Who are you?

Yesterday morning we had a service of Believer’s Baptism at our church. The lady being baptised (Allison, pictured in the middle) shared her story in an incredibly honest and powerful way. From responses afterwards I am sure everyone was moved by her testimony about finding faith in the midst of a serious illness. I have not checked with her whether I can share it with you so I will leave it at that for the moment.

In conversation with her last week we talked about not being defined by our illness. I am Nick, and there are plenty of things that define me: follower of Jesus, husband, father, performer of magic tricks, lover of jokes, supporter of Ipswich Town FC, Baptist Minister, and more beside. I also happen to suffer from chronic migraine but I do not want to be defined by that illness. It is not something that defines who I am, even though it’s something that affects how I am.

That may seem like a fine line to draw, and perhaps you won’t see it, but to me it is very important. I want to be defined by positive attributes (yes, even supporting itfc can be positive!) not by negative influences.

It’s a fine line that we don’t always manage to get right. If we think about high profile people who have made public errors we often find that they are defined by those moments, not by many positive attributes and contributions. Jonathan Aitken, Bill Clinton, Gerald Ratner, even institutions like Lehman Brothers bank. Our collective memory for failures is long and lacks grace.

Sadly I think sometimes even in churches we have the same experience. We talk about being ‘sinners, saved by grace’ and sometimes major on helping people to feel like sinners rather than focusing on how we are saved by God’s grace. He has a much greater capacity to forgive, reconcile and move on than we do. There may be consequences of our actions, but God’s grace is so overwhelming that he refuses to define us by them.

If he doesn’t, we certainly shouldn’t.

Be blessed, be a blessing.

(Here’s yesterday evening’s opening sermon joke for you)

Bob was bragging to his boss one day, “I know everyone there is to know. Just name someone, anyone, and I know them.”

Tired of his boasting, his boss called his bluff, “OK, Bob how about Usain Bolt?”

“Sure, yes, Usain and I are old friends, and I can prove it.” So Bob and his boss fly out to Jamaica and knock on Usain Bolt’s door, and sure enough, Usain Bolt shouts, “Bob! Great to see you! You and your friend come right in and join me for lunch! ”

Although impressed, Bob’s boss is still sceptical. After they leave the house, he tells Bob that he thinks Bob’s knowing Usain Bolt was just lucky.

“No, no, just name anyone else,” Bob says.

“Nelson Mandela,” his boss quickly retorts.

“Yes,” Bob says, “I know him; let’s fly out to South Africa.”

And off they go. As they approach the house Nelson Mandela spots Bob and motions him and his boss over, saying, “Bob, what a surprise, I was just on my way to a meeting, but you and your friend come on in and let’s have a cup of coffee first and catch up.”

Well, the boss is very shaken by now, but still not totally convinced.  After they leave South Africa, he expresses his doubts to Bob, who again implores him to name anyone else.

“The Pope,” his boss replies.

“Sure!” says Bob. “My folks are from Germany, and I’ve known the Pope a long time.”

So off they fly to Rome. Bob and his boss are assembled with the masses in Vatican Square when Bob says, “This will never work. I can’t catch the Pope’s eye among all these people. Tell you what, I know all the guards so let me just go upstairs and I’ll come out on the balcony with the Pope.”

And he disappears into the crowd headed toward the Vatican. Sure enough, half an hour later Bob emerges with the Pope on the balcony. But by the time Bob returns, he finds that his boss has had a heart attack and is surrounded by paramedics.

Working his way to his boss’ side, Bob asks him, “What happened?”

His boss looks up and says, “I was doing fine until you and the Pope came out on the balcony and the man next to me said, ‘Who’s that on the balcony with Bob?’”