01-31-10 Divine Fingerprints

Each person's purpose is as unique as their fingerprints. ... You cannot tell yourself what your purpose should be, just like clay cannot tell itself what type of pot it should be. But you can awaken to your purpose, and as you say Yes! to your purpose it will inspire your living, guide your actions, and leave you fulfilled at the end of the day. ...

We most closely manifest our purpose when we are at our best, being and doing those things that flow from the core of our being and which result in deep satisfaction or joy. Manifesting our true purpose will be life-giving not only for ourselves but for those around us.

As I thought about this it occurred to me that perhaps each of us is created to leave little bits of Divine Love and Blessing, like Divine Fingerprints, wherever we go and whatever we touch. Perhaps manifesting our purpose has something to do with leaving trace evidence that God is at work in our lives and our world.

Fresh from his baptismal experience of hearing God proclaim, 'You are my Son, the Beloved;^* with you I am well pleased.'^* [Luke 3:22b] and his forty day sojourn into the wilderness where he struggled with what in the world those words might mean, Jesus returned to Galilee and on the Sabbath went to his home synagogue in Nazareth. Now it is not clear whether Jesus specifically chose the passage from Isaiah or whether in his reading of the scripture for the day he found another clue to his purpose, the Divine Fingerprint he was meant to leave on the world. But whatever the case after he finished reading he sat down and said to the people "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." [Luke 4:21]

"[God] has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. [God] has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, [and] to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." [Luke 4:18b-19] Through these words Jesus began to understand and proclaim his spiritual fingerprint. He was so open to the spirit, so willing to live into the fullness of his purpose that people did experience God when they experienced his love and healing, his forgiveness and grace, his compassion and challenge. Their eyes were opened to see in a new way and they were set free to live with new hope. Through him others began to understand that they, too, had a divine purpose; they, too, had spiritual fingerprints; they, too, were called to leave trace evidence of God's Love wherever they went and whatever they touched.

Now if you watch enough episodes of CSI or other such programs you know that it is possible to reduce the trace evidence you leave behind by wearing gloves. We can, of course, do the same with our spiritual fingerprints. When we fail to open our hearts to receive God's unconditional love; when we live as if our lives don't matter; when we believe we have nothing of value to give; when we hold back our gifts in fear; when we try to be what someone else thinks we should be; when we fail to live from the beauty and truth of who we are; when we are consumed with greed and live as if the rest of the world does not matter; in these and many other ways we hide our fingerprints and fail to be God's blessing in the world.

I love the reading from Marianne Williamson that the youth used last week as our Invitation to Worship. I especially love the line that says "We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some; it is in everyone. And, as we let our own light shine, we give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others." What if we took seriously the idea that we were created to leave smudges of Divine Love wherever we go and whatever we touch, just by being who we are and doing what only we can do in the way only we can do it?

Kerry is a man of deep faith and profound love for people. His smile is infectious and his joy is contagious. He seems to have the ability to look at people and see their very best. In fact he often sees in them what they cannot see in themselves and he calls forth their gifts and nurtures and encourages them as they seek to live into the fullness of their gifts. I have often described him to people as being the most Christ-like person I ever met. Without Kerry's fingerprint on my life, I, more than likely, would not be standing here today.

To be in Valerie's presence is to know peace, deep peace. Her gentle spirit and quiet love surround every situation with grace. Time and time again in our Bible study group as we talked about some issue in our lives or our world, Valerie would call us to pray -not just for the victim, but for the victimizer, not just for the abused but for the abuser, not just for our friends but for our enemies. Her compassion helped me open my heart to God's extravagant love and universal compassion. Without Valerie's fingerprint on my life, I would not be who I am today.

Stop for a moment and think, "Who are the people who come to your mind as those who have left Divine Fingerprints on your heart?"  ..... Say a silent prayer of gratitude that they move through life with open hearts and ungloved hands leaving divine smudges wherever they go and whatever they do.

Stop for a moment and think, "When have you felt the joy of knowing that your words, your actions, your very presence left trace evidence of God?" .... Say a silent prayer of gratitude for the opportunities you have had to share your life.

In the midst of our workshop Dr. Voyle poised this question: "What would happen to the church if it stopped being everything it should and supported people in doing what they love, that is living out their spiritual fingerprint? What if the church helped people say 'Yes to God, Yes to their neighbors and Yes to themselves'?" As I thought about this, I began to wonder how we, as a community of faith, a handprint of the body of Christ, could more and more encourage and empower one another to take off our gloves and let our own lights shine so that we make manifest the glory of God, leaving Divine Smudges and trace evidence everywhere we go and whatever we do.

We can't do everything, in fact we aren't meant to. But what might this community of faith and our world be like if each and every one of us began to awaken to our own unique purpose, our own spiritual fingerprint and then dared to use our gifts and offer our lives into the fullness of that purpose?

"We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some; it is in everyone." May you have the courage, the wisdom and the grace to accept this truth and take off your gloves so that wherever you go and whatever you do others will discover that Divine Fingerprints have touched their lives and their hearts! Amen.