God-bearers

On Monday evening I had the privilege of hearing Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu preach at the festival of Homiletics. Desmond Tutu was instrumental in the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. Not only did was he instrumental in the social justice movement that ended apartheid, he also was instrumental in helping the whole country to move forward together. Through, preaching and example, he helped the country to forgive and to forge a new future together.

As he preached he talked about how it is possible to forgive and move forward after all the atrocity that has happened to the people. One of the things he talked about as being crucial to this process as seeing everyone as a God-bearer. He said once you see each person not only as someone that God cares about and loves and values, but also as someone who has the Holy Spirit with in them, someone who has the ability to bear God to the world, then forgiveness becomes possible. He went on to say that each of us is exactly that, each of us is a God-bearer.

I really do believe that. Every person is a God-bearer. Each of us is a carrier of the Holy Spirit that first gave us life and each breath is a reminder of God's spirit within us. But one of the things that has occurred to me is that far too often, those of us who call ourselves Christians, even those of us who go to church on a regular basis, act much more like God-barriers than God-bearers.

We each have within us the potential to be a God-bearer to the world. We have the potential and opportunity to demonstrate in a small way the abundant love and forgiveness, compassion and hope, life and grace that God offers each of us. But when we act in ways that are contrary to our Christian identity we become God-barriers rather than God-bearers. When we judge people instead of love them, when we hold grudges instead of forgive, when we look the other way so we don't have to act compassionately toward another, when we choose destructive behaviors that hurt others or ourselves, when we say one thing and live out another, we become a barrier to people coming to know and experience God. When we do those things not only are we failing to live a christian witness, but we are proclaiming a bad witness. People who are not christian see those behaviors, they see that we are not living what we claim to be, and they decide being christian really just means being a hypocrite. They decide the values we are living out aren't the values they agree with. And so rather than being a God-bearer to the world, we become a God-barrier.

But each of us has within us the potential to be a God-bearer. We can, simply by the way we live our lives and interact with others, become a way through which people experience and come to know God. Have you been a God-bearer today? Is someone better off today because you are a part of their life, even in some small way? Has someone experienced acceptance, forgiveness, or caring from you? Did you talk to someone today that might not have anyone else say anything to them all day? Do you treat the cafeteria people, the custodians in your office, the delivery people, or the starbucks barista as a real person? Do you know their story or even their name? How have they seen God through you?