"Who Are You?"
Gettysburg Presbyterian Church
Rev. Lou Nyiri
Psalm 8:3-8; Romans 8:12-25
February 28, 2010

This morning, we continue in our sermon series on The Apostles’ Creed. 
Throughout Lent our small group book studies are investigating this creed using the assistance of Alister McGrath’s book, “I Believe” – Exploring the Apostles’ Creed. 
What we’ve discovered after the first week’s reading is that The Apostles’ Creed, even in its limited verbiage of just slightly over 110 words, has been for the church a summation of our faith for which we can “tie” ourselves to amid life’s challenges. 
The Creed along with other items of faith (such as Scripture, the church, hymns, the things which help to bolster or firm up our faith, etc.) serves to be an anchor in the midst of life’s storms. 
In The Apostles’ Creed we find a place we can return to for comfort…for solace…for anchoring when life spins wildly or even just slightly “out of control.”

[9:30 AM]
What do we anchor to in the storms of life?  [SHOW clip from Twister]
What do we anchor to in the storms of life?
What do we hold onto when life’s storms rage on around us?
The Apostles’ Creed helps us by giving us anchor points to fasten to when life does not go as planned.

Today we find ourselves investigating the phrase – “Creator of heaven and earth…”
Let us begin by wading into the waters of witness as they come to us from Psalm 8: 3-8…and now hear these words from Romans 8: 12-25.

Irish poet, William Butler Yeats, wrote the following in his poem “The Second Coming”  -
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold.
This poem is considered by most critics to be great; indeed, one critic calls it “one of the great lyrics of the 20th century…it rises out of difficulty and above it, and reduces the complex to a blinding simplicity” This poem first published in 1921, while Britain and Europe were reeling from the devastation of World War I, the Russian Revolution, and the “Easter Rebellion,” which had recently rocked Ireland.
The events of Yeats’ recent history had rocked the idealism of the nineteenth century and perhaps that is why the poem has such a pessimistic tone.

Yeats wrote: 
     The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
     The ceremony of innocence is drowned
     No wonder he felt that “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold.”

How about us?
Do we ever find ourselves, like William Butler Yeats, pondering such words?
“Things fall apart; the center cannot hold.”

Or maybe you’ve pondered these words:
“Why do bad things happen to good people?”
 “If it weren’t for bad luck…I’d have no luck at all.”
“I can’t take much more of this.”

When such words or thoughts come into our minds, where do we turn?
What do we anchor to when life’s storms come our way? 

Our church family has recently seen a lot of things which can raise the question where do we turn…what do we anchor to when things go on around us that make us wonder: 
“Things are falling apart; can the center hold.”

We go to the doctor for what we think is a routine check up and are planning to return in a week for some minor test results only to get a phone call telling us to be in the office the next day because there are some concerns we want to discuss.  And then words like “highly suspicious” are used and now we’re making more appointments for scans and biopsies so that we can figure out what we’re up against…where do we turn when something like this happens.

We come home from the hospital with the words “we’re sorry, there’s nothing more we can do” ringing in our ears and the contact number for hospice in our pocket…where do we turn when something like this happens.

We get a phone call from the hospital telling us to come to them because there’s been an emergency and now we’re told that a loved one “might not make it out of surgery”…where do we turn when something like this happens.

We wake up to the stark reality that today is the day we must bring finality to our farewell and say good-bye to our dearly loved spouse – for today is the day we lay to rest the one with whom we stood and declared our love for he/she has been taken from us by death…where do we turn when something like this happens.

Where do we turn when things fall apart?
To whom do we go when we can’t seem to find a center to hold onto?

After 40 years spent in the church… I am amazed at one constant I have seen over that time:
I am amazed at what I saw as I lived into my faith with the love and support of the State College Presbyterian Church family – a group of people who raised me from 3 years of age; confirmed me in my faith; allowed me to serve as youth group leader for junior and senior high youth; then encouraged and supported me through my seminary years…
I am amazed at what I saw as I lived with the Cheswick Presbyterian Church family for the two years I served as their seminary intern before arriving here to Gettysburg Presbyterian Church.
I am amazed at what I have seen as I’ve lived with this church family for the last 14 years.
I am amazed at what I have seen from the people of faith, and what I’ve seen is this…
“When life gets to them…They get close to God.”

Where do we turn when “Things fall apart; [and it appears as though] the center cannot hold?”

We turn, to our faith…no matter how thin a strand of faith it might be amid the circumstances… we turn to our faith…even if that faith is the faith of a brother or sister in Christ who believes on our behalf until we can believe more fully on our own…

We find that the center can hold when we return to the foundations of our faith – the anchors of our existence – the God of our yesterday, today and tomorrow…

We find that the center can hold when we remember in the words of another of our denomination’s confessional statements, the Heidelberg Catechism – Q.1. – “What is your only comfort, in life and in death?”  The answer –
“That I belong – body and soul, in life and in death –
 not to myself but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ...”

Similar words are found in our denomination’s Brief Statement of Faith – crafted in 1983 when our denomination, The Presbyterian Church (USA) was formed by the reunion of the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America and the Presbyterian Church in the United States. 
This Brief Statement of Faith is intended, as the writers declare in the preface, “It [the Brief Statement of Faith] celebrates our rediscovery that for all our undoubted diversity, we are bound together by a common faith and a common task.” 
We find that the center can hold when we remember the opening line in The Brief Statement of Faith:
“In life and in death we belong to God.”

We find that the center can hold when we remember the words of The Apostles’ Creed – “I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
Creator/Maker of heaven and earth…”

For in these statements we realize that the creator of heaven and earth…is also…the creator of us, for we too are part of God’s great creation.  And as such, we are reminded:
That when we look out at all God has created, that “when we look at the heavens…the sun and stars…we ask, ‘what are human beings that God [You] are mindful of us, mortals that you care for us?’” 
I think about it every morning when I look at myself in the mirror – I think,
“Hmmm.  There’s me with my hair askew, sleep in the corner of my eyes and pillow case lines on my cheek.  And then there’s a sunrise coming up over the horizon, shining hues of red, like none I’ve ever seen before, over the world God has created, illuminating the beauty of the earth.  Yeah, I wonder which picture God wants to look at more.”

Yet God, Psalm 8 declares, has made us, “a little lower than God [than the divine beings or angels as some translate], and crowned us with glory and honour.”
That’s something to remember when we look at ourselves each morning.

I mean really – if you won’t get into too much trouble you might go home and write that one on your bathroom mirror – “God has crowned me with glory and honour.”

Not to become conceited or vain – but to remember that there is responsibility to live into and up to that glory and honour.
And also to remember, that if God has created us with such attributes, then how much must God love us AND care for us AND long to be a part of our lives…
For those who are parents’ think how much you desire to be involved in your kids’ lives.
Kids think how much you desire your parents’ to be involved in your lives.
For those who don’t or didn’t have that type of relationship with your parents’ think about this, that is who God wants to and who God can be for you…

For we are also reminded that, in the words of Paul’s letter to the Roman Christians,
“[that] all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.”
“We do not have a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear…we have received a spirit of adoption.”
We can cry out, ‘Abba!  Father!’ or as we’re taught by scholarship we can cry out to God, “Papa…Daddy…” for we are children of God.

As children we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.  
We wait patiently as the creation “grows up.”
And we wait patiently as we too “grow up” to become who God calls us to become.

The one thing we do not have to worry about though is being left alone…for the one who created us does not leave us alone.
When we affirm our faith saying, “We believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth…” we are not affirming a God who created the universe many years ago and then left it unattended.  God is not some old-fashioned watchmaker who makes and winds up a clockwork watch and then leaves it to run without any further attention.   (If you’re reading McGrath’s book, this is page 31.)

Back in the eighteenth century this view of God became popularly known as the “clockwork universe” and was discussed among a group of English thinkers during the “Age of Reason” along with thoughts such as this one, the views held by these English thinkers came to be known as “deism” – from the Latin deus or “god.”  The deists’ generally maintain God’s creatorship, though deny any continuing divine involvement with, or special presence within, the world.

Compare this to how we as people of faith, refer to our studies of faith as theism or theology from the Greek theos or “god” which allows for the continuing divine involvement within the world.
And it’s not just because we think so…rather it’s because God declares so…
One of my favorite passages of Scripture is John 1:14 – “The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.”  (NRSV)
I like especially, Eugene Peterson’s translation in The Message, “The Word became hands and feet and moved into the neighborhood…”
Our theology – our study of God tells us, that our God does not create and bail – rather our God creates the development/the neighborhood in which we live – then moves in and takes up residence among us...in and through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ.

The one who created us…loves us…redeems us…and surrounds us with His presence…His peace…His strength…
Maybe it’s in a still small voice whispering in our ear, something to the effect of, “It’s okay…I’m with you…I’m right hear…”
Maybe it’s in the gesture of a trusted friend or faithful witness who sits and waits with us as we go through the storm together…
Maybe it’s in the support of prayer which surrounds us as we don’t know what to pray…
Maybe it’s in a meal taken; a prayer prayed; a note written; a smile offered; a whatever it may be…that says to another, God hears & God is here & that God’s presence can be felt through ‘the peace that goes beyond human understanding’ or through another living, breathing human being.

The center can hold when we can remember the answer to the question, “Who are you?” is, “I am a child of God.”

There is a great scene in the movie The Lion King, Simba is next in line to lead the pride after his father, Mufasa’s death.  Simba carries some excess baggage with him as he believes his father’s death is his fault.  Simba is at a point in his life where he has to decide if he will return to the pride and lead them or stay away.  Simba can’t reconcile with his past, so he is left to sit under the African night sky, gazing at the stars and declaring [to his father] “You said you’d always be there for me, but you’re not.” 

Simba then rests himself on a log and stares into the water below. 
His quandary is interrupted by a rock tossed into the pond by Rafiki the baboon.  [9:30 worship – show Lion King clip]

He asks Simba, “Who are you?”
Simba replies, “I thought I knew but now I’m not so sure.”
Rafiki says, “I know who you are.  You’re Mufasa’s boy.”
With that, Simba is intrigued and excited.  “You knew my father?,” he asks.
Rafiki responds, “Correction, I know your father.”  He then jumps from his perch, motions to Simba to follow and says, “Come, I show you.”
Simba follows through the thicket as Rafiki takes him rapidly through the jungle – through vines and over roots until they come to a stop by the river’s edge...

“Shhh!” Rafiki says, “Look down there.”
Simba walks over to the edge and peers into the pool. 
He raises his head dejected and proclaims, “That’s not my father.  That’s just my reflection.”
“Look haarder.” Rafiki says as he points back to the water.
With that the waters begin to ripple and the image changes to reveal the image of the father looking back at his son and Rafiki says, “You see, he lives in you.”

Then a voice comes from the sky as a silhouetted image appears out of the clouds and says, “Simba.”
“Father,” replies Simba.
“Simba, you have forgotten me.”
“No…How could I?”
“You have forgotten who you are and so have forgotten me.  Look inside yourself Simba, you are more than you have become.  You must go back and take your place in the circle of life.”

As the image of his father begins to recede into the clouds and those clouds begin to disperse, Simba replies, “How can I go back?  I’m not who I used to be.”
As the image continues to dissipate, Simbas’ father says, “Remember who you are.  You are my son.  And the one true king.  Remember who you are.”
Begging him to stay and chasing the clouds as they go away, Simba ends up sitting under the African night sky, looking up toward the heavens, hearing his father’s words, “Remember…Remember…Remember who you are.”

Who are you?
Come close…it’s a secret…though it’s not really a secret…rather it is something that’s meant to be lived out in this world LOUDLY.

You are God’s son – You are God’s daughter – You are/I am/We are God’s children.

And God does not leave us alone or abandon us – even when things fall apart – we have a center that can hold!
For we believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator/Maker of heaven and earth.
The very one who made us will not abandon us…for we are his…remember that!

Remember who you are…Remember…Remember…

Let us pray:
O God, our Heavenly Father, we ask but one thing this day, and that is for you to help us remember that our center will hold for it is grounded in you, the one who made heaven and earth, the one who made us, the one who is with us this day and every day.  Amen.

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