7.18.23
Hey, Calvary Fremont –
“Who am I? is the preeminent psychic howl of our time,” writes Mary Eberstadt in ‘Primal Screams.’ What gives rise to this Primal Scream? “…the insistence that the human animal is free to rewrite everything about himself, including his origins and sex.”
Babies are born physically naked. Yet in that they are born into an established order of things, they are fully clothed. I was born a male, in America, into the Brown family, into a Christian home. These four intersecting dynamics were the seedbed in which my identity was nurtured and flourished. I never had an existential crisis in which I cried out, “Who am I?” This order of things formed my identity. I felt/feel secure in this order of things, in my identity. And yes, had I been born in India, I would be a Hindu. Had I been born in Saudi Arabia, I would be a Muslim. Different religions, nationalities, families of origin, etc., yield different identities. Identity isn’t something you choose – it’s a given. It’s given to you by the established order into which you were born. You are born naked and yet fully clothed. It’s this ‘givenness’ of identity that is under assault in the West.
And this isn’t to argue that identity is or should be permanently fixed and unchangeable – it most certainly isn’t. Identity has always been fluid. Ideas and passions and personalities having greater influence than family of origin and religion and nationality have always been in play. An American can renounce citizenship and become a German citizen. A Christian can become a Muslim and vice-versa. And yes, a man can identify as a woman and vice-versa.
The Primal Scream that Eberstadt writes about doesn’t address individuals changing identity, but individuals who have no identity – those who are ashamed to identify as Americans, with any organized religion, with any definite truth or certainty, with any biologically assigned gender. The Primal Scream arises from those born into an indefinite, infinitely fluid order of things. The Primal Scream arises from those who have been stripped of all things that serve to form the givenness of identity. The Primal Scream is the sound of a Germline mutation where there is no fixed order of things.
Germline cells are those that pass on their genetic material to the next generation of offspring. Mutations that occur in the Germline can affect the offspring’s health and development. In humans, Germline cells are only found in the ovaries and testes. The ovaries and testes of Western Civilization have become so diseased that they are no longer capable of passing on healthy identity to the next generation who come into the world stripped of the very things that form a healthy identity. This leaves an entire generation on an endless quest for a stable identity which renders them angry and resentful and increasingly prone to depression and hopelessness.
This is one of the greatest challenges and one of the greatest opportunities facing the Church today. The Church is to clothe the naked, heal the sick, give sight to the blind, and cast out demons. The Gospel of Jesus invites all people into a fixed order of things wherein is salvation and joy. Jesus calls out to the Primal Screamers, “Come unto Me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The restlessness of an infinitely fluid and changing identity leaves a psychic scar that only Jesus can heal. In the rest that Jesus gives is found an eternal identity. “Who am I?” I am His!
Regardless of the times and the cultural trends and taboos, the mission, mandate, and message of the Church never changes. Jesus is the answer for the world today, besides Him there’s no other – Jesus is the way. Jesus transcends family of origin, religion, nationality, philosophy, and gender. In Jesus there is healing for the psychic scar and its Primal Scream.
Be blessed and stay healthy and follow Jesus – Pastor Tim
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