This story begins at a hypothetical party. The company’s good, the night is young and there’s plenty to eat and drink. So naturally, you’re happy. Hypothetically.But half-way through the evening, a pleasant stranger comes up
and says “Hi – who are you?”.
So you smile and give your name. But the stranger leans in closer, and says, with an intensity that kind of unnerves you: “No. I mean – who are you?”
So you start wittering on about what you do in life and your family and where you come from, and all the things that seem to define you as a person, but the amusement in your inquisitor’s eyes tells you that this still isn’t hitting the mark.
“No no. That’s not who you are. That’s the stuff you do and the people you belong to; they’re important, but they’re not you. Take them away, or wake up alone some day on a desert island and that part of you called ‘you’ is still there. So who are you?”
Of course, by this stage you’re looking around nervously for any excuse to break off the conversation, so when the doorbell goes you practically leap across the room saying “Sorry. I’d better just get that.”
And you make your escape into the hallway before spending the rest of the night avoiding the stranger like the plague. But you can’t avoid the question. It’s there now: and the worrying thing is, you don’t have a clue how to begin to answer it.
6 comments:
Mmmm. I like that - very haunting. We're celebrating baptism, so that gives me a way in to names etc.
But I like the idea of that question hanging in the air: who are you?
It also resonates with the passage in Revelation about God giving us a white stone with a name on it, known only to ourselves.
I often think of that. It's the name of our becoming. The person we were always meant to be, and are becoming in Christ, but as yet have not fully become.
I sometimes use the Revelation passage at weddings and make a play on names, before introducing this idea, and charging the couple to help one another become more like their true names.
Have a good day, Liz.
Blessings
FBL
"God giving us a white stone with a name on it, known only to ourselves."
You know how sometimes a stray phrase or image can become lodged into your mind, taking on such importance that it becomes something significant to you for the rest of your life?
The white stone is that for me.
I have often thought about who I am, especially lately, because I left all the things and people that made my identity behind when I came to university. And sometimes it's very difficult, but God grants me the occasional moment of insight.
He reminds me that I'm His, and that that will shape my character and actions for as long as I allow it to. I had one such reminder today. So today, I know who I am.
Check out Isaiah 49:5
Who are you?
1) You're chosen
2) You're chosen to serve
3) That service is in 'bringing back the scattered people' (everyone whose identity isn't yet centred on God).
How good is that? Thanks Isaiah/God
Here endeth the lesson.
Blessings
FBL
Excellent thoughts.
Don't you think that instead of all these impossible to complete TO DO Lists we should have a TO BE List?
Couldn't agree more, Iain.
Just back from a couple of days at Pluscarden Abbey with a small group including American ministers/students who studied at Regent Seminary. It sounds like a wonderful place to study - collegiate, supportive, God-centred and yet unafraid to think out of the box, and think critically.
Our training system here has such a poor focus on the 'being' side of things. It churns out people capable of doing the functions of parish ministry, but does precious little to form them as people.
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