Who are you?

Today in church the message was about vocation, and the preacher, Brent MacDougal (Coordinator for the Alabama CBF), said a number of things I thought were really good. First, he said that vocation is about being and doing -- but that our primary focus should be on being the person God created us to be. The "doing" will come out of that. He said this in the context of what we should teach our children -- tell them that God didn't make any mistakes when he created them, that their gifts and their personality and everything that makes them unique were created for a specific reason, and that the most important thing they can do is to fully become the special person they are.

Second, and here he was quoting Rick Warren, your purpose, your vocation, is not about you. It's about playing a part in God's larger plan. He used the image of Christ's baptism. When he came up out of the water, the voice of God "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well-pleased". He didn't say "Listen up, people, this is my son, and in the next three years he's going to do x, y, and z. I've given him the to-do list, and you need to pay close attention to everything he says, because your soul hangs in the balance." It was about who Christ was, and about God being satisfied and pleased with him simply for being that person. But it also wasn't about CHRIST, the man, the person, even the deity. It was about the role he played in God's plan to bring freedom and love and comfort and salvation to the world.

There was a woman on NPR this morning who suffered from anorexia and has written a book, "Gaining", about her process of healing. She said, in order to recover, she had to "swallow fear" and allow exuberance and the joy of living take over. Her fear was caused by the imagined external voices she felt were judging her for not being thin enough.

The message from both is to enjoy and live fully who you are, without fear that there might be something deficient or lacking. It is in being fully ourselves that we have the strongest impact on the world.

And this brings me to the final piece. The text this morning came from Luke, which quoted Isaiah, which quoted Leviticus. It was the part where Jesus reads aloud the scriptures about the year of Jubilee. In doing so, he was declaring himself to be the long-awaited Messiah.

But the message of the "Year of Jubilee" or the "Year of God's Favor" has always stuck with me. Here's the text from Luke 14:

'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

The Jubilee year, or year of the Lord's favor, was supposed to be the year following seven "sabbaths" of years, so seven times seven. In the fiftieth year, debt was to be forgiven and slaves were to be set free (only Israelite slaves, not ones bought and sold from neighboring countries. This was completely fine in the context of Leviticus. Yet another argument for those of us who think of the Bible as a document to be read and understood in its historical context, but I digress.) The Catholic church declares "Jubilee years" every 50 years or so, but they don't forgive debt or release prisoners. (You get extra indulgences, though!!) [Wouldn't it be radical if the whole world got together and just forgave debt? -- You know, on July 10, 2007, perhaps (according to the Hebrew calendar, 2007-08 is the next year of Remittance, although 2000 was the last Jubilee year according to the Catholic church, making their next one 2050). Personal debt, national debt, everything. Impractical, yes. Hugely unrealistic, yes. But can you imagine how liberating. Set my people free, indeed.]

But the words in Luke give me pause for a different reason: what am I doing to bring good news to the poor, release the captives, give sight to the blind, and free the oppressed?

If I am perfectly honest, nothing. I've been too wrapped up in the small things of life. And I don't know what I could do, that would make a difference. Sending the small amount of money I can afford to charities doesn't feel like it makes a big impact, and I've been too self-absorbed and "busy" (I hate that word) to go out to those who are in need and DO something.

In another sense, though, we are the poor, we are the oppressed, we are the blind, and we are the captives -- to our own beliefs and self-limiting behaviours, if nothing else. And the message is to us: know that Christ came to bring us comfort, to open our eyes to the beauty (and the need) around us, and to set us free from all of the chains that bind us and hold us down.

Now if there were just a way to work in that whole debt-forgiveness thing...