Who Do You Think You Are?

Sunday, February 1, 2015

          The first thing I’d like you to do, if you are willing, is to take out the announcements insert and write down the numbers 1 through 4 as though you were making a list.

          We’re going to play a game I learned from a priest named John Newton.

1.     Write down a verb, in its past tense, and ending with “ed.” (A verb is an action word. It can pretty much be any word ending with the letters “ed” that signifies something that happened in the past)

2.     The name of someone you admire

3.     Adjective (A word that describes something: tall, blue, rugged, etc.)

4.     Noun (Person, place, or thing)

Since I saw you last I’ve been to Unity Village and back. While I was there this week I served on a team of ministers that interview and evaluate current students. In general terms we evaluate their progress in two areas: their ability to define Unity principles and how they use them in their lives, and, self-awareness.

Part of self-awareness includes defining our True Nature. We look for evidence of movement from the intellectual concept of our True Nature… to an experience and expression of it.

Now let’s put those four words you wrote down words into this sentence:

I am one ___ by ___. This is my ___ self. Every other identity is a (an) ___.

The four words I chose when I did this were: lighted, Abraham Lincoln, large, and boat.

Would anyone else like to share their “definition” of who they are?

Obviously, these definitions are ridiculous. They doesn’t even make sense. At the core of your being, this isn’t who you are. If someone were to say, “Who are you?” your answer wouldn’t be “I’m one lighted by Abraham Lincoln.” In terms of defining your identity, that’s a ridiculous way to fill in the blank. But how should you fill in the blank? I am _____. Who are you?

We might answer I’m a minister. I’m a business student. I’m an athlete. I’m a factory worker. I’m a retiree, I’m the president of the Indianapolis chapter of the New England Patriots fan club.

At the core of our being, our identity – who we are – can’t be tied to any of these things. Because what happens if we deliver a bad Sunday talk? Or graduate and can’t find a job? Who are we going to be then? A bad minister? An unemployed ex business student? I know that I do not want to see myself as I am not.

The facts are that you and I have hard time standing firm, first, in the knowledge and then in the experience and expression of who we are. And typically when we’re not sure who we are, we panic and start filling in the blanks in ridiculous ways. After all, we have to be someone. And so we make our life about perfecting an image. We find something the world values – money, power, our intellect, our sense of humor, the way we look, our skill at getting what we want from other people, how religious we are, how well we’re doing in school – and we build our identity around that. We make our life about perfecting an image. The only problem is, always working to perfect our image is competitive and exhausting, and before we know it, our lives become motivated by fear; fear of not measuring up. Fear of not living up to the expectations of others. Fear of losing our sense of self-worth. And a person driven by fear can’t see anything beyond or behind the image they’re trying to perfect.

Matthew 3:13-17, Jesus is baptized in the Jordan by John The Baptist. And at his baptism, Jesus hears a voice from heaven telling him who he is. Jesus receives unique insight into his identity. “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Now remember – Jesus hasn’t done a thing “to prove himself” yet. He hasn’t healed the sick or cast out any demons or preached a single sermon. And yet God tells Jesus that he is the beloved. Jesus is told that his life is pleasing to God.

What might Jesus be feeling on a day like that? He probably would be beaming from ear to ear and thinking of himself beyond the idea, “I’m a carpenter. I’m a Jew. I’m the son of Joseph” and thinking “I am the beloved son of my Father in heaven. I am one with whom God is well-pleased.”

There is some scripture in Colossians in which Paul says something to the effect that we have died and our identity is hidden with Christ in God.  In other words, we have died to (forgotten) who we are, and where is the remembrance of that identity seemingly hidden? Our identity is with Christ (Love) “within” God.

God sees us – not as we see ourselves in the worldly sense – but as we are in Spirit. God looks at each of us --- and says to us --- the very same thing that was said to Jesus on the day of His baptism, “You are my dear, dear child. And I’m absolutely delighted with you.”

But our story doesn’t stop here, because after hearing these words, Jesus doesn’t begin his ministry just yet, but we find Him in the wilderness where He is tempted.

Do you have a wilderness kind of experience where you feel lost and alone… and ego tempts you to believe you are unworthy, that you have to do something to earn God’s love – that you have to prove yourself in order for God to be well-pleased with your life? This is error thinking. This what we are asking for help with when we pray, “and leave us not in temptation, but deliver us from error for Thine (not ego) is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, forever. Not just for once in a while or from time to time, but for ever and ever.

I believe we are all tempted with those thoughts.

What I think we need to do more than anything is change the way we fill in the blanks when it comes to defining who we are. Because at the core of our being, we are not how we look. We are not our resume. We are not our I.Q. We are not our latest Sunday talk. We are not our latest relationship, and so on and so on, because who we are – at the core of our being – has nothing to do with us. And it has everything to do with God.

We are worthy; and what God said to Jesus, God says to us. “You are my dear, dear child. And I’m absolutely delighted with you.”

And so get out your announcements insert and take a look at your fill-in-the-blank sentence again. The question is – who are you? 

How should you define yourself?

Define yourself as one LOVED by GOD. This is your TRUE self. Every other identity is an ILLUSION. 

(Thank you to Father John Newton for your idea and words, used without permission (because I couldn’t find you to ask)).