I borrowed the title of our current message series from a popular television series. The show is about one family, the Pearsons, a couple and their three children. It follows their story in the present with flashbacks to prior parts of their lives. The show is well written, the characters are engaging, and the combination of drama, comedy, tragedy and romance make for a compelling series. I’ll admit, my wife and I are hooked; we look forward to the beginning of the new season.
The story that the show follows is really about the identity of the three Pearson children. Who they are is intimately connected to their lives as children and adolescents. Their personalities were shaped as they grew up. And their present day struggles are the effects of past events and realities.
This is Us is a series about all of us. Like the three main characters, our identities, personalities, and struggles are connected to events of our lives. We are who we are because of the lives that we have led, the families we have, the places we have been, and the events that have shaped us
The
message series uses readings from Ephesians. The book is about identity
– who followers of Jesus are as His people. Ephesus was a Greek city in
present day Turkey. The people that made up the church there had
identities as Greeks, surrounded by all the culture had to offer. But
their identities were made new by their faith in Jesus. Paul writes to
them, inspired by the Spirit, to remain firm in their identity as
Christians and to build on that foundation.
| Ephesians 2:19-20 (ESV) So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. |
That same message applies to us! We are members of the household of God, built on the same foundation. What does that look like today? It looks like people connected by faith, sustained by Word and Sacraments, at work in the Kingdom of God, building up the body of Christ, doing the work of ministry (which is given to all of us), sharing the good news of Jesus, living by the grace by which we are saved. This is Us. This is our story. Our identity is found in Jesus and what He has done for us. Let’s live out that identity, firmly established and rooted in Him who is the head, growing in the knowledge of Jesus, and serving among His church!
This is Us!
Pastor John