All of YOU (Exodus 3 & 4)

 For almost two whole chapters, after God tells Moses that he has chosen Moses for this important task, Moses tries to convince God that he, Moses, is not the right man for the job… that he’s just not good enough…. that he doesn’t have the right qualifications. Heck, he was raised in the household of Pharaoh—that alone should disqualify him!

Finally God says: “Enough! Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? I made you, I know everything about you, I know your qualifications and your limitations, and YOU are exactly the one I have chosen!”

God wanted Moses. Not only that, God wanted Moses as he was. God didn’t want Moses to be anything other than who he was. 

Moses was stubborn—so stubborn—so God made some concessions; but God didn’t back down, because Moses was the one God chose for the job, to lead God’s people to freedom.

Moses didn’t know what God saw in him. He couldn’t believe it. He thought God was trying to get Moses to be something other than who Moses was. 

But God didn’t want Moses to be something other than who he was. God wanted Moses to be all of who he was created to be. God wanted Moses to be his authentic self. Because that’s who God wanted for this important task, to lead God’s people out of Egypt, and to freedom in the Promised Land, so that they all could be who God created them to be, living out their full potential.

*******

Moses isn’t unique in this. Jeremiah voiced similar protests, when God chose him.

In Jeremiah, chapter one, God said to Jeremiah: “I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

But Jeremiah didn’t think he was good enough. Jeremiah said: “I’m no prophet; I’m only a boy.” But God said, “Don’t say ‘I’m only a boy,’ because you are the one I have chosen. 

“If I wanted someone older, I would have chosen someone older. If I wanted someone who was a better speaker, I would have chosen someone who was a better speaker. But I choose you. You, just as you are, are the one I have chosen.”

*******

Sometimes, the Bible presents a story in which an individual is chosen by God, and others can’t believe it. They think that maybe God made the wrong choice.

In 1 Samuel, chapter 16, God sends the prophet Samuel to the house of Jesse, to anoint the new king.

Jesse brings his sons out and lines them up before Samuel. Samuel takes a look at Eliab, the oldest, and sees in Eliab all the qualities that Samuel thinks would make for a good king. Samuel looks at Eliab, and thinks: “he must be the one.”

I don’t know exactly what Samuel saw in Eliab, but I imagine that Eliab was strong, handsome, good-looking; that he was confident—everything that most people assume a good king should be.

But Eliab was not the one chosen by God.

So Samuel went down the line. One by one, he examined the sons of Jesse, but none of the young men before him was the one chosen by God.

Samuel asked Jesse: “Are these all your sons?”

And Jesse replied: “Well, there is the youngest. He’s out taking care of the sheep.” Apparently Jesse couldn’t imagine that this youngest son of his could be the one chosen by God. 

This youngest son’s name was David. David wasn’t a warrior, at least not in the traditional sense. Later, when all his brothers went off to war, David stayed behind. When his father sent him to check on his brothers, David saw that they were cowering in fear because of a giant of a man named Goliath. 

David said, “I’ll go out against Goliath.” David was given a warrior’s armor to wear—the king’s armor, in fact—but David said he couldn’t wear it. He wasn’t used to wearing all that armor.

No, he wasn’t going to go out and fight Goliath in the traditional way, as a warrior; he was going to fight him in his own way.

Maybe that is, in fact, why God chose David. He didn’t behave the way some in society expected him to behave, or the way others told him he was supposed to behave; he did things his own way. He was true to himself. He was true to the way God made him.

******

Last week, I preached about Jacob.

Jacob, you may recall, wasn’t like his twin brother Esau. Jacob wasn’t as strong, wasn’t as manly; and he didn’t even like to go out and hunt like all the other men. 

As I said last week, Jacob was different than all the other boys.

Jacob liked to stay by the tents, with the women.

I wonder if Jacob ever wished he was like all the other boys. Strong. Manly. With hair on his chest. I wonder if he ever thought: that’s how a man is supposed to be.

But, in this case, God didn’t want a man like all the other men. God wanted Jacob. As he was. As he was created by God. That’s who God wanted.

God wants people who are true to themselves. People who are true to the way God made them. People who use the gifts and strengths and abilities that are uniquely theirs.

Yet we often try to be someone else. We try to be someone other than who we are, someone other than who God created us to be.

******

At camp a few weeks ago, in the boys cabin just before lights out, I told the boys about some of the Biblical characters. One night I talked about Jacob. One night I talked about David. 

By the way, these were all male characters, because I was speaking to the boys at camp, but I could have just as easily picked Bible characters of other genders, including Esther, Mary, and others, to illustrate the point.

And one night, I said to the boys: “Just like each of these Bible characters, you are awesome, just as you are. Just the way God made you. And you are a blessing.”

One of the boys, when I said that, started shaking his head. He couldn’t receive the words I was sharing. 

Why? I wondered. What had he heard? What had he been told? What pressures had been placed upon him, by society, by friends, by classmates, that made him think that who he was was not worthy of the words I was saying to him? 

Had he been bullied? Had others made fun of the way he was? Had they pressured him and maybe convinced him that he needed to be someone else?

I looked directly at him. I said again: “You are awesome, just as you are.” His body jerked, which I think is the closest thing I’ve ever seen to an unclean spirit being cast out of a person. He had a physical reaction to my words! That’s how difficult they were for him to hear. It was like Moses hiding his face from God, hiding from a truth that was too powerful for him to hear.

But that didn’t stop me. I said:  “You are awesome, just as you are, and this whole camp is blessed by your presence here this week.”

That same message I gave to him, I give to you. You, as you are… the person God created you to be… are amazing. You are a blessing to this church, to this community, to the world. 

And God has chosen you to do what only you can, to love the world in a way that is uniquely yours.

Is that hard for you to hear? Is it hard for you to accept, and believe? 

The world is always trying to convince you that who you are isn’t enough. Every ad you see (and we see a lot of ads) is designed to make you feel inadequate… so that they can then play on that feeling of inadequacy by convincing you that the only way to overcome your inadequacy is by purchasing whatever it is they are trying to sell.

Listen up: You. Don’t. Need it.

You don’t need any product to become fully the person you are meant to be. You already are the person you are meant to be. 

And that person… the person who you are… is exactly what this world needs. 

This is what the Bible has taught me. And it’s what the queer community has also taught me.

The struggle that many queer people go through is the struggle to be true to one’s authentic self in a world that tries to get you to be something other than who you are. Something other than who God made you to be.

From the queer community I’ve learned the importance of taking off the mask, and being who you truly are.

And that’s important, because God doesn’t want you or me or anyone else to be anything other than who God made us to be. God wants you to be whole.

Imagine if you were God, and you created a human, a beautifully and wonderfully made human… and this human that you created decided that the way you created them wasn’t good enough.

And they went about trying to change themselves, trying to change the person you made them to be, into something else. Something someone else wanted them to be.

Yet time and time again, in scripture, God shows us that God calls us just as we are. Just as God made us.

Moses. Jeremiah. Jacob. David. They all thought they weren’t good enough, or had someone else think they weren’t good enough. 

They all thought they needed to try and be someone else, someone other than who they were… or had someone else think that they needed to be someone other than who they were.

It’s like in the movie “How to Train Your Dragon”: Young Hiccup is told: “You just gotta stop all of this!”

And Hiccup says: “You just gestured to all of me.”

And the response he receives is: “Yeah, stop being all of you.”

The point being that Hiccup will never be a good Viking unless he stops acting like himself, and starts acting the way a Viking is supposed to act.

But at the end of the movie, after he saves his village his own way, by being true to who he knew himself to be, he’s told: “Turns out all we needed was just a little more of this.”

And Hiccup says: “You just gestured to all of me.”

Yes. All of you. That’s what we needed. 

This world needs you. This world needs your gifts, your abilities, your quirks, your personality; Every unique quality of yours that was given to you by God.

This world needs all of you. Including the way you love, the way you express yourself, and the way you identify yourself.

The world needs you to be you. Because you are awesome. And you are a blessing to those around you.

Far From Home (Genesis 28:10-19)

The movie “Spiderman: Brand New Day” is scheduled to be released on July 31. Who’s excited about that?

The previous Spiderman movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe were titled:

“Spiderman: Homecoming”

“Spiderman: Far From Home”

“Spiderman: No Way Home”

The titles of these three movies all use the word “home” in some way.

“Homecoming” (the title of the first movie) sounds great. We all love a good homecoming. In September, here at First Christian Church, we have a fall kickoff Sunday, but in some churches, they call it “Homecoming Sunday.” 

It’s a day when those who have been away from their church home, due to summer vacations… or perhaps have been away from their church home for longer than that… are invited to return, to be welcomed back, and take their place in church.

“Far From Home” (the title of the second movie) doesn’t sound quite as positive. But it does make it sound like a return home is still possible. It might be challenging, but it’s still possible.

But “No Way Home” (the title of the third movie) makes it sound like you’ve gone past the point of no return. If there’s “no way home,” then you’ve essentially become homeless. That phrase, “No Way Home,” gives one the impression that this movie is neither history nor comedy, but tragedy.

Indeed, in the final scene of “No Way Home,” Spiderman—aka Peter Parker—finds himself in a familiar place, surrounded by familiar faces—so it looks like home—and yet… he’s actually a whole universe away.

And you think: maybe… just maybe… he can cross that universe, and return home… or, at least, that maybe there will be a hint that that will happen, in the future…

But no. There’s no hint of that. He remains a universe away. Far From home, with no way back.

Whether he is indeed able to cross that universe and return home in the movie that comes out at the end of this month, I have no idea. But one can hope…

*******

Jacob had left his home in Beer-sheba.

His leaving was not by choice. Jacob didn’t want to leave home. Heck, most days, Jacob didn’t even want to leave his tent. 

While the other men went out and hunted, Jacob preferred to stay among the tents, with the women. 

What can I say? Jacob wasn’t like all the other boys. Jacob was built different. He was created by God different.

…and Jacob liked to stay close to home.

“Close to Home” is not the title of any Spiderman movie. As much as we might like to stay close to home, and as much as Jacob liked to stay close to home, I guess staying close to home doesn’t make for a very exciting movie. 

And in the Bible, there are many stories of people leaving home, going far from home.

Abraham, Jacob’s own grandfather, left his home, and took his whole household on a very long journey to a new home.

Now, Jacob himself was being forced on a long journey. “Close to Home” isn’t the title of his story, either, as much as he would have liked it to be.

No. Like Abraham, Jacob was also sent “far from home.”

******

The reason Jacob had to leave home was his twin brother Esau. 

Esau was everything Jacob was not. Esau was strong, manly, hairy…, and a good hunter. 

And because he was born first, Esau was in line to receive the birthright and blessing reserved for the first-born son.

But Jacob successfully stole from Esau the birthright and blessing of the first-born son. Because of this, Esau was determined to kill Jacob.

So Jacob fled.

He had an uncle who lived in Haran. Haran was 500 miles away. In an age of no internet and no high-speed travel, it must have seemed a whole universe away.

But it was the only safe place for Jacob to go.

So Jacob left Beer-sheba, and began his long journey away from home.

After a day or two of travel, Jacob reached Bethel. It was at this point, I think, that Jacob asked himself: Am I really doing this?

It may have felt to him like the point of no return. The point when he realized that this is really happening. The point when he realized that he may never see his home and his family again.

And what about God? It was a common belief in ancient times that the god of a people lived where those people lived; that God was the God of this land, and that other lands had other gods… or no God at all.

So not only would Jacob be cut off from his family… far from home… but would he also be cut off from his God?

With these thoughts in his head, Jacob lay down for the night, to get some sleep. Back home, he would have been in his comfy bed, with his comfy pillow, but out here, far from home, all he had was the ground.

He grabbed a stone and placed it under his head, trying his best to imagine the comfort of the pillows he had at home, but a stone was a poor substitute. 

And there he lay, far from home, trying not to feel so desperately alone…

Eventually, Jacob fell asleep. And he had this dream. This vision.

He saw a stairway, or ladder, reaching up to heaven; and angels were ascending and descending it. 

And God appeared, and (as we already heard), God said to Jacob:

“I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring, and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. 

“Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

And Jacob awoke. And Jacob realized that, no matter where he went, no matter how far from home he was, that God would be with him, that he would never be left alone. Even at the end of the universe, God would be there, with him. 

******

As the psalmist wrote: “Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?... If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.”

When Jacob woke up, he realized that all this was true. And because God would be with him no matter where he went, no matter how far from home he traveled, then, in a very real sense, wherever he went would be home. He would never truly be “far from home,” because he was always at home with God… no matter where he lay his head.

******

With God, we always have a home. God—the one in whom we live and move and have our being—is our home.

It’s so easy to feel lost in this world. To feel without a home. To feel disconnected from our values, from ourselves, from humanity… To feel beyond the reach of love.

Even if you have a shelter, a safe place to hide, a place to sleep at night, with a comfy bed and soft pillows, you can still feel as though you are without a home.

But God is never far away. 

And in God’s presence, we always have a home.

How are we at First Christian Church proclaiming and living out this message, this truth? How are we helping others find their home in God?

I sometimes wonder if some of the things we do to make ourselves feel at home here keeps others from feeling at home here. Are we unknowingly or unintentionally making others feel less at home just so we can feel more at home?

What would happen if we discovered that some of what we do to feel at home here is actually keeping others from feeling at home? Would we be willing to give up those practices and patterns of behavior so that others can find a home here?

Hospitality and welcome are not always easy things. We like to say that we are a church that welcomes all, as if that were an easy thing.

It’s not. 

It requires that we put the needs of others ahead of our own needs; that we consider what extra effort it might require of us to make others feel truly welcome. 

I know that, for me, as an introvert, it can be easy to just hide in my corner and not bother anyone, and think I’m doing a good job of welcoming others, simply because I haven’t got in the way. 

But true welcome requires more than that. Especially from the pastor! But from any of us, really.

And I sometimes think that the Disciples of Christ, as a denomination, is an introverted denomination. 

We’re not as loud as some other denominations.

That’s not entirely a bad thing. I appreciate my quiet moments, and sometimes grow weary of those who don’t ever stop talking, or who always insist on being the center of attention.

But I think that we, as a church, do need to step out of the shadows where we’ve been hiding, into the light, with open arms, and a big sign saying, “Welcome Home!”

Or something like that.

Because I really do believe that we are just the type of church that many are looking for. That many need.

A church committed to following Jesus. 

A church that believes that Jesus is not supposed to be a tool of any political party, but instead is a challenge to every person and every political party to do what is right, to work for justice, free the oppressed, care for the poor… 

A church that allows the gospel to challenge us and change us. 

A church where questions are encouraged. 

A church where we engage in respectful conversations with people with whom we may disagree, and through those conversations, and by listening to one another, we may learn and grow into a deeper sort of faith.

I’ve heard people tell me, in various places I’ve lived, that the Disciples of Christ denomination is one of the best kept secrets around. 

The problem is, if our church is a secret that no one knows about, how welcoming is it, really? If it’s a secret, isn’t that more like a private club, the type of place where you maybe have to have a password to get in, or be on a VIP list? The type of place where you walk down a narrow street to an unmarked door, and tap out the secret knock, in order to gain admission?

If we’re not letting people know that we are here, and if we’re not letting people know that they are welcome, then how welcoming are we, really?

Somehow, we all have found this place. We all have found a welcome here. We all have found a home.

And we have learned to see God as a God who welcomes us and who welcomes all, and who invites us to take our place, to make this our home.

What a joy and what a blessing that is, to have a home, to be welcomed, to know God’s love…

It’s too good a thing to keep to ourselves.

Especially in a world where so many feel far from home… a world where so many feel that there is no way home… a world where so many are spiritually homeless…

This is our home, but it’s not just our home. It is a home for all people. Including those who haven’t yet made their way here.

Let’s let the world know that this is their home. Let’s welcome them in, just as God has welcomed us.