God's Business: Turning Nobodies Into Somebodies by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

I went to my 30 year high school reunion last weekend in Abilene Texas. You know they say time is the great equalizer. Most of the posturing and cliques from high school were gone. NOT ALL OF THEM, but most.

Of course I saw some friends that I have known since I moved to Abilene when I was in the 5th grade, and others that I added in Jr. High. I think the best story I heard all weekend was told by my good friend Lawrie, from Jr. High.

On Sunday afternoon, I was at a small back-yard party with some of us who were not really the popular kids ever. We were some of the brainy kids, the geeks. We were some of the ones who had our picture on a page in the yearbook for getting awards for being smart. Yes, we were a nerdy bunch. And no, none of us were very popular in high school. I was a band geek.

Anyway, we were sitting around on Sunday afternoon drinking Texas Dr. Pepper and eating Fritos (also a Texas product, Lubbock in fact) and Lawrie and I were recalling eating this nasty snack bar lunch called “frito pie.” (I was not a vegetarian back then.) She said, that at the beginning of Jr. High, every day, she would get one for herself and one for this popular girl from her elementary school. I’ll just call her “The future cheerleader.” Lawrie wanted to be accepted by this girl, and she wanted to have a place to sit in the lunchroom, so in order to be accepted at the “in” table, Lawrie would to buy “the future cheerleader” a frito pie every day.

Well this went on for awhile. Meanwhile, Lawrie was in the regular PE class and hated it. So she switched to tennis. In tennis class, she met Karen. Karen became her best friend, and by the way, was at this same party last weekend. Karen was intelligent. She could actually carry on a conversation about something other than nail polish what she had for lunch. Lawrie liked Karen. So, the next day at lunch, when Lawrie showed up at the future cheerleader’s table she brought Karen with her, and said, “Hey look, I have a new friend, this is Karen.” The future cheerleader, with a flick of her hair, took one look at Karen and said, “Oh, No, SHE cannot sit at this table.”

Lawrie, in that moment was faced with the 7th grade girl’s moral dilemma. Do I choose the “future cheerleader” and the popular girls’ lunch table? Or do I choose the new friend, who I like having intelligent conversations with, who will mark me as a LOSER for the rest of Jr. and Sr. High. Lawrie chose Karen. She marched with Karen to the losers lunch table. (We paused to cheer Lawrie)

But the story does not end there. A few weeks later, was the Student Council election. Lawrie ran for Student Council. You see, she realized that there are more losers at a school than future cheerleaders. And guess what. She got elected! Her platform? Losers Unite! We have a voice! And the rest, as they say, is history. Lawrie, went on to have a happy life through high school with her chosen group of smart, geeky friends. She got elected the runner up for the friendliest girl in high school (we did make fun of her for only being the second friendliest girl, but . . .Now, let me tell you, she was a bit awkward in junior high. Weren’t we all? But she was happy. And she grew up to have a good job, a beautiful family; she is confident, and content. What more can a person ask for?

The turning point came when Lawrie chose, whether or not she would listen to that inner voice and be the “somebody” that God created her to be. You see God is our creator. And God makes each one of us a unique individual. Today’s scripture talks about how God is like a potter, creating with clay. We are the clay. The clay does not get to say back to the sculptor, “why are you making me this way?” We are born this way. We are born with certain gifts, certain predispositions. Now of course, we can develop skills, we can learn things and grow. We can certainly choose to become better people. We have free will. We make decisions in life. But some of us are wired in some ways, and some of us are wired in other ways –that is what makes the world interesting.

I believe what is wonderful about being in community, is that we can help one another be our best selves. What Lawrie and Karen found in a friendship in the 7th grade was that they were both smart, and they had certain values, and they could encourage one another to become their best selves in life. It’s what I see happening around here, and in the best communities. I saw it a few weeks ago when I visited the AA group that meets in our church.

It’s a confidential group, so I can’t share too much. But I listened as some members of the group were discouraged and other members of the group said, “Oh I have seen so much growth in you.”, “Here is what I saw when you first came to this group, and now I see you doing so much better.” And I looked at the face of the person receiving the encouragement and it was so wonderful. This is what a church community is supposed to be.

Well, our scripture for today is from the book of Romans. If you need some encouragement today, go home and read Romans chapters 8 and 9. There is some good stuff there. Paul is encouraging these young Christians. He’s talking about some of his own personal struggles. Paul, who wrote lots of books in the Bible and founded lots of churches had TONS of struggles. And then he uses his pain to point to God’s compassion, and God’s ability to use everyone to achieve God’s purposes in the world. He quotes the prophet Hosea and says:

I'll call nobodies and make them somebodies;

I'll call the unloved and make them beloved.

In the place where they yelled out, "You're nobody!"

they're calling you "God's living children."

This is the heart of God’s message to us here at The Village. It’s what keeps us going week after week. “God takes nobodies and makes us somebodies.” Because here is the thing: EVERYBODY IS SOMEBODY TO GOD. There are no nobodies to God.

Now, sure, the world will tell you, that you are a nobody. But God does not live by the same rules as the world. God is the creator of the world. So, as God’s people, we can choose to live by God’s rules, and not by the world’s rules. We get to choose. To God, every one of us is SOMEBODY.

But here is the thing. Every day, at some point, everyone of us FEELS like a nobody. Am I right? So, here is our job as The Village Community – we need to build one another up. We have to remind each other – You are somebody, because God made you somebody. That’s why we come back here every week.

BUT, we also have to call one another to BE our best selves. AHHH, here’s the hard part – ACCOUNTABILITY. Accountability is also part of the package when we are in community as Jesus’ followers. You see, I am not doing you any good at all, if I see you making the same mistakes over and over again, and I don’t call you on it. That is not serious love. That is lazy love. It is weak love. It is love that says I don’t really care about you, because I’m afraid that you will get mad at me, if I don’t call you to be your best self. You know, Jesus was not afraid of letting people get mad at him. He spoke the truth. He didn’t get scared.

So, for example, some of you need to tell me, Cheri, you need to exercise more. You are not walking 3-4 days a week. You have not been going to yoga class. You know you should. You talk to us about having balance in our lives, but you are not doing it. You want to live longer for your kids, but you are not being a good example for us. That is courageous love. That is serious love.

You see, when you speak like that to me, then I have the right to say some things to you. Like this: you need to quit smoking, because it’s going to kill you. Or you need to watch your language here at church when there are children around. Yes I know we have people here who come from hard living places. And we welcome all people. But we need to be respectful that not everyone here is used to hearing street language all the time. Just because this place looks like a bar, does not mean we need to talk like we are in a bar.

Yes, we want all folks to feel welcome here. But there are some folks who may be a bit put off by some of our rough ways. One way to be welcoming to all people, is to tone it down a bit too. So we may need to remind one another of this now and then. This is part of being in community.

Everyone here is working on something. None of us are perfect. We can all identify some old behaviors we’d like to leave behind. Right? So this is the place we practice living in those new ways. Sure, we are all going to make mistakes. And this is the place where we are forgiving. BUT this is also the place where we hold one another accountable.

So if we see each other doing something, that is not really living in the way that we think Jesus would have us live, how about, we just say something to one another, in the spirit of love? Are you willing to take that risk? Are you willing to be that kind of community here? We don’t have to be hateful or judgmental about it. When we are friends we can take some gentle correcting from one another without getting our feelings hurt. We are all grown-ups here, aren’t we? I know it may be hard, but I think we can do this.

You see, I know we are all people who feel like nobodies. Even I feel like I am a nobody every day. But God makes each of us somebody. We are nobodies who become some-bodies, because God love us. We are all losers, but we are not losers at all, because by God’s grace, we are forgiven and loved, and we are made whole.

Here’s your challenge, right now find someone to share with. You’ve got someone out there in the world with you, and then share with someone your response to this statement: “This is when I feel like a loser. . . “. Then let the other person respond: “You are somebody! God loves you.”. Do the same for them.

If you’re ready to find a church where everyone is someone, we are out here. If you’re at the corner of Monroe & Central, come by the Village some Sunday, we are nobodies who are being told we are somebodies by each other and by God.