For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast.  (Ephesians 2: 8-9)

Then God said “Let us make humanity in our image, in our likeness,”  (Genesis 1: 26a)

This week I had a conversation with my Dad about the just finished Paris Olympics.  The Long-Term Care facility where my Dad lives right now has done a whole lot of work to keep Dad and his housemates well aware of the Olympics, even down to hosting a barbecue and an “Olympic games” afternoon.  My Dad has a Gold medal pinned to his bulletin board as a memento of this afternoon. 

As all of you are aware, my Dad has a dementia.  Some of the time it means that he doesn’t remember me, or any of my life.  Other times he’s sharp as a tack and can think circles around me.  I never know what kind of conversations I’m going to have with him when I go and visit; its part of the fun of visiting him.  This visit he was tired, a little frustrated with his inability to move around independently and, as he said quite succinctly  “I’ve really lived far too long”.  So, I was working to distract him, and talked about my sister-in-law, who has been one of the Olympic Games volunteers, working at the diving pool. 

Off handedly, Dad commented that he was on the swim team at his University and loved competitive swimming.  This was news to me.  I knew Dad was a good swimmer; he had life-guarded for years and had ensured that all of us kids had swimming lessons every summer.  But Dad as a competitive swimmer?  Nope, didn’t know that.  In that moment I thought it was a dementia comment – I think its referred to as ‘confabulation’.  Its one of those cognitive changes that I have a harder time coping with because it always feels like its lying; but it really isn’t – the confabulations are a way that the dementia shows up. 

So, I went home and cracked open Dad’s yearbooks from High School and University.  They were rescued in the apartment clear-out and I was going to toss them because I didn’t think they were all the relevant to Dad’s life anymore.  But they were useful in this instance because I could check if Dad was remembering or confabulating 

And guess what?  Dad WAS on the swim team for his university. 

Not only that, but my Dad, repeatedly is referred to as a “physics genius” in his high school and university yearbooks.  A physics genius.  Who would’ve guessed?  My Dad, after all, was in the humanities his whole career – rural development and then sociology.  The hard sciences like physics and the ‘soft sciences’ like sociology tend to kind of sneer at each other.  (I say this from the ‘soft sciences’ side of things).  I never could’ve imagined my Dad as Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory. (Actually, now that I write that……)

It felt like my Dad had this whole other life that I had no idea existed. 

And it got me thinking.  Who are we in life after all?  Who are we when we can’t remember our life or when memories are skewed and are leading us into false things?  Who are we when no one knows what we have done and accomplished?  Or not done and not accomplished?  I remember seeing an interview with an inmate at Sing-sing prison in New York State, who said through his tears and through asking for forgiveness for his crime “I am more than my worst moment.  And I am less than my best moment.   But all you know is my worst moment and that is the identity you expect me to have.”. 

Our identities seem to be defined solely by what we have done.  Even when we can’t remember them.  But the definition of who we are is externally placed on us by the memories of what others have of us.  Even if they don’t have the whole picture.  Even if they do have the whole picture but there has been value placed on what is worth remembering. 

I wonder what God would say about all of this.  Because our scriptures tell is that we are made in God’s image.  Our creation resembles God.  I just want you to think about that.  Its not our actions, or our accomplishments, or our royal mess ups that resemble God – we resemble God.  We resemble God AND we do things.  We resemble God AND we have memories.  But the bottom line is that we resemble God. 

And this is also our salvation.  The doing and being that all of us seem use to rank and value ourselves and each other have very little to do with our resemblance to God. 

Amazing Grace.  How sweet that sound. 

Blessings today my dear Bethel friends.  You are Loved because you resemble God. 

~Rev. Lynne