June 21, 2009

The Third Sunday After Pentecost

“Who Am I?”

1 Samuel 17:12-15; 28-33

Rev. Dr. R. Tim Meadows

What are you doing here? Why have you come to a place where you have no business? What is it you think you can do? What is it that you have come to see anyway? Who do you think you are?

Questions, pointed questions, questions I hate, but I must admit they were all good questions. Questions I have asked myself when the first inkling came that maybe my people needed me to be more than just a shepherd and a delivery boy. Who am I to think that God could use someone so ill – equipped at this critical time for my people?

What if I fail in this mission I feel compelled to give myself to? What if my best efforts are not enough to accomplish the mission? What will people think about me when they hear what I’ve offered to do? Will they question my psychological stability? Will they laugh at how ridiculous it seems that I believe that I can do this thing?

How will this reflect on my family? Will they have to live with constant stares, whispers, and pointing by others if I fail in this thing? Will this make the legacy of my family one of failure, dishonor, and shame?

Who am I? Shouldn’t someone with better training, more ability, or clearer insight, be the one to take on this mission? Who am I to think that the enemy will even take me seriously, they will probably be so overcome with laughter that they will forget the battle momentarily. Who am I in this vast world of complex uncertainty to offer a message of certainty and hope? Who am I to think that I should stay here and stand with my people, when it would be far easier to complete my deliveries and leave? At that point, my original mission would be accomplished.

Who am I? I am simply a person who believes that the power of God is big enough to flow even through me. I believe that God can be heard and trusted as we walk through life. I hope that God can use all of creation in the drama of life as the story unfolds. I think there is a certain mystery in the fact that God chooses opposite of the way we think God will or should choose. I think it is in that mystery God empowers those of us others see as weak.

So, who am I? I am one sent by God to do my best. The question is who are you? What mission has God prepared for you? What questions are you hearing from others about your presence and abilities that give you pause? How concerned are you that you may fail in this mission and be a source of embarrassment for yourself and other significant people? How certain are you that there must be someone else better suited to the task than you?

Do you believe that God can be trusted? Do you believe that all of creation has a part in the drama of life? Do you want to embrace the mystery and let the power of God flow through you? Can you imagine that you are central to God’s mission?

How will my mission end? I do not know but I can’t wait to watch it unfold and see where the power of God takes me!

May God give us the grace to let God answer the “Who Am I” questions of life in wonderful ways, and may God fill our lives with the desire to watch the drama unfold! AMEN.