Who We are Becoming

 

The Bible is an adult book written for adults, so said C.S. Lewis.  Eugene Peterson said that telling someone to go read the Bible alone was like giving a ten-year-old keys to your luxury car.  The Bible doesn’t hold back on the issues of brokenness, becoming, and belonging.  In chapter 4, we hear how Cain kills Abel.  The story is confounding, complex, and contradictory.  First, you have God apparently more pleased with Abel’s offering than Cain’s.  This can touch a nerve because I can be lured and led into thinking that God likes other pastors’ sermons better than mine.  God gives an “A” to the preacher down the street while saying, “Needs LOTS of improvement!!” in red ink on my sermon.  We all rate and rank each other; often we end up with the short end of the stick.  After Cain murders Abel, God confronts Cain about the violence.  Cain denies and defends himself.  Cain doesn’t honestly say to God, “It was because You liked him better, God!”  How often do we act out because we believe God is blessing someone else more?  Notice that God doesn’t give in to violence or revenge.  God marks Cain to protect him.  Wait, what?  Is God going to let this murderer off the hook?  How is that just?  How is that holy?  I don’t know.  I am troubled by this story and continue to be heartbroken that we repeat it today.  We dismiss and deny our human siblings who are immigrants, returning citizens from prison, LGBTQIA+, beloved whose shade of skin is not white or whose accent is not Midwestern. 

 

Who are we becoming is a vital question.  And the twin question this week is to look at the groups that you belong to.  Let’s be specific: how has our church shaped you this year?  Please be honest about the good and bad parts.  Humans are not perfect, and this especially applies to me as a pastor.  I will do boneheaded things that I regret; I will say things I want to pull from the air and shove back in my mouth!

 

Keep exploring the ways you’re belonging and becoming.  You are both unique, and you have a deep desire to connect in ways so twisted and tangled, like the Christmas lights you will soon be pulling out of storage.  May you sense the Sacred stirring, supporting, and sustaining such prayerful reflection.  Amen.