Soul Reset

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Resetting your soul begins with remembering who you are. In baptism, God calls us beloved.

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Focus Statement

Resetting your soul begins with remembering who you are.
In baptism, God calls us beloved.

Point of Relation

Have you ever had to deal with how others perceive you and, perhaps, how you may even perceive yourself.
This is something I have struggled with my whole life and, admittedly,
some of the perceptions I have struggled with have been lies.
Which reminds me about a movie franchise I love, and a related series that is blowing my mind right now.
Have y’all ever heard of the Karate Kid?
Have you also heard of its spin off series on Netflix called, Cobra Kai?
Since it is current, I will not talk much about Cobra Kai here, but you should definitely watch it if you were a fan of the Karate Kid film series.
Heck, even if you’re not, you should still check it out. Such great story writing.
The original Karate Kid was a story about a lanky kid from good ol’ Newark, New Jersey, whose single mom moves them out to Roseda, California…
an extremely diverse, working-class suburb of LA in the San Fernando Valley.
The kid, named Daniel, quickly became the target of bullying from Johnny Lawrence and his friend group, all members of the Cobra Kai dojo...
A dojo that adheres to the motto: Strike First, Strike Hard, No Mercy.
But our story today is not about Daniel…who has, up until the show Cobra Kai,
has been the main protagonist in all but one of the films.
Rather, I want to talk to you about Johnny Lawrence.
a boy who was also bullied and beat up...
Worse than that, his mom is divorced and single...
and they didn’t have anything to their name until she married a rich man named Sid…who turned out to be an abusive jerk.
He constantly took out his ire on Johnny, calling a momma’s boy…a loser...
and basically treating him like he was less than human…like he was worthless.
All of those things....of course…were lies. But Johnny believed them.
Until, he discovered the Cobra Kai dojo, and was taken under the wing of a former Special Forces Officer and Karate Sensei, John Kreese.
Kreese, promised the boy that he would make him a winner…and that no one would ever disrespect him again.
He promised to make him tough…to teach him to bring the fight to his opponents rather than waiting on the sideline to be bullied and beat up.
And he promised to teach him to be fierce and merciless.
That way…people would fear him rather than make fun of him.
To say Kreese had good intentions is without doubt…but his methods were far from good...
They were manipulative, they were abusive, and they taught Johnny to grow in to psychotic monster.
Johnny was taught that winning was all that mattered if one didn’t want to be a “loser”.
He was taught that might makes right...
And that the only way to keep the peace is to start and finish the war.
All of these supposed “truths” turned out to also be lies and, as the film progresses (as well as carrying on in the series on Netflix)...
Johnny comes to realize that all of these perceptions that others had of him…as well as the perceptions he held of himself…
All led him down a very dark and dangerous path that literally messed him up for years and years and years.
Like 35 plus years later, he is still dealing with those very perceptions and the consequences of all his actions.

Things to Consider

Sometimes we don’t feel like ourselves, or others’ perceptions of us just don’t seem to fit.
As we reset for a new year, overcoming the stress and busyness or loneliness of the holiday season,
it’s important that we remember our baptism and what God says about us.
For those of us who may not have been baptized…IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO NOTE...
you do not have to be baptized to do a “soul reset” in God’s love.
With that said, I would also love to talk to you about baptism and membership…so please reach out to me if you haven’t already.

What Scripture Says

In this passage, God says to Jesus, “You are my Son.”
Verse 23 says it “was thought” that Jesus was the son of Joseph.
This makes me want to invite you to consider the ways in which Jesus is God’s son and the ways in which Jesus was alsoJoseph’s son.
As the Word of God…the eternal logos...all of Creation was created through him.
He knew the will of God and followed it perfectly...
He put the world before himself and gave up his own life, even to save the very people who were killing him!
In life, he loved as God loved…and lived as God wanted us to live!
But, humanly speaking, Jesus was raised by Joseph.
He was taught the trade of carpentry and masonry from his earthly father.
He was cared for and provided for by him.
Even though Joseph was not Jesus’ biological dad…he was certainly his dad in every other way…humanly speaking.
Still, it is important to note that before Jesus was Joseph’s son, Jesus was always…and is always...God’s son.
This is true for all of us – we belong to God first, before any of our earthly relationships or roles.
Think about the different ways that this is “good news” for different people in your community...
How our putting God first…means we put our community first because God would have us bring our community to know Jesus as the Christ…the lover and the savior of their souls.
Think about how our putting God first will mean that far less people will be passed over, ignored, forgotten or oppressed...
because God sent us and we put God first.
This “belonging” to God is not possessive, it is an expression of God’s freely given love and grace.
Jesus is God’s dearly loved Son, or as it is worded in the NRSV, “The Beloved”.
Before Jesus has even begun his ministry,
God calls Jesus “the Beloved, with [whom he is] well pleased.” (I want to note that in the NRSV, “Beloved” is capitalized like a name or title!).
Likewise for us, God’s love does not need to be earned. It is who we are.
Let me ask this:
Why was Jesus baptized?
The answer is simple: Jesus was baptized to identify with us
Verse 21 shows Jesus was baptized along with others.
By faith, we identify with him.
In baptism, we are affirmed in God’s love for us and our adoption into God’s family, by grace, is proclaimed.
The principal actor is God. God offers grace, regardless of our past, our sins, and our actions.
There can be no doubt, you always belong and are beloved in the family of God.

What This Means for You

Does your perception of yourself fit the reality of how God sees you?
Do you see yourself the way God sees you?
The world puts conditions on our value.
It tells us we are beloved or worthy if we do certain things or are certain things.
It tells us we are only worthy if we fit in...
If we look “normal”
are clean shaved...
The right body size
The right makeup
If we are successful
Financially secure
powerful
and generous enough to look good.
However, before Jesus has done anything,
God says he is beloved.
God says we are beloved. too and we have Jesus to thank for that!
What’s important to realize is that until we reset our perception we will never reset ourselves.
How can we “reset” how we see ourselves as God sees us?

What This Means for Us

Once we reset how we look at ourselves,
we will also be in a better place to look at others through God’s eyes.
How can we look at the world, not for what it says that it is,
but through God’s eyes?
How does our baptism invite us to see others and the world?
As you meditate on this question, I want to invite you to come up and remember your baptism…by dipping your finger into the water and touching your wet finger on to your forehead...
You can do this simply by touching your forehead or even applying it in the shape of the cross.
If you aren’t baptized, you can feel free to do the same as a symbol of your desire to RESET.
Before you dip your finger in the fount, please sanitze your hands with sanitizer provided up here...to make sure we are not spreading germs. T
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