news of the starbucks third-place experience or Nike's "Witness" campaign staring the miraculous feats of Lebron James, advertisers know that deep down, we resonate, we feel longing, we hunger for something significant, something mystical, something beautiful and right.
It speaks to our nature, our wiring, that juxtaposed mixture of dignity and depravity within. I came across another advertising video that does a powerful job of doing just that. It's an ad for a High-Def Television, but it evokes our wonder at nature and the infinite. Just watch this video and see what it stirs in your own heart, you'll see what I'm talking about.
"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?"
- Psalm 8:3-4
"Who else has held the oceans in his hand?
Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers?
Who else knows the weight of the earth
or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale?
Who is able to advise the Spirit of the LORD?
Who knows enough to give him advice or teach him?
Has the LORD ever needed anyone's advice?
Does he need instruction about what is good?
Did someone teach him what is right
or show him the path of justice?
No, for all the nations of the world are but a drop in the bucket.
They are nothing more than dust on the scales.
He picks up the whole earth as though it were a grain of sand."
- Isaiah 40:12-15




