Musical Prelude and Service.

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 & Mark 8:27-38
Who do you say I am? Who do others say I am?
It’s about more than just a name, isn’t it? My name is Warner Bloomfield, but in this context, that is just the surface. Who do people say I am? I’m the minister at Grace United Church. That provides a little more detail, but it still doesn’t tell you who I am; what I value; what I desire for myself and for the world.
Saying I am the minister of a church, might give people some notions. They are maybe able to makes a few presumptions or assumptions, but you may need to provide a few more details.
How do we identify ourselves and how do others see us and name us? If I keep naming myself in a particular way, do I become more likely to view myself in those terms? That can be a good thing and it can also become quite dangerous. If you are apt to constantly describe yourself in negative terms, it can be very easy to internalize those thoughts. The same thing can happen the other way. Or, if all you hear is someone describe you in a particular way, you start seeing yourself in that light.
It is a challenging topic.
In scripture, quite often names hold far more significance than just simple identifiers. They tell people who their families are; where they come from; what they do.
And when we speak of God, it can tell us how we see God; how we relate to God; what we expect from God. What we desire from God.
In today’s scripture we are told God speaks to Abram. God gives Abram and Sarai new names, Abraham and Sarah, as the father and mother of a many nations, as impossible as that prospect may seem.
But God is also named in a new way in this conversation. We are told in this scripture that God identifies as God, the Almighty. That is the most common translation of this passage by a long and wide margin. Why that is the case is one of those little mysteries of biblical scholarship.
The translation comes most likely from a very important translation of Hebrew scripture into Greek; often referred to as the Septuagint. The Hebrew word used to identify God in this passage and several others is El Shaddai. El is one of the Hebrew words used for god. Not the God, but as in “a god.” Shaddai is the identifier for the god of “what”. More contemporary scholars speculate that in translating to Greek, the scribes and sages doing the translation took Shaddai as coming from Shaddad for overpowering; destroyer, and saw it as describing God as all-powerful or almighty.
It can and does make sense. In the last centuries before the common era, is it possible the Jewish people desired an all-powerful God who would overcome all obstacles?
Who do you say I am?
But there is another way of reading and translating that descriptor, Shaddai. It is one that is gaining more attention. And this is one that is also rooted in Jewish tradition. Shaddai, many scholars argue, is rooted in the idea of “enough” or sufficient. In a part of the Passover Haggadah, the word Dayeinu, which has its roots in Shaddai, is used, translating as “it would have been sufficient”. Part of that story says that God left creation unfinished. God desires for us to complete the job by exercising “chesed” or love in repair of the world.
And a later story of Jacob indicates Shaddai refers to mountain or breast, as that is how the word Shad is translated.
In this context, God is the one who nurtures, who provides what is needed. And what God provides is always sufficient.
Who do people say that I am?
Who is the God you are looking for? Who is the God you desire or need? How do you name God? Do you name God based on how you see God? Or do the names and the words you use shape the image you have for the God who creates us and loves us and guides us?
Who do you say I am? Is God the destroyer, the one who overpowers? The all-powerful?
Is God the one who nurtures us? The one who is sufficient, who cares for and provides for all of creation?
Perhaps God is all of these qualities. But that also means we need to be careful in the use of our language describing the holy. Otherwise, we may be limiting in how we imagine God. How expansive can our language be in naming who God is?
God is always with us; nurturing us, guiding us and providing for us in ways that all too often seem beyond our comprehension.
And through Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, God is prepared to walk dangerous and deadly roads to live out that love for us. Jesus tells his followers that he is on a journey that ends at the cross. And he adds that to proclaim themselves his followers means something. To follow Jesus demands a price. You gain a life, a new life, but you need to be ready to give up the life you have already known.
Who do you say I am? Who do you say you are? What does it mean to say you follow Jesus? Who do you see when you name God? And do you seek to emulate the Holy One you follow?
Jesus calls on those who follow him to carry their crosses. Again, as followers of Jesus what do our crosses look like?
In his 1937 book. The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer said following Jesus is difficult. It can sometimes seem impossible. Bonhoeffer notes that sometimes discipleship can involve suffering, but it is also important to note that he was writing in 1937 Germany. To truly follow the path Jesus set in that society most certainly put you at odds with the authorities. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was eventually arrested by the Nazis and later executed at the order of Adolf Hitler.
But we cannot lose sight of the fact that often when we have named ourselves followers of Jesus we are left with difficult choices. Choices that seem to carry a cost. It may mean giving up some of the life we have always known. Much of the comfort and security of this world that we take for granted.
But we should not forget that while we may see a steep cost in discipleship, God remains with us.
When we name God, what image comes to mind?
When we name ourselves followers of Christ, what images come to mind?
Do those images promise us a new life and the promise of a nurturing ever-present God? Because I believe that God’s steadfast love, the love of El Shaddai is always sufficient.
Thanks be to God
Rev. Warner Bloomfield

Music provided with permission through licensing with CCLI License number
2701258 and One License # A-731789