The Story Of ME, the Story of US

Luke 4:14-21

1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

            There are over 7 billion people on the planet.  There are 313.5 million people in the United States.  There are 5.3 million people in the state of Minnesota. There are almost 55,000 students at the University of Minnesota.  There are almost 4,000 students in the Super Block. There are 502 residents in Sanford Hall.  There are 43 people on average per floor.  There is one apartment that you call home.  There is one of you.  ONE  There will only be one moment just like this ever again.

            Isn’t that amazing.  There are over 7 billion stories happening right now across the world.  There are people at work, people sleeping, people eating, people doing everything.  There are people who are happy, sad, some are crying, unfortunately someone right now is being diagnosed with cancer, someone is telling their spouse they want a divorce, someone is having a baby.  There is a story to the world, a story that keeps going when we are gone and was going long before we were born.  That story is the story of US, of humanity, and a world full of the elements of human interaction and built into the singular motion that keeps us moving in a direction that is hard to pinpoint or nail down. But we are moving in it together.

           Then there is the story of me.  That’s the story each of us embodies.  It is a story and a life that we each live and breath in the world.  And in college, the story of me is what is most important.  It’s the chance and the time for “me” to become “me” and for “me” to understand who that “me” is.  But we can never forget the story of us in the midst of all of this.

            In the scriptures, Paul talks of the unified body, the body of the ear and of the hand and of the eye.  Unknowingly, he may have introduced us to what is known as family systems theory, a form of psychology that seeks to understand how families are interrelated and how relationships amongst members are encouraged, strained, and molded. Paul knew his body of constituents were not all alike, that they had different talents, that there was an individual inside each of them, but he also knew they were called to be as one.

            Now think for a moment about the Christian movements we live in today.  There is no such a thing as a singular movement, no idea that people are going to agree and certainly no ability for us to as a faith tradition to see eye to eye on everything. Yet, we have in many ways only created places where we all agree. We don’t have discourse, or ask questions, or get along if we have different personality types and ideas.  We are in fact only seeking similar persons.

            This is what Paul is afraid is happening in his community in Corinth.  He is watching a community that is made up of people from different backgrounds be destroyed by their own fear of one another.  And he’s not alone in his day.  Each day, communities of the Church are broken because people are left to feel as if they are not welcome because they are simply different.  Someone comes into a Church and they can’t find anything that suits them immediately and thus they feel they are not welcome. 

            Sometimes people see new persons or people they don’t instantly get along with and they outcast them.  It’s the tribal way we as humans beings have been intrinsically taught to act.  But that is not going to help us, and instead we have to break that cycle, trying something new and embarking on a journey that even we struggle with at times.  We are going to have to try to become communities that hold in tension the pressures that Edwin Friedman calls “Togetherness Pressure.” 

           Here at the Wesley Foundation, we have a statement that ALL MEANS ALL, meaning that all are welcome to come and be a part of the community.  And I do think we mean that statement, I just don’t think we’re all there yet.  I still think we have a togetherness pressure, where it is a little hard for us to live in tension with each other and those differing beliefs.  I do it, we all do it.  But it’s time to put all of that to rest…and you know why…because we are more than just an every weekend Church…we’re a community, a body of people who are here for each other.

            If one member of this community is honored, we are all meant to be honored together, and if a member of this community suffers, all suffer with it.  That is what truly happens in a community as it was intended to be.  We don’t want people to overly mourn…we want people to be overly connected to each other’s fate, but the body of Christ, whether we know it or not, is being called to live in that way.

            So then the question for us is this?  Who is our body?  What makes up our community.  Is it those who are sitting here right now?  Is it those members on facebook or on our email list serve?  Is it the community of friends we have?  Who is it?  I contend that the message Paul is sending is one of diversity, one of inclusion, one of visioning a community that is more than simply those sitting around in the room.  The story of us is a question of figuring out who “US” is just as much as it is a story of understanding who “me” is.

            Perhaps Jesus’ example might shed light.  In the passage we read today, we hear of Jesus’ reading of the scroll, of the spirit of the Lord coming upon Isaiah, and then he said that this had been fulfilled.  Now it’s hard to see this in here, but Jesus can only be Jesus because of the interaction between himself and the spirit and God.  The spirit is within and upon Jesus, thus making him the son of God.  Whether you believe that or not, the message is that of an interaction between the people.  Jesus is not Jesus without God and the spirit.

            This community, we are individuals, the “ME” that is so highly sought after in college as a way to understand oneself.  BUT, the  “ME”, the “ME” of Jesus, requires  others.  Barack Obama said that there is no self-made man.  And despite a risk of politics, I believe he is right.  Every single one of us are who we are because of those in our lives, those right here, those in our dorms, those at our family homes, those in our classes.  We are “ME’s” because of the US.  Even Jesus was who he was as a “SON” because of a “FATHER.”  OR at least that’s how we describe him.

            What is the story of us here in this community.  It’s the story of 55,000 “Me’s” diverse and all, coming together here in one place.  As we begin this semester again, seeking how we can make this a place of welcome, it’s time to understand once and for all that we are interconnected, whether we like it or not, and we each effect one another and each other in the world.  Some have ears for hearing, others lips for speaking, others for legs for marching and acting, others hands for washing and preparing.  But each of us have a role to play, like the Ents in Lord of the RINGS.  whether you are new tonight or have been here for a long time.  You are a body, committed and connected to each other, and no matter what, God calls you to something greater than yourself.  Something that is the story of US, and when it is the story of US, then the “ME” is truly lived out and the body rejoices together.