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12 God and Popular Culture The image of incarnation might be of arms outstretched reaching up in prayer and hands outstretched reaching down in grace. Where the finger- tips touch, that is incarnation or to borrow Tillich’s term, it is the “Eternal Now.” In the past, we have tended to say the words “Eternal Now” in a single breath, as if the “Eternal Now” were an experience of timeless- ness. Today, however, the 71 lifestyle segments in the United States have inserted punctuation in the phrase. Each lifestyle segment wants “the eter- nal, now!” Right now. Right here. The fullness of God, right away. The “Eternal, Now!” is not timelessness, but timeliness. Lifestyle segments today, even the religious ones, are generally draw- ing away from worship services. Attendance is rapidly declining. However, this does not mean that lifestyle segments are less worshipful. Ironically, as they are more urgent to experience incarnation, they are more reluctant to accept contrived, controlled, pseudoexperiences of the Holy that take the place of the “Eternal, Now!” The incarnational moment occurs when the fullness of God intersects with the spiritual yearning of human beings. The depth of being and the power of being connect, but the outcome of the connection depends on the nature of the anxiety. • • Lifestyle segments reach up from emptiness, looking for direction, and experi- ence God as Spiritual Guide. • • Other segments reach up from meaninglessness, looking for truth, and experi- ence God as Perfect Human. • • Lifestyle segments reach up from fate, looking for deliverance, and experience God as Higher Power. • • Still other segments reach up from death, looking for new life, and experience God as Promise Keeper. • • Segments reach up from guilt, looking for forgiveness and wholeness, and experience God as Healer. • • Other segments reach up from victimization, looking for justice and self-esteem, and experience God as Vindicator. Christians may well describe their incarnational moments as experiences of “Jesus the Christ,” but they will mean different things by it. There is no standardized, universal, “one-size-fits-all” experience of Jesus Christ. Each lifestyle segment is driven by distinct existential anxieties, which in turn define the spiritual yearnings that compel, drive, or demand the search for absolutes and the quest for God. Nevertheless, even incarnational experience is not ultimately what seekers seek. Tillich was aware of this as he belatedly wrote the last volume