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Storyline Gathering - 05.16.21 THE CHILD OF GOD PART II: WHOSE YOU ARE Mike Gathright Good morning Storyline, this is so great to be together. I realized last Sunday, I’ve said that every Sunday for years but I mean it now more than ever! Thank you so much for being here - it matters, your presence makes a difference. Mike Koch and I talk about this all the time; when you are here it makes the experience richer for everyone else because of what we started to talk about last week - WHOSE you are. Because of whose you are. We are all children of God. Now, I know I don’t always FEEL like that, maybe you don’t either, which is where we are headed this morning. The overwhelming tendency of human experience is to wake up every morning feeling like who you were yesterday. Starting over from scratch everyday would be awful. But there are some downsides to this as well. Waking up every morning feeling like who you were yesterday carries with it the strong implication that when you wake up tomorrow it will only ever be more of the same and I will be the same! Like, we are bound to live a certain way, and there isn’t really anything that can be done about it. And that can be incredibly disheartening. Which is why the good news of Jesus and His Gospel of Grace can be so powerful in our lives - it is something like - because the source of our life, of all of life, of existence itself is good, because god is gracious - unconditionally loving, accepting, forgiving and inclusive - don’t lose heart - we are NOT chained to our past, nor are we being channeled into a predetermined future. In this present moment, we have the opportunity to accept our acceptance, to remember WHOSE we are, tap into the source of life, this Gracious God and step into the goal of life - living like God lives - graciously - and in doing so, all at once: 1) dramatically improve the experience we are having with life right now 2) increase our capacity to create, contain and communicate joy and 3) truly make the world a better place. When we come together on Sunday mornings it is an opportunity we are all taking to investigate these possibilities. So, this is not about answers, it is not about statements of faith, creeds, liturgies, rituals or ceremonies. These things have their place, but living in and living out Grace is first and foremost about getting really honest with ourselves, about ourselves and our lives and life in general. And for me, doing that is HARD, because it is painful. And yet - speaking for myself here - Jesus is the breakthrough, he is the game changer not religion, not my faith, not my beliefs, not what I think, not even Christianity. All of those things have their place as well, but they only take their proper place for me when I have a very real “come to Jesus” moment with, well, Jesus. And as I’ve been reading through Luke preparing for these talks, that is what is happening...after 35 years of following Jesus I find myself encountering him again, in a way that tempts me to hope that tomorrow doesn’t have to look like yesterday and who I’ve been doesn’t determine who I’ll be. We asked Kecia to sing “Insecurities” this morning because it so poignantly diagnoses the human condition. ““I’m free but I’m fragile. I’m happy but I’m worried. I’m all set up, but so afraid. So, why can’t I just let it be? It is my insecurities.” Do you resonate with that? Do find yourself rehashing conversations, winning arguments in your imagination, regretting something you did, resenting all the good you do that goes unnoticed, wondering how in the world other people can be SO dumb, reckless, arrogant and ignorant all at the same time!!!!? I know I don’t, but maybe you do... Where is all of that coming from? Could it be our insecurities? The Psychologist Carl Jung pointed out most of our suffering in life is unnecessary and self-inflicted, oughtbr about by all of the things we do to compensate for our insecurities. What I’m hoping we might see and experience this morning, in just two short verses about Jesus is that his good news really can change the nature of our relationship with ourselves, break the chains of the past and begin to cultivate a richer future. Last Sunday we saw how at 12 years old, Jesus claimed to have a personal relationship with God as a Father and we’ve already seen in Luke that because of something Jesus has accomplished (and we haven’t talked about that accomplishment yet, that comes later, we will) but because of what He has accomplished God’s grace is now available to everyone, everywhere, everyday which means we can all have this kind of Parent-Child relationship with God. Today we move forward in the life of Jesus, he is 30 years old and the bible says this in Luke 3:21-22 “When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” There are several things happening there, but this morning I’d like to focus on this one sentence where God the Father says three things to Jesus – 1. You are MY child 2. whom I love 3. with you I am well pleased. Remember, Jesus’ invitation is that we too can have this kind of Parent-Child relationship with God. This means, these three affirmations are for us and so our question is: how do these three things, change our relationship not just with God, but with ourselves, our past and our future? The first thing we should point out, as much as we want a quick fix in life, some pill, scheme or realization that instantaneously changes us, life and the world real life doesn’t work that way - even for Jesus. Here we are 18 years later, before his process moves to the next level of experience and engagement with God. New life grows in us, it isn’t magic. Jesus gets this incredible affirmation from God through the power of the Holy Spirit. which makes me wonder about this “power”. This is one the things I hate about all of these Superhero movies. I caught myself watching Spider Man 17 the other day. I’ve seen enough of them to know the formula: a regular person has something extraordinary happen to them, a spider bite for Spiderman, a radioactive explosion for Captain Marvel, Gamma Rays for the Hulk and then even they are confused and astounded by the super power it gives them. It is in essence - magic. But what is happening here with Jesus is not magic. Jesus’ power comes from the Holy Spirit in this 3-part affirmation - “1. You are my Son, 2. whom I love; 3. with you I am well pleased.” The power of the Holy Spirit for Jesus isn’t a magical superpower, it is the confirmation of his identity - of whose He is. So, let’s look at these three affirmations from God to his children. The first is, “YOU are MY child”. With our new identity as child of God we have an inherent dignity or honor. You know when you grow up in a really small town, part of a really big family, you learn early on everyone knows your last name. It happened to me just this week, “are you related to?” And my standard answer is, “maybe?” (I really have to read their body language). If I say yes too soon, I can see it on their faces, “OH, so you ARE a hillbilly”. In one area of life I cared about a lot it as a kid, it worked for me; it seemed to me every baseball field or basketball court on stepped on, someone knew my dad or my uncles and - they knew WHOSE I was, and because of that I often had this built in honor and dignity. Even as a little kid I understood, because of that I didn’t have this pressure to prove myself. When we really live IN the Grace of being a child of God, we can have this sense dignity and honor. and it gives us an incredible power over some of the most common insecurities of life - the need for affirmation and acclaim from others melts away, because we are already honored by whose we are. The acclaim of others isn’t necessary, the criticism of others is devastating. That alone is a superpower it can change our relationship with ourselves. A second thing we can have besides honor is access - “This is my Child, whom I love”. There is a great scene in the TV show Modern Family where the husband Phil is at the Lakers game and his wife, Claire, and all of her friends are watching the game on TV and they see Phil on TV right behind the bench. Everyone is SO excited, so Claire tells everyone, “shhh, shhh, quiet down. I’m gonna call him!” And on TV everyone sees him grab his phone, look at the screen to see who is calling, curl up his nose and put the phone away! Phil was unavailable, busy, had something more important going on and Claire didn’t have access to him.

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