Scripture Reading
Message Text
Editor’s Note: There was no audio recording this week due to technical difficulties.
A Key Question in Life
Why do you exist?
This is a fundamental question in life.
What is the meaning of my existence? What is the purpose of my life?
And related to that are these questions:
Who am I? And why was I born?
A Time of Exploring these Questions
As adolescents and teenagers, these are questions you’re slowly starting to think of, whether you’re aware of it or not.
Until you came into the Hi-C, you just lived life without thinking about it. I still remember many of you when you were in Kids Church. Seeing you up on stage for Christmas concerts, singing in the Kids Church choir, it was so cute! Or I remember some of you in Korean school, reading sentences in Korean in your maaad broken Korean! It seems like yesterday and now you’re all gangly teenagers.
But this is a time when you realize that there is a bigger world out there beyond your family. For those of us who are lucky, family is a safe place where we can always come back to. But we are wondering where we fit in this bigger world that is out there.
Who am I, and where do I belong in this world?
A Coming of Age Story
I love the show “The Get Down” on Netflix. It’s a coming of age show. It takes in the Bronx, New York during the birth of the hip hop era. It resonates with me because hip hop was a big presence in my life. I was never a real music head, but what hip hop stood for then really affected me. Hip hop was a space where those who had no voice found it, where those who had always been looked over by society found a way to express themselves. It was pure expression of their lives and creativity. Because of this purity, it caught on with others who felt voiceless and powerless.
Unfortunately, eventually the big music companies got wind of this and found opportunity to make money. And once money came into the picture, the purity of of this expression got diluted, and people started chasing the dollars, and it became more and more about the dollar bills.
But this show at least captures the spirit of the origins. The main characters are a guy named Zeke and a girl named Mylene. Zeke is a bright guy who’s also great with words. On the one hand, people are trying to help him advance out of the ghetto – he gets an internship downtown with a big corporate guy, but also finds his voice as a rap MC. He feels obligated to live up to what others expect of him, but he also wants to stay true to who he is.
He feels out of place in the corporate world of the Man. He sees that they’re just exploiting his community for their own gain, but he also knows that this may be the ticket out of his situation. But he feels most alive in the B-Boy world of rap and MC’ing. The only problem is, this is just seen as a passing fad run by a bunch of teenagers. Musically, it was the world of disco, and this rap thing had no future, and it was a silly waste of time.
Mylene is a great singer. She’s also the daughter of a strict pentecostal preacher. She is devoted to her family but wants to go beyond the constraints put on her. Things will come to a head when her father’s restrictions come against her need to break through.
That’s just a summary. It was a deeply entertaining show as well, and the music brought me back to when I was a kid.
Our Path in Life
Who am I, and what is my place in this world?
The path of life is unclear. I first felt a calling to ministry when I was your age. I don’t know why, I just felt a burning desire to serve in the church. I wanted to help people find their selves and their identities in God, and help them build a closer relationship with God.
But real life came in the way. My parents, being immigrants, wanted security for their children, and ministry back then was a very hard life. My pride came in the way too – I wanted to see if I could “make it” in the world. Ministry wasn’t seen as a cool thing, and this is an unfortunate thing – back in my day ministry was seen almost as a thing you did if you couldn’t succeed in anything else.
In any case, I went on the path of “making it” in this world. But all along, I felt like Zeke in the corporate world – that I didn’t belong. But I thank God, because those 20 plus years before I finally answered the call were necessary ones for me to learn and grow in maturity. And I’ve shared with you that I feel like I’m right where I belong right now, serving you right here and sharing life with each of you.
The path of life is uncertain. We don’t know where it will take us. To think that we can control the outcome of our life is foolishness.
Faith as Our Anchor
But as children of God, we have comfort in our faith. It is an anchor for us.
We have the blessing and privilege of a personal God who loves us and forms us.
1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
It’s kind of hard to believe sometimes, of a God who has created us so intentionally and intimately. When life is tough, or when we feel alone, the idea of God can seem so distant. But this is our faith and what we believe, that God, the Creator of the universe, has created me and loves me.
13 For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
God formed us. And you know what? God is still forming us.
The journey of faith is about God’s continuous forming in us. God’s work in us is never done.
Encouragement for the Journey of Discovery
Right now, you are trying to figure out your own identity in this world. My friends, let us allow God to lead us in this journey of discovery. Finding out about yourself is finding out more and more who it is that God has intentionally created.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.
Your personality, your gifts, the experiences you face in life, these are all things that God uses to form and shape us. These are the things that constitute our identity. But ultimately, as children of God, our identity is rooted in the fact that we are God’s beloved children, fearfully and wonderfully made.
The journey of life has many difficulties and challenges. We will doubt ourselves and find ourselves alone in this lonely world. But with God, it’s also a journey of joy and happiness, especially when we journey together with a community of faith like we have right here.
God bless you. May we be affirmed in the faith that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made.
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