Who am I?
This morning I was doing lectio divina with a reading from Colossians.
There is so much in this passage for me personally, for us as a community of faith. I can see numerous blog posts emanating from this. But for today, I got stopped at the first few words of the first verse, "12As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved..."
Who am/are I/we? In those times when some may call us fat, forgetful, stupid, whatever...God calls us chosen, holy, beloved. Does it matter what others call us when God calls us chosen and beloved? It can be difficult to keep criticisms in perspective, particularly when they are painful ones. We can take heart with the encouragement of scripture. Paul told the Colossians this and God has this word for us as well, chosen and beloved.
Who am I? Everyone has struggled/struggles with this question, particularly in times of uncertainty. Even Dietrich Bonhoeffer expresses this sentiment in his poem entitled "Who Am I?"
Bonhoeffer's conclusion to the matter was, "Whoever I am, Thou knowest, 0 God, I am Thine!" Chosen and beloved, echoing the words of Paul, we are what God calls us.
There is so much in this passage for me personally, for us as a community of faith. I can see numerous blog posts emanating from this. But for today, I got stopped at the first few words of the first verse, "12As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved..."
Who am/are I/we? In those times when some may call us fat, forgetful, stupid, whatever...God calls us chosen, holy, beloved. Does it matter what others call us when God calls us chosen and beloved? It can be difficult to keep criticisms in perspective, particularly when they are painful ones. We can take heart with the encouragement of scripture. Paul told the Colossians this and God has this word for us as well, chosen and beloved.
Who am I? Everyone has struggled/struggles with this question, particularly in times of uncertainty. Even Dietrich Bonhoeffer expresses this sentiment in his poem entitled "Who Am I?"
Bonhoeffer's conclusion to the matter was, "Whoever I am, Thou knowest, 0 God, I am Thine!" Chosen and beloved, echoing the words of Paul, we are what God calls us.
Comments
I put that together with the part that you are reading from Colossians and it hits me is that even with fear (its an involuntary emotion so it will be there) or with doubt we still have value before God as chosen, holy, and beloved.