Sermon

The Church of the Holy Trinity, Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia

The Reverend Alan Neale. A uestion of !dentity"
A question of identity.
You may recall the story of the pompous prelate who was touring one of the
residential homes of the Diocese. The experience of being ignored,
misunderstood and not recognized was beginning to irritate the bishop and
he determined to put things right. So, his question to the next resident was,
Do you !now who " am#$ and the response, %o dear, but if you as! the
nurse at the des!, she&ll be able to help you$.
A question of identity.
'rom ()**+(),- there was a .ritish sitcom titled, /arry 0orth$ 1 or some
2ariation on that theme. The central character was a bumbling 3nglishman
who constantly created ha2oc for those around him. /is memory was none
too good so a common 2ignette was when /arry opened up his 4ac!et,
loo!ed at the name of the tailors 50orth6 and said, 7h my name is 0orth8
/arry 0orth$.
A question of identity.
And so it continues8 a new tele2ision series called 9egends$ describes the
chaotic mental life of :artin 7dum, an '." agent who transforms his identity
as he mo2es underco2er but so gifted is he at playing a legend 5a false
identity6 that lines become porous, 2ague between true and false identity;
the man is played well by Sean .ean to be distinguished of course from8
:r. .ean<
A question of identity.
"n today&s =ospel 5:athew (*>(?+@-6 we read of two questions of identity$#
'irst, let&s begin with Aeter. /e is a rough+hewn, rough spo!en, macho man
but this one is named, identiBed by Cesus as Doc!+:an, whose witness is
foundational for the church$ 1 5(*>(E6 You are Aeter and upon this roc! "
will build my church$.
%ow this disco2ery of Aeter&s identity too! place in a safe community, in a
place where ris!+ta!ing honest expression is allowed and where identities
are deBned not by law and tradition, by fear and by bigotry but by grace
and by lo2e.
" belie2e that the pursuit of Bnding oneself$ in a strange place with no
acquaintances is a pursuit almost doomed to failure; painful, frustrating and
debilitating failure.
Though the church is not the only such en2ironment, it "s at its most
authentic, it is most true to its identity when those who enter as ghosts,
two+dimensional waifs Bnd a safe, supporti2e, aFrming en2ironment where
the question is 2alued, the con2ersation sustained and the disco2ery is
celebrated all in the atmosphere of grace and lo2e. /ere, in a safe
community, we encourage each other to Bnd our identity 1 whether sexual,
gender, ethnic, or social. /ere is a safe community in which a Dector may
say, " am Alan, and " am an alcoholic$ without reprisal or re2enge or
re4ection 5well, generally6.
"t is of this community that Aaul spea!s in Domans (@. 0e are,$ argues
Aaul, one body in Ghrist8 we ha2e gifts that diHer8 not all members ha2e
the same gifts Ithe same identitiesJ but8 we are one body$. A safe
community 5do not 4udge others 1 2erse ?6, a questioning community
5renew your minds 1 2@6 and a community of disco2ery 5discern what is the
will of =od 1 2@ 6.
The bestowal of an authentic identity to Aeter is now indelible; though there
will be se2eral occasions when Aeter 5and friends and enemies6 doubt that
identity yet Cesus will hold it Brm, he will maintain it constantly, truly that
yes in hea2en will be yes on earth.
At the most basic, yet profound, le2el your identity, and mine, is often
eroded or challenged, corroded or diminished by life experiences and by the
sometimes gross, sullen, disillusionment of the world. .ut8 than!s be to
=od8 but in all this Cesus holds us Brm, grasps us tightly and the identity
remains You are a chosen, belo2ed child of =od$. " belie2e without this, or
some life+aFrming sense of place and 2alue in the world, the process of
discerning one&s identity is nigh impossible and wo2en with frustration. 0e
need this sense of identity, most basic, most primal, before e2er we respond
to the call to discern our identity for now.
.ut Aeter is not the only one who recei2es an identity. Cesus as!s 0ho am
"#&. At Brst the question is as!ed in a parenthetical, circumlocutory way. Son
of :an$ may simply be a way of referring to oneself in the third person and
as!ing about the 2iews of people$ underlines the indirect form of the
question. .ut then it gets up close and 2ery personal$ 1 0ho do you say
that " am#$.
3lsewhere in the =ospels we are gi2en a 2ery few precious moments as we
obser2e the hesitancy in Cesus&s mind as /e considers /is identity, /is
relationship and /is purpose 1 0hy ha2e you forsa!en me# Ta!e this cup
from me# 0ho are my brothers and sisters# And with re2erent hesitation "
propose to you that this question of Cesus is not 4ust for the learning
experience of the disciples but also for /is own aFrmation, assurance.
At Gaesarea Ahilippi, especially in :ar! E, we ha2e a sense of a great
watershed being reached, here "s a pi2otal moment in the ministry and life
of Cesus; surely this man is allowed a moment or two as he re+assesses
identify and loo!s for conBrmation 1 yes# At great moments of transition, it
is generally urgent to reKect, 0ho am "#$.
7f course within a few minutes Aeter mo2es from strong a2owal, deBniti2e
declaration to denying the identity of Cesus; read on into :atthew (* when
Aeter tries to deter, deKect Cesus from /is mission. That can happen 1 but
ne2er as Cesus loo!s to us.
This past wee!, " entered into battle with a life insurance company in
3ngland; they had recently bought out a smaller company with which we
had some little interest. Time went by as they told me we were not in their
system and then Bnally the momentous words, 7h " !now who are you<$.
Than! you<$, " said. " mo2ed from being lost in the system$ to oh, " !now
who you are$.
"n our constant quest for identity we want to be able to say, 7h " !now who
" am<$. :ost fundamental is the 2oice of the one who is di2ine; friends loo!
to the di2ine roc! from which you were hewn, the quarry from which you
were dug$ 1 that roc! is grace and the quarry is lo2e.
Than#s $e to %od. Amen.