Who Are You? Reflections on Identity - 4/10/16

    

             (Based on Genesis 1:26-28a, I John 3:1-3, & John 8:1-11)

         So here’s my question for you this week – for you, for me, for all of us: Who are you?… Who ARE you? There are so many ways to answer this question, right? We can answer it by saying our name. “I’m Toby Jones,” or “I’m John Hellenberg.” But our names never truly nor fully capture the essence of who we are. So we might say, “I’m a carpenter,” or “I’m a salesman,” or “I’m a teacher.” But our careers don’t adequately or fully express who we are either, do they?

         If any of us have a drinking problem and have ever attended an AA gathering, we may have grown accustomed to saying, “I’m an alcoholic.” The fact that you have a drinking problem – and can own up to it - is an important part of who you are. It’s something to attack every single day with the 12 steps, with your brothers and sisters in the struggle, and with your Higher Power. But your alcoholism isn’t who you are either; it isn’t your ultimate or defining identity. Each of us is more than all that somehow, aren’t we? We are more than our name, more than our career, more than our addictions or weaknesses, and more than our problems or flaws, right?

         I read a book recently about Pat Tillman, a famous NFL football player who left the NFL at the peak of his career, right after 9/11 to go fight for our country in Iraq and Afghanistan. Early in that book, there’s a story about Tillman’s senior year in high school when he and some of his football teammates got into a bit of rumble outside a pizza place with some kids from a rival team. Tillman – an extremely tough kid – really went after one of these rival kids out in the parking lot, putting that kid in the hospital in serious condition. Tillman’s actions landed him in juvenile hall on assault charges. As you can imagine, the injured boy’s parents could have cared less that Pat Tillman was heading to Arizona State on a football scholarship. They were pissed and convinced that Tillman was a thug, and wanted him punished to the fullest extent of the law.

         Now fast forward to about nine years later. That’s when the news broke that Pat Tillman had died fighting for his country in Afghanistan. The father of that boy Tillman had beat up at the pizza joint happened to hear that news report of Tillman’s death, and he had a very interesting reaction to it. That father said, “I learned that who someone “is” at their worst, lowest moment is NOT who someone is.” I want to say that line again and I want you to say it with me until we’ve all got it memorized. “Who someone is at their worst, lowest moment is NOT who someone is.”

         Life has a way of knocking us all down, doesn’t it? Life even has a way of kicking us when we’re down. Life has a way of wearing down our identity. And when we mess up, as all of us have, other people – even those we love – sometimes seek to label us and to tie our identity to our mistakes, to our worst moments. And that kind of judgmentalism from others can eat away at our genuine, authentic identity too. It can make us lose track of who we really are. It's never good for our identity when we can actually start to believe what others say about us, especially others who focus only on our mistakes.

         I think that’s pretty much what happened to that woman we read about in John 8, who was caught in the act of adultery. That woman had lost her way. Life had knocked her down and then kicked her when she was down. The pharisees had caught her in her worst, lowest moment, and then dragged her naked out to the center of the town square, where they could tie her identity to her worst, lowest moment. They wanted everyone to see her with that scarlet letter around her chest, and those haters knew that once the whole town saw her that way…guess what? They’d never be able to see her as anyone other than an adultress, forever and ever, Amen. The pharisees had decided that who this woman had been at her worst, lowest moment WAS who she really was.

         Thank God Jesus was there! Thank God that Jesus had the wisdom, the compassion, and the vision to see passed this woman’s worst and lowest moment to who she REALLY was! And who was she…? You should know from our scriptures this morning and from our children’s sermon…She was a child of the living God.

         But the Pharisees couldn’t see that! All they could see was a naked woman in a sheet, comitting adultery. That’s all they could see. What if Jesus hadn’t been there? Well, guess what, folks, when the same sort of thing happens in today’s world – and it happens all the time – Jesus isn’t going to be there either. But if you and I are there, I hope to God that we have the wisdom, the compassion, and the vision to see this person at his/her worst and lowest moment as a beloved child of God. That’s our job, now that Jesus is gone. That’s what we have been put on this earth for, and don’t you ever forget it. We are here to remind those who have fallen - and those who want to judge the ones who have fallen that “Who someone is at their worst, lowest moment is NOT who someone is.”

        

         Brothers and sisters, I want you to know - I need you to know - that this question of identity – of who we are - is NOT just some philosophical or theological question for me. For me, it’s personal…about as personal as anything I’ve ever shared with you from this pulpit. Over the last seven years, before I showed up on your church doorstep, I had basically lost everything - all those positive, identifying tags that we all have come to hang our hats on. I had been a minister, but I lost that job…I had been a husband and a step father, but I got divorced and lost my wife and step kids… I had been a person of some means – a house, health insurance, some savings for the future – but suddenly all that is gone. So who am I, after all that has been stripped away? How do I answer that question when everything I had formerly based my identity on was gone? You see, this identity business has not been an easy one for me.

         That’s where these biblical passages I shared earlier come into play. The passages we heard this morning are the ones that I’ve decided to base my identity for the rest of my life.

         Beginning at the beginning, there’s Genesis 1:26-27. This is the creation account: “Then God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image, in our likeness…Then God created humans in his own image. In the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.” What does that passage say to me? It says that God has put a little of himself in me, that can never be taken away. Genesis 1 teaches that God gave me a core and a spirit that is special, unique and good, the very same core that Jesus had.

         Richard Rohr puts it this way: “In truth, we must change our very self-image, rather than just be told some new things to see or do. To be a Christian is to objectively know that we share the very same identity that Jesus himself enjoyed, as both human and divine, which is what it means to "follow" him. In fact, I believe that this is the whole point of the Gospel and the Incarnation!”

         Then there’s another little gem of a passage from I John 3 that has probably made the biggest single difference to me, in my journey to rethink and reshape my identity. Listen to it again: “See what great love the Father has lavished upon us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are.” I’m going to read it again, one more time, so that you can memorize it and say it with me. “See what great love the Father has lavished upon us, that we should be called children of God and that is what we are.” Say it with me…

         This has become my personal identity statement. I say it over and over again to myself: “I’m a beloved child of God. I’m a beloved child of God! THAT is what I am.” And that’s not only true of me; it’s true of every single one of us! It’s true of all men and all women. It’s true of all children and of all octagenerians. It’s true of everybody everywhere – regardless of their color, creed, religion, and even their criminal record. It’s true of everyone, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation. It’s true of everyon inside this room, and it’s equally true of everyone outside this room.

         So I hope all of you will realize this deep and crucial truth, no matter where you are on your journey, no matter where you’ve been, and no matter how badly you’ve screwed up along the way. You have an identity that was given to you by God, it’s the identity we celebrate in our baptism. You are a beloved child of God, and there’s nothing you have done or could ever do to screw that up or lose that God-given identity! Who are you? You are a beloved child of God! THAT is what you are!

         My hope and prayer for each one of you is that you would never let yourself be defined or identified by your lowest moment or by your biggest mistake. My hope is that you will never settle for believing that you are anything less than a beloved child of God, a child of that Higher Power who has created this entire universe.

         But just as importantly, it is also my hope and prayer that we will never identify others by their lowest moments or worst mistakes either. We must never let anyone else out there be identified by their lowest point or worst moment.

         The world can be a pretty tough and unforgiving place. And that’s why I hope that you and everyone of us in this church family will leave this place committed to doing everything in our power to see to it that nothing will ever be able to snuff out that little spark of God that God put in you, in me, and in every other creature on this incredible and beautiful planet.

         Who are you…? You are a beloved child of God, and don’t you EVER forget it! …Who is that person sitting next to you…? A beloved child of God, and don’t you EVER forget it!...Who is that person you are going to pass on the street corner on your way home today…? A beloved child of God, and don’t you EVER forget it! …Who is that neighbor of yours who just got popped for drunk driving…? A beloved child of God, and don’t you EVER forget it!...Who is that man you know who just got caught sleeping with somebody else’s wife? A beloved child of God, and don’t you EVER forget it!...Who is that democrat or that republican who doesn’t see the world quite the same way you do…? A beloved child of God, and don’t you EVER forget it! Never, ever forget who you are…and never ever forget who everyone else is too. Amen.