Read 1 Peter 2:9-10
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Several members of my family are CrossFitters. So we often find ourselves captivated by videos of stellar CrossFit athletes. I am particularly drawn to some of the female athletes. Some of my all-time favorites are Katrin Davidsdottir and Sara Sigmundsdottir – both from Iceland. You can tell they are both from Iceland by their unique names. Iceland has a fascinating naming tradition in which people are identified by their father (and occasionally their mother). So Katrin Davidsdottir, is literally – Katrin, David’s daughter. She is known by whose daughter she is.
While our names can say a lot about the family we come from, most of us didn’t have a choice in our name or our family of origin. But we can have a say in how we are to be identified in this world… and it starts with Jesus.
This week we begin a series on our Core Values. We will dig in and explore who we are as a church family and what is important to us as we work to live out what God has called us to do. But I think it’s important to start with who we belong to. We belong to Jesus, and we are a holy people chosen and redeemed by grace so that we might help others find that grace for themselves. Once we know who we are, all the other things seem to fall into place.
Father, help us remember who we belong to as we jump into this series. We pray that the things we talk about will be rooted in our hearts, not as one more thing to check off our list or something that seems like a qualification, but things that stem from the truth of who you are and what you call us to. We ask you to ready our hearts to hear from you. Confirm your plans for us and make clear our direction as we seek to know you, love you, and serve you well. Amen.
