Dear Church Family,
Last week Friday and I went to Las Vegas for a few days to celebrate our anniversary. We have both visited Las Vegas many times - it is a popular destination for Hawaiians. In the "old" days it was cheaper to travel to Las Vegas from one of the many packages that included everything than it was to fly outer island. Those trips were filled with activities that one usually does in Vegas; slots, buffets and shopping. As we age it is more about shopping at thrift stores, walking from hotel to hotel to see the sights and eating at fun restaurants (may include a buffet).
In those visits long ago I brought my best clothes and attempted to be a stylish guy on the town. This visit I brought clothes that were comfortable - accommodating my expanding waistline and shoes that are made for long walks. As we meandered around I was struck at how much I had physically changed from those visits 10, 20, 25 years ago. I had one of those moments on the first morning when I looked in the mirror and asked, "Who are you?" While I am accustomed to recognizing the image in the mirror - I felt I had new eyes - "Who are you?"
Three years ago at my 40th HS class reunion I was introducing myself to classmate and his wife. I didn't know him well, but followed his family bakery business and was saddened to learn they went out of business. When I turned to her, to introduce myself she said very shortly and not so friendly, "I know who you are." I was taken a little aback, and curiously I asked, "How do you know me?" She proceeded to tell me that we grew up in the same neighborhood, she was 3 years older and we rode the same school bus my first 3 years. I remembered her as a child - kinda bossy, but she was also protective. She advised me as a first grader not to listen to the older boys try to dissuade me from my belief in Santa Claus. I imagined she was both bossy and protective of her husband, too. She seemed none too pleased to rekindle our acquaintance and as I walked away from them she was talking very animated to her husband - I imagined giving him an earful about me. I have thought about that moment several times and her comment, "I know who you are." I realized that there will always be projections from others about "who we are" or what we are about, or even some delicious gossip or news about our lives. Yet those projections are often about the conditions or events of our lives. How could she know me?
And as I looked into the mirror and asked, "who are you?" I remembered that I have been at this existential moment many times before. And each time it related to how my spiritual being and human experience coexist. My human condition continues to ask, "what will come of me?" and "how will I manage the changes that arise?" The spiritual being, like a loving parent, will allow the human experience to have its questions, doubts, vulnerability and then come forward to remind me that I am eternal, I am light, I am a vessel and vehicle of God's love, power, wholeness, imagination and peace.
It doesn't really matter what the image we see in the mirror or what someone thinks they know about us. Let us accept how our Source created us. "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:48 NRSV
Many blessings,
Pastor Robert