The Search for Identity

The search for identity.  The psychoanalyst Erik Erikson wrote about the search for identity that each individual goes through as they mature from childhood to adulthood.  As child, we draw much of our identity from our parents and our families of origin.  As we move through adolescence, we struggle to find our own identity… to become an individual in our own right.  To successfully accomplish this transition, we must define a personal role in society and integrate the various dimensions of our emerging personality into a sensible whole. We wrestle with such issues as selecting a career… a college… a religious affiliation… and a political party.  Quite often, the transition is tumultuous… for we test the bounds of authority and societal values.  Sometimes, the struggle continues well into adulthood.  Who are we?

The comedienne Lily Tomlinson once said, “I’ve always wanted to be somebody, but I see now that I should have been more specific.”    How many times in our own lives have we questioned the person we see in the mirror?  Sometimes we question our career… or the person that we are in the workplace.  Other times, we question our private lives… our roles as husband… father… wife… mother.  Most of the time… when these questions arise… we tweak a few things and then go on… content with what we have… content to continue being who we are.  Other times, the changes we make are more significant… setting our lives in a new direction… becoming a very different person.

There are people today who claim that their identity has been stolen.  Usually, what they mean by this is that someone has taken their personal information and used it without their knowledge.  They have discovered… usually in some unpleasant way… that someone has taken their drivers license… passport… credit cards… social security number… birth date… and used these things to acquire things they desire… such as a car… clothing… jewelry.  Having acquired what they want, they then disappear, forcing the other person… the real “Mrs. Jones”… to pay for these things.  The struggle for the real “Mrs. Jones” to prove that she is who she says she is… and that she is not the individual who acquired all these things… is a bureaucratic nightmare which has resulted in destroyed credit ratings … bankruptcy… and even suicide.   One of my favorite movies is the “Bourne Identity,” where Jason Bourne, a character created by Robert Ludlum, struggles to discover who he really is after he regains consciousness with total amnesia.  Without tangible evidence to prove… or even find… his true identity, he struggles against enormous odds to stay alive… and discover the truth.  Along the way, he is forced to make significant choices about man he really is… and man he wants to be.   So, who are we really?  Is there tangible evidence to support our claim?  And are we who we want to be?

At social gatherings, one of the first questions asked of strangers is “What do you do?”  Many of us define our identities and our status by our occupation… our professional title… or the role we play in daily life.  We may have many different identities.  Leesa Levisay, for example, is, at times, the Director of Music for our church.  At other times, she is a piano teacher.  And, just last week, I heard her introduce herself to someone as “Chad’s mom.”  Often, the identity we use is defined by the association we share with others.  Our identity… and our role… may change depending upon the group we are with and our role within that group.

But, once we have defined our identity, we become amazingly dependent upon it.  So much so, that when we lose that identity, it often creates a crisis in our lives.  For example, many years ago now, rather early in her career, Leesa Levisay suffered a major stroke… which robbed her of her ability to earn a living as a musician.  Who was Leesa after her stroke… after she could no longer sing… play the piano… and do all the things that, in her mind, made her who she was at that time?   Leesa was fortunate enough to come back from her stoke… regain much of what she lost… to sing once again… and play the piano… and teach music.  She talks about the struggle to regain her physical abilities… but not about the long, dark days filled with questions that had no answers.  But in those long, dark days, she did learn that she was not what she did… but who she was. 

You and I can think of individuals we have known who have lost their jobs… their careers… in this economic downturn.  We can think of others who have lost their health… or become disabled.  We can think of still others who have lost a husband… a child… through death or through divorce.   What part of their identity… of who they are… have they lost… and how do they cope with that loss?  Do they successfully redefine who they are?  Research data clearly show that the death rate of individuals… particularly men… spikes sharply within the first two years following retirement.  The loss of identity… lifestyle… status… and social networks that these individuals experience when they retire creates an identity crisis that many are not able to overcome.

What Peter tells us in his letter is that there is one identity we can never lose… one that can never be stolen from us:  we are the children of God.  Through the waters of baptism, we have gained an identity that is ours until the end of time!  The Apostle Paul was convinced that nothing could ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus… thus, his identity as a child of God was secure… even when he was incarcerated.  Being a child of God was a forever thing.

The great preacher Fred Craddock tells the story of a trip that he made to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, with his wife.  While seated at a restaurant, they noticed a distinguished-looking gentleman moving from table to table, talking with the guests.  Eventually, he made it to their table and started a conversation.  Inevitably, he asked Dr. Craddock what he did for a living.  When he discovered that Dr. Craddock taught homiletics at a seminary, the man said he had a story to tell him.  Dr. Craddock groaned inwardly, assuming he would hear yet another story about preachers.

The man introduced himself as Ben Hooper and then told of his life growing up in a nearby mountain town.  His mother was not married when he was born, so his childhood was not an easy one.  Other children taunted him and he learned to spend much of his time alone. One day a new preacher came to his church.  Ben would slip in late and leave early to avoid any confrontation with the other children and the tacit disapproval of adults.  One day, he was not fast enough and was forced to exit through the door where the new preacher was standing.  As the man shook his hand, the question that Ben most dreaded was asked, “Who are you, son?  Whose boy are you?”  In the silence that followed, the preacher studied his face.  Then, a smile came across his face and he said, “Wait a minute.  I know who you are.  I can see the family resemblance.  You are a son of God.”  With that, the preacher laid his hand on the boy’s shoulder and said, “Boy, you’ve got a great inheritance.  Go and claim it.”

That day changed his life. As the man stood up, he told the Craddocks, “That was the most important single sentence ever said to me.”  With that, he moved on to the next table.  It was several seconds later that Dr. Craddock remembered a small fact he had read somewhere.  On only two occasions have the people of Tennessee elected someone of illegitimate birth to be their governor.  One of them was named Ben Hooper.

If we have an identity in Christ as a child of God, do we need any other identity?  Indeed, it is the only identity we possess that we can live out in any sphere of our existence.  It is ours for a lifetime… for eternity… and no financial crisis or personal loss can change it.

But what does it mean to be a child of God… or to claim this identity that Peter speaks of as a chosen race… a royal priesthood… a holy nation… God’s own people?   You have probably heard the phrase, “Like father, like son” or another that says, “The acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree.”  There is no greater demonstration of our inheritance… no truer measure of our familial relationship… than for us… as children of God… to be the image of our Father… our heavenly Father.  There is no stronger tangible evidence of our identity as the children of God than for us to speak of God’s love… and show God’s grace in our lives… as though we were cut from the same cloth.   Our text today tells us how.  Look again at verses nine and ten:  “You are a chosen race… a royal priesthood… a holy nation… God’s own people… in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.  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.”  

When the identity we take is the identity that God has given to us, it can never be taken away.  When the work that we do is the work that God gives you to do, there is no retirement… no lay-off… no job loss… from it.  As long as we are able to speak God’s name, there will be people who hunger to hear it.  As long as we are able to show God’s love, there will be people starving for it.  We have received the bread of life… Let us share it with all who are hungry.  We have received the living water… Let us share it with those who still thirst.  We are God’s children... and so we will always be.  Amen.

1 Peter 2:2-10