Who Are We? Charlie Lee First Presbyterian Wilmington 10-26-14 I spent most of this past week up at Union Seminary in Richmond Virginia, attending a continuing ed course called Strategic Planning in an uncertain world. As you can imagine, there were no shortage of people attending this class. There were pastors of large and small churches alike who were all eager to learn, to gain some new items for their toolbox, and who had plenty of stories to share about their experiences of how life in the church and in the surrounding culture has become increasingly volatile and uncertain. Each of us were anxious to learn more effective ways to help our congregations chart a course for the future in a world where the future is uncertain. I learned many helpful things during my time there, but one of the things that stuck out to me as I was in class and thinking about preaching this Sunday, was one of the most basic questions that a congregation must answer in any planning process; the question of identity. Who are we? This is a crucial question not only for organizations, but also for individuals to answer, because if you don t know who you are, then it is hard to know where God might be leading. Think of it as a sport or a race. If you don t know where the starting line is, or even what sport you are playing, then it would be very hard to know where to go or what to do. You might work hard and move around, but you would have no way of knowing if you were making any progress or even moving in the right direction. Therefore, it is important for us to be able to answer this question concerning our identity, Who are we?, so that we might be able to live into that identity and faithfully follow the calling of God.
(Driver s License Illustration) It is fitting that we are talking about this issue of identity as we celebrate both Kirkin the Tartan Sunday and Reformation Sunday. Both are reminders of our heritage that play a central role in the formation of our identity as Christians and as Presbyterians to this day. The issue of identity is also central in our scripture reading for today. You may recall last week we read the text of Moses and his encounter at the burning bush. God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and save them from slavery. This week, we pick the story back up at Mount Sinai; after the Egyptians had suffered the 10 plagues; after God had parted the Red Sea so that Israel could escape from Pharaoh s army; after the people were hungry and thirsty in the wilderness and God made manna rain down from the heavens and water flow from a stone; after they battled and defeated the army of Amalek. During this time, it is safe to say that the people of Israel were a bit uncertain about where they should go, uncertain about what they should do, and uncertain about who they were. So they follow Moses to the mountain, because he says God will meet them there. They prepare themselves to be met by the divine, they gather around the mountain and watch as the peaks are covered with the presence of God in the form of clouds, fire, and lightening. They wait expectantly as Moses goes up to meet with God. NRSV EXODUS 20:1-7, NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME 20 Then God spoke all these words: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3 you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, 6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of
those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work--you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it. Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor You shall not covet your neighbor s house; you shall not covet your neighbor s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, The Ten Commandments. Familiar words for those of us who have grown up in the church. Even if you are new to church or the Christian faith itself, I would assume that these words or notions would still be at least somewhat familiar. They are commonplace in our culture, we teach them to our children, they are woven into the fabric of our society. These Ten Commandments are foundational for us as Christians, but why? Why are they or why should they be important to us? Better yet, why would they be important to the people of Israel? They had just fled a time of slavery and oppression in Egypt and were wandering in the wilderness still trying to figure out what they should do next. Why would these commandments be the first thing God delivered to Moses on that Holy Mountain? It comes back to this important question of identity. In giving these Ten Commandments, God was helping Israel answer the question, Who are we?
Given that is it October 26 th, I would assume that all of you who have kids or grandkids, have asked a similar question of them sometime in the last few weeks. Who do you want to be for Halloween? This is an important question and a tough decision. You may have even had to ask that question again and again to your kids as they might change their minds over the weeks leading up to the big day. I agree, it is a tough decision to decide who you want to be. It is made all that more difficult when you walk into a store and you see how many options you have to choose from. I can still remember when I was a kid, going to the store and picking out a Superman costume with those hard plastic masks that only covered the front half of your face, with the tiny rubber bands that wrapped around your head. I am sure we had our fair share of options when it came to costumes, but I was blown away when I took my kids costume shopping this year. We went to Target and saw isle upon isle of costumes filled with fairy tale characters and every type of super hero you could ever think of. We even went to one of those seasonal Halloween shops that pop up each year and we found even more costumes there! I happy to report that my kids found that perfect costume and they are excited as I m sure all of your kids are to dress up and trick or treat, because for one night they get to change their identity, and be anything they want to be, just by putting on a costume, we get to decide who we are. So when someone ask us, who we are on Halloween night, kids and adults alike get to give a nice easy answer. A fireman, a doctor, a ninja, preacher. However, in real life this questions is much more complicated for most of us to figure out. The question of identity is a difficult one, because it goes much deeper than the clothes or costumes that we wear on the outside. It goes beyond the surface and asks who we are deep within our core. What is it that
defines my being? What is it that makes me who I am today? What is it that tells me who I might be in the future? People spend energy, time, and money trying to answer this question with varying success. We often look for cues within the culture to try and help guide us. We follow the rules set by society that tell us what to do and how to live. We let those rules tell us what it means to be successful, acceptable, or normal. More often than not we allow these outside sources to define our identity, but again & again we are left wanting, felling empty, and incomplete. We can t find our identity in rules, but only in relationship. In relationship with God. Believe it or not, that is what the Ten Commandments are all about. They might seem like just another set of rules or laws that are meant to constrain us, but in fact they are meant to be about a relationship with God in which we are set free. At their core, the Ten Commandments are about identity. They define both who we are and whose we are. They are a description of how the children of God shall live. That is why the Ten Commandments are the first thing that God gives to Moses and the people of Israel once they have been rescued from slavery. Not to enslave them to a new set of rules, but to free them from slavery and claim them as God s chosen people. Brian McLaren explains it this way in his book, We Make the Road by Walking. Through the ten plagues, we might say, God got the people out of slavery. Through the ten commands, God got the slavery out of the people. At this point in the Exodus story, the people of Israel were no longer defined by their slavery and oppression in Egypt, but were given a new identity; a new way to answer the question of Who are we? If asked, they could answer, we are the people of God.
The same is true for us. These Ten Commandments aren t just some dusty old set of rules that only belong on the bulletin board of a children s Sunday school room somewhere. They are the living Word of God and they do for us the same as they did for the people of Israel long ago. They help us understand our identity. They help us understand who we are and whose we are. The commandments help us know what it means to be in relationship with God. John Calvin said that there were three uses for the law/ten Commandments. The first is that they expose our sin. They bring to light the fact that we have all fallen short of what God intends for our lives. The second is that they help restrain our sin. In the same way that field markers help guide players on a football or soccer field and help them to know what is inbounds and what is out of bounds, so too these commandments help us to know what we should or should not do. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, they urge and guide us in our Christian life, and help us remember how we should live in relationship with God and with our neighbor. Again, it is not that we are required to follow these rules in order to earn God s favor, which is something we can never do by our own works. Rather, it is because we have already received God s amazing grace that we live in such a way. The way we live out these commandments is therefore a response of gratitude. Gratitude for God s grace, gratitude for God s salvation, and gratitude that God claims us as God s own people. We follow these commandments, we live out these commandments, or better yet we live into these commandments because they describe who we are as the people of God. The Ten Commandments tell us that we are a people: 1. of priorities, who put God first in our lives 2. of integrity, who refuse to bow down to the idols of this world nor worship anything that is fleeting, tangible, or temporary. 3. of respect, who will call on God s name in reverence
4. of limits, who will rest, worship, and remember that God is God and we are not 5. of relationships, who will learn from the wisdom of those who come before us and walk alongside us on this journey of faith 6. of love, who shall respect the gift of human life 7. of promises, who will hold sacred the boundaries of our relationships with each other 8. of honor, who will not seek to take that which is not ours 9. of honesty, who will be trustworthy in all that we say and do 10. of contentment, who understand that our desires won t be satisfied by earthly things that others possess, but only in God On this Sunday, when we celebrate our heritage, may these Ten Commandments be a reminder to us of who we are. May they remind us of our identity; that we have indeed been claimed as God s people and covered with amazing grace. With God s help, may we live them out each day in grateful response.