A
Saving Identity
Sermon preached by Rev. Larry Young
New Year's Day
January 1, 2006
Scripture:
Isaiah 60:1-6 and Luke 2:22-32
The
question “Who am I?” is never a trivial question. Having
a sense of who we are is basic to our mental health, to our sense
of self worth, and to our general happiness and well-being. Recently
there have been several movies in which the leading character is totally
discombobulated because he (or she) has lost his memory of who he
is, owing to some kind of trauma. But we see this often enough in
real life. For example, if a close friend or family member is suddenly
taken from us, we may well feel adrift because so much of our identity
was entwined with that person. We read about hurricane victims totally
uprooted from their homes and communities and having to rebuild their
sense of identity as they rebuild their lives in a strange place.
Even predictable life stages such as reaching the age of 40 or 50,
or retirement, or experiencing the empty nest, can trigger an identity
crisis. At such times we have a fresh awareness of how important our
personal sense of identity is to our well-being. We need to know who
we are in order to live with confidence and meaning.
Now
chances are that the start of a new year is not a time that calls
into question our identity, though it does serve as a reminder that
the time of our lives is passing. Some of us do pause long enough
to consider resolutions for ourselves that we hope will help tune
us up toward being who we want to be. But however it impacts us, New
Year’s Day is a fitting time to reflect on the basis of our
identity as people of faith. And that identity can be stated very
simply: we are sons and daughters of God, bound in covenant with our
Creator and Redeemer.
If
you want to find a core theme that ties the whole Bible together,
it is the theme of covenant. Beginning with Adam and Eve, we find
God creating humans out of love and promising to care for them, but
doing so in the hope that humans would respond to God’s love
and choose to live as God intended. The story of Adam and Eve eating
the forbidden apple shows us how well that worked! But God didn’t
give up on us. In calling Abraham, God made explicit the covenant
relationship God intended for all humanity. God has promised to keep
faith with us and guide us into life’s fullness; and God will
keep covenant with us even apart from our response to God’s
initiative. Our true identity is to be God’s daughters and sons!
In turn God’s fondest hope is that we will claim our identity
and live in faithfulness to God’s will and purpose for us. If
you want a summary of the Bible’s
(continued...)
"A
Saving Identity" by Rev. Larry Young, January 1, 2006
message, that’s it. And we’ve just celebrated the climactic
point in God’s covenant-making with us—namely, God’s
coming to us in Jesus to show us the depth of God’s love and God’s
caring for our wholeness. From a Christian perspective, the birth of
Jesus marked the fulfillment of Jewish hopes for the coming of a Messiah
who would confirm God’s covenant promises. That’s why the
righteous old man Simeon got so excited when Mary and Joseph brought
the infant Jesus into the temple for the rite of dedication. With the
Holy Spirit’s guidance, Simeon perceived that this infant was
in fact the promised Messiah; and so he praises God, saying: “My
eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence
of all peoples.” God’s covenant promises have been kept.
And now Simeon can die in peace, knowing that not only he but all peoples
are held in the arms of a loving and saving God. He is now more certain
than ever about his identity as a son of God.
Simeon
poses well the question that’s before all of us on this Sunday
after Christmas. As we remember again how God has confirmed the divine
covenant with us in Christ’s coming, what will this mean for our
personal identity in the new year? Will we simply say, “It’s
nice to know of God’s love and care for me,” and then go
our own merry way as we choose? Or will we claim our identity as a covenant
people of God and seriously consider what it will mean for us to live
into our future as a daughter or son of God? You see, to claim our covenant
identity means to recognize that we were created not to live aimlessly
but to find our life’s meaning and wholeness in relationship with
our Creator. It is to know that a covenant people is who we really are—those
to whom God’s light has come! Yes, that is an audacious-sounding
claim—one to be taken with humility, not arrogance. But it is
a claim to be taken seriously, as with fear and trembling we sort out
what it means to live as sons and daughters of God in our time.
A
compelling illustration of what’s at stake here came through to
me in a recent story in the Christian Century magazine. Gregory Jones,
the dean of Duke Divinity School, recently took a group of students
to Rwanda, the country in which 800,000 persons perished in the genocide
of ten years ago that pitted Hutus against Tutsis in tribal warfare.
The students learned that 90% of the Rwandan people are Christian; yet
ironically more people in the genocide were killed in churches than
anywhere else. But then the students found the Muslim community of Nyamirambo,
the only part of Rwanda that had no killing. Both Hutus and Tutsis lived
there—so how did that community escape the genocide? This was
the answer they got: the people’s identity as Muslims and their
commitment to Allah was so fundamental to them that they could not envision
killing one another.
What
a witness that is for us who call ourselves Christian! We should be
able to make the same claim: that because of our identity as sons and
daughters of God and our commitment to Jesus Christ, we will not be
a part of that which we know violates God’s will and intentions
for us. Rather we will allow our identity to truly make a difference
in how we live and interact with our world.
(continued...)
"A
Saving Identity" by Rev. Larry Young, January 1, 2006
Whether
we do New Year resolutions or not, the start of a new year is the
right time to reflect on how we intend to live and act in the days
ahead. It’s a good time to ask ourselves how we aim to live
out our identity as a covenant son or daughter of God; and I hope
you’ll give some thought to that during the communion time this
morning. What will your Christian identity mean for your family relationships—your
work life—your community involvements—your use of time
and money—your ethical and moral decisions—your role in
the church? And as together we make up the church, let’s also
reflect on what will enable us as a church to be more fully a covenant
people of God—to more truly “Be the Hope” for a
world in need.
Holy
Communion reminds us that the Christ who came to give us a saving
identity went the whole distance for us and gave his life so that
we would know the unlimited saving love of our covenant God. So come
to Christ’s table this morning with thanksgiving and with hope
and expectation for a new year in covenant with the One who gives
us life in all its fullness.
Amen.
©Larry
Young, 2006. Permission is given for brief quotation with attribution.
All other rights reserved.
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