"I am a
Beloved Child of God"
Psalm 139
03/10/2003
When This is my 13th Lent
with you. Every year, I tell you what the word “lent”
means. Let’s see if you have been paying attention. For $5
now, who can tell
me what the word “lent” means?
Lent means “spring”. A
time of new life. A time of
growing. Though some may think of Lent as a time of fasting,
self-denial and just plain no fun without chocolate and sweets, Lent is
really a season for new life. A season for growing. A
season for
spiritual growth.
I don’t know about you, but
with all of the losses
we have experienced recently and with the threat of war hanging over
our heads, I’m glad it's Lent.
I really need Lent this year.
I need this season of
intensifying my prayer time with fasting, extra
times of daily prayer and my special time of prayer with my family
every evening.
Now Lent is also a time to
reflect on the quality of
our lives. Lent is the time when we take a good, long, hard look
at who we have
become over the last year. A lot has happened to us since last
Easter.
Some of us have known
tremendous loss. Others of us have known
illness and disability. Still others among us have known great
joys.
How have these experiences,
both joyful and trying, shaped who you are
today?
Are you more fruity than you
were last Easter - fruity, as in the
fruits of the Spirit?
Do you know more love in
your life, more joy, more peace, more
patience, more kindness, more gentleness, more faithfulness and more
self-control?
Lent, you see, is a
time of spiritual reflection,
A time for a spiritual audit
A time for a spiritual
inventory.
I AM A BELOVED CHILD OF GOD
Psalm 139
Today is the first Sunday in
Lent. Do you
remember what the word “Lent” means? Lent means “spring”. A
time of new
life. A time of growing. Though some may think of Lent as a
time of
fasting, self-denial and just plain no fun without chocolate and
sweets, Lent is really a season for new life. A season for
growing. A
season for spiritual growth.
As I thought about Lent and
what it means, I thought about a
mirror.
Lent is a time of reflection - a time of serious spiritual
reflection.
A time of stepping back from our daily lives and reflecting on our
relationship with the Lord. How are you and God these days?
Are you
close to God? Are you distant from God? Are you angry with
God? Are you
listening to God? Are you growing toward God or away from
God? How
would you describe your relationship with God these days?
Now in order to help us do
this work of spiritual
reflection in this season of Lent, I have created five affirmations for
a growing Christian. Each Sunday in Lent we will reflect on these
affirmations for a growing Christian:
1. I am a beloved child of
God.
2. I am a sinner.
3. I am saved.
4. I belong to the Body of
Christ.
5. I am Christ’s light.
I chose five statements
because there are five fingers on most of our
hands and five finger spiritual lessons are very special to
Disciples.
After all one of our founders taught the faith by using five
fingers.
Remember Walter Scott? He would ride into the wild, frontier
towns of
Ohio and hitch his horse to the water trough in the school yard.
Next he would get the
attention of the children by saying, “Hold up one
hand. I want to teach you a new game. I can teach you how
to get close to God with just five fingers.” And then he would
teach the children the five steps to Jesus: Faith, Repentance, baptism,
remission of sins, gift of the Holy Spirit.
So, in the spirit of Walter
Scott, we will be
studying these five affirmations which I believe every Christian needs
to know and claim. In fact, I want you to post these affirmations
on
your bathroom mirror and say them everyday to yourself. These
affirmations will be the basis of our sermon reflections on Sunday
morning, as well as the study of the Abundant Life groups.
Today we begin with the
first affirmation: I
am a beloved child of God. Now I have made this our first
affirmation
of a growing Christian, because I believe that it is essential to
understanding the others. It is the “thumb” of our
affirmations. Just
as you cannot pick up without a lot of difficulty an object without
your thumb, (trying writing without using your thumb), so we cannot
pick up on the meaning of these other affirmations until we understand
this one. You are a beloved child of God.
When you look in the mirror
who do you see? Do you
see the pimples, the wrinkles, the grey hairs? Do you see bags
under
your eyes? Do you see age on your face? Do you see that you
are a
beloved child of God? Oh sure, you’re a
sinner. So am I. In Romans we read that we all have sinned
and fallen
short of the glory of God. Sure you have made some pretty
terrible
mistakes. So have I. Sure you have deliberately hurt other
people. So
have I. Sure you have broken God’s heart and been disobedient to
God’s
word for your life. So have I. Yes, we are both sinners and
we are
going to talk more about what that means next week. But a sinner
is not
the first thing God thinks of when God looks at you. No, when God
looks
at you and God sees you for who you are - a beloved child of God.
When
you look in the mirror can you see that child of God?
My friends, this is not a
feel good exercise. This
is very, very important. You must know who you are.
You are a
precious, beloved child of God.
This is your real identity. This is who you really are.
Time cannot
change this. Sorrow cannot change this. Sickness cannot
change
this. Tragedy cannot change this. Addiction
cannot change this. Abuse cannot change this. You are a
beloved
child of God.
I remember the first time I
really understood
this. I was at the end of one of my prayer retreats. I had been
struggling with all of the competing roles in my life. Then I
heard
God’s voice clearly in my heart. I heard the Spirit say to me,
“Janet,
you are a daughter. You are a sister. You are a wife.
You are a mother.
You are a minister. You are a friend. You are a community
leader. But
never, never forget who you really are. You are my beloved
child. The
roles you play in life may change, but this will never change.
You will always be my beloved child.”
You see, my friends, often
we get our roles mixed up
with who we are. When we meet someone, we don’t ask them, “Who
are
you?” Rather we ask them, “What do you do?” When asked this
question we
tell folks all about the roles we play in life, usually beginning with
what people pay us to do - the role of our employment. But you
are not
what you do. As important as working, parenting, and even
volunteering
at church may be, you are not what you do.
You are of value to God not
because of what you do,
but because God has called you God’s beloved child.
Patsie Sweeden, in our
Lenten devotional
booklet, told the story of a little girl who was asked in a
children’s sermon, “What does God want you to do?” The little
girl
answered, “God wants me to sit still, be quiet and not show my panties.”
My friends, my first
reaction to this story was to
laugh. But then I thought about it. It’s so sad. Is
that the message we
are giving to our kids about God? Are we telling our kids about a
God
who loves them? Is church a place where they find out who they
really
are - God’s beloved children? Or is church a place where they
have to
earn God’s love by sitting still, being quiet and not showing their
panties.
Henri Nouwen in his book The
Life of the Beloved says that it is
essential, absolutely essential, for each of us to know that we are
God’s beloved children. Howard Thurman, the great
African-American
writer of the 1940s, wrote about how utterly essential it is for poor
people and people of color to know who they are. They are
children of
God. He tells the story his grandmother told him about a slave
minister
who came to the plantation to preach the real word of God. This
minister, who was a slave, told the slaves the truth. He said,
“You are
not a nigger! You are a child of God. No matter what they
do to you. No matter what they say to you. You are a
child of
God!”
My friends, I ache for you
to know this - really
know this deep in your hearts. If you don’t learn anything else
from me, please learn this - you are a
beloved child of God. This is who you really are. This is
the identity
which will see you through all of the changes in life. This is
the
identity which will get you through the tough times. This
is the
identity which will call you to grow and grow and grow. This is
the
identity which will stay with you all of the days of your life on earth
and afterwards all of the days of your life in heaven.
How many times, I told Kim
(a brilliant graduate
student in the congregation who died at the age of 38) this. How
many
times, when she was depressed and crying and discouraged, I told her
that she was God’s beloved child. How many times when she told me
that
she didn’t deserve to live, I told her that she was God’s beloved
child. How many times when she thought that she could not endure
one
more medical treatment, when she begged me to let her die, I told her
that she was God’s beloved child. I told her again and again and
again.
I wondered if she really understood it, because she was such a
perfectionist. She felt so unworthy of God’s love. Then
when I cleaned
out her apartment on Thursday, I knew that I had gotten through to
her.
Next to her desk was this piece of paper I had given to all of you on
Labor Day Sunday. It is entitled “Job Description for a Child of
God.”
I pray that she left this world knowing that she was a beloved child of
God. I know that she knows that now in the Father’s house!
I was very interested in the
tributes folks gave to
Mr. Rogers after his death. Did you see their tears? Did
you see how he
touched their hearts? These political leaders, movie stars,
famous
people had tears in their eyes all because Mr. Rogers was the only
person in their life who consistently and daily told them “I like you
just the way you are.” How desperate we are to hear that message
of love and acceptance! But
Mr. Roger’s message was not anything new. In fact we miss the
point of
Mr. Roger’s life if we don’t see his TV show as a ministry. After
all,
he was an ordained Presbyterian minister.
He used TV to communicate
the worth of every human being. He did
everything he could to say in essence, “you are a beloved child of
God.”
Can’t you just hear God
singing along with Mr.
Rogers:
It’s you I like,
It’s not the things you wear,
It’s not the way you do your
hair -
But it’s you I like.
The way you are right now.
The way down deep inside you
-
Not the things that hide you,
Not your toys -
They’re just beside you.
But it’s you I like,
Every part of you,
Your skin, your eyes, your
feelings
Whether old or new.
I hope that you’ll remember
Even when you’re feeling blue
That it’s you I like,
It’s you yourself, it’s you
It’s you …I…like!
Because you are a beloved
child of God.
A few years ago, I heard a
wonderful litany about
being a child of God. I can’t find my copy of it now, but it went
something like this:
I may be fat or I may be
thin,
But I am child of God.
I may be tall or I may be
short,
But I am a child of God.
I may be smart or I may be
slow,
But I am a child of God.
I may be rich or I may be
poor,
But I am a child of God.
I may be light skinned or I
may be dark skinned,
But I am a child of God.
I may be healthy or I may be
sick,
But I am a child of God.
I may be physically fit or I
may be disabled in some way,
But I am a child of God.
I may be happy or I may be
sad,
But I am a child of God.
I may do right and I may do
wrong,
But I am a child of God.
I may be liked or I may be
rejected,
But I am a child of God.
No matter what they say
I am a child of God
No matter what they do
I am a child of God
No matter what happens to me
I am a child of God.
I am a child of God.
- Reverend Janet Hellner-Burris