Owing nothing

"I am God, your God. (...)

I will not accept a bull from your house,

or goats from your folds.

For every wild animal of the forest is mine,

the cattle on a thousand hills.

I know all the birds of the air,

and all that moves in the field is mine.

If I were hungry, I would not tell you,

for the world and all that is in it is mine.

Do I eat the flesh of bulls,

or drink the blood of goats?

Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving

and pay your vows to the Most High.

Call on me in the day of trouble;

I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."

Psalm 50:7-15 (NRSV).

Mulling over her part hilarious, part depressing observations at church, a witness to the fumbling and clunky ways we humans attempt to pay tribute to God, writer Annie Dillard concludes:

God does not demand that we give up our personal dignity [i.e., immerse ourselves in clunky church experience], that we throw in our lot with random people, that we lose ourselves and turn from all that is not him. God needs nothing, asks nothing, and demands nothing, like the stars. It is a life with God which demands these things. (...)
You do not have to do these things; not at all. God does not, I regret to report, give a hoot. You do not have to do these things--unless you want to know God. They work on you, not on him.
You do not have to sit outside in the dark. If, however, you want to look at the stars, you will find that darkness is necessary. But the stars neither require nor demand it.

(from: Teaching a Stone to Talk)

God does care about us, of course. His healing power is woven into the very fabric of this world, always available to us as we heed its beckoning. On occasion, it even enters our lives, unbidden. But God doesn't require any particular ritual or faith practice. It is us who need those to know Him. 

Likewise, our gratefulness, our calls for help, our attempts to live a faithful life are not some spiritual tax we owe. Their purpose is to guide us into life abundant. Out of abundance, our songs of praise arise naturally.