What's in a name? Usually our names are relatively
innocuous. We are named for a relative, or our parents choose a name
that they like for some reason. Sometimes names can have more impact
in shaping our sense of identity - at times negatively. My brother-in-law
grew up in Pittsburgh where there was a Mayor Barr who named his children
"Clark" and "Candy" Barr. Or think of the old song about the "boy
named Sue."
Our Second Lesson from First Peter refers to a similar
scenario from the Bible. Verse 10 seems innocuous enough: "Once you
were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not
received mercy, but now you have received mercy." But that verse refers
to the prophet Hosea. To symbolize God's anger with Israel because
they were not faithful to the covenant, God directed Hosea to name
two of his children "Lo-Ammi," or "Not My People," and "Lo-Ruhamah,"
or "Unloved." Imagine what a complex those children had! The story
goes on; to symbolize God's never-ending mercy God later tells Hosea
to rename his children. "Lo-Ammi" becomes "Ammi," "My People," and
"Lo-Ruhamah" becomes "Ruhamah," "Beloved."
Peter applies this passage to the people he is writing
to. We have gathered from the passages we have heard from First Peter
that these people are a minority group, at the very least because
they were believers in Christ in a pagan culture. They are aliens,
perhaps even slaves. Given their circumstances they may well have
felt like they were unloved and no one's people. Peter is telling
them that in Christ that is no longer true. They are a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, God's own people. Yes, like Hosea's children they who
were no people have become God's people; they who were unloved have
become God's beloved.
Today we are having one of our regular services of
healing. I believe that these words from First Peter are key to our
understanding of the healing that comes with our faith. Healing has
to do with our new identity through faith in Christ. We who once were
not a people are now God's people; we who once were unloved are now
God's beloved.
We might have a difficult time identifying with the
people Peter is writing to. We are not a disenfranchised, marginalized,
alien minority. True, but we bear other burdens that challenge our
sense of privilege or well-being. Financial or health problems, dealing
with family problems or grief may make us feel unloved and unsure
of where we belong.
Peter assures us too that however unloved we may feel,
we are God's beloved; however alone we may feel, we are part of God's
people.
What does this have to do with healing? Part of what
we mean by the healing that comes through faith is the sense of encouragement
we have by knowing that we are not alone but are embraced by God's
never-failing love within our community of faith. When I broke my
ankle in my sky-diving episode at my previous church, I was encouraged
by the support of members who visited me during my brief hospital
stay; I was reminded that I was part of a caring community. One of
our college members who had played high school football wrote me and
said that he appreciated how I had "taken one for the team." That
football analogy did capture what I had done, and it also emphasized
that as Christians we are part of a "faith team" that bears healing
power with it.
In his book The Sacred and the Profane the historian
of religion Mircea Eliade talks about nomadic tribes in Australia
who have sacred poles that symbolize the connection between this world
and the realm of the sacred. They oriented their life around this
pole; this pole gave their chaotic nomadic existence a sense of order
and provided them with a sense of identity. On one occasion the pole
of such a traditional group was broken. In their mind their world
now lapsed into chaos and they lost their sense of identity. Without
this sense of identity they wandered aimlessly for a while and then
lay down to die.
If you will, the cross is our sacred pole; the crucified
and risen Christ provides us with our relationship with God and our
identity as God's people. In whatever chaos we experience, we can
be confident that God gives us life, healing, and identity as God's
own precious people.
What shall we do then? Peter says, "Proclaim the mighty
acts of God who called you out of darkness into light." Therefore
we gather for worship and praise. What shall we do then? Jesus says
in today's Gospel, "Do the works that I do." Therefore we live by
the same love that Jesus showed us. As we celebrate how the risen
Christ turns the unloved into God's beloved, let us rejoice in the
healing power of God's love by sharing it in word and deed. Amen.
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