This week we’ve got to do a “Previously on Good Shepherd” like they do on TV shows. Those of you streaming this at home can skip ahead a couple of minutes. (Just a moment, I’m buffering.)

 

Last week we joined Jesus and his disciples at a pagan shrine in Caesarea Philippi where Jesus asked them who they say he is. Peter responded, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus gives Peter a gold star for the day and says that is the rock upon which he will build his Church, and through the Church the Kingdom of God will take shape in the world.

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This morning’s readings speak to the question of identity. Who are we, really? We tend to think of that in terms of where we were raised, what we do and other sorts of tags of what is called social location, as though we could be plotted on a map. But it’s more like an ever-shifting sea.

And identity isn’t just about us as individuals. All of those markers place us in groups and as such we take on those identities, too.  The history of those groups is our history. That can be anything from sharing joy in Lake Wales High School winning a state championship to cherishing our Declaration of Independence.

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I have an older brother and three younger sisters, which could be chaotic at times and that included meals. My mum came up with a rule to cope with us having differing food tastes and preferences. We were each allowed to choose one food that we did not have to eat. Anything else, we had to eat what was on our plate.

That put me into a quandary because there were three foods I could not stand: liver, beets and Brussels sprouts. That list has changed over the years. Thanks to different recipes and shifting taste buds, I now like Brussels sprouts and I’ve made my peace with beets. No one has ever tried to coax me into eating liver. But, being English, that’s why I call her mum, she never exposed me to okra. So now I’m down to two - that I know of.

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