Tattooed Hearts
What would you have tattooed on your body? Tattoos. You can tell a lot about a person by what they choose to tattoo on their bodies. Tattoos, certainly don’t define a person, but they do tell us something about that person. After all, that’s why people get tattoos, tattoos tell the world what’s important to that person, or at least what was important to the person at the time.
People get tattoos for a variety of reason. Sometimes people just like a specific design. But often tattoos have some meaning behind them. Sometimes they mark a significant event, such as the destruction of the world trade Center on September 11th or sometimes it’s something more personal, like a particular battle a soldier fought in or graduation from school. Often tattoos are reminders of loved ones, either living or dead. In such instances, dates, names, or faces will be tattooed in honor of a loved one who has passed away. Sometimes names or faces are tattooed as a sign of ones devotion to another person. I’ve even heard of people having their wedding bands tattooed on.
Tattoo can also be used to mark ones affiliation with a particular group or organization. Many gang members have tattoos that symbolize their identity with and loyalty to a particular gang. Often members of sororities and fraternities have their letters tattooed on. Members of the armed forces will sometimes get tattoos of their service branch’s insignia, or symbols specific to their unit. There are many different things that tattoos can show our affiliation with.
Regardless of why a person gets a tattoo, Tattoos are permanent. This fact is both part of the allure, and for some people part of the downside to tattoos. If you are getting a tattoo you need to make sure it’s something you want to carry around with you for the rest of your life, not simply a passing phase. Tattoos are permanent, because of where the ink is placed. Your body has layers of skin that is continually shed. The ink is imbedded beneath those layers of your skin and placed where is will not be pushed out of your body. In other words, the ink has been internalized and is carried within the body.
Today’s scripture passage from Jeremiah, speaks of God tattooing our hearts. Jeremiah proclaims that God intends to write on our hearts. And what is it that God intends to write? God intends to place God’s law within us. But more than just rules and expectations, this law is to be a sign of our covenant relationship with God. Just like the ink of a tattoo is embedded in our skin, God wants to embed our relationship with God into the very core of our being.
God wants us to know God personally, and to be in relationship with God. But knowing God is more than just knowing about God. It’s the difference between knowing when someone’s birthday is or what their favorite color is and actually being with them to celebrate their birthday. Building relationships with someone is not really based on what you know about them. Rather relationships are built when you have shared experiences with another person. Relationships involve allowing that person to be a part of your life and them allowing you to be a part of theirs. And you nurture your friendship with others by inviting your friend to be a part of the little insignificant things in your life as well as the big monumental moments. These shared experiences with someone is what moves you from being acquaintances to deep friendship.
The same is true of our relationship with God. God is not interested in us simply having book knowledge about God and having our theology all worked out. God is interested in truly being known by us. We worship a God who wants so deeply to be known by humanity that God has become human in Jesus Christ so we could know God more fully. God wants to be a regular part of our lives, even a permanent part. This involves allowing God to be part of the little decisions in life like should I burn a copy of my friends CD or should I buy my own. God wants to be a part of decisions about what kinds of stores we support with our money or how we treat the people at school and work who are just down right annoying. Nurturing our relationships with God means allowing God to be a part of the mundane, day-to-day tasks and decisions of life.
God also wants to be a part of the bigger decisions we make in life like whether we should switch jobs, what should we major in at college, and what kind of car should we buy. Even what medical procedures should you or a loved one undergo. God wants to help you make all those decisions in life. God wants to celebrate the exciting moments in life with you, and to console you during life’s painful moments.
Our relationship with God is more deeply embedded in our hearts as we continue to allow God to be a part of our lives, as we allow God to be part of the big and little decisions we make.
God says “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be my people.” Just like a tattoo, the writing God does on our hearts is internalized. We carry within us God’s law and the sign of our relationship with God. Once we’ve internalized it, living life in relationship with God is no longer something we have to think about all the time. It just becomes our natural way of acting.
But this process of internalization takes time. It’s not a one time deal, something that happens once then we never have to work at it again. Instead, this process of internalizing God’s law, this process of embedding our relationship with God in our hearts, is a process that happens over a life time. It happens as we continually allow God to be a part of our lives.
In many cultures, tattoos are used to signify a particular rite of passage in a person’s life. Often they are used to mark the transition from childhood into adulthood. And so it is with the tattoos God places on our hearts. As we come to a deeper relationship with God, as we each transition from the infancy of our faith to a more mature faith, God more deeply embeds the sign of the covenant in our hearts. Most of us can look back on our faith journey and remember times where we experience periods of intense growth. Sometimes this comes out of a formalized class and other times that growth happens as a result of the many varied life experiences we all encounter.
At the eleven oclock service today, twelve confirmands will mark the beginning of their transition from a childhood faith to a mature, adult faith. This service of confirmation is one of the formal, outward signs the church uses to symbolize the internal work of God tattooing our hearts with the sign of the covenant.
Confirmation marks the point in a person’s life where they claim as their own a relationship with God. It marks the time where the confirmand begins to move from the faith of their parents to their own faith. By joining in the vows of confirmation, the confirmands take responsibility for nurturing their relationship with God and continuing to grow as a disciple of Christ.
But this process is one that will take a life-time. And as members of the household of God, all of you have promised to support and uphold one another in this process. You also promise to support these confirmands, the newest members of the household of God, as they continue to grow in faith and learn to live as true disciples of Jesus Christ.
Tattoos, you can tell a lot about a person based on their tattoos. But God is the only one who truly knows what’s tattooed on our hearts. God is the only one who knows if you have allowed yourself to be claimed as one of God’s people. As we continue to journey through life and grow as disciples of Jesus Christ, I invite you to pay attention to what’s tattooed on your hearts. Where is your ultimate allegiance? Who do you belong to?
On days like today, confirmation Sunday, some will have a chance to answer this question in a big way. But these are questions that are answered over and over again, every day, in the little mundane choices and actions that our lives are made up of. As we celebrate the joyful occasion of 12 young confirmands dedicating their lives to God, I encourage you to remember the times in your life that you have committed yourself to living in relationship with God. Remember that is a decision that is made over and over again. Each time you include God in the decisions you make in life, the sign of the covenant is embedded more and more into your heart. I invite you to consider, what’s tattooed on your heart?
Amen.
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