Thought for Today
Exodus 20:5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, 6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Psalm 112:1 Praise the Lord! Happy are those who fear the Lord, who greatly delight in his commandments.
2 Their descendants will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.
Luke 1:50 His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
Luke 11:30 For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be to this generation.
Our youngest grandchildren are both graduating from high school and preparing to enter college next fall. Our oldest grandchild is away at college pursuing graduate studies. Tuesday evening we attended an award ceremony for our youngest granddaughter; Wednesday we watched the livestream of an award ceremony for our grandson. Their generation of our line of my family is entering into adulthood. My mind has been focusing on the whole idea of generations and identity. How do we identify and understand the locus of our identity? Who are we? Are we identified by family, tribe, nation, ethnicity, by generation and age? Jesus asked his disciples, “Mark 8:27 Who do people say that I am?"
How do you answer the question of who you are? Are you defined by where you live? By what your career entailed? By your hobbies or interests? Who would those around you say that you are? And, this week, I am wondering, who would my grandchildren, the next generation of our line of our family say that they are? How do we identify and understand the locus of our identity? How do they identify and understand the locus of their identity?
I was first trained as a mechanical engineer. I was born in Texas. I now serve as pastor to the First Parish Church of Newbury. Who am I? Who do people say that I am? Who do I say that I am? Am I defined by the place of my birth? Am I defined by my profession of 40+ years? The question of personal identity is the most fundamental and highly personal question we can ask of ourselves.
It has been more than 10 years since I was in the phase of life now confronted by our grandchildren. I still remember some of the struggles of trying to understand who I am. Some days, those struggles still persist. All of those factors of locale, ethnicity, profession, interests and inclinations still exist. I now live far from the place and culture of my birth. Long after our relocation, we still have difficulty finding acceptable barbeque or Tex-Mex food. I will probably never master the local dialect and pronunciation.
Does any of that bear directly on who I am? Does any of that affect who people say I am? Need I worry that none of our grandchildren will study (and ultimately live?) in either the area of my birth or the area where Greta and I now live? How will they identify and understand the locus of their identity?
“Mark 8:29 He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’" We can find the answer to the locus of our identity in Peter’s answer to Jesus’ question. Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God. As Christians we are children of God. Place of birth, education, profession, ethnicity and all the other limiters we choose to define are merely distractions and sources of misdirection to our issue of identity.
I am firmly convinced that my family, this generation and the next generations “to the thousandth generation” and beyond will reap the promise of God’s steadfast love through faithful obedience to God’s commandments. Watching this next generation as they proceed along their individual journeys toward adulthood, I recall those oft-remembered words of Joshua, “24:15 as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." That is who we are!
Stay safe, choose this day whom you will follow, trust God,
Pastor Ray