Watts Street Baptist Church - Nourishing the True Self

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Nourishing the True Self
Posted on Mon Oct 06 2008

Mel Williams

NOURISHING THE TRUE SELF
Philippians 3:4b-14
A homily by Mel Williams
Watts Street Baptist Church
October 5, 2008 (World Communion)

Our economy is facing hard times. The Iraq War grinds on. And in another month we’ll be voting for a new President. In the middle of this anxious, uncertain time, is there a word from the Lord?

At the YMCA this week I was preparing for my morning workout when one of my good brothers walked in the locker room and said, “Hey, with the stock market decline, God has a way of getting our attention.” He was very serious. He said, “This is a time to turn to God for direction.” He also said, “The Lord provides what we need in tough times.” I thanked him for that good word, which then went directly into this homily.

What is God saying to us now? God speaks through people, in unlikely places like the YMCA locker room. And God speaks to us through nature, current events, music, art and Scripture. Today the text given to us is a word about our true self.

In difficult times—fearful times, we have to reach for our inner resources---courage, hope, faith, and love. Recently with the sagging stock market, our retirement funds and savings accounts have taken a terrible hit. Many are fretting over the upcoming Presidential election. And today at our fall church meeting we vote on the 2009 church budget. Let’s name it. There is some nervousness around all these matters.

In the middle of this uncertain situation, what’s the word for today? It comes from Paul’s letter to the Philippians. He says, “I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” What does that mean? Is it simply another preacher saying “Turn to Jesus, and everything will be OK”? That’s too simple.

I think Paul is pointing to something far deeper. I think he is saying: Anchor your life in your True Self. Anchor your life in your true nature, the deepest sense of who you are.   Then make your decision about your church pledge and your vote for President out of your deep Self, not from some superficial, external self.

And what is your deep self? What is our identity?   You and I are loved by God and called to live in union with God, as Jesus did. The truth is that we are already united with God. Our great issue is to be aware of this reality and to nurture our union with God. When we try to be someone we are not, we will have struggles and dilemmas and anxiety—until we become who we are and not try to be someone other than who we are – in our deepest self, the Christ-self.

Church in the best sense—the Body of Christ—is a community of people who know who we are, and we act and vote from our deepest self, the Christ-self in each of us. An expression of that deep self is embodied in the Prayer of St. Francis. (See the cover of today’s order of worship.) He knew who he was, and his values emerged from the deep self, the Christ-self.

I remember an old fable about a mother tiger who died giving birth to a cub. This meant that the newly born tiger cub was without any support as he wandered through the forest. A herd of goats came upon the little tiger; and sensing that he was lost, the goats invited the cub to join their company. As the months went by, this creature gradually took on all the qualities of a goat, even though he was by nature a tiger.

One day the king tiger, happening through the forest, saw the tiger cub acting like a silly goat, and he roared out, “What is the meaning of this unseemly masquerade? Why are you behaving like a goat?” All the cub knew was to bleat nervously and nibble the grass. Then it dawned on the king tiger what the problem was. This little creature had no idea who he was.

The older tiger took the little one down to a river and let him see for the first time a reflection of his face in the water. “See,” the king tiger said. “You are not really a goat, you are one of us.” Then he laid back his head and let the little creature hear how a tiger was supposed to sound. At that point, the king tiger said, “Follow me, little one, and I will help you become the grand thing you already have it in you to be!”

It was this fable that inspired the poet T.S. Eliot to refer to “Christ, the Tiger.” We begin to see the connection. Jesus came to embody all that God intended human beings to be. Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will show you who you are, so that you can become the “grand thing that you are.” (from John Claypool, Stories Jesus Still Tells, pp. 153-4)

This is what Paul is driving at when he speaks of knowing Christ, of pressing onward for the prize of knowing Christ, and that includes the Christ self in all of us, our deep self.

The Christ self is our true self. We are made to live from the deep self that is love, the deep self that is united with God and with all humans over the world.

Thomas Merton, the monk, spent most of his life describing who we are called to be. He wrote, “Love is the reason for my existence, for God is love. Love is my true identity. Selflessness is my true self. Love is my true character. Love is my name.” (Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation, p. 60)

We come to worship to claim and nourish our true self. When we nourish the true self—through silence, prayer, and communion, then we can, as Gandhi said, “be the change you want to see in the world.” As we claim and nourish our true self, then we can live with a gentle compassion.

And we can make all our decisions—personal, economic, spiritual and political—not from whim or self-centeredness, but from our deep self, the self we are intended to be.

Amen. So may it be.

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