I hope by now you, dear church, know who I am, at least by way of newsletter introduction. You can also read my
bio posted on Mercer’s website or on
my personal blog. I suppose you can scroll through images on my Facebook page to get another picture of who I am.
But who am I, exactly? I have lots of images I hold up. I “image” myself in the articles I write, the sermons I preach, the hobbies I have, the clothes I wear, the cars I drive, and the things I post on social media. Even the language and accents I use (or hide) say something about my identity.
But who am I, exactly? Enneagram says I am a “7” and Myers-Briggs reports me as an ENFP. By now you should be getting nervous. The truth is, I am just me and I look forward in getting to know you.
So, who are you? Not who others say you are and not who you say you are, but who are you? Richard Rohr writes, “Your True Self is who you objectively are from the beginning, in the mind and heart of God, ‘the face you had before you were born,’ as the Zen masters say.” (Falling Upward)
I am reminded of the haunting and powerful words penned by Dietrich Bonhoeffer:
Who am I? This or the other?
Am I one person today, and tomorrow another?
Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,
and before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling?
Or is something within me still like a beaten army,
fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?
Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.
Whoever I am, thou knowest, O God, I am thine.
Ah yes, God knows who I am; not who I think I am, or what I want others to think. God knows who I am. I am thine. I am loved. I am not yet whole, but I am on my way. I am not just a human being. I am a human becoming.
I am looking forward in you getting to know me and me getting to know you.
May you become what God created you to be.
Kept in grace,
Greg
