YOU HAVE KNOWN ME (33 OF 52)
Scripture: Psalm 139:1-12, Psalm 139:23-24
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You Have Known Me (33 of 52)
Series: Lectionary, Year A
Christopher B. Harbin
Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24
We want to be known. Well, we want to be partly known. Generally, there are aspects of our lives we want to remain hidden. We are concerned that someone might discover the deepest and darkest parts of our beings and expose us to the world. We fear we might be outed. If people truly knew us from the inside out, we fear we could not be loved, that people would think less of us, that we would lose a measure of our worth, our value, our humanity. Meanwhile, the Scriptures tell us God intimately knows us. They tell us God still loves us. Can that be enough to enable us to become a little more vulnerable and less fearful of being known?
Our culture has a great deal of stake in the concepts of shame, guilt, and stigma. We don't get these notions from Jesus. We get them from our culture and heritage. They are part of our history implicated in atrocities like the Salem Witch Trials, the Spanish Inquisition, and the Crusades. They are enmeshed in theological threads dealing with concepts of condemnation and punishment that Jesus tended to counter. We often don't see the conflict because it is so deeply ingrained in our heritage.
We hear things like ''God will strike you down for saying that!'' That is a notion extending from Greek worship of Zeus, conceived as throwing lightning bolts in anger on those bringing offense. Jesus told his listeners not to equate things like a tower falling on people as God's punishment for their evil deeds. He introduced God as a loving father, not as sending earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes to punish nations for what a televangelist might decree as their sin.
We hear things like, ''You can't say that in church!'' as though God would be less able to hear our words spoken elsewhere. I find people changing their speech patterns around me when they discover I am a pastor. Do we believe God is somehow unaware of who we are on the i ...
Series: Lectionary, Year A
Christopher B. Harbin
Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24
We want to be known. Well, we want to be partly known. Generally, there are aspects of our lives we want to remain hidden. We are concerned that someone might discover the deepest and darkest parts of our beings and expose us to the world. We fear we might be outed. If people truly knew us from the inside out, we fear we could not be loved, that people would think less of us, that we would lose a measure of our worth, our value, our humanity. Meanwhile, the Scriptures tell us God intimately knows us. They tell us God still loves us. Can that be enough to enable us to become a little more vulnerable and less fearful of being known?
Our culture has a great deal of stake in the concepts of shame, guilt, and stigma. We don't get these notions from Jesus. We get them from our culture and heritage. They are part of our history implicated in atrocities like the Salem Witch Trials, the Spanish Inquisition, and the Crusades. They are enmeshed in theological threads dealing with concepts of condemnation and punishment that Jesus tended to counter. We often don't see the conflict because it is so deeply ingrained in our heritage.
We hear things like ''God will strike you down for saying that!'' That is a notion extending from Greek worship of Zeus, conceived as throwing lightning bolts in anger on those bringing offense. Jesus told his listeners not to equate things like a tower falling on people as God's punishment for their evil deeds. He introduced God as a loving father, not as sending earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes to punish nations for what a televangelist might decree as their sin.
We hear things like, ''You can't say that in church!'' as though God would be less able to hear our words spoken elsewhere. I find people changing their speech patterns around me when they discover I am a pastor. Do we believe God is somehow unaware of who we are on the i ...
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